Arise Oh Sleeper

Today I wanted to piggyback off of my recent blog post All Day, Everyday. Last post I was reminded how God calls us to be submitted more than just an hour a week, one day a week, or even part of the week. He wants us submitted every breath of our lives. See here in America it's very hard to see the point in fully surrendering. We have so many distractions. Video games, television, Facebook, Twitter, cell phones, work, let alone our own family and friends. I can see how someone could read my last post and think, "I get what you're saying Bryan, but you don't know the chaos that goes on in my life! You don't know the limited time I have to even do what I want, not to mention what God wants." 


Look the point of the last blog is to challenge the idea that God and everything else should be separate. He should directly affect how you interact with the world around you. See in our culture it's very easy to forget how precious and amazing a relationship with Jesus is. It's even easier to forget how mind blowing it is that God himself gave us his Word, and that we live in a culture that has the opportunity to read and distribute Bibles without persecution. Why do I bring up this persecution stuff so much? It's because all around the world people are dying for Christ and we in America are so worried we won't fit in. 

See the unfortunate reality of the American Church is that we have a serious identity crisis. We call ourselves the Church, or even simply a Christian individual and yet we oddly enough look like the rest of the world! Further, we act just like the world too. This is a scary place to be because God says in his word: 

"¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15

That's a scary thought. It's no wonder we have a hard time living this walk right. See I was reminded of a verse today that I read when I had just came to faith in Jesus. When I read this I literally shared with everyone around me at the time!

"⁸ For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— ⁹not from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10

Other translations of the word "Creation" in verse 10 read "workmanship," which means God took his time with us! Now I say everything I have to share this amazing testimony I heard from the Voice Of The Martyrs back in January 2011. I'm going to tell you the story of a woman named Yubelina from Indonesia. If you have been scrolling down you may have already noticed the picture I've posted at the bottom of the Blog. This is a picture of an amazing woman that has been ingrained in my spirit since I heard her story. The picture is somewhat graphic and may disturb some of you, however I promise after you hear her testimony, you will see the beauty I do. 

Yubelina's story is one we never hear of here in the states... She was a woman much like any other woman of our country, maybe a little less rich that the women here in America, but non the less like any other woman. She longed to feel beautiful, and she longed to be cherished. All this being said, her world drastically got flipped upside down! A group of people in her village did not like the fact that there was a Secret Christian Church in a man's house. As Christianity was not a part of their society's government and highly illegal to be a part of, this group of people set the Secret House Church on fire. Yubelina Heard this was going on and ran directly to the scene. 

It's good to note that in Indonesia it is illegal to own a bible or not to mention illegal to pass them out!  It's also very hard to get these bibles into the country thus making God's word scarce. 

There were roughly twenty bibles in the Secret House Church as it was now a blazing fire. What Yubelina did next is something to be noted for. Amongst all the chaos, she runs into the inferno and grabs as many bibles as possible. As she runs out, she noticed her face had started burning, she kept running out of the building. When she reaches outside with about half of the bibles, she pats down the fire on her face and catches her breath. She then darts directly back into the fiery building, and grabs more bibles. Again her face is ablaze and she keeps running out of the house. As you look at the following picture I want you to remember a few things. 

1. Yubelina knew who her identity was. It was in Jesus and her trust was in his Word.

2. She also knew that, as Ephesians 2:10 says, God had extraordinary things in front of her! 

3. Lastly, She didn't let anything of this world stop her for serving Jesus. In fact, she can be found still now in her village speaking and sharing God's word with giant smile on her face!

Beloved, below is Yubelina and I hope after hearing her story that it challenges you and impacts you to dive deeper into God. Find your identity and don't let it be in your appearance, rather in Him. Satan would like to use this image to bring fear and disgust to your heart, however I feel very blessed to call this woman my fellow sister in Jesus and can't wait till I can shake her hand in Paradise! 

Voice Of The Martyrs January 2011

I love you Beloved.