|
Persecution |
 Jesus
says there are two paths and only two. You can not travel on both and get
to one destination. When you hike in the woods, you find a path and hike
on it. It is great if the paths are marked and you know where they
end up. You will want to read about the different roads. Click
here. |
 "It is well with my soul, It is
well, it is well with my soul."
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blest assurance control: That Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed His own blood for my soul. |
 Dear reader, have you gone through abuse?
Has your heart nearly broken for the sorrow you have experienced? There is
no one on this earth who wants to eat of your tear soup. What I mean is,
you want to tell your story and it is so hard to find any one who will
have time or cares enough to listen. God has need of counselors who He can use to help
you. God needs humans who are willing to comfort you. Yet there always is a tender hearted Jesus ready to wrap His arms
about you and assure you that you are still His priceless treasure. |
|
Our Dear Jesus is always ready to Listen |
 Our human friends cannot always
understand. It is your privilege to go to ONE who will always understand,
because His life on earth was one of constant trial. Upward Look p. 303
I love to think of this promise: He whom my soul loves and adores walks invisible beside me. Amazing Grace 264 |
| When you meet opposition, Jesus encourages us to keep positive. Do not meet arguments with arguments for it only adds fuel to the fire. Keep focusing on the love of Jesus. Angels of God are watching and know how to impress minds with the truth. Don't dwell on negative points but gather to your mind truths which are positive. Fast and pray and commit your life to Jesus daily that you may have His wisdom. (James 1:5) Don't retaliate, but remain calm and Jesus will give you the words to say that will be helpful and healing to others. Don't worry about what people think of you, what really matters is what Jesus thinks. |
In
Mathew 10 Jesus says if you love Him, people will pick on you because they
hate Him. Yet if you are faithful, He will make sure you are rewarded in
heaven. He knows that persecution will cause you to feel like you
have no value. Jesus says in Mathew 10 that He sees the sparrow fall
and it troubles Him. Being troubled about a bird shows a very tender heart
in God. He is emotional. You can be sure if a little bird causes Him
grief, it would hurt Him more to see you in pain. How do you think He
feels when you are hurting? He said that He cares about every detail of
how you feel. He even knows how many hairs
you have. So why does He let it happen?
Doesn't He
care if you are crying in pain and wish you could just die? Yes He cares,
but you
agreed on a common goal to win souls. Whatever it takes to win souls for heaven, you
are willing to carry that cross. |
  Satan hates God and
wants to cause a person
to feel like there is no value in them. He dangles you over the edge. If he can't get you to do wicked
things which make you feel this way, he uses another person to work for
him to cause you grief till you give up. That is what I call persecution.
It may be discouraging words, minimizing you, or physical abuse. Satan
does not waste his time on people that are neutral or are already working for him. He
often leaves them alone unless they want to follow Jesus and share His
light to win others to God's kingdom. Satan does not care what
method is used as long as it makes you give up. His favorite method is to
use people who say they are Christians and people in your own family.
Remember Jesus had the same from His own family when He lived among us. |
 When
you cry to Jesus to be delivered from persecution, Jesus has to hold the
angels back. They want to rush in and keep you comfortable. I wondered
why Jesus holds them back. Why not let them help quickly. In the
book Great Controversy, God speaks about the time of trouble. This book
tells the history of the church and of reformers and martyrs for their
faith. On page 630, it says all of God's
people have pale faces as they pray to God for freedom from those beating
them up verbally or physically. They search their hearts to see if there
is something they did to cause the trouble. They search their hearts for
something they have done that needs to be forgiven. If they had not done
this before the trouble, the sin would loom up in their face and would
crush them. |
 The delay in angels
bringing comfort is
the best answer to their prayers. It does not feel good to have to wait.
We want everything instantly. Yet we need to drink the cup of sadness, wondering if
we did everything right and be baptized by the agony of wanting to know.
During the hours of prayer and tears, the deep inside thoughts of the soul
stretch out to God in a way never done before. In the very intensity of
the desire for God is the promise of His big answers.
