Calendar

THE FRUIT OF PERSECUTION
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21
Acts 11:19-21

Romans 8:26-28

 

“And we know that
all things work together

for good to them that love God…”

 

THE FRUIT OF PERSECUTION
 
Romans 8:28 is again proven clearly during the persecution of the Jews at the time of Stephen’s death. They were in heaviness and fear brought about by threats, but all these caused them to preach God’s Word in every place they went.
 
Farther places reached: “In like sort it came to pass, that the name of Christ, passing over mountains and seas, did flow even unto the farthest parts of the world” (Calvin). If there were no persecutions, no one would have travelled as far as Phenice or Phoenicia, a region of Palestine, across the seas to the island of Cyprus and as far as Antioch of Syria in the north from which Paul was sent to carry out more missionary journeys overseas. Men from Cyprus and from far down south in Cyrene of Egypt (north Africa) heard the gospel.
 
Further numbers believed: The “hand of the Lord” (Acts 11:21) was Luke’s expression of the supernatural spread of the gospel. This divine intervention is manifested by the great number of people who came to believe in Jesus. They who were once adherents of the Jewish faith turned to the Lord. Having been illumined through the Holy Spirit they saw the fulfilment of the prophecies concerning the Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth. The suffering in the great persecution became a blessing in the great redemption of many souls outside of Jerusalem.
 
The focus of their work was on the Jews first as it did not yet dawn upon the Church that the Gentiles were also part of God’s decree of salvation. When it was time for the Gentiles to be brought in, the Lord used the Jewish believers to become evangelists to them.
 
Are you in some dire straits? Trust in the Lord! Seek God’s lesson out of this experience, and you will see that indeed His way is perfect and right and you have no right to question His good will in your life. Thank God for all the hardships and adversities in life, for by His supernatural intervention, all things work together for good and for His glory.
 
THOUGHT: Am I assured that God’s purposes are always good?
PRAYER: Father, create in me a trusting heart in Thy power and providence.

Search