Persecution: October 20, 2014

TODAYS WORD FOR MONDAY OCTOBER 20, 2014.

PERSECUTION

DEFINITION:

The state of suffering, harassing or cruel treatment because of religion, race or beliefs.

SCRIPTURE:

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We are living in a time where all around us we feel and read about persecution. Christians are being marked today by many groups as a threat to their beliefs or thoughts. We want to share with you a few facts as to what is happening to Christians.

Here in America there is an assault being taken against Christians. It is now not acceptable to pray in classrooms and in many group situations. It is not acceptable to mention God and one’s belief in God in speeches of any kind at many functions. We have forgotten from the Judeo-Christian standards that our country was founded on and are systematically removing them from our society.

Eighty percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians. Over 100,000 Christians living in 139 countries were martyred in the last 12 months because of their faith in Jesus.

In the last 12 months in India alone, 500 Christians were hacked to death in Orissa and 50,000 Christians were made homeless because of their faith in Jesus.

Twenty-five present of all Christians in North Korea are living in forced labor camps. This number is increasing dramatically daily because of the growing amount of Christians in North Korea.

Persecution goes back to the early days of Christianity. We read in Acts 8:1-4 about Saul (Paul was known as Saul before he found Jesus as his Savior) having a murderous hatred of all believers. Saul was the instigator of a great persecution of Christians in the Church in Jerusalem and the scripture tells us that as a result there was a mass scattering of believers away from Jerusalem.

Persecution is alive and well today and it is ongoing at this moment. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus instructs us to pray for those who persecute us. No one knows more than Jesus what it means to be persecuted. Jesus was rejected, betrayed, and mocked, spit upon in the face, stripped naked, beaten, nailed to a cross and hung to die in agony.

Jesus endured suffering, pain, agony and the most painful of deaths in order to save us from our sins. Yet even as Jesus hung dying on the cross He prayed for His persecutors asking the Father to forgive them.

God hates sin and all of our evil ways yet He loves us no matter how great our sin. Jesus asks us to hate the evil things people do but to love the person who does the evil. This goes against our nature and is most difficult to do, so why would Jesus ask this of us? The reason is for us to learn forgiveness. Jesus has forgiven us so much and we are to forgive others as He has forgiven us.

Christians in Iraq and other Muslim dominated countries are suffering real and ongoing persecution today. We feel compelled to share with you this portion of an email we received today as we write this devotional.

THE UN HAS WITHDRAWN FROM OUR AREA AND MISSIONARIES ARE ON THEIR OWN. A PASTOR WROTE THAT ISIS HAS TAKEN OVER THE TOWN AND IS SYSTEMATICALLY GOING HOUSE TO HOUSE LOOKING FOR CHRISTIANS AND THEN ASKING THE CHILDREN TO DENOUNCE THEIR FAITH IN JESUS. HE SAID SO FAR NOT ONE CHILD HAS AND CONSEQUENTLY ALL HAVE BEEN KILLED AND THE PARENTS LEFT ALONE TO SEE THEIR CHILD KILLED.

ANOTHER WRITES, “WE LOST THE CITY OF QUERAGOSH. THIS IS A CITY THAT WE HAVE BEEN SMUGGLING FOOD TO. ISIS PUSHED BACK KURDISH FORCES AND NOW IS WITHIN 10 MINUTES OF WHERE OUR TEAM IS WORKING. WE MUST STAY HERE WITH THE BELIEVERS AND NON-BELIEVERS WHO CANNOT LEAVE HERE.”

IT IS URGENT THAT WE DO AS JESUS SAID. WE MUST PRAY URGENTLY FOR THE PERSECUTED THAT THEY WILL BE SPARED AND WE MUST PRAY FOR THE PERSCUTORS THAT THEIR HEARTS MIGHT BE CHANGED.

Worrying about our persecution is natural. Keep your mind centered on Christ and the worries about persecution and discrimination, anxieties and concerns of this world will pass and nothing is left then for you than the perfect peace given by God.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 100:4.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

PRAYER:

Lord, we pray urgently for all Christians around the world that they will stand strong in their faith and we pray especially for those who are standing strong in their faith in the face of persecution. We pray for all those Christian parents who have had their children slaughtered by ISIS and other terrorists groups.