HEAVENSREEF

Honestly this is not a subject I wanted to write about……the calendar says it’s February and I always write about matters of the heart this month.  But the word persecution seems to be coming up in the headlines everywhere I look, so much so, that I cannot ignore it any longer.

And neither should you…….I have a dear friend who told me many years ago that someday Christians in America would experience persecution for their faith.  At the time I didn’t give it a second thought, but here we are!  Churches have been singled out to be closed during this pandemic and now our government is marginalizing conservative views and silencing voices by using radical hate filled ideas.  I just read that right now even in China they are burning all religious books.  How long before that idea spreads here?

1 CORINTHIANS 1: 18 “FOR THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS FOOLISHNESS TO THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING, BUT TO US WHO ARE BEING SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD.”

Persecution here has begun…….it is playing out in full view on social media and the news.  Friends are turning against friends, neighbors against neighbors and family members against family members.  Censorship is everywhere.  This should strike us at our core and make us face what is happening.  Jesus reminded us of this very thing on the Sermon on the Mount…….

MATTHEW 5: 11-12  “BLESSED ARE YOU WHEN OTHERS REVILE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU AND UTTER ALL KINDS OF EVIL AGAINST YOU FALSELY ON MY ACCOUNT.  REJOICE AND BE GLAD, FOR YOUR REWARD IS GREAT IN HEAVEN, FOR SO THEY PERSECUTED THE PROPHETS WHO WERE BEFORE YOU.”

 

I guess none of us will understand this persecution coming until we have actually been touched by it.  But many already have!  When JESUS walked the earth, HIS followers were persecuted and even crucified.  It is why HE warned us that we would be persecuted too.

Let us seriously search within and ask ourselves if we are ready for this…….it is a hard subject to ponder especially if you believed you were living in a country where freedom of religion was respected.  And the voices that are the loudest right now are the secular ones……they don’t care who they persecute, just as long as they silence anyone of faith.

Let the words of Christ comfort you here……..

MATTHEW 10: 22 “YOU WILL BE HATED BY EVERYONE BECAUSE OF ME, BUT THE ONE WHO STANDS FIRM TO THE END WILL BE SAVED.”

Doing the hardest things in life are usually the right things for GOD.  At some point we will have to stand up for our faith.  Are we ready?  Here is an even harder question……

ARE WE WILLING TO DIE FOR OUR FAITH?

Face this hard question now……because the world is rapidly changing before our very eyes.  I’m afraid we are at a tipping point in history and we can no longer live in our own little bubbles thinking that this issue will go away. 

JOHN 15: 18-19  “IF THE WORLD HATES YOU, KNOW THAT IT HAS HATED ME BEFORE IT HATED YOU.  IF YOU WERE OF THE WORLD, THE WORLD WOULD LOVE YOU AS IT’S OWN, BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, BUT I CHOSE YOU OUT OF THE WORLD, THEREFORE THE WORLD HATES YOU.”

 

The world will hate us because we are not of the world.  Because we have JESUS, and because we are a reflection of HIM and HIS values, the world will hate us.  Because we value what JESUS values, we will be marginalized and censored.  But because we value the CROSS above all, we will have all the perseverance we need to live out these times we are currently in.  JESUS is our living hope!  Pass this hope on to your fellow Christians.  We need each other more now than ever before!

Let us pray daily for the lost…….forgive them Father for they know not what they do!  Let’s move forward and continue to do those hard things, those harder than we can stand things, but all with grace and with the Spirit’s power in CHRIST.  HE is our anchor and our HOPE……our only HOPE. 

With the Spirit of Christ within us, we can turn the other cheek, forgive those around us, but remain steadfast in our journey with CHRIST by our side until our last day here on earth.  In the midst of persecution, let us never give up fighting for the truth!  When we remain in CHRIST,  HE remains in us!  None of us knows how all this will go, but GOD knows and HE is in complete control.  Take comfort in HIS capable HAND of control……it’s HIS story and ours to live out in HIS grace and strength in the coming days. 

1 CORINTHIANS 4: 12-13  “WHEN WE ARE REVILED, WE BLESS; WHEN WE ARE PERSECUTED, WE ENDURE IT; WHEN WE ARE SLANDERED, WE RESPOND GRACIOUSLY.”