Hey all! I hope you read my post this morning and are thinking of ways to show people love. That really is the point of this Christian religion, to be honest: love God, love people. That's it.
I've been saying this for a little while, but I really learned the value of loving God through Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love. I know, that's back-to-back Chan books. What can I say; Chan and I are on the same page, more often than not. This book discusses being completely in love with a God that is already completely in love with us. How crazy is that?! God loves us, like a lot. This book challenges you to show your love back, and it's harder than it looks.
Also, I am going to stop doing country posts for awhile. I have been praying almost exclusively for Egypt and the Middle East this past week, and they are still heavy on my heart. The current regime is Muslim and hates Christianity; the challenging one is Muslim and hates Christianity. It's a lose-lose situation for the Church and the name of Christ. Keep the Middle East in your prayers; they need them desperately.
I am not doing country posts for a while mostly because I want to focus on more than just facts of a nation. I will continue praying for different countries all the time, and will give the list I am praying for, but do not have the time to write about them. I will instead be devoting more time to prayer and studying the Word, and therefore should be able to do deeper posts like this morning's more often. Keep the world in your prayers- they need it more than we know.
Currently praying for:
Egypt
Tunisia
Lebanon
Jordan
Cyprus
Iran
Iraq
Francis is the man! Great book and I'm glad you got to read it!
ReplyDeleteJust a side-comment, let me draw your attention to Matthew 16:18, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Last time, I looked the Muslims, Chinese dictators, and any other earthly force weren't the gates of Hades, so they don't really stand a chance against God or His church.
God's message is going to get out one way or another because even if a regime hates Christianity and wants to wipe it off the face of the earth, I'm reminded of Matthew 5:10-12, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
I understand what you were saying, just wanted you to remember that our God is greater and stronger and if our God is for us then who can be against us???
Other than that little note, great stuff Bryan, keep it coming!