Sunday, August 10, 2014

Prayers for the Persecutors


I know I promised to show you the rest of the entry hall and I will very soon.

The problem was I forgot about an out of town trip we were going to take.  We went to spend the night with friends at Little Red River close to Pangburn, AR.  We met and made some new friends and had a wonderful time.

Today I wanted to talk about Paul a little bit.

I read and studied Galatians 1 today and wanted to share with you what I felt like God was impressing me to do.

This chapter is chocked full of great teachings but the following is what I felt was pertinent for me today.

Paul admitted to--

*violently persecuting God's church  --sadly we see (on the evening news) this same thing occurring in many parts of the world every day

*trying his best to destroy it

After Paul encountered God on the road to Damascus, he was a changed man and his focus was to deliver the gospel message to all the Gentiles he could.

Some folks in Judea (who had never met him) were saying--

"The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy." 


We look around the world and see those who are filled with hatred for Christians and anything associated with Jesus Christ.
Reading this encouraged me to have renewed zeal and faith to pray for those people.  After all, some of the very ones who are persecuting the Christian faith today may be the ones who take the gospel message to others tomorrow.
Instead of becoming bitter, criticizing, judging and either sticking my head in the sand or just totally operating in a faithless vacuum where they are concerned, I should come to the Father's throne boldly asking for Him to laser His Holy Spirit right into the middle of their hearts, lives, dreams, and daily activities.
After all, God has numerous, actually countless ways, of making himself known to any or all.  

That is what I focused on today and have every intention of being more faithful to pray for those who are the enemy of Christ.

Won't you join me in a renewed focus to pray more faithfully for them?

God bless you.  I hope your week is so blessed.

Love,
Dianne

Update:  Please take the time to read Elizabeth's comment in the comment section.  She made a very important point that I wish I had included in the original post.


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