“Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD”(Jeremiah 20:2).
TEXT — Jeremiah 20:1-60
Message
Those who persecute saints are spiritually ignorant. They do not see behind the scenes, where the Lord is busy using the persecution to mould mighty personalities. They fail to discern the presence of God as He fashions the fulfilment of prophecy through the victimization of His unyielding and unbroken messengers. It is the Lord who laughs last. That was the scenario that played out between Jeremiah, the prophet of God and Pashur, the chief governor of the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. Unhappy at the declaration of the prophet that Judah would go into decades of exile, Pashur clamped Jeremiah into jail, after smiting him. But the unshaken servant of God held to the word the Lord asked him to reveal to the nation. God rewarded him by revalidating earlier prophecies and presenting a new message of doom for Pashur, his tormentor. When going through trials in the course of the Great Commission and while living righteously, the believer must not be blind like the persecutors. He must see the Lord in the whole process. He must behold Him protecting His Word and the messenger. He must observe Him restraining the enemy from destroying and discouraging us from working for the Kingdom. He must have attentive ears to hear His voice as He assures that He will never forsake His own. In all history, persecution, rather than bring down the Church, fired God’s people to greater realms of service, sacrifice and separation from the world. The conclusion, then, is that persecution is the tool heaven wrests from the hands of the enemy to strengthen us and to enlarge the frontiers of our preaching. The Lord exploited it to develop the early Church and the disciples. He has not abandoned that effective strategy.
Thought for the day
Persecution promotes God’s people in ways that perplex their persecutors.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
6 comments
Thanks for the devotional.Please is there any reason why the share buttons are not readily available. At times one sees them to share the devotional, at other times they are not available at all.
Thanks for the devotional.Please is there any reason why the share buttons are not readily available. At times one sees them to share the devotional, at other times they are not available at all.
You have to click the 3 dots at the top right and pick share. It is always there. Hope this helps.
What a great encouragement word from today’s message “It is the Lord who laughs last” because He assures that He will never forsake His own.
The daily manna on playstore is malfunctioning.
It displays “no data” for the current day but shows next day’s devotion.
That we shouldn’t forget His protection and provision despite been persecuted
Our heart must trust the Lord always