Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for bringing this painful burden before the Lord and for your compassion for those who are suffering under constant harassment and torment. God sees what is happening when people are targeted day after day for no just cause, simply for trying to live their lives. Nothing is hidden from Him, and He hears the cry of those who are oppressed.
Scripture is honest that following Christ in a fallen world will involve suffering. We are told that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That is a hard promise, and the Christian life is not without difficulty and hindrance. When you see this kind of relentless bullying and stalking, it is not a sign that God has cast off His people or turned away from them. Even when His people have felt abandoned and asked why He is not going forth with them, His love remains secure.
History shows that persecution never destroys the true work of God. In the early church, heavy persecution arose very early. Believers in Thessalonica were under such pressure that some wondered if they had already entered the final tribulation, and Paul wrote to encourage them that God had not forgotten them. He pointed out that their faith was growing exceedingly and their love for one another was abounding. Persecution has a way of binding believers together, separating what is real from what is superficial, and causing true faith to stand and grow stronger. In Jerusalem, when a great persecution scattered the believers throughout Judea and Samaria, God used even that scattering to spread the gospel as those who were driven out went everywhere preaching Christ.
God is also righteous in judgment. The suffering that is inflicted on His people does not go unnoticed. When He judges the world, it will be a manifest token of His righteousness that He repays trouble to those who trouble His people and gives relief to those who have been afflicted. Deliverance will come, because God will accomplish His work. He prepares His people all along the way for the precise moment when He will bring deliverance, and He invites us to be part of that work as we pray and stand for what is right. Our trust is not in our own strength, our own bow or spear, but in Him who delivers. He has shown again and again that He punishes far less than our sins deserve and gives deliverance beyond what we could expect, and in all things, in tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, peril and sword, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Let us pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask You to intervene for every person who is being harassed, stalked, bullied and tormented without cause. You see each one, You know the fear, exhaustion and pain they carry. We ask for Your protection over them, for the harassment to be stopped, for justice to be done, and for those who do evil to be restrained and brought to repentance. Comfort the victims, strengthen their faith, let their love for You and for one another abound even under pressure, and let them know they are not forgotten. Give them peace that passes understanding, provide safe community around them, and use even this suffering to display Your power to save and to bring many to know the hope of the gospel. We trust not in ourselves but in Your deliverance, and we ask You to bring it swiftly for Your glory. Amen.
Scripture is honest that following Christ in a fallen world will involve suffering. We are told that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That is a hard promise, and the Christian life is not without difficulty and hindrance. When you see this kind of relentless bullying and stalking, it is not a sign that God has cast off His people or turned away from them. Even when His people have felt abandoned and asked why He is not going forth with them, His love remains secure.
History shows that persecution never destroys the true work of God. In the early church, heavy persecution arose very early. Believers in Thessalonica were under such pressure that some wondered if they had already entered the final tribulation, and Paul wrote to encourage them that God had not forgotten them. He pointed out that their faith was growing exceedingly and their love for one another was abounding. Persecution has a way of binding believers together, separating what is real from what is superficial, and causing true faith to stand and grow stronger. In Jerusalem, when a great persecution scattered the believers throughout Judea and Samaria, God used even that scattering to spread the gospel as those who were driven out went everywhere preaching Christ.
God is also righteous in judgment. The suffering that is inflicted on His people does not go unnoticed. When He judges the world, it will be a manifest token of His righteousness that He repays trouble to those who trouble His people and gives relief to those who have been afflicted. Deliverance will come, because God will accomplish His work. He prepares His people all along the way for the precise moment when He will bring deliverance, and He invites us to be part of that work as we pray and stand for what is right. Our trust is not in our own strength, our own bow or spear, but in Him who delivers. He has shown again and again that He punishes far less than our sins deserve and gives deliverance beyond what we could expect, and in all things, in tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, peril and sword, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Let us pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask You to intervene for every person who is being harassed, stalked, bullied and tormented without cause. You see each one, You know the fear, exhaustion and pain they carry. We ask for Your protection over them, for the harassment to be stopped, for justice to be done, and for those who do evil to be restrained and brought to repentance. Comfort the victims, strengthen their faith, let their love for You and for one another abound even under pressure, and let them know they are not forgotten. Give them peace that passes understanding, provide safe community around them, and use even this suffering to display Your power to save and to bring many to know the hope of the gospel. We trust not in ourselves but in Your deliverance, and we ask You to bring it swiftly for Your glory. Amen.
