Persecution
Sunday, November 3, has been designated as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Many say that more Christians are being persecuted in the world today than at any other time in history. I'm not qualified to prove or disprove that statement, but I know what Jesus said in John 16:33. "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." God never promised his children that everything would be smooth sailing through life. He said just the opposite, "in this world, you will have tribulation." It started at the very beginning of the New Testament church. The Christians were in Jerusalem after Jesus ascended back to heaven, and these believers began to be persecuted, so much so that many of them left Jerusalem. We have been lead to believe in our culture that persecution is a bad thing. Still, here it is good because it pushed the gospel out of this one city into the surrounding areas and ultimately into the uttermost parts of the world. Although none of us want to sign up for persecution, God uses it to take us through difficulties and build into us His character. That will then bring praise and honor to Him. One of the great positives of persecution is that it forces us to trust Him in more significant ways than we ever have before.
There is a great resource to help you to learn more about Christian persecution in our world today, and it is called “The Voice of the Martyrs.” You can find it on the internet at persecution.com. I want to challenge you then to join in prayer with many Christians throughout the world and to pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Hebrews 13:3 “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you are also in the body.”
Pastor Lynn Rettig
Musselshell Community Bible
Church
Promises, Promises
Have you ever had someone make a promise to you and then not keep it? We have all had that experience and it is a painful one. You set your heart, or your time, or your plans on a promise by another person and they don’t follow through. You are so disappointed! And rightly so. People shouldn’t make promises they don’t intend to keep. It is hurtful. Well, one Person keeps all of the promises He makes and even wrote them down in His Word, the Bible. It is full of promises for us today, we just need to access them.
I was thinking of all the rain we have had this year – an unprecedented amount. At the same time I was reading in Genesis that God made promises that hold true for us today. He made a promise to Himself, but wrote it down for us, in Genesis 8:21-22. Noah was so grateful that he and his family were saved from the terrible flood that he made an offering to God. God was so pleased with the offering and the thankful heart of Noah that He said to Himself “I will never again curse the ground because of humans for the imagination of a human heart is evil and wicked from youth…while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease”. I noticed that God didn’t mention my personal 2 favorite seasons – spring and fall. So, when I go walking in my woods or drive into town and notice that the trees did not turn color this year but just went from green to brown or black because of 2 degree temperature I have nothing to complain of. God did keep His promise but not in the way I liked. The warm turned into cold. Summer became winter. I miss the golds and rusts of the changing season from summer to fall. Now, all I can do is hope that next year will be a normal fall, full of color and beauty.
Someone counted the number of promises that God has made to humanity through the years. The Bible took 1500 years to write so there was time for the promises of God to grow and become more focused on His Son as time went on. Once I mentioned to a person that we just need to enjoy the benefits of God’s promises and they said they didn’t even know what those were. Psalm 103 is one that lays out the benefits of God’s promises in very specific terms. It also tells us not to forget His benefits, which we often do. He is constantly giving (Greek has a verb for that which English sadly lacks. English will say ‘God gives’, while the Greek means He gives and gives and gives and gives – eternally) to each of us His benefits. Our health, our families, our homes, our very lives, our country – I don’t know about you, but I thank God every day that I was born in the United States of America. There are a lot of countries I could name – but won’t – where I would not like to even live, let alone be born there.
The promises of God, whether in Genesis or Psalms or the Gospels, are for you. God is there to meet every need in your life, all you have to do is BELIEVE. And it isn’t easy to believe when the world is caving in on you. That’s when you need His promises the most, so read His Word to you, read a promise that you need in your life now and watch Him fulfill His promise to you. He loves you and wants to help.
Rev. Joyce Kaplan, M.Div,
Retired United Church of Christ Pastor.
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