In the second letter to the 7 churches, Jesus commends the church in Smyrna and has nothing against them. This should be the church we would want to be a part of. But, as believers, there is still a cost. Those who follow Jesus are often looked down upon to say the least. Many are persecuted; believers in John’s day as well as many places today are imprisoned, beaten or killed for their faith. But most of the time the church that is persecuted is the strongest. People who are persecuted have the strongest faith and have the most boldness. It is through our struggles and suffering and that we grow as people and as believers. And whatever we go through in this life will not compare to the glory we will receive in the next.
Continue reading “Jesus Commends Smyrna”Tag: persecution
Carrying Your Cross
In a previous post, we talked about denying ourselves and carrying our cross daily (see Carry Your Own Cross) as Jesus spoke of in Luke 9:23-26. Here we will discuss this in a little more detail. How do we show others that we are followers of Christ? What does it mean to carry your own cross?
Continue reading “Carrying Your Cross”Haggai: Build God’s Temple
After their captivity, God brought His people home. They began building the wall to fortify their city as God commanded. They started to build the temple, but stopped when they experienced persecution from the surrounding nations. Then they went on to their own lives. How often do we put our own lives and livelihood before God?
Continue reading “Haggai: Build God’s Temple”Love and Hate
I saw a post on Facebook that started, “I am done with Christians…” I read something about hypocrisy but didn’t go any further. Part of me was offended. But I think part of me was worried about being convicted. Another part of me realized that the world will hate us because they hate Jesus Christ and they are offended by the gospel and don’t want to hear about sin and salvation. Another part of me realize that many claim to be Christian that are not and some of us are followers of Christ and often stumble, not acting the way we should or saying the things we should. One thing I think about lately when scrolling through all the posts on my feed, when was the last time someone (me included) has said something nice about another instead of bashing someone? If you have to think about it, it has been too long. As followers of Jesus, we need to be kind to others and show love to them. I wish that everyone would.
Continue reading “Love and Hate”God’s Children Will Face Persecution
There are so many blessings of being a child of God. God promises us many things and He is always faithful to keep His promises. But along with these blessings, we also have responsibility and we also will go through struggles and even persecution just because the world hates God and hates His followers. See my blog post, Cost and Blessing of Following Jesus Continue reading “God’s Children Will Face Persecution”
My Daily Scriptures 