Assurance in the Midst of Suffering
Today’s devotional again comes from a Chinese house church pastor who was arrested and held for three weeks just prior to this talk. This is from Emeka Ofili web site.
He says his experience was going with Christ to the Garden and to the Cross. Today he explains The Cross:
“This is what amazed me the most. Whenever I was beaten up (and that was quite often during those three weeks), I would first feel searing pain, and then another feeling would flood in, almost wiping the pain away. Do you know what that feeling was? Pity. Pity for the man who was beating me.
I kept seeing my interrogator as a man gone wrong. I felt sorry for his mother, who would be so ashamed of him. I wondered what kind of father he must have had, to turn him into such a monster. I felt sad to be in the presence of one of God’s creatures that could treat another human so badly with so little concern.
Then I would get amazed at myself. Through the pain I would think, “I should be angry, but I’m not, all I want is for this man to be saved.” I had three ribs and a wrist broken, two teeth knocked out, my kidneys were malfunctioning, and yet all I could wish for was for the man beating me to find Christ and forgiveness.
Now I agree with that young sister. It sounds very strange. It doesn’t even ring true. It’s more human to be angry or to be afraid. But I can only say this was not myself making me feel that way, but Christ within me. It was superhuman. It was Divine. And to this day, it serves as the greatest assurance I have that I am saved.
Again, this is also the way of Christ. In Luke 23:34, He says from the Cross itself, in the midst of excruciating pain, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” I tell you, it gives you such a thrill to know that you feel as Christ felt. That’s why suffering is counted such a joy, such a privilege. It confirms to the sufferers that they are Christ’s, and He lives in them. We don’t have to trust a word that this is so. We feel it in our very breastbones.” Quote from a Chinese House Leader
Compliments to Jerry Parks web site: And Then The End Shall Come
There is the purest of gold in this truth. Truth we should not be afraid of and truth that is a person working and living within us. Truth on display that passes all understanding.
Yes, may our lives come to the place of revealing only His qualities.
Blessings
Brian
This is profound! Like the apostles in Acts 5, we must learn to rejoice when we are “counted worthy to suffer for the Name.” And many more will need to be ready for this in the near future, even here in America. and other western countries.
❤️&🙏, c.a.
Amen. I hope to have enough evidence in my life to be counted worthy!
Hope all is well with you and your wife!
BT