Daily Courage

[Judy Harder]

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

(1 Peter 5:

Nicolae Gheorghita

I remember an exceptional day. I woke up feeling refreshed and read the text from Ephesians 6:11. "Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the devil's schemes." Everything seemed clear and peaceful. I heard myself praying, "Anything that Satan will try to do today against me will not be successful."

Everything went well, until one o'clock when we had a special meeting at the hospital where I was working. Prior to that meeting, a colleague was asked by a party official to stand up and accuse me. The colleague looked at me and said, "You, Dr Gheorghita, are using office time to read and translate Christian books." He was partly right. I read and translated books, but not during office hours. Instead of spending my lunch hour talking to the other doctors, I spent the time translating books. I knew that the man was being used to speak against me, I asked him to tell me the title of one of the books I had translated. He stuttered and could not answer. The hospital director then told the man that no further charges could be brought against me without proof.

I remembered the verses from Ephesians 6:11 and 1 Peter 5:8. The best way to be alert is in the confidence of God's presence in all circumstances. The battle is not ours but God's and then victory is assured.

[Judy Harder]

Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.
(1 Peter 4:12)

Nicolae Gheorghita

Sometimes God uses atheists to prove that the Bible is true. One day the secret police came to my house and confiscated many Christian books. I was summoned to appear for investigation the following day. A military prosecutor and four secret police officers questioned me for 10 hours, they then asked me if there was anything else for which I would like to confess, so I said, "Sir, this investigation does not take me by surprise because I knew this would happen. The Lord Jesus Christ told His followers that they would be arrested and suffer if they wanted to follow Him. If I would not be a disciple, would you have arrested me?" They looked at me and said, "No." "So the Bible is true," I continued. "This investigation confirms to me the biblical truth, and I am willing to face the consequences; I am willing to pay the price. Your job is to set the price and mine is to pay it with gladness because I love my God - and He will strengthen me to bear this burden. But I also want you to know that He loves you too." They looked at me, astonished and bewildered. They apologized to me and told me I was free to go home. "We were only doing our job," they said.

Let us never be ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for salvation.

Nicolae Gheorghita is from Romania. He became well-known as one of pastors of the largest Baptist Churches in Europe. Despite his status, his messages are characterized by their simplicity and servitude.

[Judy Harder]

If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

(1 Peter 4:14)

Nicolae Gheorghita

Christ exhorts us to take up our cross. That is not easy. We do not want to suffer. But we need to realize that suffering is a part of our walk with God. If we only believe in God with our heads and not with our actions and deeds, we will not suffer. Only when we live up to God's standards will we face hardships. But what does the Bible teach us? "If you are insulted because of the name of Christ you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."

I already mentioned that I am translating Christian books from English into our own language. From the moment I started doing this I realized that sooner or later the police would arrest me for this. My wife and I had talked about the consequences. We realized that I could be put in prison and beaten for my work, that she could be left alone to raise our children. However, we decided that I should continue to serve the Lord in this way. He would take care whatever might befall us. I thank God for my wife and children. God has always been faithful. You know God not only exhorts us to take up our cross - He bears it with us. He bears the heavy part ... I am just walking along. Let us not look at the price and pain only. Let us look to Christ. He bore the cross and went all the way. What a love. What a joy to be found worthy to suffer with Him. He is worthy

[Judy Harder]

Even though David is again threatened with death, this Psalm, written by him, is full of trust in the Lord his God. 

The more David speaks with God, the more the enemy fades to the background.

The one who puts his trust in God, can remain steadfast under all circumstances. For the enemy is not in control, but God is.

David

Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack.
My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride.
When I am afraid, I will trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?
Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise- in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
(Psalm 56:1-4,9-11)

[Judy Harder]

Take your son... and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.
(Genesis 22:2)

Ferenc Visky

God speaks to Abraham and requires something from him. Abraham thinks of everything, except the fact that he has a God who asks something from him.

Nobody is aware that God can also ask for things. People like to ask for things and they like God to give. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his own beloved son and with it, He asked everything from him.