I know it would be hard to stand and watch my daughter abused for hours. My mother heart would not stand for it. I am like a mother bear when it comes to my cubs that God has given me to protect and train for Him. So how does my dear DADDY in heaven feel watching HIS daughter go through suffering? Why does He permit it? They must drink the cup and be baptized with the baptism of suffering like Jesus. Jesus suffered more over the aspect of being separated from God by the sins of this world. He adored God and this lack of response from heaven made His agony deeper. His Best Friend was too quiet and it broke His heart. The weight of our sins were crushing the life of Jesus. It is no wonder the first thing He did when He raised from the grave was to go to His Father and make sure all was well between them. This suffering opens our eyes to see the hatred of Satan for Jesus. There is no sympathy left for sin when you see its results. |
To suffer for Jesus is a gift from heaven that we are to rejoice over because God has a great reward for you. (Mathew 5). Whatever persecution you have experienced or crosses you have had to bear, the children of God are rewarded. "They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads." Rev. 22:4 You don't feel like rejoicing. In fact it seems you will never live to see any reward and it seems like no good can come from it. But you must trust God that it can be a testimony stronger than anything. Remember while Stephen was being stoned, those watching were moved to become Christians. One of the most powerful missionaries this world has had was watching and Stephen never saw the day of Saul's conversion. He just had to trust God would make that day count for His kingdom. |
Like Jesus, you may weep and sob for hours with heart wrenching cries through the night. Yet you are to rejoice that you are counted worthy by heaven to testify for Jesus. You can claim God's promise that He will dictate your words that you say. This way God can work on the hearts of those listening and watching. However, I encourage you to focus also on the fact that God has His eye on you and will not allow it to be more than you can bear. Be assured even though Satan makes you feel like you are worthless, he lies. You are God's priceless treasure. |
| Jesus Weeps |
 Some societies
have a custom that it shows weakness to weep. Since we follow the example
of Jesus, we do not need to be ashamed of the emotions He has created.
Jesus cried as He watched Mary and Martha suffer when their brother died.
Yet there was a deeper reason for His tears. People at that funeral would
plot His own death. Their ungratefulness for His sacrifice brought deep
agony to His heart.
His weeping is not over selfish sorrow but agony of a gift of life rejected. He offered humans eternal life and what else could He do to get them to accept it and live. (Ecc. 33:11) |
| He weeps also over the hardheartedness of those who, professing to be co-workers with Him, are content to do nothing. Are those who should appreciate the value of souls carrying, with Christ, a burden of heaviness and constant sorrow, mingled with tears, for the cities of the earth? {8T 32.2} |
|
God will pick your words to win hearts |
| Jesus promised in Mathew 10 not to worry
ahead of time exactly what you will say when called to give a reason for
the hope that is in you. Also if you dedicated your life each morning,
angels will be near to help you say exactly the right things. After you
finish responding to the abuse, rest in faith that God chose your words.
Do not doubt this.
|
  The
secret to bouncing back comes from looking at how other people did it.
Look at Paul and Silas. Bruised and bleeding and crunched into prison in
an uncomfortable position, they sang. If you are so discouraged you can't
sing, turn on soft soothing songs that speak of the value Jesus has on
you. |
  Remember when Jesus answered the
men that wanted places right next to Him in His kingdom? Jesus asked if
they were able to drink the cup. They said yes, and He said you will
indeed drink it. They suffered for their faith.
Sometimes it takes much suffering to win souls. Jesus was lifted up on the cross, endured violent strikes on His person, had His hair jerked out, and His head stabbed with thorns. Verbal abuse was heaped on Him by church leaders and by the thousands He had fed, and healed. How could the tender God stand by His son and allow the abuse by ungrateful humans? They had a common goal of saving the people deceived and abused by Satan on this earth. |
| Remember these abusers were bought with a very high price. Jesus wants them to repent and begin obeying the commandments. He wants to save them. With one hand, reach out to those persecuting you; and with the other grab onto Jesus. It may look impossible, but with Jesus, all things are possible. |
| The
night before Jesus died, He spent the night in prayer and wished for His
disciples to pray with Him. There is a tremendous comfort when others pray
with you while you are in trial. He longed for their arms about Him. At
the end of his agonizing prayers, an angel came from heaven to strengthen
him.
