So, I signed up on a Christian website for a free book about three weeks back and I honestly forgot about it. But there it was in the stack of mail today, its called Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand. I hadn't even paid attention when I signed up, but I had heard of Wurmbrand before. He was imprisoned for years and tourtured for his faith. I find that God's timing is funny, He knew that Justin's work would be different this week and I'd have a lot of down time, He knew I wouldn't set it down and forget about it. So I started reading it tonight and I'm already amazed. Wurmbrand was an orphan and born in Russia where he was raised an aithiest, despite his jewish heritage. So he married and winds up in this random village. He even admitted he didn't know why he was there. But it was there that he found Christ and soon after so did his wife. They lived through Nazi terany, but that wasn't the end of his story by a long shot.
"Beginning August 23, 1994, one million Russian troops entered Romania and, very soon after this, the Communists came to power in our country. Then began a nightmare that made suffering under the Nazis seem easy." ~pg 14
He talked about how the Communist used seduction towards the church to get their favor. Then gathered over 4000 pastors and preist of all denominations and they convinced them to vote Joseph Stalin as their honorary president. Yes, the same Joseph Stalin who had murdered countless christians. The bishops all began saying that christians and communist had the same fundamentals and promised the church's loyalty to the new government.
This is where it gets good and I had to stop, for I sat in awe and total respect for Wurmbrand's wife. They were present at this congress, and these were her words!
"Richard stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ! They are spitting in His face." I said to her, "If I do so, you lose your husband." She replied, "I don't wish to have a coward as a husband."
Wow! What an amazing example!!! The bible states that Men are to be the head of the household, but we women are also given a role. God gave us as encouragers. I don't know how often Justin has walked in the doors discouraged and worried about something that seems so big and I'll look at him and say "God will provide" He'll always sigh and say "Your right, always has always will" But could you stand with the strength that she did? Knowing that your encouragement might take the one you love from you, but also knowing that you must stand for Christ? One of our college students, who is wise beyond her years posted this on facebook...
If you were arrested for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to prove it? Would your life show that you follow Christ? I don't know about you but that's one case I want to be proven guilty.~Emily
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40
So often I find myself reflecting on my days and wondering, "God how could you ever love me, after all I have done and with me stumbling all the time?" I love how in those moments, I can feel Your love surround me! You have always loved me, since before my creation. You planned me so carefully. You gave me everything from my passions, size 8 feet, and even my southern draw. I can feel You growing ever closer in those moments that I find myself broken and regretful. I hear Your words about how much You love me, how I am Your child. How You will always love me. I don't know why I find myself forgetting in moments of weakness that You are CONSTANT! You never change! You loved all of us from the time You created the earth. I also find myself forgetting in those moments that I need to let go, You are in control...
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46
You are constantly telling me, "Don't you know who I AM? I've got this, just let me use you! I know your not perfect! I created you and everyone else! But I love you, I will restore you, I will give you rest." Father, I'm asking for your spirit again today. I'm asking that You open the heaven's wide and that Your spirit rains down upon me and my loved ones. I pray for healing. I pray for safety. I pray for You to fill my heart, mind and soul with Your words. Father, I don't know that I'll ever understand the depth of Your love, but I am so thankful for it!
I don't know if you have ever read all of Psalms. But it was suggested to me by my former preacher when I found myself feeling as though I was in an endless pit. He told me of how David wrote Psalms and how you can tell by his writings that at times he felt so close to God and other times he felt a million miles away. I have found myself in the same way with You, Father. One minute I can feel you right beside me, the next I feel a million miles away. I hate that feeling...when you can feel the devil breathing down your neck. I hate feeling as though darkness is surrounding me, knowing that I'm vulnerable. I want to be in Your presence. It is there and only there that I feel strong, safe. David also hated this feeling... 1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath. 2 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint;
heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony. 3 My soul is in deep anguish.
