Expect the Unexpected - Martin Wiles

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12 NLT

Ominous clouds threatened as my wife and I eased into the parking space. We did not expect the unexpected. 

Hot, humid weather had peppered the previous week. Pop-up showers increased by the day. But on one particular evening, I had a wedding to officiate. A few rain showers had already passed by earlier in the afternoon, and I hoped for fair weather since the reception was outside.

Shortly after we pulled into our parking space, large pellets of rain began to fall. As the winds increased, I anxiously watched the reception tent. Although a few odds and ends blew away, most things stayed in place. They had expected the unexpected. The tent was securely staked. Long, heavy tablecloths clung to the tables. Wrapped utensils kept the napkins from blowing away. Apart from a bit of trash and dirt blown in by the wind, the reception went on as usual despite the earlier storm.

Peter speaks of another type of storm: persecution. And early believers were facing their share of it. They might have been surprised, but they shouldn’t have been. After all, Jesus had been persecuted and told them they would be as well.

When we remember the impact of sin on people and the world in general, we will no longer be surprised by the trials we face. People infected by sin will behave in harmful ways. Sinful natures are responsible for physical and verbal abuse, crimes of all sorts, divorce, financial mismanagement, and elder abuse. The list is endless. The infection of sin can also make nature misbehave. Tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, etc.

But not all trials are caused by sin or sinful people. As long as they don’t violate God's nature, God, too, can send trials. The Bible is adorned with stories that show how he did just that. The difference is that God’s trials are beneficial. When we respond to them with a positive attitude and draw closer to him for wisdom and guidance, we grow spiritually, and our faith is enhanced. Remaining in a close relationship with Christ helps us survive and even thrive when the unexpected comes along.

Don’t let the unexpected blow you away. Remain grounded in Christ.

Father, when the trials of life come, may I find my anchor in you. 

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Forgiveness—God’s Business - Martin Wiles

I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. Exodus 34:7 NLT

Forgiveness is never easy, but when it involves the death of an unborn child, it becomes incredibly challenging.

A pastor friend in India shared a disturbing story with me. Hindu fanatics carrying pistols, rods, and knives entered a church, attacked the pastor, his seven-month pregnant wife, and their daughter, and then tried to set the wife on fire. Fortunately, the family escaped. Less than a month later, my friend emailed to tell me the wife’s unborn child had died in her womb—a result of injuries received during the attack. Now she has a forgiveness decision to make.

Throughout the Bible, God portrays himself as a forgiving God. While he has standards and will punish those who stubbornly break those standards, he is more than willing to forgive those who recognize their sins and run to him for help.

God never holds our past against us. I have a past, you have a past, all God’s creations have a past. We can’t erase it; we can only deal with it. I’ve known a few people who wouldn’t come to God for forgiveness because they thought their past was too sordid for him to forgive. Forgiveness is God’s business, and no sin in our past is greater than his ability and desire to forgive it. He willingly and joyfully forgives anything we ask him to.

Understanding why God can forgive makes it easier to request his forgiveness. If his forgiveness is based on our ability to compensate for the wrongs we’ve committed, we’ll never receive it. But God’s forgiveness is based on Jesus’ work on the cross, not our righteousness. Since Christ was perfect—and since his work on the cross was too--God can forgive any and all sin without violating his holy nature. The only condition is that we ask and believe.

God’s forgiveness has no limit—other than the limit we place on it by not asking. When Jesus told Peter, the disciple, that he should forgive someone seventy times seven times if they asked, Jesus offered what represented a limitless number. God operates the same way.

Believe God can forgive any sin you’ve committed. Then get on with serving Him.

Father, I thank you for your willingness to forgive when I come to you in repentance. 

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Hated and Hunted - Martin Wiles

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Exodus 1:21 NLT

Being hated is one thing, but being hated and hunted is even worse. 

“If you are worshiping the Lord freely, if you live as a Christian without fear of attack, and if you can carry a Bible in your hands on the streets, then you are a blessed person,” a pastor friend said.

Before becoming a Christian, he had belonged to the Communist Party. But after becoming a believer, he dedicated his life to helping impoverished women and orphaned children in his native country. He also trains other ministers to help him spread the gospel in a country where many want nothing to do with Jesus Christ and will persecute—and even kill—those who do. 

In his homeland, many lose their lives, homes, jobs, and other precious things simply because they are Christians in a country that is not friendly to Christians. I remember the video he once sent showing a group of missionaries with Bibles in the trunk of their car. Nationalists stopped the missionaries, snatched the Bibles from the trunk, piled the Bibles on the ground, and set them afire. 

