Glimpses: Promise of Triumph

Dear All,

A friend just got a text message from her brother asking her to shower him and his parish in prayer. He is part of a mission and ISIS has taken over the town they are in today. He said ISIS is systematically going house to house to all the Christians and asking the children to denounce Jesus. He said so far not one child has. And so far all have consequently been killed. But not the parents. The UN has withdrawn and the missionaries are on their own. They are determined to stick it out for the sake of the families - even if it means their own deaths. He is very afraid, has no idea how to even begin ministering to these families who have seen their children martyred. Yet he says he knows God has called him for some reason to  be his voice and hands at this place at this time. Even so, he is begging prayers for his courage to live out his vocation in such dire circumstances. And like the children    accept martyrdom if he is called to do so. She asked me to ask everyone we know to please pray for them. These brave parents instilled such a fervent faith in their children that they chose martyrdom. Please surround them in their loss with your prayers for hope and perseverance. 

She was able to talk to her brother briefly by phone. She didn't say it but I believe she believes it will be their last conversation. Pray for her too. She said he just kept asking  her to help him know what to do and do it. She told him to tell the families we ARE praying for them and they are not alone or forgotten -- no matter what. Her e mail broke my heart. Please keep all in your prayers.

This message was forwarded to my Inbox Friday morning. So many questions flowed through my mind, as I read those heartbreaking words........ why the children?  How long will it be like this?  What am I doing HERE?  Why isn't it me, being abused and martyred?  How am I any different?

THIS is the world He came to save. This is the world Jesus sweated blood for. This is the world that crucified Him. This is the world He created. This is the world we destroyed.

Ever since Cain murdered his brother, creation has been crying out... HOW LONG?!  Will you reject us forever?

This is not what He created. In the beginning, it was Good. He walked with us. And we walked away.... into this world we know now.

But when He sent Adam and Eve out from Eden, He sent them with a promise:

"And I will put enmity

    between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

    and you will strike his heel."

-Genesis 3:15

The Great Serpent has deceived and destroyed mankind from the beginning. Our struggle throughout history has not been against flesh and blood, but against the principalities of evil. Our fight... our cries... are not against the perpetrators of evil. We fight with the forces that control them.

Behind the black masks of the murderers in Iraq are children of God, living in a lie that commands them to destroy...because there was no one to tell them otherwise. When will we see what Betsie Ten Boom saw, when she looked at the Nazi guard who was beating her, and mourned because He did not know her Jesus?  Where are the Christians that are willing to carry their crosses, and forgive the ones who are nailing their wrists upon them?

Ever since the beginning, there was a Promise. He was the promise. The promise of souls set free, justice for the oppressed, vengeance for the martyrs, love for the broken, and triumph over the Serpent.

But that promise is not just for us. Jesus died to free you and Saddam Hussein alike. Some will reject Him. Some have, and thousands more will. But our role as Christians is not to fight the people whose hearts are contaminated by the Enemy's lies. Our struggle is against the very forces that are controlling them.

There will be a day, when the force of the cross' triumph will be witnessed by all nations, and every knee will bow. The Serpent will strike. That strike killed the son of God. But the fatal blow fell on evil. There will be a day when the final victory will be won. When every tear will be wiped away, every pain will be forgotten, every heartbreak will be healed, every broken piece restored, every repentant prodigal son brought home.

Until then, we wait. We fight. We pray.

This weekend, I have seen in unbelievable ways that there is no place more powerful than being on your knees at His feet. I have found myself there time and time again, crying out over the children that were lost, and the families that were left to suffer in Iraq. It's there that you realize that it's not your heart that breaks over stories like this..... it's His. These are God's precious children. He individually fashioned each one, and knew them from before the beginning. Jesus Himself said that His kingdom belonged to them. And He had to watch, as thousands of them were decapitated by sons that had rejected His love. Even as the realization came over me, I still had questions........ why did this happen?  Didn't you want to stop it?  How long will you wait?  But in that moment, He whispered one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard, to my heart:  They are safe with me. The Enemy can never touch them again.

Even in the waiting, it is still the Serpent's head that is crushed. Even the most horrifying things he could produce could not overcome the Promise. Triumph is here. Maybe we can't see it yet. We are still in the waiting. But John says we are also in the last days. We.... today, right now.... are closer to the coming of the final victory than anyone else in all of history has been. He will bring triumph.

My God has promised, and He cannot lie.