How long, LORD, how long? 4 Turn, LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love. 5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
Who praises you from the grave? 6 I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears. 7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes. 8 Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping. 9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;
they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame. ~Psalm 6
Father I also find myself in David's position of asking You, "How long will I suffer?" I know that You never promised an easy road, but I need just a glimpse of You now. Father, I am growing faint fast and satan knows it! He's attacking from every angle! Father rebuke him! Father allow me to run into Your arms and rest there as a child running to their dad after a nightmare. Father, I need Your help. I'm begging... I don't know what to do... I don't know which way to turn... I don't want the world's advice or to know what everyone else would do! I want Your answer! I want your will! Guard me Father. Restore me...
3 Not only so, but we[a] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5
You are loved! You are loved! You are loved! Did you know that today? Did you realize that when you woke up this morning that the God of the universe was smiling at you saying, "Good morning my precious, precious child"? Did you know that when things go wrongly or you are hurt that the God of the universe looks at you with the same sorrowful look of a father watching his toddler fall? Did you know that when you are delighting in the Lord that the God of the Universe is chuckling with you? Did you know that you were set apart? Did you know that you have been called out? Did you know that you have a purpose?
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
Jeremiah 1:5
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Isaiah 6:8
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I love the ministry, I love serving and so often I'm asked "why?". "You can't make any money in that". "Hobbies are fine, but you should get a real job". I don't know if you know my Jesus, but He saved me. He saw me as the horrible piece of garbage that I was and He SAVED me! Then He told me that I was going to serve Him. The people who ask me these questions and make the comments about "why?" don't know me very well either. Otherwise, they would know that I am happiest at my Father's feet. There is no place I'd rather be then in the presence of my Lord and Savior! God has given me a purpose in this life. I don't want to spend my life on meaningless things. I don't want to waste my life ever again. If God granted me a hundred lives I would want to spend them all the same way. I want to leave a legacy and I want it to be one that would honor Him. I'm not asking you to understand or even approve. But this is who I am and who I was created to be. How could I be anything else?
"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing."
~1 Corinthians 13:1-3
It is clearly stated throughout God's word that love is very important. Now when you think of love, your mind may wander back to some old sappy movie of true love. You know the movie, most include a boy from the wrong side of the tracks and a rich girl who are perfect for each other. They eventually end up together in some cliche way and live happily ever after. But as we Christians know, God's idea of things and the world's idea of things are most often very different, and love is no exception. The world depicts love as a one night stand, a random meet at a bar, a lustful thought, and even an excuse to break up a marriage. The world paints love as an easy picture, when in fact understanding love is one of the hardest things you will ever learn. So, what is God's idea of love?
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
WOW! Now how many of us can say that we know a love that is the perfect definition of that? It's definitely not the world's picture of love. I will never forget when I married my husband, the wife of my former pastor gave us a framed version of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. I will never forget that hard first year of trying to figure each other out, and every time we found ourselves upset with each other I found myself looking at it. Praying, "Father, make us love each other like that". Now I will in no way say that Justin and I have it all figured out or are even close to God's definition of love. But I think what keeps us going is the fact that even though we fail daily, we want to be like God's love. Will it ever be perfect? No, and anyone who tells you it will be is not being honest. But God longs for those who strive for Him, and He promises that He will help those who long for Him. We can go through life doing many great things, but it will do us no good if we never love. God's love is what gave us salvation. We owe everything to this love. How many times have you heard, "you'll never see a U-haul attached to the Hersch"? We can't take anything with us when we leave this earth. Everything we leave behind will perish, at some point and time it will get worn out or broke and wither away, except for love. Love is something that can be passed on and down generation after generation.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
~1 Corinthians 13:13
Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
And then commit to never leave
So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
If we try to leave may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for
To some, love is a word that they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
If we try to leave may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for
Love will come to save us, if we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us, but demand we give our all
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
If we try to leave may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for
I would fight for you, would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for.
