Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Matthew 16: 21-26
In the first part of Matthew 16 we find Jesus asking His disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" They commented that people thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets. And then Jesus asked "But who do you say that I am?"
It is easy to decide who Jesus is when every thing's going right, but what about when things are not going right? 2 Timothy 3:12 says, "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted". When you're being persecuted you've got to know who Jesus is. When dark days come you've got to know who Jesus is.
When we see the word persecution, immediately our mind conjures up an image of one being pursued. Believing that something or someone is after you. One who is persecuted is someone who is targeted. Some say that Jesus is for the weak minded or the sissies. But it truly takes a backbone of steel and the boldness of the Holy Spirit to stand by your faith during persecution.
The Bible says that in the last days perilous times shall come, but Jesus promised to be with us always! When the persecution comes to your life do not ask why did it come but ask, is my focus on Jesus? To be prepared for persecution we must be grounded in our faith and focused on Jesus!
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