"Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. . . And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men." I Thessalonians 5:11,14

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

From Donna Fort, a missionary collegue in Zimbabwe

This last week I saw amazing video footage on tv - (on the reality channel) - some of you may have seen it too?
A large pride of lions isolated and attacked a large cape buffalo. They brought it down and were all over it. The buffalo had no hope for escape. Then an amazing thing happened! Something I've never seen or heard of - the herd of buffalo as one attacked the pride of lions and ran them off. They then surrounded the downed buffalo and stood around him nudging him and encouraging him to get up. . . He just lay there. It looked like he was dead. After awhile the herd began to move off, but several remained close to keep the lions at bay and watch over their friend. The "dead" buffalo sensing their departure raised his head and bellowed! The buffalo herd came back and waited for him to get up and he eventually did and left with the others.

We as Christians can be reminded of several truths from this story!

1. As Christians we need to stand firm against the devil, "the lion", our spiritual armour doesn't cover us from behind so if we get scared and try to run away we are going to have big problems!

2. When a Christian has been "downed" by the devil - we, the church, need to stand together and run the devil off and stand guard over the downed one instead of standing off to the side judging him and telling him he got what he deserved!

3. If I am the one that is down, I need to be humble enough to call out for help!
Others may not even know I am down and need helpf if I don't communicate that to someone!

4. Once the devil is gone, we can't all go home and leave the wounded one lying there! We need to stay there and encourage him to get up and remain around him until he is strong enough again to face that "roaring lion."