The Open Heaven 21 August 2024 devotional for today is HANDLING PERSECUTION.
This is a daily devotion written by Pastor E. A. Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
OPEN HEAVEN 21 AUGUST 2024 TODAY DEVOTIONAL
TOPIC: HANDLING PERSECUTION
MEMORISE:
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matthew 5:44
READ: John 15:18-21
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
RCCG OPEN HEAVEN 21 AUGUST 2024 TODAY MESSAGE
As long as this world remains, every true child of God will face persecution because the devil is the prince of this world (John 14:30). You must therefore be well-equipped to handle persecutions so that they won’t derail you from your race to heaven.
The devil persecutes you as a child of God because he wants you to deny Christ, and the only way to pass through persecution without denying Christ is to be well-grounded in Him. Therefore, before persecutions come and before the devil launches his attacks, you must be well-rooted in Christ by studying God’s word, memorising it, and praying without ceasing. The depth of a tree’s root determines if it will remain standing during a storm.
If you don’t want persecution to bring you down, you must be deeply rooted in God’s word. Those who fail in times of persecution are those who were not as intimate with Christ as they should have been before persecution came.
Long ago, there was a missionary in a foreign land where Christians were being persecuted.
On her wedding day, the local police raided the missionary base and arrested her in her wedding dress. She kissed the handcuffs they put on her and said, “Lord, I didn’t know you were so jealous over me and wouldn’t let me marry anyone else. How beautiful is your wedding ring to me!” She was so in love with Christ that her wedding being invaded meant nothing to her; she saw the handcuffs as wedding rings. That is the kind of intimacy you must have with Christ so as not to deny Him in the face of persecution.
When people compromise after facing a little persecution, like not being promoted at work because of their Christian values, I shake my head because I know that they were never really rooted in Christ.
Christians who are truly rooted in Christ rejoice when they are persecuted because they know they are blessed (Matthew 5:10-12). They see persecution as a sign that they are a terror to the devil, and that excites them; they want to cause him even more terror.
Persecution drives them to do more for God against the kingdom of darkness. In Acts 5:41, the disciples rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Jesus’ name. In 1 Peter 4:13, we are told to rejoice that we are partakers of Christ’s sufferings. Don’t let persecution weigh you down; let it become fuel for you to do more for God.
OPEN HEAVEN 21 AUGUST REFLECTION
Are you deeply rooted in Christ such that you can withstand the storms of persecution when they come?
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
Lamentations 1-2
HYMN 10: IN CHRIST ALONE
Read RCCG Open Heaven Devotional for Tomorrow
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