You Are Not the Only One

#boldness #persecutions #deaths #murder #imprisonment of #governmental #Guaranteed #safety.

As Christians, what are we guaranteed/called to experience today?

As followers of Jesus, we do not rejoice in suffering because we enjoy pain, but because Jesus is so worthy in our eyes and hearts that we delight in being identified with him. All suffering is temporary. It isn’t worth comparing with the glory that awaits us (2 Cor. 4:16). In that place of glory, all pain and suffering will be gone forever (Rev. 21:4).

Peter and the other apostles received threats every single day for being followers of Christ. They were imprisoned and some of them were beaten and some were hung upside down on a cross for the sake of the Name. Acts 4-6 NIV Today we want our Christianity to be sweet, safe and wrapped up with a nice little bow. We want no trials, challenges, and or persecutions. We expect the government to guarantee us safety to live out our Christian beliefs without any opposition from any other religion.  Is that what we are called to?

Just read this article about the number of Christians who are being killed.  Still, we remain silent. Christians in South Korea are praying for world peace. The kind of peace that the world needs only comes from submission to the will of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Ken continued his message about boldness in Christ today. I will paraphrase his opening statement. “We live in one of the safest places on earth. Regardless of the school shootings etc.,

• No bombs are exploding in our cities – every day.
• No Christians are being slaughtered on the streets where we live – every day.
• I thought about my Christian friends in India. When someone knocks on their door they do not know if that is a knock that will lead to them exiting this earth and receiving the reward that the Lord promised them.  A lifetime – eternally living with Jesus.

An important thing that we must all remember is this.

• We will spend eternity somewhere.  Every one of us will spend eternity somewhere.
• We will either spend it with the devil – totally absent from the very presence of God.  The presence of God will NEVER be experienced if we choose to ignore God’s calling on our lives.
• Or we will spend eternity with God and Jesus Christ. Doing the work of the Lord is crucial to our understanding of how important it is to know Jesus. We are not just saved -from eternal damnation – for our own benefit. We are saved and are left on this earth, after we have accepted Christ, to do the work of the Lord.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the safety that we have in you. For the eternal peace that you have given to us as a gift. Strengthen our faith in you and your shed blood as our shield of protection from all of the fiery darts of the devil. We know that he is seeking to steal and devour whomever he can. That is his job. Give us the boldness we need to stand against him and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone we come into contact with. – in Jesus’ name.