WHAT ARE PERSECUTIONS?
Persecutions are sufferings caused by other people to a person due to his/her religious beliefs. Persecutions are therefore different from tests and trials which are basically allowed by God to know what is in the hearts of His children. ( If they love Him enough to choose Him and His will above every other thing)
There are also temptations faced by God’s children when Satan, knowing their weaknesses throws baits at them to make them fall into sin and become unworthy before God, while he and his cohorts freely attack them.
When a child of God falls into any temptation, the best thing to do is quickly ask The Father for forgiveness, repent and ask for the grace to sin no more. Otherwise, he/she becomes a prey to the enemy and Satan will show him/her no mercy at all. Jesus told us to ask The Father not to lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13). Only God can help us because we are no match for the devil by our own strength. We overcome the devil by The blood of The Lamb and by the word of our testimony.(Rev 12:11)
How do I know I am persecuted?
When you are a genuine child of God who reverences God, obeys His word and you love all men but lies are spoken against you. Your faith is constantly challenged. Your good works are condemned and criticized. Those who indulge in evil acts cannot bear your righteousness so they gang up against you and cook up all manners of deceits to discredit, belittle you and bring you down. Don’t be surprised that among your persecutors, there will be your friends, fellow Christians, siblings, loved ones etc. (Luke21:16-19) For the sake of Christ, believers will be hated by ALL MEN but if we endured, we will be saved overcoming all evil done against us. Though it may last for a while.
What should I do when I am persecuted?
Love and don’t hate. The tendency to want justice at all cost is always prevalent but Only God can justify and vindicate us.
In fact, it takes a spiritually mature and discerning believer to understand what is going on when another child of God is persecuted. *Don’t forget Satan is behind every persecution. He hates to see anyone stand in righteousness against every wrong or sin. He will never spare anyone who tries to save those he has held captive through deceits, subtility and hypocrisy.
In fact, he blinds their eyes to the truth and darkens their understanding to believe lies. What is wrong and evil does not appear so to them anymore. Good is evil and evil has become good to them so they hate anyone who preaches the truth to them. Please, be warned, DECEPTION AND LAWLESSNESS ARE THE ORDER OF THE DAY IN THE TIMES WE ARE LIVING IN (READ Matthew 24 and Luke21), DON’T BE DECEIVED AND DON’T DECEIVE OTHERS. YOU ARE EITHER ENTIRELY A CHILD OF GOD OR YOU ARE NONE OF HIS. GOD is watching, He knows those who are His.
Above all, it is time to pray that God will see us through whatever we are facing now.
The right response to persecution is PRAYER, as we continue to stand tall for Christ against all odds. Also, we should be very careful lest Satan uses us to persecute other children of God because Satan is very subtle and deceitful. Please pray always for yourself and other believers all over the world. SHALOM!!!
