Daily Courage

[Judy Harder]

November 30, 2010   

from Day by Day with the Persecuted Church,


The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. (Exodus 2:23-25)

Moses

God knows our needs. He is aware of our struggles, our hardships and our tears. He sees how His people are being persecuted. He sees your spiritual groaning; for your children, for your health, for your loneliness. "And God remembered his covenant." God's promises are "yes" and "amen."

Despite all our circumstances He assures us, "I am with you." We may groan and cry - as long as we direct our cries towards Him who is our help and our salvation.  "He was concerned about them." He still is. He is concerned about His children who suffer.

Whatever your situation may be, "Your help comes from the Lord ... He will not let your foot slip ... the Lord watches over you ... the Lord will keep you from all harm" (Psalm 121).  "And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).

[Judy Harder]

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
(Hebrews 11:27)

Moses

Moses identified himself with his people in word and deed. His confrontation with the cruel Egyptian is one example of this. Even so Moses committed a cardinal fault. His motive (to help the Israeli slave) was good, but his method (killing the Egyptian slave) was wrong. This incident became a turning point in his life. He fled from the palace to the desert. There he tended the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro, for forty years. Only after that was God able to use him to lead the "sheep of Israel" out of Egypt.

Moses had to learn that he was unable to save the people of Israel in his own strength, only in the strength of God.

What a change! The killer-prince became, "a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3). "By faith Moses ... refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin which are for a short time" (Hebrews 11:24, 25).

"He persevered because he saw him who is invisible." Whoever sees the Invisible can do the impossible. To do this may require a return to the place where the problems began ... not to take revenge but to save.

[Judy Harder]

December 2, 2010   

from Day by Day with the Persecuted Church,


The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

Moses

God had prepared Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, but was he willing to accept the task? No, he was not. Five times he argued with God. Five times God gave him a promise. Forty years before, Moses was so self-confident that he was convinced he could deliver Israel in his own strength.

Now he felt inferior and unqualified. He told God that he lacked prestige. "Who am I?" That he lacked a message, "What shall I tell them?" He was convinced that the people would not believe him, "The Lord did not appear to you."  He presented God with a long list of disabilities. But instead of winning God's approval, God became angry with Moses. God always will, when His children limit Him, merely because they feel unqualified.

"Not that we are competent in ourselves ... but our competence comes from God" (2 Corinthians 3:5).  When He calls He enables. No reason to complain - every reason to trust.

When I try, I fail. When I trust, He succeeds.

[Judy Harder]

When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (Exodus 15:23)

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water. (Exodus 15:27)

Moses

If I were to sum up the situation of the suffering church I would use the two above mentioned verses. Hardship, defeat, persecution and bitterness on the one side, and provision, victory, and springs of living water on the other side.

Is this not a picture of our walk with God as well? Beside each bitter Marah pool there grows a tree. When that tree is cast into the water, the bitterness changes into sweetness.  A beautiful picture of the cross of Jesus, symbol of redemption and salvation.

Praise God, there are more Elims in life than Marahs. No desert march without palm trees and springs at last. We may stay at Elim for a while. To be refreshed and strengthened God permits disappointments (Marah) but also gives plenty of surprises (Elim).

Where are you today? Remember, even at Marah there is the tree of life. And in between Marah and Elim we find these wonderful words: "...If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you." (Exodus 15:26)

[Judy Harder]

December 4, 2010   

from Day by Day with the Persecuted Church,


In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt. Then we sat round pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death." (Exodus 16:2, 3)

Moses

We may stay at Elim for a while, but we may not live there. We need to move on to the Promised Land. "The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai" (Exodus 16:1).  There are certain spiritual lessons which cannot easily be learned at Elim, they need to be learned in the desert of life: that God can supply all our needs whatever they may be, wherever we are.

When the Israelites had no more food to eat they grumbled against Moses and Aaron, yes, against God. They said things they should never have said. Unfortunately, we often do likewise during times of grumbling. Unbelief has a short memory. They remembered the food in Egypt, but forgot the lashes of the Egyptians. They forgot how they had cried to God for help. They forgot God's miracles, the great Exodus, the miraculous walk through the Red Sea, the refreshing stay at Elim, just a couple of days ago. Alas, unbelief has a short memory.

Praise God. He has endless patience. He provided miracle food, manna, enough for every day. Whenever a grumbling fit threatens you, review the past and recount the Lord's deliverance in years gone by. Did He supply in the past? He will do so in the future. Because He is the "I AM."

[Judy Harder]

December 5, 2010   


from Day by Day with the Persecuted Church,


So Moses went back to the Lord and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin, but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written." (Exodus 32:31-32)

Moses

This is one of the most moving and pathetic verses of the Old Testament.

