RCCG Open Heaven Daily 21 August 2024
TOPIC: Handling Persecution
MEMORISE
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”;
Matthew 5:44
READ: John 15:18-21(KJV)
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Lamentations 1-2
RCCG Open Heaven Daily 21 August 2024 MESSAGE
As long as this world remains, every true child of God will face persecution because the devil is the prince of this world (John 14:30). You must therefore be well-equipped to handle persecutions so that they won’t derail you from your race to heaven.
The devil persecutes you as a child of God because he wants you to deny Christ, and the only way to pass through persecution without denying Christ is to be well-grounded in Him.
Therefore, before persecutions and the devil launches his attacks, you must be well-rooted in Christ by studying God’s word, memorizing it, and praying without ceasing.
The depth of a tree’s root determines if it will remain standing during a storm If you don’t want persecution to bring you down, you must be deeply rooted in God’s word.
Long ago, there was a missionary in a foreign land where Christians were being persecuted.
On her wedding day, the local police raided the missionary base and arrested her in her wedding dress.
She kissed the handcuffs they put on her and said, “Lord, I didn’t know you were so jealous over me and wouldn’t let me marry anyone else.
READ RCCG Open Heaven Daily Devotional 20 August 2024 – Handling Success
How beautiful is your wedding ring to me!” She was so in love with Christ that her wedding being invaded meant nothing to her; she saw the handcuffs as wedding rings.
That is the kind of intimacy you must have with Christ so as not to deny Him in the face of persecution.
Christians who are truly rooted in Christ rejoice when persecuted because they know they are blessed (Matthew 5:10-12).
They see persecution as a sign that they are a terror to the devil, and that excites them; they want to cause him even more terror.
Persecution drives them to do more for God against the kingdom of darkness. In Acts 5:41, the disciples rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Jesus’ name.
Reflection
Are you deeply rooted in Christ such that you can withstand the storms of persecution when they come?
HYMN In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone! – who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand:
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
