I opened my computer and began to scan the news when a title jumped out at me:  Kim Jung-un calls For execution of 33 Christians . I read it and wept.

Their crime? receiving funds to help build about 500 underground churches.

According to David Curry of Open Doors, “North Korea has been the No. 1 persecutor of Christians on the Open Doors World Watch List for 12 years in a row. And for good reasons. Usually when persecution increases in a country, the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ is rapidly spreading. Join me in prayer today.”

This quote, which is from an article posted only two days ago, urges believers everywhere to pray, among other things, for those sentenced to death for their faith.

Scripture admonishes us to “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also” (Hebrews 13:3). It can be easy when we are in our warm homes, children thriving, food and clothing to spare, birds chirping out the window – to forget them.

But to forget these brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted for their faith is to act in direct disobedience to God’s Word.  I can’t walk away from their cries when God tells me I should remember them “as if chained to them.” I should carry them with me in my heart, upon my lips in prayers to God often.

It is not easy to think about the persecuted. To imagine their sufferings and enter into their pain through prayer. But it is necessary because “we are in the body also” – these persecuted believers are subject to the same temptations we are such as fear, doubt, or unbelief and have the same needs that we do such as food and clothing.

I have had the honor and privilege of meeting persecuted believers in China and India in particular. One pastor I met  in 2005 was Samuel Lamb, who is now in Heaven.

Samuel Lamb was a Chinese House Church leader who spent over 20 years in prison because he refused to merge his church with the Three Self Patriotic movement, the State-regulated Protestant Church, which had many restrictions on what could be preached and taught. Pastor Lamb told me and a few of my friends in an interview in 2005, “Persecution is good! Church grows!” with a huge smile on his face.

I saw the light of Christ shining through this man who had endured so much for the sake of the Gospel. He had an eternal perspective and saw that all of his suffering was worth it for the sake of those who would come to know Jesus through his ministry and beyond his lifetime.

We can learn much from these humble saints who have been tried in the furnaces of affliction and found genuine. And we must remember them.

33 believers from North Korea have likely passed from Earth to Heaven now – they may have been sitting alone in cells, waiting for execution. But they’ve never been alone. The Lord who said, “I will never leave or forsake you” is not ashamed to call them His own and He has prepared a great reception for them in Heaven, no doubt.

We also know that, because of them,  there are 500 churches now spreading like wildfire through a nation hostile to its message. We must pray for those churches. For the families of those who have lost and are losing loved ones. For those imprisoned and suffering for their faith right now.

We must force ourselves to remember, lest we forget. Because they are our spiritual family and they are counting on us to carry them in prayer. And because when we are cut, we bleed just as they do.

In a culture that throws cheap and worthless advertisements and entertainment to occupy our minds all day long, let’s make a choice to focus in on what is of real worth and lasting value.

And these believers are the real deal. They are genuine gold.

In the words of Christian martyr Jim Elliott, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Image of hands credit: http://www.bible-reflections.net/news/praying-for-north-korean-christians/2798/

Image of Samuel Lamb credit: Jesusblogger 

“‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?’ Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down…Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, He distributed them.” – John 6:9-14

A large crowd had been following Jesus and were hungry. It wasn’t comparable to the largest crowd that I have had to feed for sure – this was 5,000 men (which didn’t even include the women and children present).

Scripture says that even though Jesus already knew what He would do to feed the crowd, He asked Philip in order to test him, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Phillip must have been good at math, because he quickly determined that even “two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”

Most of us would have likely acted similarly. Add up the people. Crunch the numbers. Determine that based on facts, we can’t feed all these people.

But there was a little boy there who wasn’t thinking of what he didn’t have but what he did have. This fact alone makes me want to cry. Because children never cease to amaze me and challenge me with their simple yet profound acts of mercy, faith, and generosity.

This boy didn’t have an expensive or impressive lunch. One commentator of this passage observed that “barley was regarded as simple fare, more often fit for animals than for men.”

He was a poor boy, but he was rich with generosity. He was unashamed of his barley loaves and gave them to Andrew to contribute to the needs of the people.

I wish that it was clear from reading the passage that Andrew at least praised the boy for his contribution, but all that is clear is that Andrew received it saying to Jesus, “what are they for so many?” He was skeptical of what good this small offering would accomplish in such a large crowd.

