Persecution...

[Blazin Bones]

What kind of persecution have you faced while serving the father and defending your faith?

 

[paisley]

My mother threated to beat me to a "bloody pulp" if I practiced my faith. I was just a little girl and I read in the Bible that I had to "honor my mother and father" yet I also knew God was first so I did my best to honor my mother without dishonoring God. It was a hard balance to make.

I had to take care of my mother-in-law and she used to ridicule me all the time because of my faith.

 

[Relic]

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Ending up totally alone in this world, in that, there was not a soul that supported my faith. Most everything I did or said being shot down by friends and family members. And some people saying things like,

"You take your religion way too serious.
You think your faith will heal you? "

And, when friends wanted me to join them in sexually promiscuous, or wild and unruly behaviors, and I would say no to them, they would say these things to me like,

Ah, come on! A little fun won't hurt you!
Ah, you're no fun anymore!


And in more general situations, they would say things like,

You're too hard on yourself, lighten up.
or
Why don't you loosen up?


And then, when I would start talking about the consequences to doing what they wanted me to do, they would say,

Ah, you're crazy. That won't happen!



But then later down the road of their lives.... I'd see them sorry for the things they did. Just as I have been, and am sorry for the sins I did before I was aware of what I was doing to myself and the people around me. Yep, I lost a lot of so called friends and support from family members. Family get togethers aren't really that much pleasant anymore because they all still like to tell dirty jokes and don't even pray before dinner. If I say something like Thank you God, before I pick up my fork they look at me like I'm some kind of a weirdo. But what is so bewildering, is that when our children were little kids themselves, they wouldn't have any kind of problem saying grace before a meal. That was before the kids turned teenagers! What a shame! What a crying shame! My daughter is going to be 29 this year. I still talk to her about how important it is to be close to the Lord and to be in good company with other Christians of like mind. I'll never give up on those who have strayed! They are in my prayers.

I suppose, some people just learn at different times in their lives. And some people never learn.

Who's to know the mysteries of this life?
All we can do, is get right with God "when He Calls us" and work it out.
and pray the ones we care about will be called to salvation also. The ones who are living in sin without knowing it. the ones who don't see the harm in what they do to themselves and others because they think it's nothing but fun and no big deal. Sin is still sin. and there is no getting away from the consequences. consequences catch up to the sinner. Time proves it.

If people want to ignore the call, then that's just going to their conscience when it's time.

I know God has called me. Because I can't live with a clear conscious with acting out in sin, deliberately. I just can't do it anymore.
I don't know how some people do that. It just boggles my mind that they don't see the sin in what they do. But then, when I was in that world of theirs, I didn't know it either... that is, until it hit me like a ton of bricks!

So ,that is what divides us and persecutes us. Because we won't sin with them anymore.

I suppose we have learned our lesson in certain areas, and they just have to come to the time in which they see it too.

It's those lessons in life that we all need to go through in order to grow.

Being a Christian is not easy. Why do people think it's easy to be willing to face the sins of this world and to transform ourselves by the renewing of our minds in order to purge them out of our lives?

The cross is not an easy thing to carry. Some people just don't want to face that sacrifice of facing the sin, and giving it up. The difference between the hard heart and the soft heart.

The harvest times teach us much about the character of man...
At harvest time it is easier for some than for others....

the wheat has a hard shell that must be threshed and cracked in order to sperate the wheat from the chaff.

the barley has a soft shell and is easily harvested.


We do need to let go and let God work it his way. through us and sometime without us. We need to learn how to discern the spirit and we need to learn how to discern the right time for the harvest of the souls.


But also, we need to know that
to enjoy the harvest,
you must first labor in the fields.


Some are persecuted for the sake of others.

All the glory from out of it all,
is for the glory of the good Will of God.







ooops, I got carried away.

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