Saturday, August 11, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
VOM News and Prayer Update: August 7, 2007
"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven."(Ecclesiastes 3:1)
USA
The Voice of the Martyrs 2008 National Persecution Conference
VOM's National Persecution Conference will be held at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, June 20-22 and June 27-29, 2008. Pray for those involved in the planning of the conference. More details will be available in the future. Hebrews 13:3
CHINA
House Church in Military Area Raided in Xinjiang – China Aid Association
On June 1, a military house church was raided and members were detained and abused during their interrogation. According to China Aid Association, a house church at the home of Gao Hongzhi was raided by 10 Public Security Bureau officers. Six believers, including Mr. Gao, were detained for 12 hours until the following morning. One believer was beaten during the detention time. Mr. Gao's house was searched without a search warrant and Bibles, calendars and a blackboard were confiscated as 'illegal religious materials,' without official confiscation papers." Pray for continued protection for Christians in China. Ask God to encourage them and use their testimony to draw their persecutors into the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:19, Psalm 68:19
INDIA
Christian Leaders Attacked, Christians Openly Persecuted and Stabbed – VOM Sources
PAKISTAN
Pakistani Jail Officials Beat Christian, Halt Bible Classes – Compass Direct News
Pakistani officials have stopped all Bible classes for Christian prisoners in a Punjab jail, isolating an inmate who taught the classes and barring a local pastor from his weekly visits. Compass Direct News reports, "Protestant Pastor Munir Phool has been refused entry to Kasur city's district jail for his weekly visits since June 25, when Catholic prisoner Dil Awaiz was put in a high-security cell and tortured. Awaiz told Phool that Muslim inmates became angry when a Christian prisoner drank from one of their water glasses. The authorities retaliated by forcing the Christian prisoner to drink out of a glass used for cleaning toilets. Later, the authorities had Awaiz beaten and thrown in a high-security cell and deprived contact with other Christian prisoners." Pray for a speedy recovery for Awaiz and for Christians in Pakistan. Exodus 15:26, Isaiah 40:31
USA
The Voice of the Martyrs 2008 National Persecution Conference
VOM's National Persecution Conference will be held at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, June 20-22 and June 27-29, 2008. Pray for those involved in the planning of the conference. More details will be available in the future. Hebrews 13:3
CHINA
House Church in Military Area Raided in Xinjiang – China Aid Association
On June 1, a military house church was raided and members were detained and abused during their interrogation. According to China Aid Association, a house church at the home of Gao Hongzhi was raided by 10 Public Security Bureau officers. Six believers, including Mr. Gao, were detained for 12 hours until the following morning. One believer was beaten during the detention time. Mr. Gao's house was searched without a search warrant and Bibles, calendars and a blackboard were confiscated as 'illegal religious materials,' without official confiscation papers." Pray for continued protection for Christians in China. Ask God to encourage them and use their testimony to draw their persecutors into the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:19, Psalm 68:19
INDIA
Christian Leaders Attacked, Christians Openly Persecuted and Stabbed – VOM Sources
- RAJASTHAN – On July 25, five men attacked Emmanuel Ministries. According to The Voice of The Martyrs contacts in India, the attackers had two handguns, a sword, a large stick and numerous stones. VOM contacts report, "They started fighting Mr. Jetha, one of the ministry office staff. They shouted that they would kill M.A and Samuel Thomas, the leaders of Emmanuel Ministries, and continuously beat Mr. Jetha. They threatened that they would 'kill and willingly go to prison for six years.' In a separate incident on July 31, members of Believers Assembly Church in Sri Ganga Nagar District, Rajasthan, were summoned by the police for questioning after Hindu fundamentalists complained believers were converting local villagers. VOM contacts report, "The new believers were threatened by police and pressured to leave Christianity and return to Hinduism. They were also warned that if they fail to return to Hinduism the provisions of the Anti-Conversion Act of Rajasthan, would be used to arrest them." Pray for protection for believers in Rajasthan. Ask God to encourage them and for the Holy Spirit to comfort and minister to injured believers. Pray the testimony of believers will draw Hindus into fellowship with Christ. Isaiah 26:3
