I was sitting down to with my mom, aunts, and uncles for dinner; and all of them are bound on the wide road to destruction. Man, this is NOT the life I want to live. We were talking about Vietnam, and the persecution of Christians there because of Communism. They were saying how wicked and dark that place is, and assuring me that I should not go to preach the Word. However, in my heart, there was a glimmer of hope and the reality of Jesus seemed so real as we were having the conversation. They were telling me that I am too idealistic, people will kill me, persecute me, mocke me, and torture me if I talk about religion there. This is scary stuff, but the Lord spoke that we should not fear man who kills the body, but God who can throw both soul and body in hell. I know it sounds crazy, but I want to see the power of God in these dark places. I want to see the power of the resurrection. As were talking about this, I was reminded of the book of Acts and how much Paul suffer for the spread of the gospel.

I need to be prepared to suffer for the gospel.

God, please give me strength and help me be faithful if the time comes. There is no way I can do this in my own strength. It has to be you that gives the strength. I am too weak, cowardly, and scared to do anything myself. In Jesus Name, Amen.