“Persecution means we are doing great”
5 days ago i was laying down in a hammock at the backyard
of my house where my devotional time takes place everyday. Suddenly came to my
mind a thought, “persecution means we are doing great”, and I started
thinking about Jesus living on earth. Everyone knows all the sufferings and trials
he went through ’till the day he die upon that cross. Read Isaiah 53.
While living on earth he healed a lot of people: Great
crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and
many others laid them at his feet; and he healed them. Matthew 15:3
He was tempted. Matthew 4:1-11. He didn’t have a place to
lay his head: Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests,
but the son of man has no place to lay his head. Matthew 8:20.
He was mocked, insulted, betrayed, falsely accused, denied
and crucified. (You can read Matthew).
However there were so many people who loved him, people
who open their hearts and homes to receive him, people who believed in him and
the word of God, like the Canaanite woman, the woman bleeding for twelve year, Mathew
9:20; The man with leprosy, Matthew 8:1-4; The people who waited for him in the
Triumphal entry to Jerusalem. Matthew 21:9; The sinful woman who poured perfume
on Jesus’ feet; the disciples, and there’s a lot of stories about people who
loved Jesus and the gospel.
We, as missionaries, have trials and are persecuted all
the time, mocked, betrayed, etc. There are missionaries around the world that
have no place to lay their head, they are in lack of food, lack of clothes, far
from their families and a lot of them are dying for the gospel. They are also
people who receive you and pay attention to the word of God.
God has so many promises for those who suffer like his
song Jesus did.
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial
you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But
rejoice that you participate in the suffering of Christ, so that you may be
overjoyed when his glory is revealed.1 Peter 4: 12,13.
it’s not easy, it takes courage to obey God, but there’s
so many people outside dying for doing evil, killing innocent people, killing
themselves, like terrorists. But the bible says: it’s better, if it is God’s
will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.1 Peter 3:17
we will find people who will love to hear about Jesus,
they will open their hearts ,they will believe, however, there are people that
will hate us, shut their doors in our faces and will reject the gospel; some of
them will persecute us to death.( please read 1 Peter 3:8-16)
Persecution means we are
doing great, Jesus did great till the day he die, and he still does;
we can do great ’till the day we die. For Jesus fulfill God’s purpose he was
persecuted to death, and probably a few of us will be too, but keep this in mind:
If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to
the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Romans :14:8
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse.” Romans 12:14
