Daily Courage

[Judy Harder]

This poor man called and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:6-7)

Oswaldo Magdangal

The religious police in Saudi Arabia, the so-called "Mutawa", interrogated and mistreated Brother Wally for many days. He was beaten in the face, punched and kicked. The flogging, on the back, palms of the hands and soles of the feet were the worst.

"In the midst of the flogging, the Lord stood beside me," Brother Wally testified. The torture lasted for two hundred and ten minutes - without interruption.

Later, Brother Wally said the following about it, "Boxers fight for twelve rounds at the most. Every round lasts three minutes, after which they get one minute of rest. They are massaged, they get something to drink, the wounds are tended to and everything else is done to get them to box for another three minutes. So they are in action for thirty-six minutes at most and they have about twelve minutes of rest. I was beaten and flogged for two hundred and ten minutes on end. But glory to God, after two hundred and ten minutes they came to an end because - they themselves were tired. I was still standing straight. No knock-out. God had supported me all the time. It was a miracle. The Lord was very close to me."

This is no theory, but practice. These are not pretty words about how God can help, but a testimony of strength in spite of suffering. The Lord allows suffering - sometimes even death - but, "I will be with him in trouble" (Psalm 91:15).

[Judy Harder]

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11-12)

Oswaldo Magdangal

In Saudi Arabia, when they flog you, the most painful lashes are those given under the feet. After the flogging, they force you to stand up, but because of the pain in the feet it is impossible to do so. When Brother Wally had undergone this torture, the pain was unbearable. He said, "I began to feel sorry for myself and begged the police not to make me stand up. I was down on my knees before them, for I could not stand up." But the police forced him, although it was impossible.

Brother Wally, "Suddenly I recalled Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12, just like that, in the midst of all this pain. It was the Holy Spirit who reminded me of these words. "For he will command his angels concerning you ... they will lift you up in their hands..." And that was exactly what the Lord did for me. I was able to stand up, hands and feet chained - but I didn't feel any pain. The police were flabbergasted. How could someone who just begged them to let him lie down be able to stand up all of a sudden? Angels had lifted me up in their hands. They could not see them, but I felt they were there. They were carrying me.

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens" (Psalm 68:19).

[Judy Harder]

If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
(Romans 14:

Oswaldo Magdangal

It was the seventieth day of his captivity. The next day, he would be hanged. Brother Wally wrote a farewell letter to his wife and after that he prayed together with a fellow-prisoner. They recalled Paul and Silas, who praised the Lord in prison, after which the Lord made the walls of the prison shake.

They started to pray, too, from ten o'clock in the evening until eleven, but there was no shaking. Brother Wally looked at the bars and said, "Lord, if we are hanged, we will be with You. It is always the story of Jesus Christ. If we are set free, You will still be with us - it's still the story of Jesus. So there is no room for Satan, no room for a defeat. Whether we are hanged or released, it is Your victory, Lord. If we are hanged, another chapter will be added to Acts - two more martyrs like Stephen. If we are released, it will be Acts 29, for then the Gospel will be spread even further.

At a quarter past eleven, a high ranking police officer came in. Half an hour later we were released and I was put on a plane to Manila. I was free! On 25 December, Christmas Day, at eleven o'clock in the morning, we arrived in Manila."

"If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

[Judy Harder]

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us ... Be reconciled to God.
(2 Corinthians 5:20)

Oswaldo Magdangal

Every Christian is an ambassador. We represent God by presenting Jesus Christ as Savior of the world. Every Christian has a story to tell. The greatest story that this world has ever heard is the story of the coming of Jesus Christ, to save a dying world. We are Christ's ambassadors in proclaiming that great story. The second greatest story this world can ever hear is still the story of Jesus - in the lives of Christians like you and me.

Let us not hold back that story - the Jesus story, but tell the world. Proclaim the greatest news - in words and deeds, without counting the cost.

"They overcame him by the power of the Lamb, and by the word of His testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death" (Revelation 12:16).

What a challenge.

What a responsibility.

What a privilege.

[Judy Harder]

 song of praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.

In the midst of all his suffering and persecution, David knows he is safe under God's protection. The darker the night, the brighter the light. God gives us strength to bear our cross.

David

May all the kings of the earth praise you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth.
May they sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great.
Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever - do not abandon the works of your hands.
(Psalm 138:4-8)

[Judy Harder]

Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all ... And he died for all, that those who live, should no longer live for themselves but for him...' (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Remarkable Remarks

Reaching Out

Augustine; Church Father 354-430 AD:

"Without God - we cannot
Without us - God will not."

