Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Persuaded!


Who Shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persauded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

Like most Christians, I have certain passages of Scripture that are particular favorites. But if I had to single out one, this would be it. This is the passage I love most in all of the Word of God. I just felt constrained to post it today. My husband came home from a preaching service last night and he made my heart burn inside me. He had been so gripped by the sermon that he had just heard that he could barely contain himself as he was trying to relate it to me. You may remember the two missionaries whom we knew who were murdered several weeks ago in the country they were serving in. Well, the man who preached the sermon last night was a close friend of theirs and had seen them just hours before their death. His sermon was from this text. You can just imagine. Apparently, when Pastor D. finished preaching, nobody got up. Nobody said ANYTHING. Only the sound of people blowing their noses was heard. Finally, another pastor got up and said that probably the best thing for everybody to do was not to engage in idle chatter, but to go home and pray with their families. My goodness. I wish I could have been there to hear it too.

Guess what Pastor D. pressed hard on the people's hearts? THE PERSECUTED CHURCH. THE PERSECUTED CHURCH. Now I know I wish I'd been there. Folks, we have no idea what some of our brethren are going through because of their love for Christ. People are actually WILLING to suffer for Him. And they ARE suffering for Him. That's because like the Apostle Paul, these saints are PERSUADED. If we can't suffer--at least not yet--let's remember our commitment to prayer. Let's have them in our hearts, so we can REALLY pray.

I missed going to our church's ladies Bible study today, so I didn't get to pray with my sisters about some of the needs in the Voice of the Martyrs magazine, which we do monthly. (You might want to think about doing that in your ladies study.) Also, I'd like to suggest that you make a note on your busy church calendar about the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. This is no time to split hairs over some of the many petty arguments we have in the Church here in America. Let's get on our knees and pray for our brethren together.

7 comments:

Theresa's Notes said...

I love that passages of Scripture also.

Cathy said...

Beautiful post, Maxine. That scripture is wonderful, and we do need to pray for missionaries and those being persecuted.

Vicki said...

Oh, Maxine! To think we were both thinking and praying along the same lines today...of our beloved brethren who are being persecuted. THANK you for posting this. That verse is my absolute favorite, too. How could it not be? I broke down and wept today as I read through the Persecution blog and other articles. To see the faces and hear their stories...it moves me deeply. We need to keep these precious folk before the Body. You are so right...we can't afford to waste time on petty arguments in the Church--it's time to pray. And without ceasing.

Blessed by your caring spirit,
V.

Beka said...

Wow. I so wish I could have been there last night, too.

Thank you for spurring us on to pray fervently for our persecuted brethren.

And those verses are among my very favorites, too.

Beverly said...

This is my very favorite passage of Scripture. I don't think we can BEGIN to scratch the surface of what our brethren in the persecuted church are going through. Do we have this strength of devotion as we sit in our padded pews and read our multiple copies of God's Word? Of course these blessings from God are things to be truly thankful for. But it is so EASY for us. And still, we read these things and hear about them and take our precious blessings for granted. How Mr.S and I wish we could have been there!

Susan said...

Maxine none of us know how close we may also be to having to stand up and be persecuted here in the U.S. for our faith. My constant prayer is to stay close to him that I may be able to stand!!!
Susan

sparrow's song said...

Romans is the book I've had my heart in lately and mainly chapter 8. I love how the Spirit confirms His leading.

This particular posted scripture has spoken to me many times and especially as a young believer. A portion of it comes to me in song form. Who Shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword...from the love of our Lord. It brings back special memories surrounding a time spend alone with my Lord in my prayer closet when I my love for Him was so fresh and new.

Pausing to pray for those persecuted brethren. May He be glorified through their precious sacrifices.