What if Our Bibles Were Taken Away?

Have you ever stopped and just reflected on God's Word.  The Power it carry's.  The Privilege it is to be able to open it up and read the incredible promises from our God who breathed life into each page.  We have friends that are serving as Missionaries in a foreign country and they have to hide their Bibles for fear of their very life.  The people they witness to and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ have to be careful who they talk to about their faith for fear of their lives.  Yet, they are willing to take that risk because they understand the urgency to spread God's Word and the Power it gives the Believer.

You are probably thinking, wow!  I need to pray for those Missionaries.  They must have it rough.  Yes, they do!  Yes, prayer is always, always needed!  However, think about this.  We live in a Country founded upon God's principal's and Christian values, yet, we are so far from that now.  As Christians, our voice has become so small that we have allowed prayer to be taken out of schools.  We have watched as the Ten Commandments (the very laws given to Moses directly from God) have been ordered, by law, to be taken down from courthouses.  We are not allowed to pray before Graduations or football games.  Teachers can be fired from their job by just mentioning the Bible or Jesus Christ. 

Friends, we are not very far away from becoming like those countries where the very building we congregate to worship will be obsolete.  Where Bibles will be confiscated if seen in public.  Where the very mention of Jesus Christ could land someone in jail or be killed.  It's hard to think that could actually happen.  But did you ever think that the aforementioned things could happen?  Satan is out to kill, steal, and destroy.  He wants to make a mockery out of our Savior and wants to silence our Faith so no one else will come to know Christ.  God's Word tells us that this very thing is coming.  In Jude, verses 17-21, "But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.  They said to you, 'In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.'  These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.  But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.  Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."

I will be the first to admit that I take God's Word for granted.  I serve in Ministry where everyday God allows me the opportunity to witness or minister to someone.  Yet, I fall short on hiding His very Word in my heart.  I tend to let the busyness of this world get the best of me.  I even use the excuse that as I get older, it's hard for me to memorize scripture.  Truth is, I barely even try.  How many of you can say the same or even have other excuses.  Bottom line is this:  As individuals, We are free to open God's Word and read it!  We are free to go out publicly and proclaim His name!  We are free to Worship corporately as Believers!  But for how long?

I imagine if you were to ask those in other Countries that are having to meet in secret to talk about God's Word, if they memorize scripture, I'm pretty sure the answer would be, Yes!  I'm sure they memorize and hide His word deep in their hearts not knowing when their written Word will be taken from them.  Living in a poverty stricken area, I can relate to this as I watch those that have nothing, and I mean nothing, be given the opportunity to get free stuff.  They take and take and take like there's no tomorrow.  Not because they are greedy.  But because they don't know when or if they will get those items again.  It is a survival technique.  Isn't that how we should be with God's Word?  Shouldn't we be taking in all we can get?  Shouldn't our desire be to hide His Word in our heart, the very Word He Breathed into life for us?  The very promises our entire Faith hinges on? 

I challenge you as I challenge myself, memorize His Word.  Ask God to give you the capacity to retain it and the wisdom to understand it.  There are verses that I learned as a child, that even today God brings to mind when I need them or when someone else needs to hear it.  It's amazing how He allows my mind to pull scripture from a place hidden long ago in the deep places of my heart.

I love opening God's Word.  I love the beautiful promises within the pages that He has given to those who follow after Him.  His Word never gets old and never is outdated.  It is relevant to past, present and future.  We can learn from it, find any answer to any problem in our life, and revel in the victory that is to come!  What JOY fills my soul to think about eternity with my Lord and Savior!

Blessings!  Have a JOY filled day!

Angie Burkeen