Being Attacked...

A quote I sometimes hear is "If you don't have enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" by Winston Churchill.

I don't know if I have any direct enemies who are people. Does that mean I never stood up for anything? It is a question that may bother me for a while.

I'm one of those people who actually reads comments after videos or articles. I also read debates on forums once in a while. Whenever it's something about God or Christians in general, I feel attacked by many of the posters who don't believe in the same thing. Granted, I never post so they do not know of my existence, so they aren't really "direct enemies". Still, I feel attacked when they portray Christians as "unintelligent" or other terms which I don't feel like typing out and the ones defending Christianity are the type of people who don't really back up their claims or post in a manner that make them seem like "noobs".

Recently, I watched a video about "The Call", which is a movement of fasting and prayer for change in the nation. There was one up in Sacramento during the weekend from September 3rd to the 4th which I knew many people from back home went to and even a few friends from Santa Barbara. I wanted to go, but had to stay home to take care of my cousins. Anyways, I decided to read the comments on a Youtube video about it and I see a lot of hate for it. People claim that Lou Engle, the speaker, is a gay-hater who supports Uganda's bill on killing gays and lesbians. After some research, I found out he doesn't actually support the bill for killing them, and I was watching the live feed when he talked about loving the people who are gay but not the act. Still, I was bothered that people actually think he supports killing gays when that's not true. It was an assumption based on some articles I found.

There are other comments that talk about it being a cult or some other stuff. I definitely feel bothered when I read all those comments. At the same time, I realize that God never promised our lives would be comfortable if we followed Him. I remember back in Jesus Culture, one of the talks was about how God doesn't need us to defend Him. The only thing I can do right now is try to love these people and accept that I will continue to be attacked in different ways. I'm not sure if what others say about believers should bother me this much.

You know how in media with superheroes, many will talk about how enemies will get to them through loved ones right? In the same way, Satan tries to attack God by attacking us, His children.

I definitely witnessed that tonight while I was at youth group. I might get some detail wrong because I didn't notice what was happening until later on. There was a girl named Kim who walked in completely fine and healthy. Apparently during youth group, while she was in the bathroom, she fell unconscious or something. While students were giving testimonies about how God had been working recently, my youth pastor interrupts and tells us to pray for her. She was having trouble breathing, coughing into a bowl, and crying a lot because of pain. Everyone had to give some space for her while we stopped our service to pray for her. I definitely felt some fear at first, but I realize that's what the enemy wants. The Holy Spirit definitely brought peace to the people praying. After the ambulance arrived, the guy told us to leave the room. We all went to the lounge.

While continuing to pray for her, we started worshiping God as well. Honestly it was the first time in a while I could pray and worship without being distracted a lot by my own thoughts. It was amazing to see every teenager in the youth group doing this. Do you know of many youth groups that would continue worshiping and praying when an attack like this occurs? There was joy through this even though we were just attacked. No matter what bad things Satan tries to throw at us, God will turn something good out of it.

I guess what I should have learned from this is that if I ever feel attacked, I should leave it to God and continue worshiping and praying. He can handle all things. He does do the impossible.

I definitely feel like throwing a Bible verse somewhere in here for support, but I can't think of any out of the top of my head. I guess I can apply the fruits of the spirit to this; afterall, joy and peace did show up and they are fruits of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control..."

I guess you could also say some of the others showed up like love and patience. I definitely didn't organize this as I'm writing this last minute for the past hour out of the top of my head.

Until next time,
Kenneth

Update (5:24 9/7/10): "Hi Everyone,

If you were at Wildfire you're probably wondering about the girl, Kimberly Walker, who had such a violent asthma attack last night. She was rushed to Kaiser where they x-rayed her chest and gave her air. The x-rays turned out showing everything normal and Kim is doing great today.

I can't tell you, enough, just how amazing you were last night when this was all happening. Your intercession for Kim and how you ended up worshiping in the cafe when the paramedics arrive was astounding!!!! ASTOUNDING!!! What maturity! What love!!!

Misha had a word that this was going to be another turning point for us. That our staying firm to pray will cause it to be that attacks like this will not be able to even make it through our door.

What a great night, after all. If you know Kim...or don't...I encourage you to send encouragement her way. She's Kalyssa's friend, so you can get more details from her.

Bless you all!!

Todd"