Devotion for Today Persecution Matthew 16:16-19
“16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:16-19
The story is told that back during the Korean war, a band of North Korean soldiers burst into the worship service of a small Baptist church. They raised their rifles threateningly, and the captain said. If you will renounce your faith in Jesus Christ, you may go. The rest of you will die. In a moment, a few frightened individuals got up. A deacon or two, a Sunday school teacher and several others filed out. In fact, about half the church left under the pointed bayonets of the soldiers. After the last one went out the door, the rest sat there frightened and prepared themselves for the worst. Some even prayed. The glaring and scorning face of the captain broke into a smile. You people please relax. We mean you no harm. You see, we are Christians, and we love the Lord. We thought it would be good to get rid of the all the uncommitted so we can enjoy some real fellowship with you!” Talk about persecution. In fact the kind of persecution we deal with is the pressure against it in the form of lack of commitment and indifference. In fact I will say that I have never seen the churches who have been attacked on the outside fail or flounder. But I have seen churches in the latter category close their doors more than once. But didn’t Christ say that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church? Yes, but they have got to be His church first before they can have any surety that Christ is going to protect them from the onslaught of Satan.
We can’t say the gates of Hell will not prevail against His church unless we give Him the full title and ownership of not just all that we have, but all that we are. For Him to have complete ownership of it means we have got to relinquish our control of it just like we do our own individual lives. And my friends, if we want Christ to do a great work in this body of believers, we are going to need to stop acting like we own it and let get out of His way and let Christ do a greater work than anything we could ever do.
Remember that Christ is giving you the keys to His kingdom. But they are not yours. A deposit has been paid by Christ with His own blood. They are yours inasmuch as He has entrusted to you.
Have a blessed day!
“16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:16-19
The story is told that back during the Korean war, a band of North Korean soldiers burst into the worship service of a small Baptist church. They raised their rifles threateningly, and the captain said. If you will renounce your faith in Jesus Christ, you may go. The rest of you will die. In a moment, a few frightened individuals got up. A deacon or two, a Sunday school teacher and several others filed out. In fact, about half the church left under the pointed bayonets of the soldiers. After the last one went out the door, the rest sat there frightened and prepared themselves for the worst. Some even prayed. The glaring and scorning face of the captain broke into a smile. You people please relax. We mean you no harm. You see, we are Christians, and we love the Lord. We thought it would be good to get rid of the all the uncommitted so we can enjoy some real fellowship with you!” Talk about persecution. In fact the kind of persecution we deal with is the pressure against it in the form of lack of commitment and indifference. In fact I will say that I have never seen the churches who have been attacked on the outside fail or flounder. But I have seen churches in the latter category close their doors more than once. But didn’t Christ say that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church? Yes, but they have got to be His church first before they can have any surety that Christ is going to protect them from the onslaught of Satan.
We can’t say the gates of Hell will not prevail against His church unless we give Him the full title and ownership of not just all that we have, but all that we are. For Him to have complete ownership of it means we have got to relinquish our control of it just like we do our own individual lives. And my friends, if we want Christ to do a great work in this body of believers, we are going to need to stop acting like we own it and let get out of His way and let Christ do a greater work than anything we could ever do.
Remember that Christ is giving you the keys to His kingdom. But they are not yours. A deposit has been paid by Christ with His own blood. They are yours inasmuch as He has entrusted to you.
Have a blessed day!
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