Moses' intercession on Israel's behalf is an overwhelming lesson in love and concern. He made it clear to God that he wanted to die with his people if they were not spared. He offered the greatest sacrifice he knew,: his own relationship with God and his hope of eternal salvation. Of course Moses could not atone for his people; that is why Jesus had to come. But Moses was Christ-like as he offered himself. We can never be the atonement for sin as Christ was, but we can play a Christ like sacrificial role. When we intercede for others, our children, our family, our country, our brothers and sisters who suffer, they will be protected. In doing so I am willing to get the blows.

There is a great difference between prayer and intercession. Prayer is what you do for yourself, you pray for blessing, health, protection. Intercession is when you stand in the gap for others. Abraham was such an intercessor: praying for Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses interceded for others.

What about you?

[Judy Harder]

December 6, 2010   

from Day by Day with the Persecuted Church,

Come, let us bow down in worship,
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture...
Today, if you hear his voice
do not harden your hearts...
(Psalm 95:6-8)

Noah

For one hundred and twenty years Noah preached by word and deed, against the corruption and violence of his time. He warned of the forthcoming judgment, but not one man or woman believed. For more than one hundred years the people saw the ark of rescue, but all refused to heed or accept Noah's warning, including even the workmen, who helped Noah build the boat, who heard Noah's witness and observed his godly life. Because of their unbelief they perished outside the boat they themselves had worked on. What a tragedy - so near and yet so far. Time has not changed man. God still warns people of impending judgment. He still offers rescue through the ark of salvation, Jesus Christ.

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man, two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day our Lord will come" (Matthew 24:37-40, 42).

"Come; let us bow down before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God..." (Psalm 95:6, 7).

[Judy Harder]

December 7, 2010   

from Day by Day with the Persecuted Church,


You will fill me with joy in your presence. (Psalm 16:11b)

Horacio Herrera

One of the members of my church had been in prison for his faith for more than 15 years. I had not seen him since his release. But one day we met. He told me, "Pastor, only the presence of Christ kept me alive; in the nights of shadow and fear He was at my side."  I knew this was true, because He had been that near to me also when I was in prison.

"In His presence" is not just a theological and theoretical truth. No, it may be experienced. Or should I say, "I speak from experience."  Those painful experiences, horror, bitterness, doubts (yes, doubts too!) are forgotten when the presence of God comes and fills us with joy and peace, even under the most horrible circumstances.

Do we need to be in prison to experience His presence? No, we have the privilege to enter the most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus ... let us draw near to God ... (Hebrews 10:19-22).  The darker the place (prison) the clearer the light of His presence will shine. Let us draw near to God always, in times of hardship and in times of prosperity, in times of sorrow and in times of joy.

"You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

Horacio Herrera from Cuba. Because of his leading role in the Cuban Church, he writes using a pseudonym.

[Judy Harder]

You will fill me with joy in your presence. (Psalm 16:11)

Horacio Herrera

Thirty years of labor for God in an atheistic country have taught me a secret. For that bad hour, that dark night, that gloomy day, that time of temptation, that moment of trial and those years of persecution ... just one moment in His presence will compensate for all.  The presence of God makes us conscious that everything worldly is trivial, and temporary.

After "Marah" (place of bitter water) there will always come an "Elim" (an oasis) where the bitterness of hardship will be changed in the sweetness of His presence. After the desert of terrible trials will come the Canaan , a land of flowing with milk and honey.

It reminds me of a song we often sang in our church. It has been present in my soul for all these years and I hope to live it till the end of my days, "We will be faithful to the one that bought us with His blood. We will follow Christ, even if a thousand voices all around us call. If the road is full of thorns and the cross is heavy, a moment in His presence will compensate for all."

Horacio Herrera from Cuba. Because of his leading role in the Cuban Church, he writes using a pseudonym.

[Judy Harder]

December 9, 2010   

from Day by Day with the Persecuted Church,

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)

Horacio Herrera

While ministering to the believers in Cuba during a time of crisis we came across Joshua 20. It talks about the "cities of refuge" and we compared it with God, who is our eternal refuge. The cities of refuge in Joshua 20 were for those who had killed somebody accidentally or unintentionally. They could flee to those cities and find protection until they had stood trial (Joshua 20:6).

Psalm 91 speaks about God, our eternal refuge. We may flee to Him in times of trouble. We do not have to stand trial, because that trial has already taken place, "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, that was against us and that stood opposed to us: he took it away, nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14).  We can therefore call on the Lord in days of trouble and say, "You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust" (Psalm 91:2).

And listen to the promise, "He will save you from the fowler's snare ... He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day ... I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation" (Psalm 91).

Is there anything troubling you? Flee to Him, your eternal refuge, and rest in the shelter of the Most High, your Abba, your Father.

Horacio Herrera from Cuba. Because of his leading role in the Cuban Church, he writes using a pseudonym.