- KARNATAKA – On July 29, a mob of about 15 Bajrang Dal extremists armed with clubs, cricket bats and knives attacked Believers Church, in Shimoga District, mercilessly beating the pastor. According to VOM contacts, "the attackers barged into the church and abused the Christians, using filthy language and began hitting and stabbing them. They destroyed the pulpit, chairs, musical instruments, furniture, and window panes and damaged the church walls. The pastor was also severely beaten with a cricket bat and his body was swollen." Pray for the speedy recovery of those injured. Ask God to protect Christians in Karnataka. Romans 8:11, Psalm 107:20
PAKISTAN
Pakistani Jail Officials Beat Christian, Halt Bible Classes – Compass Direct News
Pakistani officials have stopped all Bible classes for Christian prisoners in a Punjab jail, isolating an inmate who taught the classes and barring a local pastor from his weekly visits. Compass Direct News reports, "Protestant Pastor Munir Phool has been refused entry to Kasur city's district jail for his weekly visits since June 25, when Catholic prisoner Dil Awaiz was put in a high-security cell and tortured. Awaiz told Phool that Muslim inmates became angry when a Christian prisoner drank from one of their water glasses. The authorities retaliated by forcing the Christian prisoner to drink out of a glass used for cleaning toilets. Later, the authorities had Awaiz beaten and thrown in a high-security cell and deprived contact with other Christian prisoners." Pray for a speedy recovery for Awaiz and for Christians in Pakistan. Exodus 15:26, Isaiah 40:31
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Word
This morning the Lord challenged me with this specific scripture of Mark chapter 11, verse 23:
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
+++ Jesus, I believe. Let me hear You and see what You are about to do. I want to be so close to You that You would regard me in the same manner that You did Abraham, Your friend... from whom You said You did not hide things, (Gen. 18:17). Hear my prayer, my Lord and my God. +++
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
+++ Jesus, I believe. Let me hear You and see what You are about to do. I want to be so close to You that You would regard me in the same manner that You did Abraham, Your friend... from whom You said You did not hide things, (Gen. 18:17). Hear my prayer, my Lord and my God. +++
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Storms on Divine comfort
From Sam Storms' web site (www.enjoyinggodministries.com):
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3-7).
I want to highlight two remarkable truths in this paragraph. There are undoubtedly other things that could be said, but let’s focus on these two in particular, and in reverse order.
First, Paul clearly affirms that there is, what can only be called, a qualitative and quantitative correspondence between the intensity of human suffering and the availability of divine comfort. If there is an abundance of suffering, so too there is a supply of comfort that is more than adequate to sustain the hurting soul (see esp. v. 5).
No amount of human suffering can outstrip or exceed the resources in God’s heart to bring comfort and sustenance and grace to see us through. You need never doubt whether God is up to the task of providing what your soul most needs to survive, even thrive, in the midst of the worst imaginable heartache and hardship. It was only because Paul was confident that God’s comfort matched and exceeded his suffering that he was able to mediate that comfort to others when they faced similar, perhaps even more severe, trials.
Second, Paul also discerned a divine design in his hardship. What might appear haphazard and serendipitous to the human eye comes wrapped in the package of God’s eternal purpose. Look closely at Paul’s statement in v. 4 where he asserts that when God comforts us “in all our affliction” it is “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Pain threatens to anesthetize us to any observable “so that”. It seems so senseless, so random, so utterly lacking in good and devoid of a goal. But Paul won’t hear of it. Whatever degree of suffering I’ve endured, says the apostle, it was to equip me to serve you who likewise endure affliction of body and anguish of soul.
This doesn’t immediately resonate with many of us. We are by nature so intractably selfish that we regard our own souls “as the center of all providences” and “naturally seek to explain everything by its bearing on ourselves alone” (James Denney). We struggle to envision how our pain and hardship could possibly have any relevance for or bearing upon anyone else. If nothing else, Paul’s confession “calls into question the individualism of modern Christianity and the sense of remoteness within and among many contemporary churches" (Paul Barnett, 73).
(end of Storms excerpt)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3-7).
I want to highlight two remarkable truths in this paragraph. There are undoubtedly other things that could be said, but let’s focus on these two in particular, and in reverse order.
First, Paul clearly affirms that there is, what can only be called, a qualitative and quantitative correspondence between the intensity of human suffering and the availability of divine comfort. If there is an abundance of suffering, so too there is a supply of comfort that is more than adequate to sustain the hurting soul (see esp. v. 5).
