We went to Mary’s Memorial,
Carla’s sister, yesterday. While it is
always a sad time when we lose a loved one, when they die in Christ we know that
we will once again see them.
Mary accepted Christ early in
her life and never wavered. She used her
gift of sewing for Christ. Many homeless
people, many orphans and the elderly, as well as every Pastor she had, have
quilts that attest of her love for Christ.
Her brother and sisters also
accepted Christ at an early age, a testament to their parents. As I looked around at that aging clan – at
many of the nieces and nephews – at their children - I realized how important
that foundation was, which their parents laid so early for them, has resulted in
a long life of commitment to Christ.
It is quite a family. It is a family I am very happy to say I am
also a member.
Speaking of family, it is hard
to believe that our youngest grandchild turns three shortly – and just a few
days later our twins turn 12 and our oldest turns 18! Our oldest granddaughter is now driving and
her younger brother is on a soccer team that he has grown up with and helped win
city championships.
God has blessed us. Thank you, Richard and Lucile (with one
l.)
Isaiah 51:6-8 Lift up
your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall
vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they
that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever,
and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
7 Hearken unto me, ye that
know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the
reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their
revilings.
8 For the moth shall eat
them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my
righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to
generation.
Mathew 10:27-28 What I tell you in
darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye
upon the housetops.
28 And fear not them which
kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
KJV from
Biblegateway.com
We sometimes get so wrapped up
in our fear of what those who are against our testifying of Christ, that we
forget that God is always with us. God
is who we should listen to, adhere to and follow.
We begin our life of eternity
with Him when our Spirit was reborn in Christ.
All before that is as nothing.
Only what comes after is our mission to serve Him.
Those that persecute, those that
deny, those that would kill us may believe they are doing it for a ‘god.’ Or they feel that we are a threat to their
way of life, so they must destroy us and the God we serve. They wish to make their own truth.
If they follow the truth of the
Word of God, they know they are doomed to a life eternal in Hell. So, they form a ‘religion’ that allows them
to live their life however they choose to do so since their ‘god’ will accept
them without reservation.
Isaiah
50:52 “......Is my hand shortened at all, that
it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up
the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is
no water, and dieth for thirst.
The world believes that God is
not capable of passing judgement upon them.
Some will say, yes, there is/was a God, but He is no longer relevant to
today’s world. They preach that with the
society’s newest revelations, with the advancement of technological knowledge,
scientific knowledge and anything else they compare the Word of God our new
culture God’s Word is null and void.
They forget what God did to
nations that overcame Israel; what God did to nations that turned their back on
Him and went after other ‘gods’ to do their bidding. Those nations too, thought that God was
irrelevant and that He no longer had dominion over all the earth.
So the world persecutes,
imprisons, tortures and kills His children in an effort to stop our preaching of
the Word, of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
The world would threaten us, our
families and our livelihoods to make us be quiet. The world doesn’t understand that, while them
may be able to punish us in the physical sense, our Spirit lives on, our
testimony lives on and is often enhanced by their actions.
None of us enjoy the pain of
physical attacks where we are injured by someone else. Bruises, broken bones and even life
threatening injuries we would prefer not to endure.
None of us enjoy the pain of
emotional attacks. They can be
devastating and long lasting. They come
back to haunt us in the o-dark-thirty moments when satan likes to beat us down.
Often these attacks can be more damaging
to us than the physical ones.
There are those that go out to
deliberately be attacked in the name of Christ – they think by doing so they
receive an extra jewel in their crown, but if that is why, they are preaching
Christ of the wrong reason.
While we must be prepared and
understand that any witnessing of Christ may bring pain, us and our testimony
may be rejected in a brutal sense, the reason we share Christ is because people
need Him; we love Him and want others to know Him; and it is our
responsibility.
Most of the time that we witness
to others there is no pain – but we know that it can happen, we may be attacked,
and while we don’t want it, while we may be afraid of it, we must focus on God
and not on ourselves and rely on Him to use whatever we are going through to Him
and His glory; even if it means pain, suffering or death.
Later, Art :-)
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