Standing Up for Your Faith
Try this tonight at the supper table: print out this picture I have posted. Show it to your children and talk about the scripture written at the bottom “But everyone that denies me before people, I will deny before my father in heaven.” Matthew 10:33.
Then discuss the man in the picture. His name is Pastor Saleem Abedini and he is an American citizen locked up in a very bad prison in Iran. (Tailor your vocabulary to the age of your children.) He’s there because he refuses to say he does not love Jesus and he will not not turn his back on Jesus and convert to another religion. So the prison guards are treating him very mean. He is bleeding inside very badly and he is very, very sick. All he would have to do is renounce Jesus and convert to Islam and they would let him go free.
Have a conversation about this. What should Pastor Abedeni do? Surely he wants to see his beautiful children again. Should he go ahead and convert to Islam to save his health and his life?
What would do you do if your friends made fun of you for being a Christian?
Is it better to just keep silent about your faith and don’t let anyone know you are a Christian?
Your children need to hear from you, parents. They want to know what you believe. Are you willing to stand up for your faith?
After you have discussed this for awhile, ask your children to pray with you for Pastor Abedeni. Ask God to preserve his life, heal his body, stop the bleeding on the inside, and to set him free from prison. Ask the Holy Spirit to surround him with the peace that passes all understanding, and that he will not lose hope or lose faith in this trying time.
How’s that for a meaningful conversation? Let me know your thoughts now, but then tomorrow, let me know if you did it and how it went. Thanks.
Parents Tool Box for Raising Spiritual Champaions:https://kidsinministry.org/
FOOTNOTE:
(Posted in Facebook May 17, 2013)
Do you remember a few days ago I encouraged you to ask your children to pray for Pastor Saeed Abedeni being held in prison in Iran for being a Christian. I asked you to pray and ask God to preserve his life, heal his body, stop the bleeding on the inside, and to set him free from prison. Ask the Holy Spirit to surround him with the peace that passes all understanding, and that he will not lose hope or lose faith in this trying time.
Here is an amazing testimony that cam out just two days later! More good news concerning U.S. Pastor Saeed Abedini has followed his release from solitary confinement last week, as reports have suggested the global support he has been receiving while in prison in Tehran, Iran, are helping him find joy and peace.
“Despite his suffering, Pastor Saeed’s faith continues to keep him alive. Other prisoners reportedly told Saeed’s family that when Pastor Saeed was released from solitary confinement, ‘he was glowing,’ and that miraculously he ‘was filled with more joy and peace after solitary’ than he was before solitary,” the American Center for Law and Justice said in a statement on Tuesday.
The American pastor is said to be suffering from medical problems, including kidney issues, as he serves the eight-year sentence handed to him in January by the Iranian court for “endangering national security.”
TELL YOUR CHILDREN GOD ANSWERS PRAYER and please continue praying!