An excerpt concerning the 21 martyred Egyptian Coptic Christians.

"Whatever the world news may say about the brave, martyred 21 Christians who were beheaded by ISIS, His Word speaks the Truth of The 21: “The world was not worthy of them.” (Heb.11:38)

However any very real evil thinks it’s winning & overcoming, His Truth declares that The 21 are the Overcomers, that The 21 overcame “because of the blood of the Lamb & because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” (Rev.12:11)

And wherever the People of the Cross are, we will remember every one of The 21’s names because they did not forget Him or forsake His name. We will pray for their families because they are our literal family, and we will pray for their murderers because the Cross that’s rescued us, is big enough, powerful enough, loving enough to rescue anyone who reaches for its redeeming grace.

The Cross says that the executioners will not ultimately triumph over the executed. And the Cross says that the executed will not ultimately triumph over their executioners. The Cross ultimately says the One who will triumph is the One who was executed first Himself on a Cross for the executed and the executioners and ushers in an upside down kingdom of real love and new rightness and deep wholeness and pure justice that singularly has the power to break hate.

The Cross doesn’t polarize with Bravado Power — it upends with serving, Bona-Fide Love. 

So the People of the Cross will pray that our faith in our Saviour is worth laying down our life for our Savior.

We will pray that we don’t live lives of cheap grace but of costly Christianity. 

 

We will pray that The 21’s sacrificed lives will stir us to live sacrificial lives.

 

And the People of the Cross will weep prayers for the persecuted Church,  because we are bound to them through the Cross of Christ & because of the Cross of Christ they are UNBOUND, UNDEFEATABLE, UNDAUNTED, & UNFORGETTABLE. 

When the voice of ISIS warns on that video, his voice brash and brazen in the wind before The 21 about to be martyred: “Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for” — it’s hard to swallow the burning ember rising in my throat.

Because he’s right.

Too long The People of the Cross have crusaded for safe lives, too long we’ve wished for comfortable lives, too long we’ve wanted easy lives of vanilla love instead of Cross-shaped Love.

But the People of the Cross — we are done with safe lives of comfort instead of living dangerous lives that speak of the comfort found in Real Love who hung on a Cross." - A Holy Experience 

 

 

Beautifully said, I couldn't agree more.