SPIRITUAL
DIARY
Date: 11-07-03
My
Worship Time Focus: The patience
endurance of the prophets
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: James 5:10
1. Message of the verse: “As an example, brethren, of suffering and
patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” (NASB)
“For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look
at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” (NLT)
Jesus
gives and example on the prophets, and how they reacted to persecution in His
sermon on the mount, Matthew 5:10-12. 10 “Blessed are
those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your
reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.” A question that Dr.
Wiersbe asked is, “what encouragements do we receive from their example?” Two
things strike me as possible answers to this question. The first one is that the kingdom of heaven
is ahead for them, and also there are rewards for those who endure persecutions
from the Lord.
We know that these prophets were in
the will of the Lord, and yet they suffered persecution, and they were also
preaching in the name of the Lord. We
can sight some examples from the book of Acts, as Paul suffered much
persecution even though he was in the will of God. Also the apostles were persecuted for
preaching the Word of God, and even counted it joy to be persecuted because of
the preaching of the Word in the name of Jesus Christ. Job was another example from the OT who
suffered while in the will of the Lord.
“The will of God will never lead
you where the grace of God cannot keep you.” (Quote from ‘Be Mature.’”
Other examples from the OT prophets
who suffered persecution in the will of God by obeying God are Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and Daniel.
Paul wrote
to Timothy in 2Timothy about this very subject. “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Dr.
Wiersbe asks and answers another question in this section. “Why
is it that those who ‘speak in the name of the Lord’ often must endure
difficult trials? It is so that their
lives might back up their massages, that our patience in times of suffering is
a testimony to others around us.”
As
we look at the OT prophets we will be encouraged by their lives, however this
must not me just a casual looking into their lives, but a detailed study of
their lives. Paul told us from the book
of Romans that “For whatever was written in earlier
times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the
encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. “
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