“When Robert Moffat, Scottish missionary to Africa, came back to recruit helpers in his homeland, he was greeted by the fury of a very cold British winter. Arriving at the church where he was to speak, he noted that only a small group had braved the elements to hear his appeal.

“Although no one responded to Moffat’s call for volunteers for mission service in Africa, the challenge thrilled a young boy who had come to work the bellows of the organ. Deciding that he would follow in the footsteps of this pioneer missionary, he went on to school, obtained a degree in medicine, married Moffat’s daughter, Mary, and spent the rest of his life ministering to the unreached tribes of Africa. His name: David Livingstone!”²

Whatever and whenever we do “simple acts of kindness and obedience” in Jesus’ name, we may never know until we get to heaven who and how many people will have been reached and affected for all eternity.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I ask not for fame or fortune, but that every day for the rest of my life You will help and use me to commit simple acts of kindness in Your name in some way to every life I touch. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NKJV).
2. Doug Batchelor in Broken Chains (Pacific Press 2004). Cited on WITandWISDOM by Richard Wimer, www.witandwisdom.org

“Blessed be the Lord, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.”¹

In this age of ever-increasing terrorism, those of us who live in the free world need to recall what happened to ancient Rome—the superpower nation that ruled the then known world for 800 years. Timothy George in Christianity Today writes how, in the year 410, the city of Rome “was besieged and pillaged by an army of 40,000 ‘barbarians’ led by the Osama bin Laden of late antiquity, a wily warrior named Alaric. One can still see the effects of this cataclysmic event when walking through the ruins of the Roman Forum today.”²

“Before then, Roman coins bore the legend Invicta Roma Aeterna: eternal, unconquerable Rome. In many ways, Rome was like America prior to 9/11, the world’s only superpower. But in 410, Rome’s military power could not prevent its walls being breached, its women raped, and its sacred precincts burned and sacked.“When Jerome heard about the fall of Rome in faraway Bethlehem, he … sat stupefied in total silence for three days. ‘Rome was besieged,’ Jerome wrote to a friend. ‘The city to which the whole world fell has fallen. If Rome can perish, what can be safe?’”

A few short years later, “As Augustine lay dying in 430, a new wave of terror swept across the Mediterranean world. The Vandals, led by a ferocious warrior named Genseric, surrounded Hippo—bringing torture, violence, and disarray to its churches and its people. As Augustine chanted the psalms on his deathbed, he might have come across this verse in Psalm 31:21: ‘Blessed be the Lord, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.’”³

Most of us in the West know little, if anything, about being persecuted as are many Christians in today’s world. At most, Christians have been criticized while multiplied thousands, if not millions, in other lands are being raped, their homes and villages pillaged, and are being murdered and slaughtered for their faith in Christ.

As with the ancient Romans we in the U.S. tend to think such persecution couldn’t happen here. However, unless we realize our dependence on God, September 11, 2001, may just be the beginning of what is to come in the days and years ahead. Radical Muslims are determined to conquer and/or kill all non-Muslims—especially Christians, Jews and Americans.

So what can we do, not only in the U.S., but also throughout the free world? First, we who claim to be Christians need to be sure of our own faith and commitment to God and be ever thankful for our freedom and incredible blessings. Second, we need to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters who are being persecuted. Third,we also need to pray for their persecutors and the terrorists that they will pray to the God of Heaven to reveal to them the truth. Fourth, we need to support valid organizations that are ministering to the persecuted church. [See footnote.⁴]

Fifth, we need to pray for the leaders of the free world that they will also pray to God that they will see the truth of the world situation and act with great courage, wisdom, and integrity. And sixth, above all, you and I need to stand firm lest we fall.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, especially in this day and age of increasing terrorism around the world, help me to stand firm in my faith and trust in You, and please send a great spiritual awakening to my country so that our leaders will turn to and depend on You for guidance, protection, wisdom in knowing how to deal with terrorists. And help protect the persecuted Church no matter where it is. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Psalm 31:21.

2. Timothy George, “Theology for an Age of Terror,” Christianity Today, September 2006, Vol. 50, No. 9, Page 78. Online at http://tinyurl.com/pn4r8.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today.

3. Ibid.

4. NOTE: Organizations that minister to the persecuted Church. Open Doors at www.odusa.org/ and The Voice of the Martyrs at www.persecution.net/. These organizations were recommended by Dan Wooding of Assist News Service at www.assistnews.net.

Several months ago Faarooq (name changed), a Daily Encounter subscriber wrote to me saying, “I converted from I’lam to Christianity 10 years ago and had to be very secretive about it until I managed to flee my homeland and came to France.

“Now at the age of 32 I have gone public about my Christian faith and started a debate on the net with my parents discussing the teachings of I’lam which Mohammed claimed were God’s words. But now I am getting death threats.

