PersecutionYesterday I posted about the persecution Christians will face if/when they live for God’s glory (Click here).  Today is part 2… God’s promises to those who are persecuted.  Tomorrow… God willing… I hope to reflect upon what we can consider as persecution and suffering for Christ.

Promise #1. Your reward in heaven is great AND you are in good company!

Matthew 5:11Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Promise #2. In the day of persecution, you will be given strength by The Holy Spirit to be a faithful witness.

Matthew 10:17, Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Promise #3. God will control the test so that you will be victorious for His glory.

1 Corinthians 10:13No (test) has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Promise #4. God will use your faithfulness in persecution to encourage other Christians in their faith and witness.

Philippians 1:12I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Promise #5. Take heart that your eternal reward in heaven is being exponentially increased because of your faithfulness in adversity.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For this slight (means death) momentary (means a lifetime) affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Promise #6. Even in the most difficult of times, God is in complete and absolute control.

Romans 9:15 “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Daniel 4:35 He does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Promise #7. Even in the most difficult persecution, God will not ever leave or abandon you.

Romans 8:35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 13:5b, He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”