Woven
Please read Acts 1: 1-8.
Ladies, I’d intended a different path today. Actually, I’d planned for us to do more reading in the book of Acts today. But, I reread verse 8 of chapter 1, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in a Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth, and my entire plan shifted.
We have heartbreak in the news again. I have to confess that I don’t watch or read much news (ours or the world’s). However, we couldn’t miss it yesterday. Tragedy has struck Afghanistan. Our Christian brothers and sisters are in trouble. The little bit that I read made me sick to my stomach. Our spiritual family, the ones living out the invitation to be Christ’s witnesses to the remotest parts of the earth, is undergoing real, live persecution.
I read that parents of believing families are being drug out of homes and killed while their young children are taken to be trafficked.
Pastors and ministry leaders who’ve devoted their lives to making disciples of Jesus Christ (and have had thriving ministries) are being publicly killed.
The stories making headlines make me want to cry!
Jesus promised it would happen, yet I don’t want to think about it.
While we sit comfortably in our country calling mask mandates and vaccine preferences persecution, we have brothers and sisters that are losing their physical lives and gaining their spiritual lives all at the same time.
Even though my heart is completely broken when I think about the awful circumstances, I’m quickly convinced that in the moment these sweet Christians faced death, they immediately saw the face of their Savior. THE Jesus that we’ve been reading about is meeting each of these saints and walking them into GLORY. Without a doubt, they are hearing well done! Also, without a doubt, they are living these terrible days empowered by the Holy Spirit, and I can’t help but feel a little jealousy for the PRESENCE they get to experience.
Along with the presence of Christ, I guarantee they’re experiencing the kind of unity Jesus prayed for in John 17. You know what you don’t do when you’re facing persecution and death alongside your Christian brothers and sisters?
You don’t fight and argue about non-eternal things. Oh, I would love to see it!
Have we created such safety, become so comfortable, and sheltered ourselves right out of the Holy Spirit power we were promised? Are we wishing for ease and missing out on His power and presence? Believe me…. I’m not interested in chasing the kind of persecution that would lead to death. But, goodness, if God has promised me the full power of the Holy Spirit within me, I don’t want to be afraid of living a life that would require me to need it.
I don’t know what else to say, ladies. I may go back and read over Luke’s words in Acts 1, verses 1 through 8 to remind myself that God is in control. His plan for spreading the Gospel will likely be just as messy and confrontational as Jesus’ life here on earth was. At least He brought us the gift that would make it possible for us to live it. I’m going to journal some of my thoughts.
And, I’m going to pray for our family. Let’s do that together all day long. Even if you’ve never posted a comment here, would you consider posting your prayer for fellow believers living in persecution publicly today in the comments section? Let’s stand in solidarity and unity with them as much as is possible for us. We make up a diverse group of women that come from different backgrounds, races, religions, and many other things, but we can stand unified in prayer for brothers and sisters that need our support.
Dear God, I don’t know what to pray. Honestly, I can’t begin a prayer without picturing a mom just like me, a teacher just like me, a sister/friend just like me facing a persecutor. What must it feel like to know life is coming to an end? I am literally resting in belief that You, the ultimate Comfort, are there doing what I can’t even imagine. We are praying Your kingdom come, Your will be done, HERE just as it is in Heaven. Even in the danger, Jesus, please continue to draw all men to you. Strengthen us by the courage of our fellow Believers.
