Daily Courage

[Judy Harder]

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.  (Job 1:21)

Constantin Caraman

When I was working as a doctor in the Romanian countryside, I once met an old man. He was walking in the middle of the road, crying. I stopped and asked if there was anything I could do for him. He said, "I had seven sons and all of them have been killed." I looked into the face of this man to whom life had little meaning anymore. Automatically, the question arises, "O Lord, why so much suffering?"

"I can't go on any more and I don't want to either," the man said. In moments like these, it is better to be silent. Then the only thing for a doctor to do is to entrust him to the care of our Great Healer and pray for peace and strength. I was thinking about Job. He would have understood and helped this man much better. But Job was not there. But He, who was tempted in every way, just as we are, He was there - Jesus Christ. He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses.

Job knew grief like no other. His reaction to suffering was not a fatalistic one. Fatalists say, "It just happens to you and there is nothing you can do about it." But Job sought comfort in the Lord in spite of his inner struggle and his questions. He had the kind of submission that overcame the ordeal.

My life is in God's hand. It is safe there, whatever happens.

[Judy Harder]

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)

Constantin Caraman

This is no easy assignment. We are inclined to dislike those who hurt us. The best thing we are able to do is to ignore them. But God requires something totally different. He wants us to bless those who hate us. To pray for those who persecute us. That seems impossible. Remember that blessing someone does not mean that we approve of his actions. In fact, we disapprove of their behavior, but they need God. That's why we need to pray for them, and bless them with the love of the Lord.

In His sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:44-48), Jesus even tells us to love them. We ourselves could never find it in our hearts to love an enemy. It just goes against our nature. Where in the world will we find people who can? You will only find it in people who are no longer of this world, but now belong to the Kingdom of God.

In Christ, who forgave us first, we are able to do the unusual deed of embracing an enemy, of loving those who hate us, of praying for those who persecute us, of blessing those who curse us.

And so, through us, Christ can reach that hard heart, so that it may also discover Christ's forgiveness and have eternal life.

Writer for the month - Constantin Caraman from Romania was in prison three times for his faith.

[Judy Harder]

Lord, do not hold this sin against them. (Acts 7:60)

Constantin Caraman

I would like to end the list of ordinary people who did extraordinary things with Stephen. After he had proclaimed the Gospel in Jerusalem, he was in serious trouble. Some of the onlookers attacked him and dragged him out, intending to kill him. "Away with him," they shouted, "we don't want to listen to this any longer."

Stephen knew there could be a reaction like this. After all, the disciples had been picked up and punished several times already. Yet, none of them had been stoned and killed. Stephen would be the first martyr.

When they started throwing stones at him, he could have cried, "Lord, help me, they are going too far. Lord, send down a fire from heaven to destroy these people. You don't want me to die, do you?"

While the stones came down and hit him, he knelt down and prayed. What did he pray for? Did he pray for strength to remain faithful? No, he prayed for those who cursed him, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."

Until his last breath he had compassion on the sinners, and in doing so, he followed Christ's example.

Are we prepared to do this too?

[Judy Harder]

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.  (Matthew 20:34)

Irina Ratushinskaya

Our attention is usually focused on the miracle instead of on the attitude of the one who is cured. And those who were cured reacted in different ways. Some of them followed Christ immediately - others did what Christ told them to do.

How about us? Christ has also touched us - physically or spiritually. How did we react? Did we follow Him? Or did we just live on as if nothing had ever happened?

Perhaps we steered the middle course and said, "Lord, I am grateful and I intend to follow You, but I have to settle a few other things first. Furnish the house, paper the rooms, finish that new project," and so on and so on.

The longer man makes plans to do something, the less chance there is that he will ever carry them out.

Significantly, the Gospel according to Luke mentions the fact that out of ten people who were cured of leprosy by Christ, only one returned to thank Him. And Jesus" question was, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" (Luke 17:17)

May the Lord never need to ask that question of you and me.

[Judy Harder]

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. (Revelation 8:3)

Open Doors Contact Person

He had been in prison in Siberia for many years.

Those were years of suffering, torture, brainwashing.

After his release we spoke to him and asked, "What was the secret of your victory whilst you were in prison for so long?"

He pulled out a little notebook from his pocket. "This is the secret" he said. "These are the people who prayed for me while I was in prison. They sent me postcards and I kept their names. You have no idea how we depended on getting those postcards. They encouraged us and the other prisoners."