“You see, the Koran says that people like me who were M’slims and converted to Christianity are worse than those born Christians. Ex-M’slims who were born in the M’slim faith and left it have to be slaughtered like cattle as a sacrifice to Allah, while those born Christians are lost but they’ll give them a chance first to convert to I’lam before they kill them.

“My problem is that my visa is about to expire and I can’t renew it. Returning to my homeland will undoubtedly be a death sentence unless I convert back to I’lam. Do you have any advice as to what I can and/or should do?”

Sadly, my only advice to Faarooq was to see if he could obtain a visa to a Western country. I don’t know what happened to him because I haven’t heard from him since.

I wonder what I/we would do if the current of radical I’lam fanaticism should sweep across the country where I live? Would I remain faithful to the Lord or, to save my neck, would I convert to I’lam?

To be continued ….

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, today I pray for Faarooq and the multiplied thousands who also fear for their lives because they are Christians. Please keep them safe and give them the courage to be lights in a dark world … and grant that their persecutors when seeing Jesus in them, will want You for themselves. And please give me the courage always to be faithful to You no matter what my circumstances might turn out to be. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NIV).

“The Bible has changed the lives of more persons than any other book,” said W. Clement Stone. “It has helped countless thousands to develop physical, mental and moral health.”

In his book, None of These Diseases, Dr. S.I. McMillen said, “When God led the Israelites out of afflicted Egypt, He promised them that if they would obey His statutes [laws], He would put ‘none of these diseases’ upon them [diseases that afflicted the Egyptians]. God guaranteed a freedom from disease that modern medicine cannot duplicate.”²

Every rule, every law, and every principle in the Bible is there, not because God is a killjoy, but for our total physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.

For instance, the ancient Jews were told by God not to eat certain animal meats, including that of pigs (pork). Was this for any kind of religious ritual? No. It was because those particular animals carried diseases that caused serious sickness—such as were common in Egypt.

Still today, God’s Word gives us many instructions that are for mental and physical, as well as for spiritual, health reasons. We are instructed not to be jealous, bitter, hateful, resentful, unforgiving, and so on. The greatest physician who ever lived, Jesus Christ, pointed out 2,000 years ago the importance of forgiveness. When He encouraged us to “forgive seventy times seven,” He was thinking of our emotional and physical wellbeing as much as our spiritual wellbeing. Dr. McMillen also pointed out that a forgiving spirit could save us from “ulcerative colitis, toxic goiters, high blood pressure, and scores of other diseases”—all possible effects of resentment.

We disregard Gods laws to our peril. This also applies to his moral laws. For one example, think about STDs and AIDS. The reality is that we can no more break Gods moral laws than we can break the law of gravity. When we try to, we only break ourselves. God also has a law of sin and death …. We also defy this to our eternal peril. We will discuss this law in tomorrow’s Daily Encounter.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for Your moral laws which You have given in Your Word, the Bible, for my protection and well being. Give me the wisdom to understand them, the faith to believe them, and the good sense and strength to obey them. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Psalm 119:105 (NIV).

2. Dr. S.I. McMillen, None of These Diseases, p. 7.

I doubt if any sincere person in the world today doesn’t struggle with the problem of suffering. Why does God allow the “Hitlers” and the “Stalins” of the world to rise to such power and cause so much inhuman suffering and killings? Why does God allow wars, terrorism, and children to be raped and murdered?

Could it be the same reason he allows millions of mothers to kill their unborn babies? Is it not because there is evil in the world. As a child once said, “Evil is ‘live’ backwards!” And frankly, the more I see of evil in today’s world, the more I believe in God and the forces of evil.

God has allowed evil because he gave the angels and mankind the freedom to say, “No,” without which our “Yeses,” would be meaningless.

He could have created us as puppets on a string but that’s all he would have had. Instead, he created us with a free will and the capacity to decide for ourselves whether or not we would choose to go God’s way or our own way—or even go the way of evil if we are so inclined.

Remember, “It is choice, not chance, that determines our destiny”—for this life and the next! What will your choice be? And as Joshua said to the ancient Israelites, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.”

For help to choose God go to: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, with Your help I choose to love and serve You. Please deliver me from all evil and grant that my life will be an influence for You and for good in the world in which I live. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Joshua 24:15 (NIV).

A friend shared with me her way of handling the deceiver-tempter: “When Satan comes to remind me about my past, I remind him about his future.”

One thing Satan does is continually accuse us before God.² Knowing that he does this, we can remind him not only about his future in hell but also that Christ shed his blood on the cross and gave his life to pay for our sins and has washed them all away. So what’s there to accuse us of if we have confessed our sins to Christ and asked for and accepted his forgiveness?

