“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).
When persecution comes, don’t sit around whining about it. Don’t waste your time feeling sorry for yourself. Despite what you may think, that persecution hasn’t come because the devil gets his kicks out of picking on you. It comes because you’ve become a threat to him. It comes because you’ve put the Word in your heart, and he knows that if he doesn’t get it out, you’re going to cause him more trouble than he can handle.
So, rejoice! Heavy duty persecution means you’ve made it to the big league. It means the devil is taking you so seriously that he’s sending in his best players in an effort to get you out of the game!
The players who make it to the Super Bowl don’t look for some way out of it, do they? They don’t say, “Boy, I sure wish I didn’t have to be in that Super Bowl game. Those guys are the biggest, meanest players in the country. Maybe I’ll get sick and I won’t have to play.”
No! They relish the opportunity. “Let me at ’em,” they say. “I’ve worked all my life to get here and now I’m going to prove I’m the best!”
That’s how you should be when the devil challenges you. You should accept that challenge with joy, knowing you’re going to come out a winner. After all, your God is sufficient to see you through. He never stops and wonders if He’s going to have enough resources to get poor little you over your problems this time. He knows He can beat anything the devil brings against you.
So, when persecution comes, trust Him and rejoice, knowing that you’ve made it to the big league now!
Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 4:12-19
Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries
For the last 50 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have been passionately teaching Christians all over the world how to apply the principles of faith found in God's WORD to their lives.
They have seven ministry offices around the world: United States, Canada, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Ukraine and Latin America. Their God-given directive is to preach and teach the uncompromised WORD of God on every available voice, which is being accomplished through a variety of channels, including our Believer's Voice of Victory TV and radio broadcasts, podcast and magazine; Believers' Conventions, Victory Campaigns and Living Victory meetings; published books, website, and social media channels, to name a few.
With the expansion of technology, they have more work to do now than ever. They are determined to let the world know Jesus is LORD, and they are not slowing down anytime soon!