Persevere Dear Saints
Significant Christian persecution followed the death & resurrection of
Jesus. Under the leadership of emperors Nero, Domitian, and Trajan many
brothers and sisters in Christ were killed. In fact, Emperor Trajan made it a
capital crime to be a Christian. (A capital crime is one punishable by death.)
One of the dear saints who lost his life under Trajan was a man named Ignatius
(bishop of Antioch, AD 35-108). Tradition identifies Ignatius, along with his
friend Polycarp, as disciples of John the Apostle. It has also been speculated
that he may have been one of the small children that Jesus Himself held in His
arms and blessed. Sentenced a criminal, Ignatius, when being thrown to the
lions in the great Colosseum in Rome, responded:
I am God's grain,
to be ground between the teeth of wild beasts,
so that I may be a holy loaf for the Lord.
In the midst of heart wrenching trials and persecution, may this also be our prayer.
The apostle Paul said,
And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain— for He says,
“At the acceptable time I listened to you,
And on the day of salvation I helped you.”
Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”— giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. 2 Corinthians 6:1-10
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
I am God's grain,
to be ground between the teeth of wild beasts,
so that I may be a holy loaf for the Lord.
In the midst of heart wrenching trials and persecution, may this also be our prayer.
The apostle Paul said,
And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain— for He says,
“At the acceptable time I listened to you,
And on the day of salvation I helped you.”
Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”— giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. 2 Corinthians 6:1-10
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
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