Due to receiving increased reports of persecution from friends around the globe, I began meditating on what God's purposes might be behind the suffering of His children. It is one thing to ask why a loving, powerful God allows bad things to happen to good people. It is quite another to ask why God allows terrible persecutions to fall upon His children. We must not doubt His sovereign control over all events, for He is God. We must not doubt His wisdom in such things because He is a loving Father to His people. God has not left us completely in the dark on this issue. While the Bible does not disclose all God is doing through the suffering of His Church, it does give us some insights into what His purposes may be. In the end, we must believe that all things will work for His glory and our good (Rom 8:28). I pray this series of meditations will enable and encourage those who now face persecution and those of us who will.
19 Purposes of Persecution I See in Scripture.
1. Persecution Purifies the Church. James 1:12 "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him." Those who endure persecutions do so by faith in the promises God has made to us in Christ and by doing so reveal that they are truly children of God. Persecution tends to weed out the weeds. It is in the hard times of sacrifice and self-denial that true believers shine and false professors fall away. (I will add this: we are seeing many in India reconvert to Hinduism in order to escape the persecutions. Some of these had converted to Christianity in order to escape the caste system. If some of those who "reconvert" are true believers, they will once again stand for the faith and with much more boldness. If they never return, they were never truly converted by the Spirit. Let us pray on behalf of those who seek to escape persecution. Let us pray the Lord will embolden them and save them! It is only by grace we would not follow suit if found in similar circumstances!)
•2. Persecution Strengthens the Church. James 1:2-4 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Romans 5:3-4 "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." The very things that the enemies of Gospel use to weaken the Church are precisely what God uses to strengthen her. The furnace takes out the dross, not the swimming pool. The Church becomes a fortress of faith when her faith is under attack.
•3. Persecution Intensifies the Church's Prayer Life. Prayer reveals utter dependence upon God! Nothing convinces us of dependence more than trials of faith. Not only is individual prayer intensified, but the global church engages in more fervent prayer when brothers and sisters in Christ are enduring hardship for the Gospel. One of the few glories of the internet age is that now prayer requests regarding persecution can find intercessors in a matter of minutes!
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