How Christians Should Respond to Persecution

Every Christian needs to respond to persecution in ways that glorify, magnify, Jesus Name.

We need REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS…in light of the assurance that persecution will come. We should not lie our ourselves or others by telling them that life will be easy when you follow Jesus. Expect it, but don't instigate it. 2 Tim. 3:12 everyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution...the church grows most amid persecution...the church in China grew exponentially after missionaries were kicked out.

We need UNSHAKEABLE FAITH. Faith is a gift from God. It comes from Him, and we are to grow in our faith. GCO mugs..."a place to grow in faith" as we hear the Word, pray, fellowship, share our lives with each other in the body, reach others with the gospel. So we have faith as a gift from God, it is a spiritual reality. And it needs to show in our lives. There are internal things going on beneath the surface that need to show outwardly, giving evidence of the inward reality. Internally…we need faith as a gift from God, we do not manufacture or fabricate it, it is a real thing given by God and seen, evidenced by action – externally, it shows through our actions. James 2:14-21. True belief, true belief in God works, because it depends on Him not us. Jude 1:3 contend for the faith. 1 Peter 5:9 resist the devil, firm in your faith. Eph. 6:16 take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish the flaming missiles of the evil one...soldiers in those days would literally soak their shields, made of leather, in water, so that when f,iery arrows were shot at them, the fire would be put out. Col. 2:6-7. We need faith that cannot be shaken.

We need CONFIDENT HOPE as well as PATIENT ENDURANCE. Sometimes our confidence gets shaken, through various struggles and defeats...our confidence is not to be in ourselves but the Lord Jesus Christ. Hidden – we carry on an ongoing conversation with ourselves...and sometimes that conversations takes an unbiblical turn...we accuse ourselves, we put ourselves down...that doesn't come from God...we are to build ourselves up in our most holy faith...so tell yourself the truth, from Scripture. You may be tempted to say...you're no good, you'll never amount to anything, I can't deal with the problems and persecutions I face...It is no use, all is lost…no, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. Everyone is against us…no, if God be for us, who is against us? They are as nothing in light of God. Rom. 8:38-39 nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Seen - in what you talk about, what you say and how you say it. We aren’t just holding out hope that we MIGHT be rescued as the miners did those first 17 days…hope is holding on to us. Heb. 6:18-20 we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, a hope both firm and steadfast, because of Jesus.

God is building a gospel-centered community of those He has chosen and called, that proclaims and displays the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God, until Christ returns or we go to be with Him, whichever comes first.
Soli Deo Gloria