Fear can rob a believer of his confidence and joy ... of his spiritual well-being and effectiveness as a follower of Christ. The 'fear of dying' may be the most crippling of all, but we are encouraged to see life and death through God's eyes.
Satan is now using 'religion' as a means for killing those who love the Lord. Every single day, Christians are being imprisoned, tortured, and put to death in other parts of the world. Secular intolerance is not the main source of this persecution. Of the fifty countries listed as the most dangerous, twenty-nine are under Islamic rule.
Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. John 16:2
The Bible reveals how we are to think of 'martyrdom' as the Day of the Lord approaches ...
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28
Obedience to this command takes a type of courage that is not natural to our 'fight or flight' instinct. The indwelling Holy Spirit enables us to stand. He shifts our attention away from the fragility of this fleeting existence ... to that of our promised heavenly home.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1
The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. 2 Timothy 4:18
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21
If and when the hour of our testing comes, we can have the blessed assurance experienced by Stephen ... who (as he was being stoned at the hands of sinful men) saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father, ready to receive him with open arms.
No comments:
Post a Comment