{"id":19472,"date":"2014-05-05T00:20:46","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T04:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19472"},"modified":"2014-05-05T00:05:11","modified_gmt":"2014-05-05T04:05:11","slug":"persecution-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/05\/persecution-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Persecution…Say WHAT?!?"},"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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Blessed are you\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/em>when\u00a0people\u00a0<\/b><\/i>insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all\u00a0<\/span>kinds of evil against you because of Me<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous\u2014
\nwith life-joy and satisfaction in God\u2019s favor and salvation,
\nregardless of your outward conditions) are you when people revile you and persecute you
\nand say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account.
\nMatthew 5:11 AMP<\/p>\n

Have you ever thought of persecution as a good thing? Something to take joy in, to rejoice over? Nope, not me. Yet this verse states we are blessed if we are mocked, reviled, defamed, cursed or falsely accused. Say What<\/em>?!? How can persecution possibly be good?<\/p>\n

Look at it this way: persecution forces us to focus on what we believe, why we believe it, and what, (or Whom), we are suffering for. Living a \u201cKingdom life\u201d for Christ\u2019s sake is a display of our discipleship. Our values and morals are at odds with the world. Those who persecute us hope to tarnish our witness. And, our tormentors may not be just unbelievers. According to David Guzik empty religion hates genuine faith and rejects true faith. So we may be persecuted by so-called \u201cChristians\u201d as well. But consider this…if we weren\u2019t living a radical life for Christ, we would go unnoticed. Right?<\/p>\n

1 Peter 4:14 puts it like this:
\nIf you are censured and suffer abuse [because you bear] the name of Christ,
\nblessed [are you\u2014happy, fortunate, to be envied, with life-joy,
\nand satisfaction in God\u2019s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward condition],
\nbecause the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, is resting upon you.<\/p>\n

We can suffer and be persecuted for Christ only because He first became human to suffer for us. He was persecuted so that our suffering, our persecution would not be meaningless. Our suffering for His sake is a prelude to glory and joy. We are blessed because of the reproach, the defamation. It shows we are following Jesus, that we are being identified with Him. And the best part? Through our persecution, Christ is glorified<\/em>. Hallelujah! \u00a0 Can I get an amen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Lord, help us see persecution as a good thing, for it means we are following closely to You. Let our attitude through torment and trials bring glory and honor to You. Let us remain steadfast and remind us we can do ALL things through You, for in our weakness Your strength is perfected. In Jesus\u2019 precious name, amen \u2013 so be it.<\/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":164,"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":[1476,127,5889,1287,425,5784,6242,6184,6190],"class_list":["post-19472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-1-peter-414","tag-beatitudes","tag-cynda-cottrill","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-matthew-511","tag-persecuted","tag-persecution","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-544","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19472","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\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19472"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19474,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19472\/revisions\/19474"}],"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=19472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}