In many states of his country, the government has passed anti-conversion laws, making those who have converted to Christianity ineligible for government jobs, as well as prohibiting them from using other state facilities. Many churches are forcefully closed or burned, and many pastors are jailed on false charges. 

Fanatical conservatives stabbed one local pastor and his wife while their children attended school. They loathed him because he had planted five churches and invited nationalists to convert to Christianity. Despite the daily persecution, many in this country daily choose Christianity. 

I suppose the two Hebrew midwives who helped the Israelite women deliver their babies also felt hated and hunted. When a new king came to power, he saw how the Hebrew slaves multiplied and worried they might overthrow his kingdom. He ordered the midwives to kill all baby boys they delivered. But the midwives feared God more than the king and refused to obey his order. 

Following Christ entails being hated and hunted. Jesus said people would hate us because they hated Him. I’ve never experienced what my pastor friend and his friends experience. In my country, I can still worship freely without threat, but even in the land of the free and the home of the brave, the enemies of Christianity try to repress religious expression in subtle ways. 

When we find ourselves among the hated and hunted—to whatever extent that might entail—let’s remember God controls even the persecution and its forms. Persecution refines and strengthens our faith. It also leads us to seek wisdom from God, so we’ll know how to keep spreading the gospel amid the threats. At the very least, we can do what Jesus said: pray for our enemies so that they might open their eyes to the truth. 

And like the Hebrew midwives, we must stand firm and hold tightly to the truth, regardless of how intense the hatred and hunting might be—even if it leads to our death. In the end, truth will win, and a new heaven and earth will be our home. 

Make up your mind to stand firm for Christ, even when misunderstood, laughed at, avoided, or persecuted in other ways. 

Father, give us strength to stand fast when hated and hunted.

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Fired for God - Martin Wiles

But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than human authority.” Acts 5:29 NLT

“He was fired for flying the Christian flag . . . and in America.”

Although I struggled to wrap my mind around the statement, I couldn’t deny I was hearing it. The speaker talked about a fellow employee—a fine Christian young man who wasn’t afraid to express his faith.

While a debate bustled at one state capitol building over another historical flag, this man focused on the Christian flag. He proudly flew it from the back of his pickup truck . . . even at work. His supervisor instructed him to remove it. While on break, he did, but then he reinstated it during lunch. At four o’clock, his supervisor called him into the office and fired him.

I can still remember when prayers were articulated in public schools, teachers were allowed to express their faith, and Christian principles permeated society. Hearing about someone getting fired for flying a Christian flag in America disconcerted me.

Jesus said the days before His return would be wicked, like Noah’s day. He also said believers should rejoice when persecuted.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose a fiery furnace over a pagan statue. Daniel chose the lion’s den instead of an order to stop praying to his God. And the apostles chose jail rather than the command to stop preaching about Jesus.

The offense is immaterial; the result is disturbing. Some are fired for flying a flag. Others are told to remove Christian paraphernalia from their office space. Children are suspended for wearing clothing with Christian messages, and papers are scored a zero when written about a Christian topic. All in a country founded on Christian principles—contrary to what some historical revisionists now teach.

Suffering and persecution are parcel of following Christ. If we’re not opposed, we’re probably not shining our faith lights brightly enough. While we shouldn’t cultivate a martyr complex, neither should we shy away from the consequences of following Jesus Christ. We should expect opposition and misunderstanding. Some will shun us, and others will seek to harm us. Our duty entails standing fast and loving those who don’t love us. And we can when we trust God for strength.

How can you lovingly respond to those opposing you because of your faith?

Father, enable me to stand firmly when the powers of persecution rise against me.

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Confronting the Culture - Martin Wiles

They had followed the practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them. 2 Kings 17:8 NLT

Things were quite different then than now. At least in the South.

Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s differed radically from the 2000s. Culture pandered to Christianity, even if the persons themselves didn’t claim to be Christian. The example that protrudes the most in my mind was the Christian “Sabbath.” Blue Laws controlled what did and did not take place on Sunday.

Sunday was a day of rest. Other than factories, hardly anything opened. Pharmacies opened, but with a limit of two employees. A few gas stations opened for tourists traveling, but not for local folks who had forgotten to fill up during the week.

Giant retailers, such as Wal-Mart that sold groceries and other goods didn’t exist. If folks needed groceries and staple items, they bought them during the week or on Saturday when most people didn’t have to work. Nine-to-five Monday through Friday jobs were the norm.

Nor did folks work in their yards on Sunday. If they didn’t go to church, they stayed inside and respected the beliefs of those who did. They may not have followed the Christian God, but they respected Him nevertheless.

