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FACING PERSECUTIONS
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6
Acts 13:50-52

Mark 6:10-11

 

“In what place soever ye enter
into an house, there abide

till ye depart from that place.”

 

FACING PERSECUTIONS
 
Persecution is a given in missions work. If you are truly serving the Lord, Satan will not leave you alone. If you do not experience any opposition, then you ought to be concerned. It may mean that you are not contradicting Satan’s plan and he agrees with what you are doing. If you are aware of this truth then you will not wonder and complain to God when you meet with obstacles, and barriers are set up in your path to stop you from doing God’s work. Instead, you will be ready to face them.
 
Forsook them: The envious Jews incited the people in their synagogues as well as the city leaders to persecute Paul and Barnabas. So they were cast out from their region. Remembering the words of Jesus in Luke 9:4-5, Paul and Barnabas forsook the place and proceeded to the next city, Iconium.
 
Filled with joy: Having known that persecution would really come, they were not disheartened. Instead, they were completely rejoicing over what had transpired and, being controlled wholly by the Spirit of God, they continued steadfastly in the work that God had assigned them.
 
“For we must mark Luke’s drift, that the faithful were so far from being troubled and shaken with those stumbling-blocks, how great soever they were, with the reproach of their teachers, with the disquieting of the city, with terrors and threatenings, also with fear and dangers hanging over their heads, that they did with the loftiness of their faith despise valiantly the gorgeousness, as well of their feigned holiness as of their power. And assuredly, if our faith shall be well grounded in God, and shall be thoroughly rooted in his word; and, finally, if it shall be well fortified with the aid of the Spirit as it ought, it shall nourish peace and joy spiritual in our minds, though all the world be in an uproar” (Calvin).
 
Do you expect the enemy’s opposition in your labour for the Lord? Be aware, for ignorance of it will bring you many discouragements in the ministry. Rather, be filled with the Holy Spirit such that when persecution comes you can still bear the fruit of the Spirit in your life.
 
THOUGHT: Am I steadfast in my faith even in times of persecution?

PRAYER: Father, help me to endure until the end, for Thy glory.

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