I had an interesting YouTube experience tonight. I went from watching cute animals, to watching a centipede kill a snake (too creepy, only got through the first minute), and then to watching videos made my Islamic people about converting Christians to their religion.
Never has my heart felt so broken over this subject... not in a very long time anyways. It is sooo sad. Watching these people twist the ultimate Truth into lies that fit their religion is the saddest thing I have ever seen. It's also ever so slightly offensive. (Okay, veryyy offensive, but it's so laced with sorrow that it hardly even makes me that angry... it just shatters my heart.)
We had a very special man visit our church to speak earlier this year. He had been an Islam extremist and ended up finding Truth in God's Word and converted to Christ. God later used him to reach his wife and, if I remember correctly, his children as well. (Dr. Daniel Shayesteh if you ever care to look him up.) He risked his life to embrace the truth, and it is truly encouraging. He was able to speak at our church and inform us of the truth about Islam-- the things about their religion that they do not want others to know. Their ultimate goal is to convert the whole world, and they are instructed to do whatever it takes to do so, even to lie about it. It is just so very sad. I am determined even more now to read his book "Christ Above All". It compares the major religions in the world to Christianity and instructs on how to conversationally lead these people to Christ. I really hope this will help equip me for going out into this world. I feel a tremendous burden for the lost people in America... knowing that they are all around us with all their false religions that America tolerates under instruction of democracy... (I am not bashing on democracy and freedom of religion at all. Just stating where it has gotten us, with Islam as the fastest growing religion in the world... the placeholder that Christ Himself instructed us to have, but we seem to fail at.)
I am praying so hard about this now. Praying that God will use me to impact this world. I don't want to live a quiet life that doesn't even spread God's love and His salvation... It would be a waste. I want to reach others. I pray that God will embolden me. I pray that God will give me wisdom and knowledge and help me to understand Him better. I am praying that God will show me how to do what He has called me to.
I am also praying about fasting sometime soon. I've done it before, and I knew it was what God was asking of me. He truly answered my prayers and it was a really spiritually charged time. I just find that when my heart is so heavily burdened, the best thing to do is pray and pray and pray and fast. I'm not saying this to brag at all. I am only saying it because I feel it's something that many Christians tend to overlook. The power of prayer is amazingly strong. Focusing on it even more is hardly a bad thing. I'll probably post more about what I believe about fasting tomorrow, when I can gather all my thoughts and track down my verses about it. To anyone who's reading this, please pray for me that I'll be so in tune with God that I'll know exactly what He wants me to do right now. That He'll guide me as I study and that He'll show me what I can do to further His will this week. Especially pray about this fasting, that He'll tell me if this is what He needs me to do right now and if so, how long? 1 day? 3 days? 30 days? I will be praying!!
Love and prayers,
Natalie