Another time, after He finished His forty days and nights of fasting and temptation, an angel came to strengthen Him. |
|
So my dear friend, I encourage you
to trust that Jesus knows how you feel. He has had the worst things happen
to Him and He allowed it to happen so you could be saved. God had to hold
back the angels for they wanted to deliver Jesus. God himself stood at the
cross in the cloud and cried. I imagine He had heart wrenching
agony. How He wanted to release Jesus; but they had
agreed to go through with this demonstration revealing their love for the
fallen earth. They all were present there enduring the hate of Satan exhibited
by evil helpers. The whole heavens shook with the agony of watching their
beloved Commander suffer. |
|
So persecuted the prophets which were before you. Mathew 5: |
|
Road Rage |
| Cain
was a violent man. Right in the first family, Cain rose up
and killed his brother Abel because he could not control him. Abel obeyed
and the obedience was a silent rebuke to Cain who disobeyed God. This brought
on "road rage". What I mean is, those on the road to heaven get
attacked by those who see their obedience. |
|
Martin Luther felt this road rage Satan sought to destroy God's living witnesses; but the Lord made a bomb shelter or trench about them. Some, for the glory of His name, were permitted to seal with their blood the testimony they had borne; but there were other powerful men, like Luther and Melanchthon, who could best glorify God by living and exposing the sins of priests, popes, and kings. But Satan was not satisfied. He could only have power over the body. He could not make believers yield their faith and hope. ... These few Christians were strong in God, and more precious in His sight than half a world who bear the name of Christ, and yet are cowards in His cause. EW 225 |
| Luther answered, "Though they should kindle a fire all the way from Worms to Wittenberg, whose flames should rise up to heaven, I would go through it in the name of the Lord, and stand before them; I would enter the jaws of this behemoth, and break his teeth, confessing the Lord Jesus Christ." {GC88 153.1} |
|
John Huss was burned |
|
John Huss was comforted by a dream before he was burned for his beliefs. In the gloom of his dungeon, John Huss had foreseen the triumph of the true faith. Returning, in his
dreams, to the humble parish where he had preached the gospel, he saw the pope and his bishops effacing the pictures of Christ which he had painted on the walls of his chapel. The sight caused him great distress; but the next day he was filled with joy as he beheld many artists busily engaged in replacing the figures in greater numbers and brighter colors. When their work was completed, the painters exclaimed to the immense crowd surrounding them, "Now let the popes and bishops come! They shall never efface them more!" Said the Reformer, as he related his dream, "I am certain that the image of Christ will never be effaced. They have wished to destroy it, but it shall be painted in all hearts by much better preachers than myself." |
|
The City of Calvin a place of refuge |
| John Calvin encouraged care for those persecuted. The city of Calvin became a refuge for the hunted Reformers of all Western Europe. Fleeing from the awful tempests that continued for centuries, the fugitives came to the gates of Geneva. Starving, wounded, bereft of home and kindred, they were warmly welcomed and tenderly cared for; and finding a home here, they blessed the city of their adoption by their skill, their learning, and their piety. Many who sought here a refuge returned to their own countries to resist the tyranny of Rome. |
|
Jesus promised to help you know what to say |
| "Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist." Luke 21:14, 15. {AA 97.1} |
|
Promises to encourage you 1. Identify what you are afraid of. List them out and pray about them. Look at these promises.
|
| 2. Don't believe the blame placed on you
as the cause of another person's behavior. Each is responsible to God for
what they do.
If you have been abused you will need someone to help you know you are not at fault. Jesus can give you the comfort that you are His special treasure. |
| 3. To help your feelings of worth and
value, do this:
Without me God would be lonely. I can't give up. God's loving heart would be missing me. His banner over me is love.
F. Look at Zephaniah 3:17 |
| 4. Pray For These requests:
- The SWORD-Memorize promises Shield of faith-Review what God has done for you "The wrath of man shall praise Thee," says the psalmist; "the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." God means that testing truth shall be brought to the front and become a subject of examination and discussion, even if it is through the contempt placed upon it. The minds of the people must be agitated. Every controversy, every reproach, every slander, will be God's means of provoking inquiry and awakening minds that otherwise would slumber. {5T 453.1} |
|
More really great insights into the causes of road rage! |
| Do
you know why brothers in the faith attack missionaries?
2 Big Reasons: 1. Satan takes advantage of their unhappy feelings for not being active Comparatively little missionary work is done, and what is the result? The truths that Christ gave are not taught. Many of God's people are not growing in grace.
