Read: Revelation 12:7-17

They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (v. 11)

At Namugongo, just outside of Kampala, stands a memorial to the Ugandan martyrs. There, on June 3, 1886, the king of Buganda put to death 26 young men who had angered him by their Christian commitment. Some were cut to pieces, others were burned alive; all refused to renounce their faith in Christ.

The church in Uganda then was very small. The gospel had come there a decade earlier, when missionaries were sent from England at the invitation of the prior king. But the martyrdoms in Namugongo became a turning point.

The example of these martyrs, who walked to their deaths singing hymns and praying for their enemies, so inspired many of the bystanders that they began to seek instruction from the remaining Christians. Within a few years the original handful of converts had multiplied many times and spread far beyond the court. (http://churchofuganda.org/about/history).

Today Uganda has a higher percentage of Christians than any other African country. The Anglican Church of Uganda, Words of Hope’s partner in radio ministry, alone has more than 10 million members. And every year on June 3 hundreds of thousands of Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, walk to Namugongo from all over East Africa to honor the martyrs whose blood was the seed of the church.

—David Bast

Prayer:

I praise you for faithful witnesses. Strengthen those who face persecution today.

Read: Revelation 2:12-17

Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you. (v. 13)

There is often a high cost for being “not ashamed of the gospel.” On a visit to a small Bible college in a rural district of India, I heard the story of Navin Doman. The students at the college were from the Kuruk people and Navin Doman was the first Kuruk Christian, converted through the witness of German Lutheran missionaries in the 19th century.

When Doman accepted Christ and was baptized in 1850, the tribal elders seized him, bound him, and told him he would be killed on the spot if he did not renounce Christ. Navin Doman replied, “I will not deny my faith. If you kill me, from each drop of my blood a thousand Christians will spring.” The Kuruk leaders were so impressed with Doman’s courage they allowed him to go free. He became an evangelist, and spent the rest of his life bearing witness to Christ.

The word martyr comes from a Greek word that means “witness.” It is because so many of the early Christian witnesses were like Antipas–faithful to the death–that martyr gained its modern meaning. The African church father Tertullian famously said that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. In God’s providence Navin Doman was not called to seal his testimony with his life’s blood. But his prophecy has come true in other times and places. From every drop of martyr’s blood, a thousand Christians have sprung.

—David Bast

Prayer:

Lord, give me the strength to be a faithful witness.

Read: Romans 1:1-15

I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (v. 15)

Paul’s excitement for God’s mission crackles like lightning across the page, even after 19 ½ centuries. It is all the more impressive considering he wrote these words after some 20 years of hard missionary labor. All those miles travelled, the toil, dangers, physical suffering, personal attacks, conflicts, and controversies–could you have blamed Paul if he had said he’d had enough? But no. “I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome!”

Paul’s eagerness has several sources. His gospel ministry was part of his worship, his spiritual service to God (v. 9). He looked for pleasure and mutual benefit from fellowship with the Christians in Rome (vv. 11-12). His enthusiasm is also explained by his sense of obligation (v. 14). The Lord had transformed his life, turning him from an enemy of the gospel into a lover of Christ and his church. Paul felt a debt of gratitude, and he wanted to “pay it forward” so others could experience the gospel’s saving power (cf. vv. 16-17).

But there’s one more reason why Paul was eager to preach to the Christians in Rome. He looked for their help to aid him in his ultimate goal of reaching as far as Spain on his missionary journeys (cf. 15:23-24). The book of Romans isn’t just a theological treatise. It’s a missionary support letter, and any church that takes it seriously will commit to supporting missionaries like Paul.

—David Bast

Prayer:

Lord, make me eager to share your good news.

Read: Matthew 9:35-38

Therefore pray . . . (v. 38)

“The harvest is plentiful,” said Jesus. There’s a tremendous opportunity. But there’s also a serious problem: “the laborers are few.” What’s to be done? “Therefore pray.”

I have often wished he had said, “Therefore give (especially to Words of Hope!)” I wonder why he didn’t say, “Therefore go” (though later he would send them out to the ends of the earth). But Jesus started with prayer. What makes prayer so important for accomplishing the mission of God?

