Friends,
I haven’t been writing here much as I’ve been ill the last few months, but one thing that I have been able to keep up with is our weekly prayer group. I want to invite you to join us in that again if you need/want some companionship in remembering our persecuted family in prayer.
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Each week we have a particular Scripture(s) that launches the direction of our prayer. Whereas you can get specific prayer requests for specific situations currently occurring around the world from several other ministries, such as VOM or Open Doors, our prayer letter is one you can join in for whichever restricted, hostile or hurting area/people you desire.
Our aim is to encourage you to dwell:
“Let the word of Messiah dwell in you richly,
teaching and admonishing one another
in all wisdom, singing psalms,
and hymns and spiritual songs
with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” ~Colossians 3:16
My observation is this: persecution never exists in a bubble unattached to history or the future.
The prophets endured it as they “pondered and inquired diligently” about when Messiah’s revealing would occur. Their words and lives, were seed. “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told…” (1 Peter 1:12)
The New Testament believers were the recipients of that mystery, “the gospel preached to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.” (1 Peter 1:12) Jesus, the salvation of God, was the long awaited mystery ached for, revealed. “Even angels long to look into these things.” (vs.12)
And the goal and sure future: “the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus the Messiah is revealed.” (1 Peter1:7) Whether we can feel or see it, each of our lives is part of a large and grand picture.
I so much want us all to experience the comfort and strength to be gained in this enduring purposefulness, connectedness.
“You have been born again, not from some seed that will decay, but from one that cannot decay, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
‘All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.'” 1 Peter 1:23-25
This seed, the Word, is the good news which has been revealed to us, in our day and is “the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5). Past, present and future, it’s all perfectly connected to our now, held together by His eternal and imperishable Word. I hope together we’ll hear in all this an invitation that to “let the word of Messiah dwell” in us richly is also His promise to dwell in us.
This is a promise that overcomes the “tyranny of the urgent” of the day, our failures, weaknesses, illnesses and shortcomings. This is good news and a relief for tired hearts, not another burden.
Our intentionality, and His come together like a perfect match. These are good things to pray for, because these things bring life.
Raynna, for the whole family
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We remember & pray for persecuted Christians all over the world, ponder & praise the beauty of our God and study His word to be rooted & grounded.
The Martyrs’ Cross is a WEAR and a WAY. Join the world wide family wearing it around our necks and around our hearts HERE. Buy one for yourself or sponsor one being sent to a family member experiencing persecution.