Earlier today when Todd Nettleton joined Janet Parshall to talk about the persecuted church, Todd mentioned that the book Extreme Devotion is being translated and read on the radio in the Sudan. And The Voice of the Martyrs is doing this because we are trying to build up the suffering church in the Sudan because of all the genocide. The following devotion is from our popular book Extreme Devotion, and today it happens to be on the Sudan. Get your copy of the book here.
Foxholes in a schoolyard—they are all too common in Southern Sudan. In the midst of a play area surrounded by children running and laughing sits a large metal cylinder with fins on its tail buried halfway in the ground. A flag sticks out from the unexploded bomb as a reminder for the children to stay away from it.
A missionary team
recently delivered assistance to this elementary school in Yei County.
Like most areas in Sudan, this school is barely able to function for
lack of supplies and qualified teachers. This particular school is in
an area regularly bombed by the Islamic government of Sudan.
These
children have dug more than twenty foxholes by hand around the
schoolyard. They have prepared themselves with some means of protection
for when the bombers come. When they hear the engines of the bombers,
they run for the holes, watching out for flying shrapnel.
Some
succeed in getting to the foxholes safely, but some do not. When the
missionary team asked what could be done for the children, the answer
was simply, “Pray for their protection.”
The Bible teaches that many believers lived a precarious existence in order to maintain their faith in Christ. To these children, suffering or even dying for their faith is an everyday reality. To us, they are brave soldiers for Christ.
The children in
Sudan are prepared to enter earthly battle. More importantly, they are
prepared to one day enter heaven’s gates. They have secured protection
within the earth from fly-by raids from enemy camps. Yet their faith in
Christ has secured eternal protection within the arms of God. Perhaps,
like the Sudanese children playing near an undiffused bomb, you have
learned by now that life often takes place a step away from disaster.
You may have taken steps to pad and protect your life on earth, hoping
for the best amidst uncertain times. However, have you also followed
their example of being prepared for life in the hereafter? Are you
prepared for eternal life through a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ?