Throughout time, God’s people have suffered persecution. When they are persecuted, the ones doing the persecution will justify themselves as if they are doing a good thing. The darkness hates the light because the darkness cannot live with the light.
If you don’t discern the lie, then you might just think it’s the truth. “Woe (judgment is coming) to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20 AMP).
As we draw nearer to the end times, there will be a growing level of persecution. The media and the influencers will promote a hate narrative against both the Jews and the Christians. The narrative will have different stories, but the goal will be the same: to persecute God’s children.
Sometimes, when people come against you, it shows you are on the right track. Jesus forewarned us, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake” (Matthew 5:11 NKJV).
When the great tribulation is in full swing, the hatred will be multiplied ever greater for anyone who is Jewish or is a Christian. It will be perilous times, and people will barely be able to survive because of all the evil forces being stirred up during the tumultuous times on Earth.
Do not despair as things get worse, knowing it points to Christ’s return. “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come” (2 Timothy 3:1 NKJV).
Take heart, dear Christian, and know that the Lord is with you. Have courage, persecuted believer, for your eternal soul cannot be taken from you. Be strong, oh frightened warrior, for the Lord will be there to comfort you. They may kill your body, but the Lord has your soul.
The thing you fear the most, you need to trust Him with the most. “But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?” (Psalm 56:3-4 NLT).
Though they may feed you to the lions, the Lord your God is always at your side. And even if they throw you into the fire, it will be there that the Son of Man will be walking with you. Nobody and nothing can ever come between you and your God.
You may look knocked down to men, yet be exactly where God can use you. “We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out” (2 Corinthians 4:9 TPT).
They may make it impossible for you to buy food, but the Lord can feed you bread that falls from heaven. They may prevent you from seeking shelter from the elements of nature, but the God who created nature can shelter you under His wings.
The reason God only gives you enough for today is so that you’ll trust Him with tomorrow. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions’” (Exodus 16:4 NIV).
Even though they tell lies about you and mock you in front of others, stay still, young believer, for Jesus Christ did the same before you. Let your silence wrap around the truth, and let your peace be evident in the stillness of your soul.
Let people talk about you as they will, but be that saint unto God. “…Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure” (1 Corinthians 4:12 NKJV).
Do not fear what man can do to you, but pray that God might have mercy on them. Learn to love those who hate you, and then love will surely embrace you. The greatest defense against the darkness is to simply be the light.
When you love your enemies, you remove the hold they have on you, which is your anger towards them. Jesus taught, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44 NKJV).
Don’t fear going to heaven, and don’t fear what may happen in between. Only fear the Lord in reverence and trust in Him for your every breath. He will surely rescue you, as even in your death, it is His way of rescuing you into heaven.
You wouldn’t worry as much if you trusted Him more. Consider He has arranged your circumstances to teach you this very lesson. “O Lord my God, in You I put my trust; Save me from all those who persecute me; And deliver me, Lest they tear me like a lion, Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver” (Psalm 7:1-2 NKJV). Don’t be surprised you have enemies, but let your enemies be surprised that you have God.
Pain and suffering are for a season, and they will not last forever. What will last forever is your heart beating in heaven, surrounded by your new body that the Lord will have for you. If you must obsess over something, then let it be on you in heaven with God.
You can’t see the value in suffering, focusing on only the costs and not the return. “These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever! So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 TLB).
Blessings to you,
Paul Balius
Paul, excellent, excellent exhortation. Grace to you and peace be multiplied from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
https://www.barnabasaid.org/us/pray/daily-prayer/
Prayer for today:
Sunday 7 April 2024
Lord Jesus Christ, we praise You for the growth of the Church in Iran, despite harassment and pressure by the Iranian authorities. Please be with Iranian Christians in prison today. Be with those who have been released from custody but banned from meeting with fellow-believers. Be with those whose punishment is to be sent to remote places for internal exile. Give each one a special awareness of Your loving presence with them. Enable them to rejoice in You. Build them up in faith and understanding so that they will continue to stand firm and to glorify You in all they do.
We have such a limited view in the USA of the persecuted Christians around the world. How much they need our prayers for all they are going through.
Paul, ecellent, excellent exhortation. Grace to you and peace be multiplied from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
From Barnabas Aid:
Barnabas Aid is an organization that supports and assists the persecuted Christian community. They work to provide hope and aid to those who are facing persecution, and they do so by mobilizing resources and support from Christians around the world. Their mission is to help fellow Christians in need and to stand in solidarity with them during difficult times.
Prayer for today:
Sunday 7 April 2024
Lord Jesus Christ, we praise You for the growth of the Church in Iran, despite harassment and pressure by the Iranian authorities. Please be with Iranian Christians in prison today. Be with those who have been released from custody but banned from meeting with fellow-believers. Be with those whose punishment is to be sent to remote places for internal exile. Give each one a special awareness of Your loving presence with them. Enable them to rejoice in You. Build them up in faith and understanding so that they will continue to stand firm and to glorify You in all they do.