When I was deported together with my seven little children, the eldest of whom was eleven years old and the youngest only two, my biggest concern was not that all our possessions had to be left behind, that the door was closed behind us and that we would not return. The one thing I worried about was the seven little ones. What would become of them? Who would feed them and look after them?

Abraham obeyed and laid his son on the altar, though he did not know God's purpose. He only knew God Himself, for he believed Him and loved Him. Before Abraham sacrificed Isaac, he laid himself on the altar - by obeying God. Because he sacrificed himself first, he prevented the sacrifice of Isaac.

I knew I had to do the same thing. I cried for my children, but I had to lay myself on the altar first. And there, in that fateful situation, I experienced a miraculous surprise. Jesus had been there before. He did His Father's will and so I found that He was there when I was prepared to sacrifice myself and it meant salvation for me and my children.

Don't try to find an excuse when God takes you to the altar, for it is there that He Himself is waiting for you - in His beloved Son.

Ferenc Visky is from Romania. He and his wife write in a moving way about their life with the Lord despite heavy persecution.

[Judy Harder]

I am God Almighty; walk before Me...
(Genesis 17:1)

Ferenc Visky

God did not introduce Himself to Abraham like this without reason, "I am God Almighty..." God always makes Himself clear. He calls Himself the Almighty because Abraham did not know yet that He was omnipotent. If he had known, he wouldn't have taken Hagar for his wife. He would have awaited God's plan, the birth of Isaac and it would have saved himself and others a lot of misery. Abraham was wrong about God when he thought that He would not have the power to give Sara a baby in her hopeless situation.

And Abraham was not the only one. It happens to everyone who doubts God's omnipotence and His salvation. And it is a sin.

I believe that God created man out of the dust of the earth and that the visible originated from the invisible, but when it became clear that He was able to maintain me and my family from nothing, I was dumbfounded. God proved to me that He was also the Almighty during my deportation.

He also said to Abraham, "Walk before Me and be blameless." I can even walk in impassable ways when I am certain about God's omnipotence and be blameless, too, that is to say that I can completely rely on God, Who is perfect, and then I can walk straight towards my goal.

Don't be afraid to lean on God's omnipotence completely. It does not mean looking on passively. It means going on. He who walks with God is carried by Him and crowned with His salvation. He did so with us. Wouldn't He be able to do so for you? "I am God Almighty"' Do you know this God?

Ferenc Visky is from Romania. He and his wife write in a moving way about their life with the Lord despite heavy persecution.

[Judy Harder]

So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him, because of his love for her.
(Genesis 29:20)

Ferenc Visky

Jacob had to serve Laban for seven years under difficult conditions to get his wife Rachel. In fact, the whole period of his service amounted to twenty years (Genesis 31:41). Love delivered him from the tyranny of time. Where love is, there is eternity, timelessness.

Convicts in prison undergo the heaviest crisis when the last remains of a life in freedom are taken from them. I went through that crisis together with eight other brothers - our heads were shaved bald and we were given striped prison clothes. Our sentences varied from eighteen to twenty-two years' imprisonment. We had to give up the life we had led until then. All of this was accompanied by derision and rough abuse from the guards, between grey walls with barred windows. All of us bore the visible signs of our readiness to die in silence. But we also experienced the comfort of the Lord in this desperate situation. He sent us this text, "...they seemed like only a few days to him, because of his love for her." I whispered it in the ear of the brother who stood beside me and he passed it on to the next. As if in a holy relay, it passed the whole row, "...because of his love for her."

God, too, loved us so much that He sacrificed His own beloved Son with joy to save us. Jacob didn't count the years, the only thing that counted for him was Rachel. Even during the long years of service he was a free man. Love made him free. When the apostle Paul speaks about his suffering for the name of Jesus, he says that the troubles are "light and momentary" (2 Corinthians 4:17).

When you love the Lord, your captivity for His sake, your suffering for Him is light and a pleasure.

Ferenc Visky is from Romania. He and his wife write in a moving way about their life with the Lord despite heavy persecution.