First, because prayer reminds us that it actually is his mission, not ours. We can’t bring in the harvest, only God can; and only workers called and sent by God will be effective.

Second, because whenever we pray (and mean it) we are also offering ourselves as an answer to our prayers. A 19th century minister named Bennett Tyler wrote these powerful words on prayer: “When you pray for the poor around you, that they may be warmed and filled, in what way do you expect God will answer your prayers? Will he convert the stones into bread for their sustenance . . . while you . . . have enough and to spare? And in what way do you expect that your prayers for the conversion of the heathen will be answered? Will God rain down Bibles from heaven, and commission his angels to preach to them the gospel? No; but he will put into your hearts to do what lies in your power to send them the gospel.”

—David Bast

Prayer:

God, don’t help me in my mission, use me for yours.

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

We are ambassadors for Christ. (v. 20)

Arriving in India in the middle of the night after a long journey, I shuffled zombie like through a huge jam of people in front of the Immigration Control desks, looking with envy at the empty line marked “Diplomatic Passports Only.” Ambassadors enjoy VIP perks because they really are important people. Their job is to speak authoritatively on behalf of the government they represent. In order to do this, ambassadors must be sure they know what their leaders want them to say.

Who are we as servants of Jesus Christ? Here is another answer given by Paul to the church in Corinth: We are Christ’s ambassadors. And we know what our King wants us to say. It’s “the message of reconciliation,” namely, that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (v. 19 NIV). Notice that God is the subject here, the one doing the work of reconciling. It’s not just that we must be reconciled to God; God also must be reconciled to us. Sin has caused problems on both sides of a broken relationship, and only God can accomplish the great act of reconciliation–Christ’s death on the cross–which clears the way to restored fellowship with him.

But there are some things for us to do: we must first believe the gospel ourselves and accept what God has done for us. “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (v. 20). And then we must proclaim this message as ambassadors to the whole world.

Prayer:

Thank God for the work and message of reconciliation.

Read: 1 Corinthians 3:5-9

We are God’s fellow workers. (v. 9)

A popular term floating around today is the word synergy, which literally means “working together.” That’s the word Paul uses to describe himself and Apollos–and by extension all Christians. We are God’s fellow workers, God’s synergoi.

Does God require co workers? I don’t think so. After all, he created the entire universe all by himself, without any help from us. But then why does he take us on as his partners in mission? If it is not for his sake, then it must be for ours. Have you ever let your young child or grandchild help you out with a household project? You surely didn’t do it for the sake of greater speed or efficiency. You did it because you love the child, because you want him to learn and grow and stretch himself, because you know it will help her to feel important.

No doubt employing us as his partners is a very inefficient way for God to accomplish his work of salvation. After all, God could have used angels to convince everyone of the truth about Jesus. How impressive would angelic preachers be! God could choose some night to rearrange the stars in the heavens so that they spell out “Jesus is Lord!” Then everyone would know the truth. But he chooses instead to use us–our words and actions, our halting, faulty, often awkward witness to Christ–in order to bring life to the world.

In doing that God gives our lives eternal significance.

—David Bast

PRAYER:

Lord, help me to work with you today.

Read: Isaiah 49:1-6

It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob. (v. 6 NIV)

“Is anything too hard for the LORD?” the angel asked Abraham when Sarah laughed at the idea she would bear a child in her old age (Gen. 18:12-14). No, nothing is too hard for God. But some things are too small.

It is too small a thing for the servant of the Lord merely to be the Savior of Jacob and Israel. Yahweh is the God of Israel, but he’s no mere tribal deity. He is also the God of all the earth. Therefore he says to his servant, “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (v. 6). Jesus clearly understood this to refer to himself when he declared, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

Paul quoted Isaiah 49:6 in a sermon he preached during his first missionary journey. Speaking in the local synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, he used this verse to justify his sharing the gospel with Gentiles as well as Jews. So he made a small but important change: “We are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles . . .’” (Acts 13:46-47).

