Are You Prepared For Persecution?

This has been on my mind lately. How prepared are we in the Western church for persecution? Real, serious persecution?

Not very, really.

Think about it. Christians get upset when nativity scenes are not allowed in public places, calling it “the war against Christmas”. We write letters about the removal of the 10 commandments from court rooms. We complain about the removal of prayer from schools, from politics, from public life. And we call these things persecution.

Brothers and sisters, these things are NOT persecution. They aren’t great, but they are not persecution, and calling them such makes a mockery of those who are persecuted, and allows us to be unequipped to deal with real persecution when it comes.

Are we prepared to go to jail for Christ and His Kingdom? That’s real persecution.

Are we prepared to have family and friends refuse to have anything to do with us, kicking us out of our homes, our lives? That’s real persecution.

Are we prepared to be tortured for speaking to the lost? That’s real persecution.

Are we prepared to lose all our earthly possessions, counting their loss a gain so that we may more completely follow Christ? That’s real persecution.

We do not know the meaning of the term persecution. And we are not prepared for it. We do not have the deep seated relationship with God that is needed to get us through such times. We do not know any bits of the Bible well enough to encourage our hearts in times of persecution, when Bibles are not available. We cannot do without all the bells and whistles of a modern church service, complete with multi-media to get and keep our attention… when what we really need is all too often lacking… the Word of God. We cannot spend time in prayer for more than a few minutes without falling asleep.

We are NOT prepared for persecution!

You cannot prepare others. You can prepare yourself. Read the Word. Memorise it. Meditate on it. Pray. Build your relationship with God. These are what are truly necessary to get us through times of trial. God and His Word.