“Who maketh his angels spirits;
His ministers a flaming fire
Psalm 104:4
“The works of faith can only be accomplished
by the faith through which HE works.”
Brian Troxel
“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.”
Titus 3:8
“More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things– indeed, I regard them as dung! – that I may gain Christ” Philippians 3:8
“Humility is nothing but the disappearance of self
in the vision that God is all”
Andrew Murray
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross”
Philippians 2:5,8
“Brother Wei from Southeast Asia tells his story to a staff member of Open Doors. He is too shy to look at him directly. While he is speaking, he keeps his eyes lowered.
I’m forty-one years old and I’m a simple rice farmer. Twenty years ago, I became a Christian and in the past years, I’ve been in prison thirteen times because of my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The last time I was in a notorious prison, surrounded by a moat. In order to torment the prisoners, we were given rice mixed with sand. There were no toilets – we just had to find a spot somewhere.
I was arrested because I believed in Jesus and because I was active as a preacher. The punishment for this “crime” was two and a half years in prison, but I could be released sooner if I renounced my faith.
The guards constantly tried to force me to deny my faith. I was to sign a form that stated that I had “voluntarily renounced my faith” and that I would “no longer attend meetings.” I was bound hand and foot and beaten, but I refused to deny my faith. My fellow prisoners mocked me and swore at me. They called me the “Jesus man.” I wasn’t allowed a Bible, and if I was caught praying, I was beaten.
After my release, as a result of the abuse, I was no longer able to walk fast or to run. Sometimes I could no longer find the words to describe something.
Once I was back in our village, I heard that we had to leave because we hadn’t been granted permission to go on living there. We were not allocated any land to work, the children were no longer allowed to go to school and the hospital was no longer willing to help us. Then we left and went to another district, where we had to start over again.
When the Open Doors worker asked him how he had been able to endure all this persecution, Brother Wei said, “I don’t trust in what eyes can see, but I’ve put my trust in the Eternal, the Lord Jesus.”
Wisdom of the Ages 