She was a seed of hope, planted in faith,

She enlarged my heart, opened me up to more of love,

She birthed new life in me.

Her cry birthed my compassion

her smile, my delight.

My baby taught me that to be fed and clothed and loved

was all that was truly needed in this world.

And to be loved…oh, to be loved!

She needed my arms around her

and her soft hand in my own taught me

the beauty of depending on another.

My baby taught me that water and light and stars

 and flowers and animals and people

are absolutely fascinating, incredible creations

worth reveling in for hours.

My baby taught me that its therapeutic to color outside the lines

and to hug stuffed animals.

My baby taught me that she doesn’t really need toys to be happy.

She taught me that 4 a.m. wake up calls

can be made sweet

by the softness of her hair against my face,

her lingering scent on my clothes.

My baby taught me that I can be wholly responsible

for another human being

without losing myself in the process.

My baby taught me that it’s okay to cry

but its better to laugh!

Most of all, my baby taught me

that by giving of myself, I will find myself

that with sacrifice comes joy

and that love really is the greatest thing of all.

My children and I are reading devotionals every morning for the season of Lent. One of our most recent readings was the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness.

The girls were intrigued at how Jesus responded to Satan every time, resisting him with the Word of God. We’ve been having lots of great theological conversations and arguments lately and Grace brought up the question, “Why would God the Father allow Satan to be able to tempt Jesus in the desert like that?”

I have learned to often answer their questions with “Well, why do you think?,” which is exactly what I said. After some deliberation, Grace decided that God the Father knew that Jesus would do the right thing – that He could handle being tempted.

I affirmed her thoughts and shared with them how because Jesus embodied the Word and knew His Father’s will, He was able to resist Satan. He was also able to go 40 days without eating, stating to Satan that “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

We all know that we need food and water to survive, but Jesus tells us here that there is something we need even more. The Word of God. The Bible.

Job said basically the same thing as Jesus did, “I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.“(Job 23:12).

The longest Psalm in the Bible, Psalm 119, is all about loving the law of The Lord – and that did not include the New Testament, mind you. The author was talking about books like Leviticus 🙂

There are places in this world where the Bible is outlawed. It’s dangerous because when people read it, believe it, and apply it, they are transformed and societies begin to change.

Some of these precious believers may only have one Bible for an entire community to share and they treat it as their most precious possession. I have more than a dozen Bibles in my home of different translations that I can read or study at any time, without any worry or fear that they will be confiscated or that anything will happen to me or my family because of our choice to read them.

When I consider all of this, it leads me to ask myself some questions: Do I treasure God’s Word more than my daily food? Do I view God’s Word as my one real “necessity” even above my material needs for food and clothing?

My pastor, Stuart McAlpine, did a series on the Psalms in 2013. He spent a considerable amount of time in Psalm 1 which reads:

He challenged our congregation by asking us to consider this question:  If your physical health was determined by how much you feasted on God’s Word (or didn’t) how healthy would you be? Would you be thriving? Barely surviving? Emaciated?

Reading the Bible isn’t always soothing. I’m often comforted by the Bible but I am also often challenged and convicted. It’s not a “quick and easy read.” Because it’s a sword that cuts, revealing to us who we really are. And sometimes that’s not pretty. But this is precisely why we need it.

This Lent, I am asking God to give me a greater hunger for His Word. Because without it, I am powerless and spiritually emaciated. Without it, I am empty and dry. Without it, I can remain blind to my sins. Without it, I cannot grow and thrive spiritually.

I pray that you, too, would grow in your hunger for that Book which will truly fill your soul and spirit with truth, goodness, mercy, and love…that only Book which contains the words of eternal life.

Photo of Bible by Melissa J

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