But when he passed this simple meal into the hands of Jesus a miracle happened.

Jesus took the loaves, thanked God for them, and began to distribute them.

And they multiplied.

Not just enough food to feed the crowd, but twelve baskets of fragments of bread were left over when all the people had eaten and were full.

Jesus used this poor boy’s offering to feed thousands that day. I can only imagine the story he told his mother later. Or maybe she was there, watching with tears in her eyes.

We watch the news – hearing of wars and rumors of wars and poverty and suffering and pain and we wonder what we can possibly do. What could we contribute that would make a real difference?

But Jesus knows we can’t solve all the world’s problems. He’s God – not us. But He does ask us “What is in your hand?” Not what you can’t do, but what can you do?

Perhaps it is word of encouragement to someone weary under life’s burdens. Filling them with the strength they need to stand and continue strong on their journey.

Perhaps it is supporting a child who, at only the cost of a dinner out, you could provide food for a whole month.

Perhaps it is shoveling an elderly neighbor’s walkway during a snowstorm.

Perhaps, and sometimes most powerful, it is praying for those in need, those suffering, those you can’t reach with your physical hands – but God can.

What you hold in your hand may be a humble and simple offering. You may be tempted to think, ” What does one small act really accomplish?”

But the God who formed the universe and breathed breath into the lungs of mankind, the God who multiplied the loaves and fishes, can multiply your offering to feed many.

Our reward will often be intangible on this side of Heaven – a joy that wells up in our heart, filling our souls in a way that the riches of this world never could.

But I think its pretty awesome that when this poor boy gave up his meal the Lord saw to it that he didn’t go hungry.

He got to eat his lunch while watching thousands eat it as well. You just can’t out-give God. When we taste His goodness, we shall not want.

So – what’s in your hand?

image credit: www.skywriting.net

This world can be exhausting. We rise to cries of children or pulsing alarm clocks, gulp down a quick breakfast or skip it altogether, often rushing out the door to attack or be attacked by another day.

Just when we think we’re keeping up quite well with the ever-quickening pace of the crowd, our feet slip and we get trampled. We hobble home bruised and wearied, only to be met with another set of needs that only appears to be increasing. Home repairs to be done, cars to be washed, clothes to be cleaned, kids to be fed and bathed.

When we go through these motions each day without getting energized ourselves, life really does become a daily grind. And yet – it doesn’t have to be this way and indeed this is not how life was meant to be lived.

There will always be more work to do, more clothes or toys to be put away, more emails to be answered- and we must fulfill our responsibilities. But our souls are more important than all the world’s “more’s.” And in tending to our souls, we will thrive instead of survive and flourish instead of fall.

What does soul care look like? It requires viewing yourself not as a machine that can go on producing and working til the end, but a whole person to be valued – one with physical, emotional, and deep spiritual needs to be filled.

Soul care requires time for rest and reflection. Time for play and fun. Time for deeper introspection and meditation. And time to just be without any agenda at all.

As Henry David Thoreau has said, “Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in reverie.” The world God has created is awesome and worth standing in awe of daily.

Feeling the wind on our faces, soaking our feet in the water of a pond or lake, enjoying the view atop a great mountain, or even stooping to admire the first flower buds peeking up through the cold, winter ground.

We have been created for beauty, joy, love and peace. When we deny ourselves of these commodities, we shrink and shrivel as human beings.

And there is only one source to tap – God Almighty. Every expression of beauty, every act of love that energizes and enriches us, every conversation that stirs our souls and encourages our spirits is a gift from Him.

So it makes sense that when we stop running, slow down, and wait in His Presence, we will be filled. Filled with understanding that we are not human doings but human beings. Filled with a greater awe of His power and majesty and a greater understanding and healing of our own self worth.

We may think we don’t have time to wait, but there is nothing else worth waiting for – He alone can satisfy.

Maybe you are running on fumes this week – or caffeine, or just adreneline – but you feel your crashing point is coming. Stop the madness.

Come away with the Savior to a quiet place and rest awhile. Let Him renew your soul and fill you with His loving Presence. Any amount of distractions will seek to pull you away from that resting place, this is certain.

For a moment…or an hour…or even longer – just stop, and wait, and let yourself be filled up, rapt in reverie.

And you may rise to pound the pavement like everyone else, but your heart will be soaring as you go.

photo credit: www.crowfieldsanctuary.org