Have you suffered in His name?

[ayin jade]

When I accepted Jesus (finally!), I suffered no losses in my life. Since then, I have never suffered in His name that I am aware of. I have had trials in my life, without a doubt, but no one has persecuted me for being a believer.

I am curious about any of you who may have suffered persecution or loss as a result of becoming a believer, or later on in your walk with Him. Please, if it is not too much to ask, tell us your testimonies about suffering in His name.

Praise the Lord in ALL things!

[Guest Thomas I believe]

Jade , On a few occasions I have had friends laugh at me and even say "oh Boy Jimmy Swaggart got mike" At times this has bothered me and sometimes bothered me bad. But realisticly its a compliment. I have been called Jesus Freak God-Lover and one of them kind. Non-believers will always scorn those of us that walk with the Lord and I believe it to be jealousy in a lot of cases that causes people to say the things they do. They want what we have but don't know how to get there. One of my friends who has constantly harassed me for my beliefs, accepted Jesus over a month ago and last week apologized to me for some of the things he has said over the years. There is always hope for anyone, any heart can be softened , any sin is forgiveable all they need is Jesus. Persecution is'nt always fun but its confirmation that that God has control of our life. The persecution I have felt in my life is only a fraction of what Jesus went through. I am a servant for God as we all are and have accepted the fact that being made fun of or mocked for our belief in Jesus is all part of the picture. The Lord comforts us during these times reassuring us that all is ok even though sometimes it is difficult.

[JimR-OCDS]

I have lost friends, been ridiculed at work and elsewhere for my faith.

However, as a Catholic, the worse persecution has come from former Catholics who have switched to other denominations. Some of their churches teach them that they are not to associate with people outside of their church, this includes relatives.

[tsth]

Yes, I have, many times, but to be specific, I suffered persecution for standing firm in an action that was in accordance to God's Word. The world/many of my family did not understand it at the time. It seemed contrary to what they thought needed to be done, due to following the common practices of the world. It did not make sense. But, because of a firm stance amidst persecution, salvation came to one who was lost. The rest of my family saw the end result, and God was glorified by His Word being proved True. Many times persecution comes by "abiding" in God's Word, not just by proclaiming Christ, but by living Him and not compromising His Word. If we understand what the guidelines are in His Word, and we resolve to stand firm in His Word and obey, then the world becomes humbled, because they see that even though what you are doing does not make sense, God is proved True by His Word.

I hope this makes sense. My specifics in this testimony were not relevant, except to say that Christians will live/do things differently than the world, and God's Word is proved True by so-doing, but in the process there will be much ridicule and shunning, therefore proving the need to "endure"!

In His Love,

Suzanne

[ellie]

My husband and I have a geological consulting business that we own and operate. Besides being a scientist my husband is first and foremost a Pastor, both of us operate a worldwide ministry. Our other business pays the bills. We have lost at least three clients because of witnessing to them of Jesus Christ. Two of these incidents were because we sent morning reports out to oil companies that we were consulting to with scripture and the mentioning of 'God'. We lost another client because we told her the reason we would not resort to underhanded tactics to keep her work was that we were Christians and believed in Jesus Christ and must operate our business according to the principals laid down for us in scripture. She immediately had nothing more to do with us and awarded our long term, multi well package to another company, this cost us well over a million dollars in work. Would we do anything different now, absolutely not. We love Jesus, in the oil business we deal with many scientists who are also atheists. We do not hide our Christianity, and many of them have learned to respect us for that, even if they do not agree with our beliefs. Recently we tried to acquire a county building which is no longer in use here in our town to convert it to a community services building in order for our ministry to do local outreach. We had many wonderful programs planned including providing for the homeless and other needy families in our community. We wrote up a proposal and went before the county commissioners to present it. One of the four commissioners brought up the 'First Amendment' claiming that he would be very uncomfortable with a Christian ministry using a county building because of separation of church and state, even though we offered to rent the building he still said no he could not allow it. The other three commissioners said they would consider it. Since the local paper attends all public meetings this has become a hotbed of controversy in our town. We have not opened our mouths to defend our position, but others have taken up the cause. Persecution will happen in this country if you are at all vocal about your relationship with Jesus Christ, but we will never suffer what He suffered for us, and so I say do not hide your light under a bushel. Keep on shining, no matter what. Love in Christ, Mary (ellie)

His Will Ministry

Edited November 10, 2004 by ellie

[Guest Thomas I believe]

I hope this makes sense. My specifics in this testimony were not relevant, except to say that Christians will live/do things differently than the world, and God's Word is proved True by so-doing, but in the process there will be much ridicule and shunning, therefore proving the need to "endure"!

Suzanne, Amen Sister.. Amen !!!

[Trinity]

Today many kids thousands of kids in america are persecuted for Gods sake. My pastors daughter is getting persecuted by a teach in her school, (she is only 10) and she is mean to her because she is a christian. Kids beat up kids for being a Christian.

And thats in America, there are many people in other countries that are being killed, raped, shot, beat up, labeled, and put in prisons.

[ellie]

Today many kids thousands of kids in america are persecuted for Gods sake. My pastors daughter is getting persecuted by a teach in her school, (she is only 10) and she is mean to her because she is a christian. Kids beat up kids for being a Christian.

And thats in America, there are many people in other countries that are being killed, raped, shot, beat up, labeled, and put in prisons.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Trinity my little nephew who is in kindergarten has already experienced ridicule for his belief in Jesus, it breaks my heart that this happens in our great nation, but I believe we will see much more of this in the days to come. We must keep shining the light of Jesus to this lost and dying world. In His Love, Mary (ellie)

[apothanein kerdos]

We had a lady speak the other day that was a missionary to Iraq. Her husband, her, and three friends were driving to a missions site back in March when they were attacked by gunmen who knew they were missionaries. She recieved 20 bullets and survived...everyone else in the car died.

Compared to what most have faced world wide and through history, the struggle I've faced has been minimal. Verbal abuse at best but never physically abused.

[ellie]

We had a lady speak the other day that was a missionary to Iraq. Her husband, her, and three friends were driving to a missions site back in March when they were attacked by gunmen who knew they were missionaries. She recieved 20 bullets and survived...everyone else in the car died.

Compared to what most have faced world wide and through history, the struggle I've faced has been minimal. Verbal abuse at best but never physically abused.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How true Super Jew, how true. We should count our blessings daily. Thanks for the reminder. In His Love, ellie