But culture has radically changed in the twenty-first century. Christians are persecuted in various subtle ways. Sunday is just another day where folks can do the same things they do during the week. Lifestyles that would have stayed in the closet out of respect for the cultures’ prevailing beliefs now wag openly. Where all this will lead remains to be seen.

Such shenanigans took God’s people of old into captivity where they experienced God’s judgment. Because they chose to worship pagan gods, in addition to the one true God, God sent them into captivity where they remained for many years. Sin has consequences. 

When confronting our culture, some things are certain. Culture will continue changing—for the worse. Perhaps a pessimistic statement, but one supported by Jesus’ teachings. Those who oppose Christian beliefs will grow in number.

Yet, hope exists. As believers, we can shine the light of God’s love into the darkness of sin. Our lives provide the good examples others need to experience. Our hope is that many will turn to our God.

In the meantime, we must resist the pull of culture to take us into lifestyles God doesn’t approve of. Through prayer, spiritual disciplines, and the power of God’s Spirit in us, we can resist.

What are some ways you can confront the culture where you live?

Prayer: Father, give us the courage to confront our culture with the message of Your love. 

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Fighting the Good Fight - Martin Wiles

Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12 NLT

Growing up, I avoided them at all costs.

Many of my male friends loved to tussle and fight. Even if they were the best of friends, they might scrap. Not me. Since I was skinny and had no muscular build—and a mild nature—fighting wasn’t on my to-do list. I didn’t care for a bloody nose, busted lip, or missing tooth. Nor did I want a pair of broken glasses. I couldn’t see without them, Mom and Dad had instructed me to care for them, and I didn’t want to walk around half-blind as I had before I got them.

I can only remember two times when I almost got into a fight. One was with my best friend. He pushed. I pushed back. He pushed back harder. I walked away. The other was when a high school peer accused me of doing something to his car I hadn’t done. Luckily, a friend intervened.

Not getting into physical fights took effort. Bullies abounded. Guys who walked around looking for a fight. Boys who if you looked at them wrong wanted to punch you.

Paul talks about another kind of fight, but one that’s just as challenging: the fight of faith.

The reason Paul had to fight the fight of faith was that many folks didn’t buy into what he preached: that Jesus Christ was the Savior of the world and that they needed to put their trust in Him. He thought the fight was worth fighting. And he did. Through shipwrecks, snake bites, misunderstandings, persecutions, lashings, and prison stays.

Not all believed in Paul’s day, and their descendants have come down to our time. Some believe. Many still don’t. And some of those who don’t want to fight those of us who do. They attempt to squash our rights to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. They want to take away our freedom of speech (about religion). They want to remove all trimmings of religion from society. They want to jail us . . . to kill us.

Our fight is between good and evil . . . God and Satan. And the struggle takes a lifetime. Good will win out in the end, but the very end. Not necessarily before our life ends.

The good news is that we’re not alone. Others fight with us. More importantly, God fights with us through the power of His Spirit. Some will die in the fight. Some will avoid the fight. Some will walk around injured from the fight. But fight we must. The cause is worth it. People need to know God loves them and wants to forgive their sins so they can live in heaven with Him in the future and enjoy the life He plans for them in the present.

Don’t give up in the fight for the faith.

Prayer: Father, give us the strength to fight the fight of faith.

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Blessed but Stressed - Martin Wiles

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair. 2 Corinthians 4:8 KJV

Although our stressors differ, we help each other through our stressful periods through prayer.

How I met my pastor friend in New Delhi, India, I don’t remember. Somewhere, he read a devotion I had written and sent me a message. Leary of answering to begin with, I finally did after investigating the website listed beneath his name. From then on, our friendship was cemented.

I love the periodic messages he sends, mostly prayer requests, but feel bad when I send him mine, which seem to pale in significance. Since Christianity is illegal where he lives, seeing one person come to know Christ is a blessing … but a stressor. He asks me to pray that their faith will remain strong and that they will influence others around them to trust Christ. I know nothing of such persecution.

I ask him to remember our financial situation since my wife can’t work. He sends me a video of Hindu nationalists commandeering missionaries’ Bibles and burning them in the streets. He tells me to pray because India has entered the cold, rainy season, and he is worried about rampant disease. I tell him my wife and I just took the flu shot. He reminds me they have no such luxury.

We are both blessed by God, but face different stressors. The apostle Paul did too. The list of his troubles was lengthy. Troubles haunted him on every side: stoning, shipwreck, lashes, jail, snake bite, false accusations. Yet, he didn’t grow weary in doing well. He may not have understood why God allowed it all, but he pressed on.

