Stand strong under persecution

    “….I would lay down my life just to be by your side!”
–“Always forever”, Phil Wickham

Early this week on the other side of the globe, in an Iranian court, a trial was taking place to determine the life or death of Saeed Abendini, an American pastor under persecution for his Christian beliefs. Arrested in late September while starting numerous house churches, Abendini now faces death sentence for his work. At the close of the trial he was severely beaten and thrown back in prison to await his death.

  What is life without Christ? Is it worth it to abandon your faith just to live another few years? Obviously this man and others around the world don’t think so. They obviously believe life is nothing apart from Christ and living without Him isn’t worth living at all. They truly live out their faith and believe without a doubt that their life isn’t theirs but Christ's. As that song says they truly prefer dying in this world rather than dying in the spirit.

   “Are we willing to do the same, to live our faith to the fullest extent of the 

word even to the point of death??” 

      America has painted the picture that life is all about riches, prosperity and happiness when really, there is no true happiness apart form Christ and living for Him. If we only confess with our mouths but do not live out our faith how is that genuine faith? Even though works does not save us it does prove our faith. Therefore, since “faith without works is dead,” what better way to shine His light and show Him to the world than through our works?  

    Brothers and sisters let us ready ourselves to stand bravely in the face of persecution for it is only to those He counts worthy to endure that He brings such trials.  Let us strengthen ourselves in Him, girding ourselves with the armor of God to be tested and proven worthy even unto our deaths!

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” 

James :2 14, 17

"For the glory of God!"

Be a miracle!

       You hear the rain pattering on your window as you slowly open your eyes. It’s 6 am, you shiver against the cold and pull your robe tighter around you. With a full belly and warm clothes you head off to work. At the end of the day you come home to your cozy home and warm bath. You sit down for a filling meal and enjoy a relaxing evening around the fire with your loved ones. At bedtime you lay your head down on your pillow and sleep the night away in comfort and warmth.  This is America.

   Across the globe children wake up too, but theirs is a different kind of day. 

   The first thing this child hears when she opens her  eyes at 5am is the rain leaking into her house. She shivers as she gets up to boil water for her bath, yet she thanks God for the roof over her head and the worn out clothes that she has.  As she sits down to the only meal she will receive that day, she is grateful she has sustenance to fill her belly for the time being.  Her day is long and hard, with very little play. By night fall she is exhausted. She lays down on her worn out mattress and tugs the thin blanket tighter around herself. As she drifts off to sleep one last thought floats through her mind. She is scared and hungry.

    In the same town another child is going to sleep as well, but unlike the first, this child must find shelter before the rain comes again.This child woke up this morning to the cold rain on his face and mud forming under his makeshift cardboard bed. All day he has frantically scrounged around for scraps to eat. Tonight his belly is empty. He is lost and alone, hurting, confused, scared. When at last he finds shelter it is merely an overhanging roof. He lies down on the cold ground, wet and bitterly hunger. An abandoned orphan left to starve in the streets. This is Africa.

   Billions of children around the world are orphaned each day. Abandoned and neglected they are left to starve in the streets. These children are in serious danger and they need help. YOUR help. We are the future for the children of the world, how we respond to their need determines whether they survive. Please be a helping hand to these children, a miracle in their life! There are plenty of orphan outreaches throughout the world, pray about where God wants you to help and DO SO. If you use your financial or physical means to serve these children, the least of these, God will bless you effort! Don’t take for granted what you have. You have it for a reason…so GO!

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18

"For the glory of God!" 

http://everyorphan.org/