Many are in an unpleasant, complaining frame of mind. Those who are not helping others to see the importance of the truth for this time must feel dissatisfied with themselves. Satan takes advantage of this feature in their experience and leads them to criticize and find fault. If they were busily engaged in seeking to know and do the will of God they would feel such a burden for perishing souls, such an unrest of mind, that they could not be restrained from fulfilling the commission: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15. 2. They rage against those who obey the superior health plan. Refusing to change, there is a silent rebuke from those obeying. "The facts relative to Korah and his company, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron, and against Jehovah, are recorded for a warning to God's people, especially those who live upon the earth near the close of time. Satan has led persons to imitate the example of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, in raising insurrection among the people of God. Those who permit themselves to rise in opposition to the plain testimony, become self-deceived, and have really thought that those upon whom God laid the burden of His work were exalted above the people of God, and that their counsels and reproofs were uncalled for. They have risen in opposition to the plain testimony which God would have them bear in rebuking the wrongs among God's people. The testimonies borne against hurtful indulgences, as tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco, have irritated a certain class, because it would destroy their idols. Many for a while were undecided whether to make an entire sacrifice of all these hurtful things, or reject the plain testimonies borne, and yield to the clamors of appetite. They occupied an unsettled position. There was a conflict between their convictions of truth and their self-indulgences. Their state of indecision made them weak, and with many, appetite prevailed. Their sense of sacred things was perverted by the use of these slow poisons; and they at length fully decided, let the consequence be what it might, they would not deny self. This fearful decision at once raised a wall of separation between them and those who were cleansing themselves, as God has commanded, from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, and were perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The straight testimonies borne were in their way, and caused them great uneasiness, and they found relief in warring against them, and striving to make themselves and others believe that they were untrue. They said the people were all right, but it was reproving testimonies which made the trouble. And when the rebellious unfurl their banner, all the disaffected rally around the standard, and all the spiritually defective, the lame, the halt, and the blind, unite their influence to scatter and sow discord." {CD 428.2} Counsels on Diets and Foods |
| Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Ephesians 6:10-17. |
| Remember God cares always. There is no one He turns from. You are His treasure. Believe it, accept it, and know He is invisible yet right beside you always. In Psalms 68:5 it says He is : A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows is God. |
| References: |
| "He was moved by human sorrow. His tender, pitying heart is ever awakened to sympathy by suffering. He weeps with those that weep, and rejoices with those that rejoice. {DA 533.3} But it was not only because of His human sympathy with Mary and Martha that Jesus wept. In His tears there was a sorrow as high above human sorrow as the heavens are higher than the earth. Christ did not weep for Lazarus; for He was about to call him from the grave. He wept because many of those now mourning for Lazarus would soon plan the death of Him who was the resurrection and the life. But how unable were the unbelieving Jews rightly to interpret His tears! " DA 533 |
| Yet it is not because of these reminders of his cruel death that the
Redeemer weeps and groans in anguish of spirit. His is no selfish sorrow. The thought of physical pain does not intimidate that noble, self-sacrificing soul. It is the sight of Jerusalem that pierces the heart of Jesus with anguish,--Jerusalem that had rejected the Son of God and scorned his love, who refused to be convinced by his mighty miracles and is about to take his life. He sees what she is in her guilt of rejecting her Redeemer, and what she might have been had she accepted Him who alone could heal her wound. He had come to save her; how can he give up the child of his care! {2SP 391.2} Vol. 2 Spirit of Prophecy page 391 |
| Here is an amazing statement. If you seek pleasure in
worldly things, you will never understand this road rage that happens to
those on the road to heaven. You will be blinded to figure out what is
really happening. You will praise those who are in the same path as you
are. You become confused.
You will never understand this section if you love
pleasure seeking activities. The presence of Christ would be positively painful in these gatherings for pleasure. Surely, none could invite Him there, for His countenance is marred with sorrows more than the sons of men, because of these very amusements which put God out of mind and make the broad road attractive to the sinner. The enchantments of these exciting scenes pervert reason and destroy reverence for sacred things. Ministers who profess to be Christ's representatives frequently take the lead in these frivolous amusements. "Ye are," says Christ, "the light of the world. . . . Let your light so shine before men, that they
may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven." {Con 65.2} |
It is very painful. 
"..Never should we begin the day without committing our ways to our heavenly Father. His angels are appointed to watch over us, and if we put ourselves under their guardianship, then in every time of danger they will be at our right hand. When unconsciously we are in danger of exerting a wrong influence, the angels will be by our side, prompting us to a
better course, choosing our words for us, and influencing our actions. Thus
our influence may be a silent, unconscious, but mighty power in drawing others to Christ and the heavenly world. {COL 341.2}Christ
Object Lessons
Fear not, the battle is the Lord's. 2 Chronicles 10:15-20
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be
afraid. Ps. 27
Elijah said, I am not he that troubles Israel, you
are. (speaking to the wicked leader of Israel, king Ahab) I Kings 18:17,18
A. List all the ways God has helped you in the past
B. List all of your blessings: health, shelter,
vision, etc. 
D. Ask others to join you in prayer for the problem.
A. courage
B.
Pray a blessing on your "enemy".
C. Ask Jesus to pray for the needs He sees
D. Ask for wisdom from above. James 1:5
E. Pray
for this: "Show me a sign for good. That those who see
it, may be ashamed, because You O Lord have helped and comforted me. Ps
86:17
F. Pray for the fulfillment of this: "He whom my
soul loveth, walks invisible beside me." Amazing Grace 264
G. Pray for help putting on the armor: