3 things to remember when your opposed

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Three Things to Remember When You’re Opposed

BY RICK WARREN — MAY 26, 2023

FROM THE KEYS TO A BLESSED LIFE

“God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven.”

Matthew 5:10-12 (NLT)

When you feel pressured by the world because you love Jesus and other people don’t, you need to remember three things:

1. Opposition can make you more like Jesus.
Jesus says in John 15:18-20, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you” (NLT).

If you’re going to mature and be like Jesus Christ, you’re going to have to go through the things Jesus went through, including loneliness, discouragement, stress, and temptation. Why would God spare you when he didn’t spare his own Son from those things?

2. Opposition will deepen your faith.
Your faith is like a muscle. A muscle doesn’t grow when you sit in a chair and eat popcorn. A muscle grows by being stretched, strained, and tested. You’re never going to grow a muscle if no weight is ever pulling in the opposite direction.

If you don’t have opposition in your life, your faith is not growing. The strongest believers in the world right now are those who are having their faith tested the most. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1:7, “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world” (NLT).

3. Opposition will lead to eternal rewards.
Matthew 5:10-12 says, “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven” (NLT).

God will bless everyone who’s persecuted for living for him. But notice that you don’t get rewarded for being rude or obnoxious. If you live a self-righteous life when you get persecuted, you’re not a martyr; you’re a fool.

You don’t get rewarded for being rude. You get rewarded for being like Jesus. When you live out your faith, do it with gentleness and respect, just like Jesus, and you will be rewarded for it one day in heaven.

Whenever you’re harassed for your faith, remember these three things: Opposition can make you more like Jesus, deepen your faith, and lead to eternal rewards in heaven.

Talk It Over

How have you responded to opposition of your faith? How has your response impacted your walk with God?
What does persecution look like in your culture?
How might God want you to pray for Christians who are persecuted all over the world?

Give hope, prayer, and encouragement below. Post a comment & talk about it.

Verse of the day

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February 19, 2021

Scripture

But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” – 1 Kings 7:1 ESV

Devotion

In 2 Kings, we read of a difficult time of political threat and economic meltdown. The city of Samaria was besieged and there was no food—to an extent that cannibalism reigned supreme (2 Kings 6:26-29). Inflation was so high that city dwellers could not afford basics of life. There were no cattle or sheep; there were only five horses in the city (7:13). It was such a depressing time that the king could hardly afford a decent underwear (6:30). The king was so physically weak he could not stand on his own and had to lean on someone’s arm (7:2).

People sick with leprosy were banished to total isolation, with no permissible contact with a wider society. But in this story, it was the marginalized lepers who risked it all to bring the Good News to the city (7:3-11). God always provides the way for His people. An economic meltdown is never an accident in the eyes of God. He turns around the situation for a purpose. God changes this disastrous economic situation, teaching several valuable lessons:

1. God turns the situation around to strengthen our trust in Him. It happened to Elisha by keeping the Word of the Lord (7:1). It is often through finances that God can clearly and objectively show us that He is in control of everything. God will use cash to strengthen our trust if we will just accept our positions as stewards and turn it over to Him.

2. God turns the situation around to develop our trustworthiness. Like the lepers in this story, we must take risks by entering the enemy’s camp and pass on the Good News to others. They trusted God to the point of risking their lives. They discovered something good and never kept it to themselves.

3. God turns the situation around to prove His love. God was showing the king of Samaria that He is the God of love and it is His love that can change the situation completely. Many of us remain outside God’s will because we are afraid to trust Him for the impossible. We can even appeal to laws of nature that this is impossible (2 Kings 7:2).

4. God turns the situation around to demonstrate His power over this world. The statement: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria (2 Kings 7:1,16,18) implies the abundance of food with low prices. We have to remember that we serve the God who is the Creator of the universe, therefore must relate with Him as well as to His power and resources.

5. God turns the situation around to unite Christians through many shared blessings. God uses the abundance of one Christian to supply the needs of another. The lepers in the story had this right (2 Kings 7:9). They concurred with the Apostle Paul about the Macedonian churches who were so generous regardless of their economic limitations (2 Cor 8:14).

6. God turns the situation around to provide direction for our lives. God was making a case to convince Joram, the king of Samaria that he must change his direction. He provided divine intervention at the time when nobody expected solution. A Christian seeking God’s will must be certain that he has first relinquished control of his life, including his finances, and is truly seeking God’s direction. We must persevere.

7. God turns the situation around to satisfy the needs of others. The lepers give us a lesson of unselfishness. If we have never learned to give, God can never give back. God cannot be in control if we believe we are the owners.

Think for a moment about the ways God has blessed you (financial or otherwise). What are some ways you could use these blessings to make a difference in someone else’s life?

1 minute motivation

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He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

Acts 1:7

God isn’t going to restore the earlier version of your life. He isn’t going to make things like they were. He doesn’t do that. That’s not His thing.

Jesus didn’t do a miracle the same way twice. It’s not going to be like it was. When they asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” I want you to notice what He said back to them: 

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

He reveals His power, not by the details He puts in, but by the ones He leaves out. He could have told them the answer to that. 

But that blank space is the place where we learn to believe. I don’t have to believe what I know. I have to believe what God spoke

With God, All Things Are Possible