Take *that*, Satan!

Well, just as temptation can come in friendly, attractive, comforting packages, so, too, can encouragement come when you most need it ... and from wonderful sources.

I've been using my Facebook account to post scriptures and lyrics to hymns and Christian songs that really mean something to me. I've enjoyed sharing with my "friends" on there (a mix of co-workers, former co-workers, high school and elementary school classmates, family, friends and others) these things that have meant so much to me in the past weeks and months.

A few weeks ago I discovered that one of my former classmates "unfriended" me with no explanation. I have assumed it was because of the Christ-centered posts I have made. (Maybe those assumptions are incorrect, but it's the only reason I can think of.)

Of course, I began to second-guess whether I should post so many of these so often. I want so much to be completely unafraid and unashamed to share the Gospel -- I want Romans 1:16 to be my motto:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

K. and I e-mailed back and forth today about a former employee who passed away yesterday, whether she was a believer, and how we both want for the first thing people think of when we go to be how devoted we were to the Lord. I told her when it is my time to leave, I want the FIRST words out of everyone's mouth to be about how much I loved the Lord and how I was not ashamed to share that with anyone.

But as much as I want to be unashamed in sharing the Gospel, I also do not want to shove it own people's throats to the point they cannot hear. I know having that happen can be and often is a HUGE turn off for non-believers. That is why I have always tried to live the way I knew God wanted me to and let that be my testimony.

So in the light of being unfriended, I considered cutting back on how many and how often of those kinds of posts I put on my page. I even considered stopping them, even if just for a little while.

Today, though, since I had not yet made a decision, I posted the lyrics to "Have Thine Own Way, Lord."


Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.

Not very long after I posted it, I got a reply from one of my friends: "Thanks Lauren. I needed this today."

WOW! Immediately my heart was filled and I had my answer: no way could I not continue to post those scriptures and lyrics. Even if just one of every 20 I post holds that for someone, I have to do it.

I e-mailed K. and told her about it. Below is her response and the scripture to which she referred me:

"I just meant to say that I think you're doing the right thing. Satan will try to discourage you from proclaiming what God had done for you and is teaching you. And he knows exactly how to hit you where it hurts (such as being unfriended on Facebook). As you start following Christ more, my understanding is that you will be persecuted more. Take heart! You must be on the right track if you're scaring Satan into action! :)"

Matthew 10: 26-39
26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Matt. 5: 11-12
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

John 15: 19-21
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.