Love Those Who Persecute Us

As a Christian woman, it infuriates me to hear about persecuted Christians in Africa and the Middle East. The first thought that pops into my head when I hear this is "how could they?" It made me want to stop the madness from happening, as I'm sure most of my readers felt the same way. It also made me, though, want to go out there and tell the persecutors and whoever might listen about the God who loves them and would not have them to hurt anyone, but to love everyone.

You see, the Bible says to love our enemies, even when they are persecuting us. I know it is a difficult task to accomplish, but I am going to try. My life dream since I was a little girl was to be a missionary and show the love of Jesus to those who have never heard His name before. However, I am starting to get some new perspective. 

Many Muslims have heard the name of Jesus, and still they don't want to have anything to do with Him. My new life dream is to share with Muslims the truth about who God is and how He wants to come into their lives and change their hearts.

A Christian who wants to share the Gospel with others will be persecuted. There is no avoiding it. Whether it be people making fun of your Jesus lovin' self in Environmental Science class, you get fired from work for boldly sharing your faith with a co-worker, or Al Shabaab is holding you at gun point on a college campus, you will be persecuted. But God is a strong God. He will empower you to do mighty things in His name if you will only trust Him. God never fails; God never leaves. Persecution is just a hill to climb in this life before we reach our final destination, but remember that we are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. 

Pslams 118:6 says, "The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" 

I am not saying God has called all Christians to drop everything and move to Africa and/or the Middle East and tell every Muslim you see about Jesus. All I am simply saying is love them. Love them until they see that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wants them to come into His kingdom. Love them until they see our joy in the midst of persecution. Love them until they see that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

Patience

(Please excuse my terrible grammar!)

Last night I went to a church, just like every Wednesday and spoke to a group of first to third graders on patience. It was kind of ironic that I was teaching on it because I literally have no patience whatsoever. I spoke on how the Prodigal Son in the Bible had no patience when he asked for his father's inheritance and continued reading throughout the story. Honestly, I did not look over my notes when I was putting my lesson together. I had heard the story of the Prodigal Son several times before and I figured it would be a nice and sweet message that would be over fast enough to play games.
However, when I started reading and explaining how the father patiently waited for the son to come back home, I nearly cried. I sometimes forget the beauty of the picture of the Prodigal Son. The son started coming up with what he was going say say to his father when he got home. He practiced his begging, pleading, and tears to just be a servant. When he reached his fathers land, the father was waiting patiently for him. I can picture the son clearing his throat before reciting his lines. He begins his cry for help when the father interrupts him and welcomes him home to the family.
This parable was told by Jesus.
The Father is a jealous God. He wants us. How incredible is that? He has proven that throughout the ages. He is constantly patient with us as we fall over and over again, always excepting us back into His loving arms, and welcoming us home.
Don't you see? We are sinful people. We cannot function without the Father! When the Prodigal Son ran away from his father and spent all his money, he ended up living with PIGS. The Bible said he longed to eat what the pigs ate because his boss would not feed him. This is just like us. We think the parties, the fancy foods, the wines, the "friends", and the attention will fill us up and make us satisfied. When we finally are all used up and don't have anything else to give, we realize how all of those things didn't really matter. The Prodigal Son was feeding the pigs and he realized that if he went back to his father's house and asked to just simply be a servant, he knew his father would at least feed him. This is a picture of us, readers! When we realize the only thing that can fully satisfy us is God, we reluctantly come to God and we are ashamed of our choices. But just like the father in the story, He wipes away each tear, and excepts us just as we are. He loves us that much. It does not matter to Him whatever we have done or what we have been through! Instead of making us feel guilty for our sins, He throws a welcome back party in our honor because we once were lost, but have been found.

"Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow."
Thanks for reading and again, I am not a writer so please excuse my grammar.
For His Glory,
Alex

Patience part 2

Lately I have been incredibly impatient. You see . . . I have a mission trip I applied for a while ago. I have been approved for the organization. In fact, I was approved about a month ago. The only problem is I do not know where I will be placed. I really want to go to Africa, but I do not know if that is what God wants me to do. As I sit here waiting for the email telling me where to go for my summer, I am so crazy obsessed with the mission trip though that I have forgotten to trust God. I have forgotten why I want to go on the mission trip in the first place. I have forgotten why God has placed me on this earth. I have forgotten how amazing He is and how He must be FEARED! I recently heard God's voice in the weirdest way: He told me to text my boyfriend and ask him if he feared God and what fearing God means to him. He answered that we have such a high respect for God that He is the Lord of our lives. And I completely agreed! but i was SO not ready for his next response. He asked, "What about you?" 

WHAT?! How dare he ask that! I asked him first . . . I mean he answered but . . . I mean . . . Well . . . Uh . . . Hmm. These were the exact thoughts that ran through my head. 

I realized the reason God told me to ask him that question is because I needed to be asked if I feared God. I know that I used to fear God in a huge way, but in all the craziness of life and opportunities I have forgotten what it meant to fear God. I forgot to make Him the Lord of my life because of how crazy my life was. So even though I still have no idea where I will be going this summer and I am freaking out because of it, I almost hope I don't learn where I am going for a week or so because I am learning so much out of the impatience. I am casting my cares apron Him, for He cares for me. 

In the same conversation with my boyfriend about fearing God, I also asked him what being a missionary meant to him. When I got his response, my heart nearly broke. I have not only forgotten to fear God, but I have also forgotten how much I care about telling people about the one true God who loves them without borders. I had forgotten how important it is for me to share with not only Africans or foreigners about Jesus, but the people around me to. I forgot the urgency I need to have in my life to tell people the good news. In all this impatience, God is regrowing fruit in my life that i lost for a while. I will leave with this: If you are reading this, know that 1. These are my deepest thoughts and they may not make sense, but I needed to get them out on paper and 2. Never forget how important it is to tell people about Jesus. Even if it is awkward, don't be afraid because you never know when someone is going to die. I try to never use the heaven and hell card, but remember that heaven and hell ARE very real. The devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. DON'T let the devoured be someone you come into contact with. I am not saying shove the Gospel down their throats, because then they would never come to Christ, but never pass up an opportunity to love someone and maybe asking them a question about their walk with Christ. It is so incredibly urgent that we all do this. It is not only a command from the Bible as believers to share God's word, but its each of our callings. It is why we are still here on earth after coming to Christ. Don't keep this HOPE to yourself, Christians!! It is SO worth sharing! 

Thanks for reading! 

For His Glory, 

Alex