Bible Reading: Psalm 26, 27 & 28; Acts 22
“And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women” Acts 22:4 (KJV)
Persecution is unfair or abusive treatment, hostility or ill-treatment toward a person or group of people because of race or political or religious beliefs. It includes incitement of hatred, arrests, imprisonment, beatings, torture, murder and executions. Jesus foretold that His followers will be persecuted. He even experienced it before His followers.
The early apostles suffered same too, after their master, Jesus Christ. They expected suffering because Christ had died on the the cross, so there was no higher honour than to imitate that death in the course of serving God. They also remembered the master’s words in John 15:18 (KJV), “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”
Ironically, Paul had persecuted Christians earlier when he was still Saul. And now he is in the middle of a very heavy persecution by the same people he had worked for. And like every disciple in the early days, he expected it and would not run from it, despite appeals from fellow believers for him to depart to other places.
How do you see persecution today? It has not changed! The world still hates those who are not its own as long as Satan is still the ruler. In your places of work, school, neighbourhood, etc expect persecution. However, like early Christians, be grateful to God that you are being persecuted for righteousness sake as it is a testimony to the fact that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Father, I receive grace to endure persecution for Your name’s sake, in Jesus name.