Furthermore, because Christ died for us and cleansed us from our sins, we can, in Jesus’ name resist the devil and, as James said, he will flee from us. Satan hates the name of Jesus. Be sure to mention it when he comes to tempt you.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that You forgive all who confess their sins and ask for Your forgiveness. Help me always to resist the devil in Jesus’ name, knowing that he will flee from me and has no power over me. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. James 4:7.
2. Rev. 12:10.

Today in the Word shared how “researchers who had made repeated dives to the wreckage of the Titanic challenged the accepted theory that an iceberg tore a 300-foot gash in the side of the ship. The ship’s bow is mired in mud, but the team ‘looked’ at the hull using sound waves. They concluded that the damage is ‘astonishingly small,’ just six small gashes along the starboard hull. Unfortunately, the openings were made at the worst possible place, along six watertight holds.”

Little things can do great damage: a little lie here, a little cheating there, a little stealing, a little gossip, and/or a little unresolved conflict—like a little gash in a mighty ship—can open a floodgate of damage somewhere down the track.

Any holes in your life? Any in mine? Let’s not neglect them. Let’s get smart and, with God’s help, take care of them today—before they sink us.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to see the ‘little’ things in my life that, if I fail to resolve them now, they may ‘burn out of control’ farther down the line. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Song of Solomon 2:15 (NASB).

A few years ago I snapped my right Achilles tendon and was in a cast and on crutches for six weeks. After the cast was off I was anxious to get active again. Soon afterwards, when riding my bicycle, I got off my bike to safely walk across a busy street on the green light. When I stepped off the pavement, suddenly a car swung around the corner from my left without stopping. I got a fright and jumped out of the way—and snapped the same tendon again. Not fun.

True, it was unfortunate that this happened, but the fact is I really hadn’t given myself quite enough time to heal properly before getting out on my bicycle.

Sometimes, when we pray for healing of a sickness, we want God to heal us without taking into account our responsibility in the matter. When we do this, we are looking more for magic than a miracle. As David Seamands put it, “I believe in miracles but not magic.”

Furthermore, often we skip one of the fundamental requirements for healing. Many ills—physical, emotional, relational and/or spiritual—are caused or greatly aggravated by unresolved super-charged repressed negative emotions such as anger, resentment, bitterness, anxiety, stress, unconfessed sin, guilt, grief, fears, a failure to forgive and so on. These issues can and do cause many ills and, if unresolved, block healing.

Whenever I get sick, I always ask God to show me if there is anything in my life that may either be causing or making my sickness worse.

I was talking to a man yesterday who has major physical ills. It was quite apparent that he was a very angry man. It sure made me wonder. As Henry Cloud and John Townsend like to say, “God is merciful. When we have unresolved problems, he gives us symptoms.”

If we want to be healed, it pays to do it God’s way. Confession is a major key for considerable healing and greatly improved health.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me always to be honest with myself and with You, see all of my unresolved problems, admit when I have sinned, and confess these both to You and to a trusted pastor, priest, counselor or friend—and thereby receive forgiveness and healing. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. James 5:15 (NIV).

In 1927 in Signs of the Times, John Lewis Shuler wrote: “Sir Isaac Newton made a most daring forecast two hundred years ago regarding a future development in rapid transit, which at that time seemed absolutely beyond the possibility of ever seeing realization. Newton declared that he was convinced from a study of Bible prophecy that there was destined to be a marvelous increase in the speed of transportation on the earth.

“‘I believe,’ Newton said, ‘that in the providence of God, though the method now be entirely hidden, men will yet travel on the earth at the rate of fifty miles an hour.’ Newton lived from 1642-1727. In his day the most rapid travel by land was by horse. Stagecoaches drawn about eight miles an hour by horses held the record on land.”

I imagine that many would have thought that Newton was crazy when he based such a wild prophecy for his day on what he had read in the Bible. He was certainly right, even if he grossly underestimated the speed at which people would travel in the future. Imagine if he could have seen our day when thousands of people are flying daily across the world at speeds more like 500 mph., not to mention the incredible speed that astronauts travel when circling the earth and/or fly to the moon.

So what about Daniel’s prophecy approximately 2,500 years ago? Many Bible students believe that we are living in or are close to the end times—the time when Jesus Christ will come again. Not only has travel speed vastly increased but think about knowledge. We are living today in a time of a knowledge explosion—especially so because of computers, the Internet, email and blogs.

Christ’s first coming is an indisputable fact of history. He promised he would come again so we can be just as certain of his second coming—but only God knows the exact day and hour. The important thing is not the date of Christ’s return, but that we are ready for him when he comes. “Therefore, keep watch,” Jesus said, “because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man [Jesus Christ] will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”²

To help you make sure you are ready for Christ’s return, click ON: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for Your promise that You will come again for all who believe in You and trust in You for their salvation. Help me to make sure that I will be ready for that day should it come in my lifetime so I will not be embarrassed at your coming. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Daniel 12:4 (TLB).
2. Matthew 24:42, 44 (NIV).