{"id":19334,"date":"2014-05-02T00:20:39","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T04:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19334"},"modified":"2014-05-01T22:57:16","modified_gmt":"2014-05-02T02:57:16","slug":"persecution-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/02\/persecution-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Persecution For Our Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Blessed are the\u00a0poor in spirit<\/span><\/em><\/strong>, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who mourn<\/span><\/strong><\/em>, for they shall be comforted. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the meek<\/span>,<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0for they shall inherit the earth. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who hunger and thirst for righteousness<\/span><\/strong><\/em>, for they shall be satisfied. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the mercifu<\/span><\/strong><\/em>l<\/span>, for they shall receive mercy. \u00a0Blessed are the\u00a0pure in heart<\/span><\/strong><\/em>,<\/span>\u00a0for they shall see God. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the peacemakers<\/span><\/strong><\/em>,<\/span>\u00a0for they shall be called sons of God.\u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness<\/span><\/em><\/strong>, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0*<\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
\nfor theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
\nMatthew 5:10<\/p>\n

Here, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is reminding those listening about the prophets who suffered in the Old Testament. We should be\u00a0glad when we \u00a0are persecuted\u00a0for our belief in Jesus Christ. When persecuted, we are associated with His meekness, with how He mourns over us when we willfully sin and how He shows mercy. \u00a0Jesus wants us to walk by faith, not by sight.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah\u00a0is one of these Old Testament prophets. \u00a0He was selected by God to call His people back to Him. \u00a0The leaders kept ignoring Jeremiah. \u00a0They felt all he had to say were negative things about them<\/em> and about what was going to happen to them<\/em> if they did not repent and turn back to God. \u00a0Jeremiah even cried out to God, asking why he was supposed to tell the people about the devastation awaiting them if they did not change their ways.<\/p>\n

They said, \u201cCome, let\u2019s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law
\nby the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets.
\nSo come, let\u2019s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.\u201d
\nListen to me, Lord;
\nhear what my accusers are saying!
\nShould good be repaid with evil?
\nYet they have dug a pit for me.
\nRemember that I stood before You
\nand spoke in their behalf
\nto turn Your wrath away from them.
\nSo give their children over to famine;
\nhand them over to the power of the sword.
\nLet their wives be made childless and widows;
\nlet their men be put to death,
\ntheir young men slain by the sword in battle.
\nLet a cry be heard from their houses
\nwhen You suddenly bring invaders against them,
\nfor they have dug a pit to capture me
\nand have hidden snares for my feet.
\nBut You, Lord, know
\nall their plots to kill me.
\nDo not forgive their crimes
\nor blot out their sins from Your sight.
\nLet them be overthrown before You;
\ndeal with them in the time of Your anger.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 18:18 – 23<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Jeremiah complains, he still completes the task God has laid before him. Jeremiah felt such an urgency to share God’s words, that he could not contain them. \u00a0In the New Testament, Paul of Tarsus would be an example of what it means to serve God and be persecuted. \u00a0Paul endured beatings, imprisonment, hunger, sickness, and lonliness for Jesus. \u00a0He was always willing to share the Gospel with those who wanted to hear and just as willing when the ears of unbelievers didn’t want to hear. \u00a0We are to plant the seeds of faith, the seeds of wonder, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0*<\/span><\/p>\n

Father, thank You for those that have followed the examples of Your prophets. Thank You for the missionaries of today, who are persecuted\u00a0for sharing Your love, grace, and mercy with those who do not know You. \u00a0Surround them, Father, with Your protection as they persevere through their hardships and let the Holy Spirit bring peace in their distress, comfort when there are tears, and bring words of inspiration when they feel loss. \u00a0Let us learn more about these individuals\u00a0so we may lift them up to You every day. Thank You, Father. In Jesus’ name. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blessed are the\u00a0poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the meek,\u00a0for they shall inherit the earth. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. \u00a0Blessed are\u00a0the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. \u00a0Blessed are the\u00a0pure in heart,\u00a0for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[127,3367,1287,425,6227,5784,6210,6184,6190,3174,1071],"class_list":["post-19334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-beatitudes","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jeremiah-1818-23","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-kingdom-of-heaven","tag-persecuted","tag-persecution","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-tina-marin","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-51Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19334"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19427,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19334\/revisions\/19427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}