Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

May 7
Tuesday


WE CAN
TRUST HIM

READ:
Matthew 10:32-38
______________________________________________________________________________

Bless those who curse
you, do good to those
who hate you, and
pray for those who...
persecute you.
__Matthew 5:44
_________________________________________________________________________________

I know very little about persecution. My physical well-being has never been threatened because of what I believe or what I say. What little I "know" about the subject comes from what I hear and read. But that is not true for many of our brothers and sisters around the world. Some of them live in danger every day simply because they love Jesus and want others to know Him too.

There is another form of persecution that may not be life-threatening, but it is heartbreaking. It's the persecution that comes from non-Christian family members. When loved ones ridicule our faith and mock us for what we believe and how we express our love for God, we feel rejected and unloved. Paul warned believers that following Jesus would result in persecution: "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12), and we know that sometimes rejection will come from those we love (Matt. 10:34-36). But when people we love reject the God we love, the rejection feels personal.

Jesus told us to pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44), and that includes more than strangers who hate us. God is able to give us grace to persevere through persecution even when it comes from those we love. __Julie Akerman Link

```````````````````Lord, give us grace to pray for those``````````````````
```````````````````Who seek our harm and not our good;`````````````````
```````````````````And teach us how to show them love``````````````````
``````````````````In ways that will be understood. __Sper````````````````
________________________________________________________________________

People may mock our message
but they can't stop our prayers.

*********************Today's Bible Reading __ Matthew 10:32-38*************************

32 Therefore whoever
confesses Me before men,
him I will also confess
before My Father who is in
heaven. 33 But whoever
denies Me before men, him
I will also deny before My
Father who is in heaven.

35 For I have come to "set a
man against his father, a
daughter against her
mother, and a daughter-in-
law against here-mother-in-
law"; 36 and "a man's
enemies will be those of
his own household."

37 He who loves father or
mother more than Me is
not worthy of Me. And he
who loves son or daughter
more than Me is not
worthy of Me. 38 And he
who does not take his cross
and follow after Me is not
worthy of Me.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The context for today's reading is the calling and commissioning
of the twelve disciples for their first ministry trip without Jesus
accompanying them. Since the beginning of His public ministry,
Jesus had been engaging people at that point of their most desperate
needs. Here He encouraged the disciples and launched them to
accomplish His purposes in the hearts and lives of the people of the
Galilee region. The mistreatment the disciples would receive at the
rejection Christ Himself would experience