“I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”mPsalm 34:1

We had just passed through the security check at the airport in Charlotte, NC. I got Barbara seated at a restaurant for a snack while I went and checked on our gate. As I was leaving, I glanced at my shirt pocket, and saw that my passport and boarding pass were not there where I always keep them! Wow, that was a potential glitch! Immediately the Spirit spoke: “This is a test! Will you trust me in this?”

“OK, Lord, I praise you for this new challenge, for the chance to give you glory by trusting you. You know what you are doing and I can rest in you no matter what the outcome!”

I told Barbara about it, and went right back to security where all the bins were searched, but no passport or boarding pass. “Well, Lord, this is another chance to give you glory in praising by faith. Thank you for your goodness in this, for however you are going to work it out.”

As I walked back to the restaurant, Barbara happily came towards me with my passport! It turns out that in the rush to get everything back in place after going through security, I had uncharacteristically stuck the passport and boarding pass into my backpack. “Thank you, Lord!” we both said.

Upon reflection, I realized this happened because I had been worried about getting through security quickly and was rushing, not being careful. Finding my passport was a great relief; however, there was more to come.

At least once each month, I give a sermon to some congregation in Pakistan via whatsapp. My partner there, Imitaz, translates for me.

As you may know, Christians there suffer great persecution: beatings, martyrdom, loss of homes, jobs, churches and pastors. The attempt to force them to return to the major religion includes torture, rape, imprisonment and sometimes death. Yet most stand firm.

To encourage them I gave a sermon called, “Is it worth it to be a Christian, especially in the face of persecution?” It gives 45 reasons for clinging to our faith in the face of fanatical pressure. Today I will share some of those reasons with you, and more tomorrow.

The contrast: what we were:

1. We were condemned criminals, trapped in the dominion of darkness

2. We were destined to spend eternity in Hell, far from all good.

3. We had no possibility of escape,

4. There was no meaning, no purpose, no hope and no future.

What we have: reasons to be grateful to be Christians, many of these reasons are found in Ephesians

Note that these Reasons are not found in any other religion or philosophy

1. A Genuine, powerful Savior Eph 1:3,

2. Unlimited blessings Eph 1:3

3. Being chosen before we were born Eph 1:4

4. Being Holy and blameless in his sight Eph 1:4b fully forgiven

5. Being a beloved child of God Eph 1:5

6. God is pleased to have us as his children Eph 1:5b

7. He has given us his grace, ie. giving us the opposite of what we deserve Eph 1:5c

8. We have True forgiveness of our sins, all spiritual debts paid in full. Eph 1:7

9. We have Holy Spirit living in us. Eph 1:13

10. We have the certainty of eternal life Eph 1:14

11. We have belonging, worth, competence, Eph 1:18-19

12. We have an all powerful Savior Eph 1:19b-23

13. We have New life in Christ Eph 2:4,5

14. We have purpose, Eph 2:10

15. We have a certain future Eph 2:6

Picture: the immeasurable riches we have in Christ are better than gold!

“…those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”  1 Peter 4:19

For the last few weeks I’ve been reading Foxes Book of Martyrs, a most challenging book. It has certainly expanded my understanding of what suffering encompasses. The persecution of believers, starting shortly after the beginning of the church, and continuing right up to the present, is one long demonstration of the power of God in the lives of ordinary people.

In our age, the idea that God will protect us from evil is interpreted to mean that He will somehow remove from our lives all that makes us uncomfortable. Much of what we would label as persecution in our own lives is really discomfort or harassment, (even including most of what we personally are experiencing here in the Middle East).

Biblical definitions are different than this. Evil is what will harm us spiritually. Suffering is what can make us grow spiritually. The vast majority of martyrs recorded in Foxes’ book were killed for their stand on the Word of God as their authority; they rejected the additions and alterations to Scripture the church had made, and therefore were cruelly killed as heretics. They, almost to a person, demonstrated a courage and trust that allowed them to take up the grace of God and to die praising Him while praying for those who condemned them. How would we respond if put in such a position? These people are a real inspiration and model for us.  In tomorrow’s post I will give you one example from Foxes’ book.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!”  Psalm 103:1 NKJV

You, King Jesus, the mighty Ruler, administer a Kingdom of light where blessings flow all the time. You are the One who is to be praised! Without reservation, all of my being praises you, for you are worthy of total submission, absolute surrender and whole-hearted service: you are grandly good, purely positive and persistently patient. Every part of me – my mind, my will, my emotions, my spirit and my body – rejoices in you, exalts you, extols you, exults in you. You are worthy of this and far more.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (Ps. 103:2). You are to be praised and lifted up for your goodness shown in how you poured out your gifts upon your enemies: you have given us eternal life, eternal comfort, eternal provision, eternal presence, eternal joy.

“Who forgives all your iniquities” (Ps. 103:3a); there is not one unforgiven sin left in our lives—you took all our guilt, all our shame, all our condemnation, our full record of wrongs, and nullified their power to condemn us. Forgiveness sets us free, separates us from sin, superimposes your righteousness on our record. We stand in your righteousness before the great Judge who declares, “You are forgiven, enter into my joy!” What more could we want?

“My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.” Psalm 62:7

Our team has been working through a book called Search for Significance by Robert McGee (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003). After establishing that our foundational significance comes from God (being made in His image, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, chosen before the foundation of the world, and adopted as a child of the King), the author asks two questions.

First, “What do I have to do in order to feel good about myself?” This points us to where we actually draw our significance. If we are resting in the Truth of our being Sons and Daughters of the King, we don’t need to add anything to “feel good” about ourselves. Our true source of stability, significance and “feeling good” is not what we do, but who we are in Christ.

God does want us to have satisfaction in a job well done, pleasure in doing what is right and joy in good relationships, but none of these are the source of the significance and worth that flow through a correct understanding of who we are.

As I honestly evaluated this, it became clear that there are a lot of items on my “to do list” which are there so I can feel good about myself; that is, my motive in doing them is wrong. These are things like: get up early, have a good quiet time, pray through my list, don’t eat too much, exercise enough, and be nice to everyone around me. All of these are good things, many of which I am responsible to do, but they are not to be the source of my significance, stability or sense of goodness. I must switch my motive from doing these to feel good, to doing them because I love the Lord and want to obey and please Him.

My wrong motives point to the disparity between intellectually grasping a truth and the deep implementation of it in one’s life. The way out of this is to be aware of the tendency to look for significance in the wrong areas and to counter it with Truth. Memorizing verses that give God’s viewpoint, such as, “Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved…” (Col 3:12), and “Chosen before the foundation of the world, accepted in the beloved…” (Eph. 1:4)—then  meditating on them, certainly helps to internalize it. When trying to decide what to do, examining my motives and rejecting the wrong ones also helps