Did you catch that? Paul says the Lord has made us a light for the nations. We are commanded to proclaim Christ as universal Savior and Lord. Anything less would be too small for him.

—David Bast

PRAYER:

Give glory to Jesus, Light of the world.

READ: Isaiah 2:1-5

. . . and all the nations shall flow to it. (v. 2)

A common assumption is that in the Old Testament God cares about the people of Israel, but in the New Testament he cares about all people. A second century heretic named Marcion went so far as to suggest they were two different Gods: an angry Jewish one and a loving Christian one.

A closer reading of Scripture explodes this notion once and for all. The God of the Bible is one–holy and gracious, concerned for his chosen people and for all nations. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob–and Jesus.

Isaiah foresees the day when Mount Zion will be lifted above the surrounding hills, and the nations of the world stream into Jerusalem to worship the Lord. But the emphasis falls just there–on their coming.

Jesus will turn this exactly around. He will send his disciples from Jerusalem out to the ends of the earth. In Isaiah, Jerusalem is a magnet, attracting all peoples to Israel’s God. For Jesus, Jerusalem is a launching pad, rocketing his followers out to reach the nations. We have to take our message to the nations, not wait for the nations to come to us.

That’s why Words of Hope takes the gospel to “the hard places.” Today millions of people are not Christians for the most basic reason: they’ve never heard of Jesus Christ. The God of the Bible cares about that. Shouldn’t we?

—David Bast

PRAYER:

Pray for one of the hard places.

Read: Genesis 12:1-3

In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (v. 12)

There’s a little poem that goes

How odd of God

To choose the Jews.

We could say the same of God’s choice of Abraham. What made Abraham so special? As far as we know, he was just a guy living in Mesopotamia, like any other guy living anywhere else in the world. But then God revealed himself to Abraham and invited him to step out by faith on a journey to an undisclosed location. So why did God choose him?

Perhaps because he had to start somewhere, and Abraham was as good a place as any. God was on a mission to redeem his broken world and reclaim his wandering children. He began with a single family, but from the beginning it wouldn’t be about just that family, or even about their physical descendants. Right from the start God had the endgame in view. He will use Abraham and his family to bless all the families of the earth by producing from them a Messiah who will do what is needed to offer salvation to the whole world.

God made two promises to Abraham: offspring and a land (v. 7). Both were fulfilled literally, in the land of Canaan and people of Israel. But the ultimate fulfillment of both promises is spiritual. Abraham’s true homeland was heaven (Heb. 11:13 16), and we are his true descendants (Rom. 4:11 16)–all those who are justified by faith like Abraham.

—David Bast

PRAYER:

Father, bless me to be a blessing to others.

Read: Genesis 3:8-15

But the LORD God called to the man . . . “Where are you?” (v. 9)

As God came looking for them, Adam and Eve turned and ran the other way! “And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (v. 8).

How do you picture this? I think of a toddler holding his hands up in front of his face and saying, “You can’t see me!” Did Adam and Eve really think they could hide from God, that trees and shrubs could shield them from the searching gaze of omniscience? Did they really believe they could escape from the presence of the One who is always present everywhere?

The first time God speaks after the fall is to ask a question of his hiding children: “Where are you?” I suggest that this is not a request for information. God is not trying to locate Adam and Eve because somehow he has lost sight of them in the bushes.

God questions Adam and Eve not in order to gain a fix on their location but to offer an invitation. God is opening a conversation with them. In other words, he wants to communicate with them. “Communicate” comes from the same root word as “communion.” What God is really saying is, “What have you done? Where have you gone? Tell me. Confess to me. Return to me.”

In reaching out to a lost world, God always has the first word.

PRAYER:

Here I am, Lord. Speak to me.

Read: Genesis 3:1-8

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day . . . (v. 8)

Adam and Eve turned away from the path of trust and obedience, and as a result, everything changed, starting with them. They became self conscious; for the first time they felt the emotion of shame (v. 7). They did know good and evil now, but good only as lost innocence, and evil by bitter experience.

