You’d be fighting against God
On this rock I will build my church,
And the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18
Read Acts 5:34—42
I would not expect it where I live, but the flogging goes along with the faith in many places today. The arrest follows speaking about Jesus. Or being baptised. My fellow Christians in these places even count it an honour to suffer for the name. To correct myself: if I do not know of it happening in my country and culture, this does not mean it is not happening. And that has me wondering, would I expect to rejoice during persecution? This account of the early church and the church of my own time invites me to embrace a suffering faith, a surrendered faith. Especially because there is a powerful promise delivered through the lips of an onlooker who is not a Christian, ‘You will not be able to overthrow them … you may even be found fighting against God.’
Father, as I pray this night I may need to use my imagination to picture or to feel actual persecution. Yet I have brothers and sisters of the persecuted church who need no imagination. Strengthen them by your Spirit for what they face. Keep them. Hold your joy before them as they endure the pain and the shame, as you held your joy before Christ when he suffered. Let them endure to the end in faith and love,[1] and participate in your final victory. As for myself, I do not ask to sleep easily while they suffer. I am ashamed for each time I have dishonoured your name before the pressure of others. I am sorry. I seek your mercy and forgiveness, and I seek the Spirit, not of cowardice, but of power, love and self-discipline.[2]
[1] Matthew 10:22
[2] 2 Timothy 1:7