God hears our prayers when we pray.

Prayers for those who suffer.

Prayers for our families.

Prayers for our own problems.

Never stop asking. One day all will be revealed.

The prayers of the saints are kept by God. Yours as well.

[Judy Harder]

What kind of suffering is David describing here? Is it sickness and other physical suffering? Or spiritual suffering and persecution? Whatever, in both cases enemies are lying in wait to take over his kingship when he dies. David's life is in danger and he cries out to God.

David

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?
Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.
No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?
I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.
Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping.
The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
(Psalm 6)

[Judy Harder]

Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.  (John 12:24)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.  (Psalm 23:4)

Remarkable Remarks - Victorious Under Pressure

Michael Khorev - formerly USSR:

"Lord, if my bonds glorify you more than my freedom, why should I want freedom?"

Chinese Evangelist in a letter from prison to his wife:

"After you have drunk the cup of suffering, then comes a fountain of blessing."

In another letter to his wife:

"Without fire, how can gold become pure? Without chiseling, how can a rock become a statue? Without pressing, how can grapes become wine?"

Nepalese Christian after years in prison:

"Persecution is only a sign of labor pains, giving birth to the Church."

Paul Claudel:

"Jesus did not come to remove suffering, but to fill it with His presence."

[Judy Harder]

By faith Abraham, when called to go ... obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. (Hebrews 11:

Abraham

Abraham's story begins with God. The Lord called him to leave all that he loved and go to the country of God's choice. Nobody had ever done that before. He had no examples of how God had led others. He could not say, as the Lord led them, so He will lead me. Yet he went - by faith.

Obedience to God's call is a true expression of one's faith in God. Such obedience may involve hardship. It was not easy for Abraham to leave his home and relatives and go to a land he did not know. We must be prepared to take up our cross daily to follow Him. Each step may involve an altar on which some part of the self-life needs to be offered. Abraham stood at such altars again and again, sometimes victoriously, at other times in failure and defeat.

Abraham did not know where to go. It was enough for him to know that he went with God.

As someone said, "I would rather travel with God in the night, than travel alone in the day."

Such people become God's friends.

[Judy Harder]

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5, 6)

Abraham

The man of faith was a man of failure also. This offers encouragement to all those who want to follow God but are aware of their own frailty. It gives assurance that God is willing to use ordinary men and women. This does not mean that failure is acceptable. We can learn from Abraham's failures - in order to be aware of the snares of the devil.

In Abraham's life these failures were incidental, not fundamental. When he fell, God drew him back and Abraham responded.

"There was a famine in the land." A famine? A famine in the Land of Promise? Had Abraham made a wrong decision to come to Canaan? Abraham's faith did not waver, but his mind was not directed towards God. "He went down to Egypt." But Egypt was not the land God had shown him. Neither did God lead him to Egypt as God could have done in this time of despair. Abraham made the decision himself, without consulting God.

Such disobedience always brings complications. In the end Abraham was willing to sacrifice his wife in the interest of his own safety. If we do not acknowledge God in all our ways we will soon be filled with panic instead of peace.

There was no altar in Egypt, no fellowship with God, no new promises. Only a desolate home and a time of great distress.

How thankful we should be that the Bible records the story of the sins of the saints. Not to condone their behavior or mistakes, but to warn us that God requires implicit obedience.

Only then will we experience what Corrie ten Boom said, "The safest place on earth is in the centre of the will of God; the most dangerous place is when you are outside that will."

[Judy Harder]

Then Jesus told the disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up ... and will God not bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. (Luke 18:1, 7,

Abraham

Nothing makes Satan so fearful as a Christian who understands the power of prayer.

Some time ago Brother Andrew wrote a book on prayer, entitled "And God changed His Mind because His people dared to ask." Abraham dared to ask and in response God was willing to change His mind. "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." (Sodom and Gomorrah) Six times Abraham had prayed for the salvation of the people in those cities. What a pity he stopped at ten. Who knows what might have happened had Abraham gone on?

Ungodly men and women in sinful cities do not realize how much they owe to the presence of God's people in their midst. Godly people are too often unaware of their enormous responsibility to pray for a wicked world. Abraham was aware - and prayed. Let us plead with God for a breakthrough in countries where His presence is not allowed.

Let us also hold on to God when praying for those in our own families who live without Christ. Prayer changes situations - never give up.