From verse 7 onwards we are in our world, the world where thorns and thistles grow when we sow good seed, the world where daily life is a sweat drenched struggle against futility and frustration, the world where even the greatest joys are accompanied by pain, and where every hope filled birth ends in death. Adam and Eve didn’t quite realize all this yet, though they were starting to suspect that what they’d done wasn’t such a good idea.

But then God comes into the story. Adam and Eve heard him walking in the garden; what was that like, I wonder? However it happened, it means that God had come personally, looking for his lost children. The God of the Bible was on a mission, and the first missionary he sent into the world was himself. His mission of salvation began in the garden of Eden, but ultimately it would lead him into another garden–one with an empty tomb. If he weren’t this kind of God, the Bible would be a very short book. It would have ended at Genesis 3:7.

Thankfully, it doesn’t!

PRAYER:

We bless you for being a missionary God.

Read: Revelation 21:6 7, 22:12 14

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. (22:13)

Believers can celebrate that there is no beginning or ending without God. He is never absent from our pain or rejoicing. In fact, he promises in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” What a comfort to know that the loving hand of God is holding, supporting, and carrying us through the beginnings and endings and each moment in between. From a child’s first cry to a parent’s final breath. From the moment we say “I do” to the point a marriage ends. From the first day of school, the start of a new job, and the blooming flowers of spring to the day we graduate, retire, or feel the cold winter wind. If we have repented of our sin and trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation, our Savior’s words hold true: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

The end of a relationship, season, dream, or life brings sorrow. The end of guilt and shame brings peace. As hard as the endings are, we serve a God who restores and makes all things new (Rev. 21:5). In times of change, remember new life and fresh starts. Until that glorious day when we come to the new heaven and new earth, may you follow the Alpha and Omega and devote yourself to serving him in every season of life.

PRAYER:

Thank you, Lord, for loving and upholding me through the beginnings and endings I face in life. Amen.

READ: Romans 10:9-15

Savior, thank you for those who have shared the good news with me. Help me to respond to it in a way that brings new life for myself and many others. Amen.

Starting over is possible because of God’s grace. God’s grace enables us to begin a new life in Jesus Christ. We may not get our job back or our marriage restored. However, we can gain a restored relationship with God.

God makes that possible through the gift of Jesus Christ, the one who came to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). This salvation is available through repentance and faith. We must tell God we are sorry for our sin and place our trust in Jesus to forgive us.

If we confess and believe, the Bible doesn’t say we might be saved or we could be saved. It says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13).

Have you confessed your sin to God and asked him to forgive you? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior? Empowered by the Holy Spirit, are you striving to live in a way that shows him to be the Lord of your life?

Through Christ, the lost are found, those dead in sin are granted eternal life, and the perishing are saved. This is the new beginning everyone needs! Have you experienced the beginning of new life in Christ? Are you sharing the good news with others who desperately need to hear it?

PRAYER

Savior, thank you for those who have shared the good news with me. Help me to respond to it in a way that brings new life for myself and many others. Amen.

READ:  Psalm 51:1-17

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (v. 10)

Moses killed an Egyptian, David committed adultery, and Peter denied Christ. Every human being including those whose life stories are included in the Bible has sinned against God. Only Jesus was without sin. I imagine Moses, David, and Peter all felt guilt in the midst of their failures.

What guilt weighs heavy on your heart? What brings feelings of embarrassment and shame? Do you realize that God wants to give you a fresh start? He can forgive your faults and failures. Need evidence? Moses was later used to lead God’s people out of slavery. David confessed his sin (see Psalm 51) and sought to honor God as a king. Peter was restored by Jesus and boldly proclaimed the good news in the early church.

You are not a failure. You are not damaged goods. You are loved by God and he longs to create in you a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you. The person you fault in the mirror is a person in whom God sees great potential. He can restore you and give you a fresh start so you can humbly serve him with gratitude and purpose.

The world is filled with people who feel they can’t possibly be forgiven for the sins they’ve committed. Don’t buy that lie of Satan. Our God can restore the joy of salvation and empower us to do mighty things for him!

PRAYER

Glorious God, as you have enabled me to receive a fresh start, help me to encourage others as they start afresh. Amen.