We have such a limited view in the USA of the persecuted Christians around the world. How much they need our prayers for all they are going through.
The day is upon us.
BT
Every day it becomes more clear.
A word the Lord gave me a couple of months ago… publishing soon –
The Fifth Seal – Part Seven
The Fifth Seal
“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.”
Revelation 6:9
The unfathomable character of God is not rash or moved suddenly to judgment. His movements are calculated and governed by longsuffering. As Peter declares He “hath long patience”. For four hundred years Israel suffered greatly at the hands of the Egyptians yet there came a time when God moved on behalf of His people. The overwhelming judgments that fell in Moses day were the result of the culmination of four hundred years of abuse suffered by the Israelites.
We read concerning God’s judgment upon the Amorites that God saw their path but the “iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16). The God who sees the violence in the earth, the sexual perversion, and all of the ungodly behaviour of our day, is not slack concerning His judgments but is longsuffering to His creation. Yet in the fulness of time His judgments will fall and will not tarry.
We see this truth vividly displayed in the loosing of this fifth seal. The souls of all the Martyrs from Abel on are seen under this heavenly altar testifying of their love to Him who is worthy! In the loosening of this seal God shows forth the righteousness of His judgments in this last day as He judges the world (the religious as well as the political) in their treatment of His beloved ones.
Even within God’s own people, the remnant has always been persecuted by the religious as typified in Cain slaying Abel. Why did Cain slay Abel?
“Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous…”
1 John 3:12
Jude testified that the Cain element was ever present when the early church gathered as well as the Balaam’s and the Korah’s. May we take heed to the truth of God’s Word!
“Woe to them! For they went the way of Cain, and gave themselves up to the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.”
Jude 1:11
This unholy trinity of evil is present in our meeting with the people of God. They assemble “without fear” in our midst. In the day of persecution they will turn as Judas betraying the true and revealing themselves as evil.
“These are sunken rocks in your love feasts, feasting together with you; feeding themselves (shepherding ESV) without fear…”
Jude 1:12
This truth of the mixture of His church will be clearly revealed in the loosing of the Fifth Seal. Jesus clearly warned us of this day (which has already been partially known by our suffering brethren throughout the ages).
“Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved”
Mark 13:12-13
The loosening of the Seals will carry the clear revelation of those who are His and those who with pretense followed Him for a season only to be revealed as the traitors they are. It is a day for us to “arm ourselves” with this relevant truth as Peter exhorted us.
“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”
1 Peter 4:1
Let us be pre-warned of the things that are about to unfold HERE in our land that we may stand in the face of the coming treachery. May God Himself print indelibly upon our hearts the grand testimony of His Word:
“Yea, and ALL that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution”
2 Timothy 3:12
In the loosening of the Fifth Seal we are afforded glimpses of the heart’s cry of those who have been martyred throughout the ages.
“They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Revelation 6:10 (ESV)
There is a resounding cry for JUSTICE that arises from the souls of those murdered for His Sake. They are looking to God to vindicate and avenge their blood on those who dwell on the earth. Do not think that God will forgo in this day the righteous decrees of His Own Justice. The judgments that are coming upon the earth are the culmination of all the evil and the perversity of the rulers and princes of the earth. His hand will not be stayed nor His righteous verdicts go unserved. It is foolishness to seek by political means an answer to the persecution of the righteous!
God Himself testifies concerning the rulers of this world:
“The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying
Let us break their bands asunder,
and cast away their cords from us…”
Psalm 2:2-3
(read the whole Psalm to see His assessment of earthly rule)
We see God responding to their pleas for His judgments to fall “upon them who dwell in the earth”.
“Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”
Revelation 6:11
Many years ago, in considering God’s response, I realized that every martyr, when viewed through the eyes of scripture, is yet another nail in the coffin of this world. There is a number that God has set and when that number is reached His judgments will flow from the fury of His wrath. May we take heart, may we be comforted in the sorrow of all that is about to break upon us.
I write these things by the prompting of His Spirit, though incomplete and with the frailty of words.
Nevertheless, His Word will stand.
EVEN SO – COME LORD JESUS!
Brian Troxel
Oh, Brother, this is so rich and prophetic. May we all consider how close the end truly is, with reverent fear for all that lies ahead, combined with the assurance of His great mercy that He will have on those who belong to Him. It is such a blessing to see you serving the Lord with your heart held firmly in His grip.
And you as well… one of my favorite scriptures… “members one of another” May He bless His words that He places on your heart and may they reach the all that He has purposed!
BT
Thank you, Brother!