God places us in different geographical places and in various life situations, and these come with stressors that differ. Regardless of where we live or what our stressors are, God remains faithfully by our side. None of the things that cause stress reign greater than the God we serve. Each is under His control, and, when responded to correctly, will lead to our faith growing and God being glorified.

Stressors can also enhance our testimony. I’m amazed at how God uses my friend and how my friend takes each stressor in stride and keeps going. When we respond in the same way, others will notice and be drawn to the God we serve.

Let God help you deal with the stressors while you remember how blessed you are.

Prayer: Father, when the stressors come, help us remember You are greater than anything we face.

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When Suffering Is Good - Martin Wiles

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Psalm 119:71 NLT

His messages fluctuate between good and bad.

Santhosh pastors in India. One of his recent messages said, “Twenty-five people have taken water baptism today. All of them came to Christ from non-Christian background. God is doing great work here.”

But the news isn’t always good. One message read, “Please continue to pray for Kerala. The situation is very horrible. There is no electricity, there is no toilets, no place to stay, even the hospitals are full of water and not working. Pregnant women and children are suffering literally.   Scarcity of food, drinking water. Dead bodies of animals are floating everywhere.”

Then come the stories of persecution. The accounts of pastors and other believers being burned or persecuted in other ways. The stories of Hindu nationalists who stop missionaries and burn an entire trunkful of Bibles they had intended to distribute.

His conclusion: “In spite of the increasing persecution and opposition, many people are coming to Christ and taking water baptism publicly.”

The psalmist would agree with my friend: suffering for his faith brought good. And, ironically, persecution has always led to the growth of Christianity while good times have resulted in complacency.

Suffering reminds me to pay attention to God’s commands and that I suffer because I obey them. God’s commands most often run counter-cultural. Although enacting them would result in a better society, sinful natures take us in the opposite direction because we think we know better than God. When we put God’s commands into action, they run against the grain, offend others, and often bring forms of persecution and suffering.

At the same time, suffering refines my faith. It takes faith to go against the norm. Others reject us, ridicule us, persecute us. When we take this path of most resistance, God grows our faith. We can’t walk this way without the strength He provides. Trying to go it alone leads to failure.

Suffering also brings good because it creates empathy for others. When we suffer for doing the right thing, we’re more likely to identify with others who suffer for the same reason. In turn, we’ll band together to do this great Kingdom work God has given us to do.

God doesn’t waste anything, and He won’t waste your suffering. Let your suffering—physical, spiritual, and emotional—lead to good in your life.

Prayer: Father, we accept the persecution as a part of our responsibility in following You.

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Loosing the Arm of Unforgiveness - Martin Wiles

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32 NLT

She saw him coming across the room. One who had made her life a living hell. 

Corrie ten Boom and her sister, Betsie, languished in prison until Betsie died. Shortly thereafter—later discovered to be through of a clerical error—authorities released Corrie. One week later, soldiers killed all the women her age. 

After her release, Corrie traveled over Holland and Europe telling of her experience. On one occasion, while speaking in Munich, she saw one of the Nazi guards from Ravensbruck coming toward her with a smile on his face. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein. To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away,” he said.

He thrust his hand toward Corrie, but her arm felt as if glue held it to her side. She had to utter several prayers, asking God to help her forgive him, before she could bring herself to return his gesture. But when she did, something astounding happened.

In The Hiding Place, Corrie writes, “As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.”

Corrie experienced the joy of forgiveness—the kind Paul said believers should give.

The basis of our forgiveness is God’s forgiveness. When we ask—and no matter how often we ask—God is always willing to forgive. A significant part of His nature is love, and love demands forgiveness. When I’ve been forgiven by God, I’ll understand how ludicrous it is for me to refuse to forgive someone else, no matter how deeply they’ve hurt me.

Forgiveness is never easy and may require repeating. Forgiveness releases someone from a debt they owe us because of a wrong they’ve committed against us.

Forgiving the infraction doesn’t mean we place our stamp of approval on what they’ve done—or that they shouldn’t suffer consequences for their actions.

Peace results when we forgive. In fact, forgiveness benefits us more than it does the person we’re forgiving. Jesus said He came to bring peace. He also wants us to live abundantly. Both states of being require a regular habit of releasing those who harm us—physically, emotionally, and even spiritually.
  
With God’s help, forgive those who have wronged you.

Tweetable: Are you extending an arm of forgiveness?

Prayer: Father, as You have forgiven us, so help us to forgive others. 

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