READ: Acts 2:1-21

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. (v. 4)

How do we find strength to start anew? How do we get out of bed and make a difference despite pain, sorrow, and past mistakes? We don’t begin again on our own strength, rather we are reliant upon God and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Peter denied Jesus three times, yet Christ forgave and reinstated him (John 21:15-23). At Pentecost, filled with the Holy Spirit, God used Peter to preach salvation in Christ, and about three thousand were added to their number that day (Acts 2:41).

We are empowered to begin again through the Holy Spirit and prayer. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are also filled with the Holy Spirit. Through prayer we can ask God to strengthen, heal, forgive, motivate, and encourage us. What difference will it make today if we realize that we are not alone because the Holy Spirit dwells in us? What obstacles and anxieties must we bring to God in prayer?

Rather than throwing in the towel, choosing a life of self-pity, or making excuses, will we trust that God will use us to make a kingdom impact in this world? Will we seek to be a blessing to others? Will we begin again and witness how God can restore? How might God use you today?

PRAYER

Faithful God, empower me through your Spirit to follow your leading into the new beginning you have planned for me. As I rely on your Spirit and the power of prayer, give me faith and hope. Amen.

READ: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (v. 16)

We all grieve the sadness that many endings cause us to feel. We grieve the death of a loved one and feel the loneliness of life without their presence. We grieve what might have been if our dreams were not broken. We grieve the struggles of living in a fallen world tainted by sin.

Yet, 1 Thessalonians 4:13 reminds us that Christians do not grieve as those who have no hope. Christians have hope. We know Jesus died and rose again. We know Jesus is coming again and all things will be made new. We know how the story of Scripture ends, how Christ has been victorious, and how the power of his resurrection enables us to live for him every day.

Grieving is a necessary part of life. God enables us to grieve, weep, and feel sadness. First Thessalonians 4:13 does not say “do not grieve.” Rather, it reminds Christians not to grieve with hopelessness. There is hope through it all for believers! As the psalmist affirmed in Psalm 71:5, “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.” Don’t let go of the hope you have in Jesus.

PRAYER

“My hope is built on nothing less / than Jesus blood and righteousness; / I dare not trust the sweetest frame, / but wholly lean on Jesus name.” Christ my solid rock, thank you for that hope! Amen.

READ: Job 19:25-27

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. (v. 25)

Unless Christ returns first, each of us will face the end of life through death. We are reminded of this regularly as we experience the death of a loved one, read an obituary, or drive past a cemetery. We may discover ways to live longer, but we cannot avoid the reality that someday we will die. Death is a result of living in a sin-tainted world.

Thankfully, God sent Jesus Christ to make an atoning sacrifice for our sin. He came to pay the debt for our sin so we could be made right with God! Those who repent of their sin and believe in Jesus will still physically die, but they will also be raised up and live forever with him. First John 5:11-12 reminds us: “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Job, in the midst of his earthly suffering, knew he would die and his skin would be destroyed. Yet, he also knew the hope of eternal life and that he would be raised up to see God with his own eyes. He knew that his Redeemer lives and in the end he will stand on the earth, forever defeating and overcoming death. We can have that hope, too. Do you?

PRAYER

Precious Redeemer, use me to share the good news so that many more can come to know and trust in you for eternal life. Amen.

READ: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. (v. 1)

The seasons of nature change from spring to summer to fall to winter. Each season brings its own unique weather patterns, challenges, and opportunities.

We also transition through changing seasons of life and natural life cycles. It’s true for crops in the fields, children as they grow into adulthood, churches that develop from newly planted to established, and businesses that adapt to a changing environment.

The end of a season can be challenging or painful. Some find it difficult to see the leaves fall from trees, the fields emptied of their crops, and the daylight shorten in the fall. There are many challenging transitions in life too: watching your youngest child graduate from school and leave your home, seeing a church decline as it ages, retiring from regular employment, or caring for elderly parents.

Christians can celebrate God’s faithfulness and presence in the midst of changing seasons and life cycles. He promises in Isaiah 41:10: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” How do you need to hear this promise in your life as you face the end of a season?

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for being with me to the very end of the age. Amen.