Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Yesterday, Pam Padgett wrote the following concerning suffering persecution for the Word's sake. I saw this as a "revelation" from God on the subject and my eyes were opened in several areas.
Pam said:
2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution.
One kind of persecution we sometimes face is to be wrongly judged by those
of the world when we have spoken or done as led by the Holy Spirit.
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I have this happen to me constantly, but until Pam wrote this, I had never seen this as suffering persecution over that which God had told me to do or to say... suffering persecution for the Word's sake.
Another thing: Peter says we are to rejoice in this suffering.
I said to God, "How can I rejoice in this suffering when they judge me wrongly?" To me it burns inside me.
That is exactly what Peter said ... It would burn ... Peter called it a fiery trial ...
I Peter 4 ... 12Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
Often I will do something because I believe God has shown me to do that. And another person comes along to make fun of me (mocking me) as if I've done a silly thing. (like they thought Noah was doing something foolish when he built the ark)
I have had multiple people consider me "silly" for building the house I now live in. They judge (incorrectly) that this house is unsuitable for me, too big, and thus "foolish".
When that happens we burn inside (fiery trial) we want to set them straight, thus entering into striving with them. And even when I hold my tongue and say nothing, their words come back to me in memory form and the fires burn again inside me because of their false judgment against me. And I begin to strive with them in my thoughts, imagining what I will say to them the next time I see them.
The revelation given by God to Pam changed everything for me. For now I see their wrong judgment in the matter came as a result of their not being born again.
I can rejoice in the fiery trial knowing that it was God WHO showed me to do what I did or to say what I said. Therefore the suffering is "for the Word's sake" and my rejoicing is because I am on the side of THE WORD and I have the Spirit of God in me and belong to God.
It is not unusual suffering I'm going through but it is something all Christians go through as they follow God, doing that which they are shown by God, speaking that which God would have them speak.
This is what Peter is saying in the following.
I Peter 4 ...
13But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14If ye be reproached for the name of Christ (for the Word given you by God), happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
15But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
16Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
"according to the will of God" ... suffering because we did what God led us to do or we spoke what the Holy Spirit brought out from us ...
God gave me a dream showing me to build this house. He showed me the exact location. And while the house was being built, I'm sure I prayed often over various facets of the structure. Therefore when someone critizes me for building this house, I can know it is like them critizing Noah for building the ark. For I was just doing that which I was shown by God to do. I belong to God and follow orders. They do not belong to God so they see me as being foolish in what I do. This is persecution for the Word's sake.
Foolish means:
- lacking good sense or good judgment
- silly, ridiculous, absurd
- wildly unreasonable, illogical, inappropriate
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Another example called to my attention ... God gave me a dream showing me the next time my mother fell it would be the end of her life. I tried to watch her and keep her from falling but one night in the night she fell. She was on floor in her bedroom. She broke another hip. I knew this would end her life. While she was still living, I went to funeral home to arrange for burial. The plan I chose for burial was to have funeral home pick up her body and bury her without funeral and without my being there. I knew she was asleep in death. It would not help her at all for people to gather for funeral and to go to grave site. I knew I was the only one to be considered in this matter and it would not help me but would hurt me to look at her dead body and to have to lower her into the ground. When Sarah died, Abraham arranged for a place of burial where he could put Sarah out of his sight. (Gen. 23:3-8) This is exactly the arrangement I made.
My mother died in an old folks home. At 1:00 am they called me from the home to tell me she died. I told them to call Steed Funeral Service and have them pick up her body. I told them it was all arranged with Steed.
After I moved to Lubbock, that same year, I was at Dillard's Department Store and I saw the woman who was in charge of the old folks home. I greeted her cheerfully. She didn't smile at all. She didn't speak to me. I told her who I am. She replied, in cold hostile way, "Yes, I know." And she turned and walked away from me. I was shocked. She apparently judged me for the handling of my mother's body.
The world frets over bodies when the humans die. But we who are of God know that person is simply asleep and will rise again in the day of the Lord. Now the person sleeps. So we do not carry on like the people of this world do.
I do not look at dead bodies. I do not want to hold the fleshly memories. I do not visit graveyards and decorate graves as the pagans do. I am a Christian. I believe what the Bible says and act according to the belief in what the Bible says.
I Thess. 4 ... Paul says ... 13But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
On Monday morning, after my mother died, Steed Funeral Home called me to tell me they had buried my mother. I thanked them.
When my dad died 20 years before my mother, I did not go to funeral home with relatives to view his body before the funeral. I arranged for a closed casket at funeral, not wanting to have to look at a dead body, not wanting that to be the way I remembered my dad. We did have a funeral but I had my mother to consider. When my mother died, I had only myself to consider so I had no funeral. It certainly would not help me and she was asleep so it wouldn't mean anything to her.
This is example of persecution when we do what we believe God has shown us to do. I suspect family members spoke evil of me. But they are not born again. When I told my cousin I was not having a funeral for my mother, my cousin said, "We can have a memorial service." I said, "Do what suits you." I don't think they ever had a memorial service. I never heard of one.
But I am a Christian, born of the Spirit of God, and what I am concerned with is what God wants me to do. That is what I try to do in the many issues pertaining to this life. And after I do that, I see fiery trials are likely to follow. People will judge me foolish or inappropriate. Some people will even see me as mean and evil. This is the same suffering Jesus went through. He did according to the will of God. And if we do according to the will of God this will happen to us ... fiery trials, persecution for the Word's sake ... But it shows us that we belong to God. So Peter says, "Rejoice in those fiery trials that are to try you."
I Peter 4
And Paul assures us that all who try to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. II Tim. 3
It is not a strange thing. It happens to each one of us who try to do what God wants us to do.
God will sustain us and we will probably suffer less if we understand the basis for our suffering.
I Cor. 2:... 14But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Persecution is defined as:
- hostility and ill treatment
- opposition, antagonism toward you
- unfriendliness toward you