The Promise of Persecution
Leonard Ravenhill once said, “You can’t develop character by
reading books. You develop it from
conflict.” While God is not the
one who brings calamity into people’s lives, sometimes He allows challenging
situations to manifest so we develop a greater trust in Him and become more
Christ-like.
2 Timothy 3:12 promises, “Yes, and all who desire to live
godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” If you are truly living
for the Lord, then you should expect people to occasionally call you names like “religious
fanatic”, “Bible thumper”, and “Jesus freak.” (My brother-in-law thanks people
who call him the latter). Unfortunately
some believers who are not grounded on the word of God will draw back when
persecuted. Jesus talked about
this in Mark 4:17, “and they have no root in
themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the
word’s sake, immediately they stumble.”
How should a Christian respond to persecution? Our natural human tendency is to answer
likewise when people act ugly towards us. But Romans 12:14 says, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do
not curse.”
One minister I know often jokes about “Percy” (his nickname for
persecution) being an employee on his payroll. The Apostle Paul wrote about taking pleasure in persecutions
in 2 Corinthians 12:10. But that
doesn’t mean we are to be Christian masochists and purposely look for
opportunities to be persecuted. When
I’m out street evangelizing, sometimes the Lord will instruct me NOT to talk to
certain people. Some folks are so
hardhearted; they won’t be receptive to the gospel no matter how you present it
to them.
Unless the Lord instructs you to remain at a particular
place for a season, persecution may be a sign that it’s time to leave. One day a man who had invited me to
stay in his home for a season suddenly started criticizing my ministry. Rather than waste time defending
myself, I went out and won more souls for the Lord. Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good.” The next day I moved out of this man’s
house. As Mike Murdock says, “Go
where you are celebrated instead of where you are tolerated.”
Other times, you might need to stay and confront the
persecution. I once lived with a professing
believer who had serious personal issues. He would often get drunk on beer and then hurled strange accusations
against me. In response, I sang
songs about the blood of Jesus and the man backed off.
So the next time you are persecuted, keep in mind that the
battle is never with flesh and blood but wicked spirits manifesting through
people whose lives are not submitted to the Lord. As long as you are not opening doors to the devil, receiving persecution is probably a sign that you are
doing something right.
“Rejoice and be
exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted
the prophets who were before you.” -
Matthew 5:12
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