No amount of human suffering can outstrip or exceed the resources in God’s heart to bring comfort and sustenance and grace to see us through. You need never doubt whether God is up to the task of providing what your soul most needs to survive, even thrive, in the midst of the worst imaginable heartache and hardship. It was only because Paul was confident that God’s comfort matched and exceeded his suffering that he was able to mediate that comfort to others when they faced similar, perhaps even more severe, trials.
Second, Paul also discerned a divine design in his hardship. What might appear haphazard and serendipitous to the human eye comes wrapped in the package of God’s eternal purpose. Look closely at Paul’s statement in v. 4 where he asserts that when God comforts us “in all our affliction” it is “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Pain threatens to anesthetize us to any observable “so that”. It seems so senseless, so random, so utterly lacking in good and devoid of a goal. But Paul won’t hear of it. Whatever degree of suffering I’ve endured, says the apostle, it was to equip me to serve you who likewise endure affliction of body and anguish of soul.
This doesn’t immediately resonate with many of us. We are by nature so intractably selfish that we regard our own souls “as the center of all providences” and “naturally seek to explain everything by its bearing on ourselves alone” (James Denney). We struggle to envision how our pain and hardship could possibly have any relevance for or bearing upon anyone else. If nothing else, Paul’s confession “calls into question the individualism of modern Christianity and the sense of remoteness within and among many contemporary churches" (Paul Barnett, 73).
(end of Storms excerpt)
Monday, August 6, 2007
Voice
After leading the EZ37 internship at the ZHOP last winter (January - end of March) the Lord spoke to me and said that He was promoting me and giving me my voice back. I wondered about what that meant for a number of days. Then the trip to Iceland came together in April and all that it portends.
More recently, I received an invitation to speak at a small church in Columbia yesterday and it went well. I gave the simple yet substantial message from the Song of Solomon on the"dark but lovely" reality that a follower of Jesus needs to work through... the crisis in confidence that inevitably occurs when a new believer discovers their sin after their conversion.
Christians can still struggle in weakness and yet their love, though immature, is still sincere and esteemed by God as real and precious. We tend to think at that time that as we discover our "darkness" (our carnal appetites) following our new birth in Christ, God discovers it as well. Such is not the case: God has never learned anything. He has ALWAYS known EVERYTHING. Yet it is a crisis in that they will either run away from God, anticipating rejection and feeling shame, or to Him for forgiveness and the restoration of the relationship. The trigger point is that immature love in a believer can look, on the exterior, the same as overt rebellion. But God sees them as vastly different: one is sincere in their desire to belong to Jesus yet struggles, the other prefers the passing pleasures of sin and has no true repentance working in their heart.
He is able to lead us and cover us in our desire to be whole-hearted lovers of God. No one loves like this Jesus, the Lord over everything He has made. As the beloved says during the courtship of her True Love in the Song of Solomon (chapter 2):
Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down in his shade with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
+++ Thank you, Jesus. You are marvelous: You, Your words, and Your works. No one who believes in You will be put to shame (Romans 10:11). I am dark, but I am lovely to You! Thank You for Your steadfast love! Amen +++
More recently, I received an invitation to speak at a small church in Columbia yesterday and it went well. I gave the simple yet substantial message from the Song of Solomon on the"dark but lovely" reality that a follower of Jesus needs to work through... the crisis in confidence that inevitably occurs when a new believer discovers their sin after their conversion.
Christians can still struggle in weakness and yet their love, though immature, is still sincere and esteemed by God as real and precious. We tend to think at that time that as we discover our "darkness" (our carnal appetites) following our new birth in Christ, God discovers it as well. Such is not the case: God has never learned anything. He has ALWAYS known EVERYTHING. Yet it is a crisis in that they will either run away from God, anticipating rejection and feeling shame, or to Him for forgiveness and the restoration of the relationship. The trigger point is that immature love in a believer can look, on the exterior, the same as overt rebellion. But God sees them as vastly different: one is sincere in their desire to belong to Jesus yet struggles, the other prefers the passing pleasures of sin and has no true repentance working in their heart.
He is able to lead us and cover us in our desire to be whole-hearted lovers of God. No one loves like this Jesus, the Lord over everything He has made. As the beloved says during the courtship of her True Love in the Song of Solomon (chapter 2):
Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down in his shade with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
+++ Thank you, Jesus. You are marvelous: You, Your words, and Your works. No one who believes in You will be put to shame (Romans 10:11). I am dark, but I am lovely to You! Thank You for Your steadfast love! Amen +++
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