[Judy Harder]

Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.
(Amos 5:13)

Ferenc Visky

Keeping silent to conceal something is quite different from keeping silent to listen to God. When we conceal something we do not hear God's voice. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."

The well-known "sema" is attached to the doorpost of every Israelite. It is also on a small scroll on his wrist and on his forehead. God shaped and preserved His people by this "hear, Israel". But it is also possible not to hear correctly.

We had been in prison for a few weeks and there were eight of us in a cell that was meant for only two. We had all been convicted for the testimony of Jesus Christ. The evenings were harder than the days, because then our thoughts were with our loved ones, whom we had been forced to leave behind.

From the corridors alongside the cells, the sound of dull blows and an occasional restrained cry came to our ears. Someone was being beaten again. Our heavy, drunken guard sometimes picked out one of us and beat his victim up in the corridor. It could be our turn at any moment. We sat together like a flock startled by wolves and the beating of our hearts was audible...

The tempter wanted to make things even more difficult for us. One of us softly remarked, "We wouldn't be here if we had kept silent, for it is written that the prudent man keeps quiet in evil times." The words came down on us like sledgehammer blows. It is bearable to be accused by people, but when God condemns you as well, that is unbearable. We almost collapsed under the heavy load. But we were comforted again. The Holy Spirit explained the text to us through one of our brothers as follows - the prudent man keeps quiet in evil times, but he is silent in order to listen. To listen to God.

At that instant, the charge of the accuser was disproved and the terror vanished from our cell.

Listen to God and the tempter will flee from you.

[Judy Harder]

But a time is coming and has come when ... you will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
(John 16:32)

Ferenc Visky

In prison, and also outside, the realization of being delivered and then abandoned is the most difficult thing to deal with. In our cell, we began every new morning with worship. It is true that we had no Bible, but the Holy Spirit fulfilled the promise from John 14:26, "He will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

One morning, the following text came to my mind, "The time has come when you will all leave me alone." I pondered on the meaning of this text. What did it mean - leaving Jesus all alone? Does it mean that I must let You be the only one to stay with me, Lord? Will my brothers be taken away from me and will I be alone in this cell? No, it can't be true, Lord. After all, they prayed me back from death one time. They shared their last piece of bread with me and supported me in everything because I am the weakest of them. In my struggle, I clearly heard Jesus' voice, "Am I not enough for you?" I couldn't give a negative answer. "Yes, Lord, You're enough!"

After this, I felt relieved. I passed this text on to my brothers. A few minutes later, the door of the cell was opened and some Securitate© officers came in. They read out a list of names of people who had to move from the cell. I knew beforehand that they wouldn't read out my name. I was on my own now, yet I was not alone. Jesus' glowing presence filled my heart with joy.

Jesus' presence makes up for everything. You can be sure that He only takes something or someone away from you in order to give Himself even more fully.

[Judy Harder]

You know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
(1 Peter 5:9)

Ferenc Visky

God never tests us without comforting us as well. But the comfort is not always what we expect it to be.

It was the sixth year of my detention and I didn't know anything about my wife and seven little children who had stayed behind in the vicarage. The eldest of the children was only ten years old when I left them.

One evening, another group of prisoners arrived at the Szamosujvar prison. They came from the Danube delta and among them was a pastor who recognized me. He came to me and softly said to me, "I don't want to upset you, but I have to tell you something. On good authority, I know that your family has been deported to a temporary accommodation close by the prisoners' work area."

At first, I was deeply shocked by this message - weren't they satisfied with the sentence of twenty-two years' imprisonment? Did they also have to intrude into the lives of my wife and children? My heart was craving for strength and comfort. In this awful inner struggle, the Lord answered me. Like a flash of lightning, the words came to my mind, "...your brothers are undergoing the same kind of suffering." An inexpressible joy filled my heart and I gave thanks to the Lord for the favor which he allowed my wife and children to share. They, too, had become bearers of Christ's wounds. Gratitude and peace filled my heart. To the present day, I experience what a rich source of blessing these four years of severe suffering have been in the lives of our children. If you say "yes" to God's unusual comfort, your life, too, will be full of immeasurable blessing.