23/05/2026
SUFFERING is still part of God's Mission.
Today due to extreme prosperity gospel, many people have ended up with a narrative that Suffering/Persecution is ungodly, and is due to a person's unbelief, sin, generational curse, lack of faith among others which is heretical and unbiblical.
Its suffice to note that through Scripture, we see God using persecution as part of how the gospel spreads, as a way of purifying disciples and Christ being revealed to the World among others.
John 16:33 asserts that, " In the World you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the World". Jesus Christ Himself is promising us suffering. Its one of Jesus' Promises to the Church!
The Church should therefore not view persecution as a strange interruption of mission, but as something Christ foretold would accompany Faithful Witness.
Biblically, Persecution advances the spread of the gospel.
In Acts 8:1, " Saul was one of the official witness at the killing of Stephen. A great wave of Persecution began that day, sweeping over the Church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles fled into Judea and Samaria". Here comes the point in Acts 8:4, " But the believers who had fled Jerusalem went everywhere preaching the Good News about Jesus". Even in persecution, Jesus expects a believer grounded in the word and who understands his/her identity in Christ to share the gospel with others.
Persecution also is a testimony to the World! Not a punishment from God! The endurance of believers under suffering demonstrates the reality of the gospel.
In Philippians 1:12 Apostle Paul asserts that, " the things that happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel". Therefore no matter what a believer goes through , God uses that situation for the advancement of His Kingdom.
In a nutshell, Scripture never presents persecution to mean God has lost control. Rather, God works through it for His purposes. Romans 8:28.
