MARTYRDOM -- THEIR BLOOD CRIES OUT
By Jill Austin

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Rev. 12:11

BEATEN AND RAPED FOR THE GOSPEL

In the summer of 1998, a young woman from Sudan, Africa, was attacked,
severely beaten, and raped by Muslims simply because she was wearing a
cross. When she tried to escape, her throat was slit and she was
bayoneted in the back.

Her assailants ripped her dress off and proceeded to melt water
bottles and pour the hot, liquid plastic onto her skin, leaving it in
puddles and scarring her for life. She survived the brutal assault
only to become pregnant by the horrible incident and is now raising
her child.

600 MILLION SUFFERING PEOPLE

Seventy-five percent of the world's Christians live in third world
nations-- nations that are predominantly Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim.
Persecution in many nations brings extortion, family division and
separation, harassment, and discrimination in employment and education
while over 600 million Christians live as second-class citizens in
their societies.

PACIFYING THEOLOGY

In the Western church today, intimacy with Jesus has become a sweet
and oft-heard phrase echoing in church halls as believers quote from
Philippians 3:10: "That I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection." But many don't finish the verse: ". . . and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

This irony is a powerful revelation--- that intimacy comes THROUGH
SUFFERING! That is why Holy Spirit chose to use Paul, not only to pen
these words, but also to demonstrate them through his own life of
suffering for the gospel.

The Western church has developed a pacifying theology of telling
herself that suffering is not the will of God, but that it is Satan
having his way in the life of a believer. Accusations rise up in our
hearts against a sovereign God's inability to alleviate pain and
suffering in our lives, preventing us from embracing the Cross.

READY OR NOT! --MARTYRDOM IS ON THE RISE!

Martyrdom and persecution are on the rise in America and the Western
nations. Yet, many of us still believe that suffering means we aren't
physically comfortable or that persecution means our family thinks we
are just too radical when we refuse to watch a certain program on TV.

Jesus paints a different picture in Luke 9:23,24: If anyone desires to
come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and
follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. Many will lose their
lives and be martyred, but they will overcome their accuser by the
blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, not having
loved their lives to the death. (Rev. 12:11)

THE PASTOR SAID HE'D SEND HIS SONS AND DAUGHTERS -EVEN IF IT MEANT MARTYRDOM

I once saw a pastor standing in front of a large map of the world that
was mounted on the wall of his church while Holy Spirit was brooding
over the room. In tears, he told the Lord that he would send his sons
and daughters from his church to the nations-- even if it meant that
they would be martyred. Women of Destiny, release your life to the
glorious cause of Christ. Learn to love Him so much that you, too,
will join those who have not loved their lives to the death.

[Reprinted from the Women of Destiny Bible, (c) copyright 2000 by
Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.]

HOW DO WE GET FROM YEARNING TO BURNING?

Many of us sit in dead, dull churches week after week, longing to do
radical exploits and move in signs and wonders- but we don't. We
yearn to be ablaze with something worth dying for, something that
would so grip and move our hearts that we would soar above the mundane
and the pettiness of this world. Yet, many of us do not walk across
the street to even witness to our lost and dying neighbors!

How do we get from yearning to burning? We need what the men and
women of old possessed-- a revelation of His majesty and
incomprehensible love so that our testimony cannot be stopped, no
matter what the circumstances are.

VISITATION BRINGS REVELATION!

We all long to be burning and shining lamps like John the Baptist,
with the fire of Holy Spirit blazing within our being. He received a
revelation of the Bridegroom King and did not love his life, even unto
death. How we need a visitation from the Beautiful One. A visitation
and revelation that so rocks the core of our being that nothing stays
the same. Go or stay-- live or die; plenty or nothing-- we would
desire only one thing - to run with Him.

PRAY DANGEROUS PRAYERS

Join me as we agree in prayer: "Lord, I want a life-changing
visitation, an encounter with You so I am radically and eternally
changed. Give me the kind of hunger John the Baptist burned with.
Make me so in love with You that I will endure pain, suffering,
separation, and even death, to further Your purposes in the earth.
Replace this shriveled up, dull heart with an abandoned and reckless
passion to redeem out of every tribe and nation-- a people for
Yourself.

-- Jill Austin
Master Potter Ministries
Email office@jillaustin.org