SUFFERING

First, Suffering and persecution was a true mark of God’s people and His servants through out the history of the bible. The term suffering was born in the most beautiful and perfect garden of God, Eden. Suffering and hardship becomes a part of human life since God pronounced it and endorsed it in the garden (Gen.3:16-17). God designated hardship and suffering to turn man’s heart to Him. First, God punished them to work hard in order to survive. Secondly, God created thorns and thistles for mankind. This scenario is very much similar with the life of Job. The two characters obtain wonderful life before they suffer and go through unbearable hardships. Therefore, we can understand that God knows everything and He is the deliverer. It is better to know that God Almighty is with us even if the superpower country is not for us. Nothing can against us. Base on above lesson, we can understand that persecution strengthen our trust in God and it nurture our inner being to put all our hope. Thus, we can walk by faith not by sight.

                    Second, some one said ‘all sunshine and no rain make a desert.’ In many case Persecution is like the tool that God use to shaken out dust from the believers and from the church. Sometime while we are falling asleep we need to be shaken to be awake and to be alert. The history of the church and her revolution and awakening experiences in the past tell us about the value of persecution for the edification of the church. Today, most of Christian seem to be softy and very sensitive to hardship. On the other hand, it is because the state laws become stronger and it powerfully controls the society from inhuman activities. Nevertheless, the state law itself restricted evangelism and it created boundaries. Therefore, one will not encounter persecution if he or she does things within the boundary. The safe environment in the West causes a dramatic decline of the church members.

            Jesus went through unbelievable persecutions. Apostle Paul encountered numerous persecutions in different forms. Nevertheless, the early Churches is the most strongest and most spirit filled Churches ever existed.  Finally, persecution is not our choice but God allowed it to test our endurance of faith (James 1:2-4).