September 15                                      Ps 4 - 6

PERSECUTED?

MEMORISE: '''Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, And persecute you, and shall say all manner Of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven: For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.''' (Matt 5:11-12)
READ: Acts 4:1-12

Peter and John were instrumental in healing a lame man at the gate of the temple. Through this healing, a multitude gathered; peter preached Jesus to them and several souls were won to the Lord. The devil was angry. So he stirred up the hearts of some leaders who arrested them and made them stand before a council. There are lessons we can learn here. The first thing is that whenever God is using you to perform signs and wonders or you perform your assignment exceedingly well, Satan will be angry and will begin to fight you. The second thing is that Satan will always find a willing tool. (He will never find me to use!) He is a specialist at using church people against each other. Surprisingly, the church leaders who should have rejoiced the most for the healing of the lame man were the very ones who became angry.

When they landed in jail, Peter and John were not saddened. They knew he was with them and proud of them. While Satan thought to discourage them from continuing in Christ, God sought to perfect them. Even Jesus was perfected through sufferings (Heb 2:10).

In Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus says: 'blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.' Great rewards follow persecutions. If you want to be powerfully endowed and used like the prophets of old, you must be ready to undergo persecution. If everybody seems to be getting along with you and singing your praise, something fundamental could be wrong somewhere. But if they are speaking evil of you, misunderstanding your good intentions, making life unbearable for you and denying you your legitimate rights because of your faith in Christ, then you are in line for perfection through suffering.

ACTION POINT
Are you persecuted at home, office, school or church? Rejoice!
Spend 30 minutes blessing and praying for your persecutors.