“Do Not Be Afraid” – Jesus
(Matthew
14:27)
by Jonathan
“And do not fear those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul. But rather fear
Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew
10:30)
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they
follow Me. And I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My
hand. My Father, who has given them to
Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s
hand. I and My Father are one.” (John
10:27-30)
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may
have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is
gain. But if I live on in the flesh,
this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having
a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more
needful for you. And being confident of
this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress
and joy of faith,” (Philippians 1:21-25).
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of
power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
On Saturday, January 17, dozens of churches were burned
throughout Niger. In almost every major
city, there were targeted attacks aimed at the church properties. Several of the pastors that we know lost their
homes and churches, just escaping with their lives and the clothes on their
backs. At our main church compound
(where our Bible school is located), one pastor and seven youth held the front
gate against a mob of hundreds trying to burn the church and Bible school
down. For over eight hours, they
literally held the front and back doors to the compound shut against a crazy
mob trying to get in. They did not even
have time to get a drink of water or eat anything all day, but stood firm and
held the gate of the compound until the police arrived and helped to control
the mob. It is a miracle and a great
answer to prayer that these eight men were able to hold the front door even as
they were being hit by stones thrown from outside the compound and the gate was
set on fire. If the pastor and youth had
not stood fast, we are certain that the Bible school and main church would have
been destroyed, and the mob would most likely have attacked the next church on
their list. This is the kind of amazing faith
that we are seeing as the Nigerien Christians standing fast for Christ even at
the risk of their own lives.
Another great testimony came out of this wave of persecution last
week when pastors met with the government leaders in our city. The leaders (Muslims) apologized on behalf of
the ones who had carried out the attacks against the church. Because of the way that the pastors came to
the meeting in a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation, the leaders were in
awe of them. They said, “Is this really
what Christians are like?” and, “We have never seen or known anyone like the Christians.” The church has great favor with the local
authorities right now and even many of the media and radio channels have been
talking about this.
The security situation in Niger continues to be high. Last weekend, the government of Niger (along with
Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria) decided that they needed to set up a regional
task force to fight B-ko Har-m in Northeastern Nigeria. As a result of this decision, B.H. has
started to attack most of these countries, including Niger. Since last weekend, there have been numerous
attacks by B.H. in the Diffa region of Niger. We have several pastor friends and know many
Christians who live in that area. Most
of them have fled, some of them coming to our city which is about a day’s drive
away. We have also seen within Niger
this last week several suicide bombers, a car bomb, and other terrorist
activities. Even in our city, several
caches of bombs and guns brought in by B.H. have been found by the local
authorities and confiscated.
How is the church responding to all of these things? This last Sunday, the Sunday school children
did a skit in the morning service explaining how to stand fast during
persecution. The children are between six
and twelve years old. They started by
splitting into two groups. One group
represented the church where the “pastor” (an eight year old) was speaking
about persecution to his people. The
other group represented the “terrorists” attacking the church. As the “pastor” was preaching to his little
group of followers and encouraging them to stand fast in the Lord, the other
group (representing terrorists) came in and “executed” him. Then they “killed” the rest of the Christians
except for one. As the terrorists
questioned this last Christian, the Christian forgave them and began to preach
to them saying, “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.” The terrorists were “convicted” and
repented. The skit ended with the group
of terrorists choosing to follow Jesus.
Wow. That is the season the
church is in right now in Niger.
After the children’s skit, the pastor then launched into his
message about how it is necessary for Christians living today to have a solid
Biblical perspective towards persecution.
He read the Scriptures above and then made one comment that really
impacted us. He asked the question “Why
are we afraid to die? The one who is afraid
of death is the one whose treasure is on this earth and he is afraid that he
will lose it.” The pastor went on to say,
“Paul considered it better to be with the Lord, death was only gain. But even though he knew that to be with the
Lord was better, he chose to stay to encourage the believers. In Paul’s mind, however, being home with the
Lord was better than being on this earth.
The Christian’s perspective of death should be gain, not loss. Our treasure is with Jesus in heaven, not on
this earth.”
We are learning from our Nigerien brothers and sisters that
as Christians we must learn to renounce the fear of death in any shape and form
that can paralyze us and hinder us from serving and fulfilling the will of the
Lord on our lives. We have been saved
from having to live in fear. Fear itself
was nailed to the cross. Each believer
has the ability through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to overcome fear
and to influence the world around them by walking in peace, joy and faith. In the end times there will be paranoia in
the media, news, nations, and even our own cities and towns, but we must
realize that Jesus is King and He reigns above these situations. As the Church, we are called to live above
our situations and circumstances and to point to the only One who can give hope
and salvation, Jesus Christ. Our
responsibility is to look unto Jesus and to lead those He brings our way to Him
as well. But if we let fear take hold
of our hearts, we will not be able to influence or to lead others to
Christ. This would be a great tragedy in
the church today if Christians in the last days, the only ones who have any
real lasting hope in this life, look at outward circumstances and “hide” their
light because of the fear and cares of this world.
Let us remember that this world is not our home. Our home is with Jesus and nothing can take
away the place that He has prepared for us with Himself forever. Let us live with the reality that we belong to
Jesus and our future is in His hands. Jesus is our past, He is our present, and He
is our future. Let us run the race
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith! Let us not allow fear to disqualify us from
running the race that Jesus has set before us.
We have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound
mind. Let us instead be of the mind like
the apostle Paul, who said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Let us boldly shine for Jesus today! He is worthy!
In His Grace,
Jonathan and
Dani Bowden
