In the Midst of Persecution – Part 1

Michael asks this week; “What were the consequences for the men who signed the Declaration of Independence?”  Many of their sons were tortured and killed for having stood with their fathers against the tyranny of the king of England. Emerging through the crucible of the fire and the heat of the battle is the result of God's forging us to be a better man in service to our Heavenly Father. The deliverance is instantaneous. God changes hearts by hot-forging us in the moment we are malleable from the heat of the furnace.  We are transformed and conformed to His mold, struck while our raw material is heated white hot. God's heat treatment and hardening is sufficient unto deliverance from the evil of the day. When God seems the most distant, at that moment God is most present.  Through the suffering, God is closest in the time of battle, in the heat of the crucible of the testing and forging.

Jesus used Peter as an example of a man who learned how to walk in fellowship with his Heavenly Father. Impetuous Peter was an example of the raw material that God has to work within every man and woman. Peter was a product of his times:  a fisherman, a man seasoned in leading his crew, a hard working uneducated man. It took years for Jesus to build of this raw material, a man who would become a “fisher of men”. Where are you in your journey toward proximity to your master's heart?

1 Peter Chapter One is the introduction to Peter's epistle to the church of God that had been scattered due to persecution. The Persecution that started in Jerusalem and Rome scattered the Christians to distant lands. The burning of Rome had precipitated a crisis of confidence within the Roman Empire. The Emperor Nero had set the fire to burn down the city to build something that he though would be a lasting monument to his own ego. Nero needed a scapegoat for having burned down the city. He blamed the Christians, who became hated through out the empire. Peter's first epistle was written to encourage a persecuted church to bear up under their suffering and to stand up against the challenge of the affliction. Suffering produces brokenness and a contrite heart.  Only the Healer of broken hearts can reconcile the broken hearted to Himself ...  to bring back together that which has been separated. This world is not my home; I'm just a-passing through.  Our citizenship is in heaven. Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation" – Romans 1:16   Reconciliation to God through his Son Jesus Christ, emphasizes peace, companionship, brotherhood, and love.

Your brother in Christ, Michael