Power Point - December 13, 2004

 

December 13, 2004

 

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…

-Ephesians 6:18

 

There is a great story of faith in Irina Ratushinskaya. Even in childhood, while Irina heard school lectures promoting atheism and anti-Christianity, she was on a quest to find God. It led her to a deeper faith than ever before.

 

Irina was a poet and her work brought inspiration and hope to those who believed in God all over Russia. Her greatest ordeal in life began in 1982. Irina caught the attention of the KGB and was charged with anti-Soviet agitation. At age 28, she was convicted and sentenced to sever years in a labor camp.

 

There she was subjected to unspeakable cruelties and relentless interrogations, the biting cold, starvation, and months of solitary confinement, amidst the hard labor. She spent four years as a political prisoner, but her faith did not break.

 

She continued to write poetry while in prison centered on love and Christian theology, not on politics and the government as her accusers had stated. Her new works in prison were written on soap until memorized and then were washed away, and they numbered around 250. Irina was released the day before the summit in Reykjavik, Iceland between President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986. She credited the prayers of Christians for sustaining her through all her hardships.

 

In 1987, Irina came to the United States, where she received the Religious Freedom Award from the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Let me ask…how faithful are you in praying for those who are undergoing the deepest and darkest struggles? Do you constantly pray for those experiencing difficult times on a regular basis? Believe me…our prayers can make a dynamic difference. If you know of someone who is struggling and needs your prayers…stop and lift them up right now.

 

GOD WILL INTERVENE IF YOU WILL INTERCEDE.