{"id":19517,"date":"2014-05-06T00:45:23","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T04:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19517"},"modified":"2014-05-06T01:41:56","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T05:41:56","slug":"19517","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/06\/19517\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessed…Even When Persecuted"},"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

Typically blessed<\/em><\/strong> is not a word I would normally tie to persecution, and definitely not a word I would think when harsh words are being spoken about me. Thankfully, I don\u2019t have to rely on what I think, or how I feel.<\/p>\n

When I read this verse, the last line jumped out at me \u201cfor in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.\u201d \u00a0For myself, it brings me comfort to know that there were those before me who experienced persecution, taunting, false speech, and evil. \u00a0It brings me comfort to know that they were blessed<\/em>, and to read their stories of how, with God at their side, they overcame the figurative\u2014and, at times\u2014literal stones that were thrown at them. \u00a0Having the examples of their lives offers hope that we can and we should rejoice and be glad, despite what we may be facing.<\/p>\n

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
\nlet us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
\nand let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
\nlooking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
\nwho for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
\ndespising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
\nFor consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself,
\nlest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
\nHebrews 12:1-3 NKJV<\/p>\n

‘Lest you become weary and discouraged\u2026.’ \u00a0 The One who suffered the greatest persecution of all, the One who gave His life so we could live, offers us another example of perseverance in the face of persecution. \u00a0He knows the weight that lies on our shoulders, He understands how difficult it is to rejoice, to be glad, and to not become weary or discouraged. \u00a0But He also knows that we are capable of these things in these situations. \u00a0Not only does He know we can do it, but He has given us the skills to do so. \u00a0In these situations I (we<\/strong>) need to remember the examples given to us in His Word\u2014examples of those who walked our path before us.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Pray<\/span><\/strong>: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for not only offering examples of those who have walked this path before us, but thank You for living the greatest of those examples. \u00a0When life begins to weigh down on us and perseverance is not something we think to practice, Your words are a page away and remind us that it can be done. \u00a0I pray that we see examples of joy and gladness in our lives and in others. \u00a0Just as You and the prophets of old are examples for us, that we may be examples for others. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name we pray, Amen.<\/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":21,"featured_media":0,"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":[127,6254,1287,425,5784,6241,6184,6190,1075],"class_list":["post-19517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-beatitudes","tag-blessed-when","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-matthew-511-12","tag-persecuted","tag-persecution","tag-tonya-ellison","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s39pHp-19517","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19517","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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19517"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19520,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19517\/revisions\/19520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}