Voice of the Martyrs prayer update

LAOS — Christians Forced from Homes — Compass Direct News

In January, 48 Christians were forced from their homes in Katin village, Saravan province, Laos. After gathering for Sunday worship, the believers were expelled from their church at gunpoint and taken to an open field. Officials then confiscated personal belongings from 11 Christians’ homes, and six of the homes were later destroyed. Officials also took a pig, worth the equivalent of six weeks’ salary, from one of the believers. When the believers refused to renounce their faith, they were forced to leave the village. Police have been posted at the entrance to the village to prevent the Christians from returning home or retrieving their valuables. At last report, the believers were sleeping in the woods with little food or survival supplies. Ask God to protect and provide for the 48 Christians who were expelled. Pray that they will grow stronger in their faith. Also pray that the Christians who renounced their faith will turn to Jesus for strength and boldness. Pray that officials and villagers will stop persecuting Christians in Katin village.

Hebrews 11:25–26

UZBEKISTAN — Uzbek Christians Targeted — Forum 18 News

Uzbek Christians from the Baptist Council of Churches have faced arrests and physical abuse in recent weeks. On Jan. 18, Tohar Haydarov was arrested in Syrdarya region on charges of producing or storing drugs — charges local Christians insist are fabricated. Police reportedly threatened Tohar and pressured him to renounce his faith. When he refused, police allegedly planted drugs on him. According to police reports, officials later found additional drugs at his apartment. However, the search was not monitored by witnesses. The drugs found on Tohar and in his apartment were tested the same evening, raising suspicions about how the drugs could have been tested so quickly. At a court hearing three days after his arrest, Tohar told believers that police had beaten him and forced him to sign papers. His face was swollen, and he could barely walk. At last report, police were trying to charge Tohar under an article of the Criminal Code that calls for a 10–20 year prison sentence.

In another incident, a group of believers who gathered for fellowship on Jan. 24 in Almalyk City were rounded up by police and taken to the police station. The Christians had gathered at the home of Sergei Brislavski. Police searched Sergei’s home and confiscated Bibles, songbooks and CDs. Three of the 19 believers were treated roughly by officers. A doctor who saw them the next day said the believers had bruises on their shoulders and around their necks. Local Christians believe the police are preparing a criminal case against some of them for repeated violations of the Religion Law. In April 2009, some of the same Christians, including Sergei's family, were fined 50 times the minimum monthly wage for “attracting believers of one confession to another.”

Pray that the truth of Tohar’s case will be revealed and that he will look to Christ for strength. Pray that the Christians in Almalyk will echo Peter’s determination to obey God rather than man, and pray that they will not face criminal charges or fines. 

Acts 5:29

Your Love is Strong, by Jon Foreman

For me, listening to this song is sometimes like standing under a hot shower on a cold winter day... just something hard to walk away from because sitting under the truth of it, drinking of God's fullness is so pleasant!  Enjoy.... (lyrics below the video):

Heavenly Father
You always amaze me;
Let your kingdom come
In my world and in my life.
You give me the food I need
To live through the day
And forgive me as I forgive
The people wrong me.
Lead me far from temptation,
Deliver me from the evil one.

I look out the window
The birds are composing;
Not a note is out of tune
Or out of place.
I walk to the meadow
And stare at the flowers,
Better dressed than any girl
On her wedding day.

So why do I worry?
Why do I freak out?
God knows what I need,
You know what I need.

Chorus (3x):
Your love is
Your love is
Your love is strong

The kingdom of the heavens
Is now advancing;
Invade my heart,
Invade this broken town.
The kingdom of the heavens
Is buried treasure -
Would you sell yourself
To buy the One you've found?

Two things you told me:
That you are strong
And you love me.
Yes, you love me.

(Chorus 3x)

Our God in heaven
Hallowed be
Thy name above all names.
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
Forgive us weary sinners.
Lead us far away from our vices
And deliver us from these prisons.

The greatest of these

¹ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 
⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 
¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 
¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Isolation processing

Part of accomplishing transition well is the response to 'isolation processing'.  Isolation processing is a means God employs to prepare a worshipper of Him for the rigorous pushes and pulls of influence over sections of His people by removing them from comforts and familiar things.  It can last from a few weeks to years.  It can involve geographic relocation and/or deep relational disruption.  To fight this this a big mistake... and a common one in my observation. 

A major temptation in isolation is to think the Lord has forgotten you, and one has to fight feelings of rejection and what accompanies such a mindset.  Bitterness in response to such Divinely given circumstances is one such reaction.  But its a wrong sense of entitlement which can be the grounds for this, a flawed set of expectations. Consider the patriarchs who had tremendous promises and unusual revelation of what God would bring about through their lives.  The time between promise and fulfillment was not a rush to arrival. There was significant processing of the inner man en route.  Human ego being what it is, our tendency is to think begin to assume our importance in the equation in larger measure than what is real.  The reality is that God always-always-always using the weak things to confound the wise.  He loves us too much to validate us through our callings.  God has validated us through the cross - and nothing can be added to that work.  There is not a superior statement God can make to a human being above this: "I love you, I died for you, I want you with Me forever!"

Isolation processing is intending to deal with several things: 1) the fear of man, 2) a wrong sense of worth (ie. finding our value or identity in our position/title/recognition by others), 3) a wrong sense of accomplishment, (ie. thinking its by man's wisdom and strength that His kingdom is manifest).  It literally is a means of separating God's servant to Himself, intending to drive the person deeper into God before they are entrusted with the influence and visibility He ordains for them.  Psalm 65:

Blessed is the man You choose,
And cause to approach You,
That he may dwell in Your courts.
We shall be satisfied with
the goodness of Your house,
Of Your holy temple.

Integrity checks

A leader must walk in obedience because their role is/should be largely defined as 'influencing others towards obedience'.  Continuing my reflection upon my personal transition, this season of integrity checks began in earnest the day after ZHOP's last meeting.  Literally the morning on the day after the last ZHOP meaning.  No time wasted, it was simply on.  Since that time I've been through a series of integrity checks of a greater intensity than I have ever experienced in such a concentrated time frame.  At times I've struggled, at times I've successfully engaged in processes and maintained appropriate discretion and transparency and forthrightness.  I have endeavored to walk in the fear of the Lord.  I am living in a tension of feeling like a man without a country, yet while being assured that I have license to join myself to the relationships that will allow God's promises to flourish and thrive in coming years.  I would wait forever for the Lord's leading in order to be on His side... and He shows Himself to be on my side.  His promises are clear, and as such are better than silver or gold.  Should I come to mind as you pray, would you pray Isaiah 32:8 for me, that I might endeavor to manifest the glory of the Lord:

... the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.