Accad - Lebanon:

"All efforts to evangelize the Arabs have failed, simply because we failed to love them."

Somebody:

"God never gives a task without the ability to accomplish it; When He calls, He enables; When He appoints, He anoints."

Brother Andrew: commenting on Acts 17:6 (RSV)

"As long as there is one Christian in prison for his faith in Jesus Christ, I am not free."

William Temple:

"The Church is the only organization in the world that exists only for the benefit of non-members."

[Judy Harder]

              from Day by Day with the Persecuted Church,


"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"  "Who are you Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied.  (Acts 9:4-5)

Paul

The first time that we meet Paul is at the execution of Stephen, who was the first Christian martyr. Paul looked after the coats of the men who stoned Stephen. He hated Stephen as well as the rest of the Christians. He intended to do God a service by persecuting them. He had, therefore, discovered in which houses the Christians met and his henchmen would unexpectedly force their way in and drag the Christians off to prison.

Paul was filled with hate against anything that had to do with Christ - until he met Christ for himself and had a radical conversion. Would the Christians from the house-churches - when they prayed for their leaders in prison - have also prayed for the persecutor, Paul? Perhaps Paul met Jesus as an answer to their prayers. We do not know - not yet.

God intervened and changed the persecutor into a preacher.

Someone once said, "If such a gifted man is converted, it is amazing what such a man can do for God."

But an even greater thing is this - it is not what such a man can do for God that is important but what God can do for him. Forgiveness of sins and a new life with and for the Lord. That is what God did for Paul.

There is hope for the persecutors of God's Church. Will you pray for them? Is anything impossible for God?

[Judy Harder]

It has always been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather it is written: Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand. (Romans 15:20-21)

Paul

Paul had world vision. All nations must hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He preferred to go to places as yet unreached. He visited strategic centers out of which the whole world could be reached in the quickest and best way.

He worked from that well known principle - Urbi et Orbi - the town and the world. It is surprising what such a man was able to achieve in such a short time and with so little material. For that he paid a price. He sacrificed everything, even friendship.

Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain can be reached by us in just a few days but for Paul in his circumstances, it was an almost impossible task. But he did it. He was able to say at a given moment, "But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions..." (Romans 15:23).

Today the Lord gives us all the materials, all the technical know-how and all the possibilities to reach the whole world with the Gospel. The harvest remains plentiful, especially in lands which for many decades were closed to missionary work. The workers are few - people of vision and faith; people who are prepared to pay the price; those who dare to give up security for an unsure future; those who have a vision for the world; who dare to say "the world is my church" instead of "the church is my world."

Pray, therefore, that the Lord of the harvest will send forth workers and be prepared to be the answer to your own prayers.

 

[Judy Harder]

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. (Acts 16:25)

Paul

Paul and his co-workers had just entered into Europe and they had landed in prison. They had released a poor woman from evil spirits - to the great annoyance of her masters who had made a lot of money through her as a fortune-teller. In place of thankfulness (she could lead a normal life again) there was opposition. Paul and Silas were thrown into prison after being stripped, beaten and severely flogged. There they sat with their bleeding backs and their feet firmly secured in the stocks.

However, with every reason to complain, Paul and Silas turned the prison into a church. They preached the Gospel to the other prisoners who had to listen for it was impossible to walk out of "that church." Paul had a captive audience. They preached, prayed and sang songs to the glory of God. They turned a bad situation into good account.

It is remarkable that this happens, even today. Christian prisoners witness to their faith. This takes courage and faith which comes from the Lord, just like the experience of Paul and Silas.

Prisoners came to faith. When the earthquake came, the walls shook and the doors flew open, but not one prisoner took advantage of the freedom.

They stayed listening to Paul whose message of true freedom hit them like a bolt from the blue.

It is possible to remain faithful to God in all circumstances because He gives strength to go through.

Pray, with thanksgiving, for Christian prisoners you know. God can also use them - in answer to your prayers.

[Judy Harder]

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
(2 Corinthians 12:9b)

Paul

With these verses, Paul concludes a very impressive list of all the hardships he endured. In it he states the following:

"Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one;
Three times I was beaten with rods;
Once I was stoned;
Three times I was shipwrecked;
I spent a night and a day in the open sea;
I have been constantly on the move.
I have been in danger from rivers,
in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen,
in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city,
in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brothers.
I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep;
I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food;
I have been cold and naked...
Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?"
(2 Corinthians 11:24-29)

He ends his enumeration by stating, "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10).

What was his secret? The Word of the Lord - "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9a).

Is there any reason why we should complain?

No, because God's power is still made perfect in weakness. Also today.