Persecution From Religious Leaders

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The religious leaders who should have known God’s Word the best were the ones who wanted Jeremiah killed for speaking God’s Word boldly. 

     The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. Yet when Jeremiah finished speaking everything that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!” … Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city, just as you have heard with your own ears!” (Jeremiah 26:7-8, 11) 

They did this to Jesus. The religious leaders shouted louder and louder, “Crucify Him!” 

They will do this to me. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). And He said, “Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On My account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:17-18). 

When—not if—this persecution comes, I want to be able to stand before the religious and civil leaders of my time and be able to hear what Jesus heard from Pontius Pilate: “I find no basis for a charge against this Man” (John 18:38; 19:4, 6). 

Holy Spirit, help me to speak only what You tell me to speak and do only what You tell me to do (Matthew 10:19-20). Help me to respond quickly to any wrong thinking, speaking, or action that You point out so that I may just as quickly repent of that. I want my life to point others to Jesus, even as I face persecution. 

(I discuss the persecution flowchart above in more detail in this post.) 

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Links & Quotes

Leaders should be able to use mistakes as growth opportunities. Check out these wise words from the book Spiritual Leadership.

I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

T.M. Moore encourages Christian to be ready to help their neighbors answer their burning questions: “Christians, Charles Taylor insists, must not be guilty of crushing human flourishing by a too-small vision of God and an unloving or unenergetic approach to our neighbors. Instead, we must study and prepare to ‘respond most profoundly and convincingly to what are ultimately commonly felt dilemmas.’ We must be ready to guide our neighbors out of the dark woods of wrong belief into the radiant meadows of the Sun of Righteousness, risen with healing in His wings. But to do this, we must be ready guides. We must anticipate the questions our groping neighbors will ask and prepare to answer them clearly and intelligently (1 Peter 3:15).”

True strength and courage only come to the one who thinks God’s thoughts and does God’s deeds (see Joshua 1:7). The strong and courageous leader is never self-made, but unshakably God-dependent. 

On the latest Craig and Greg Show podcast, this the quote from Andy Murray that I shared: “A great team begins to happen when you have the right people on the bus in the right seats and the bus breaks down…. They work through the crisis, they get back on the bus, they’re sweating and tired. All of the sudden something magical happens: They begin to talk to each other. Culture happens through crisis. Unfortunately, many team environments have structured the crisis out.”

Mabel Dean went to Egypt at 40 years old and stayed there for nearly 40 years without taking a single furlough! “All of Dean’s life, people did not expect her to amount to much. Despite what others said, Dean believed that she had a mandate from God for missions work in Africa. She later stated, ‘I was the only homely one in my family. Yet I was the one that He chose for His work.’”

One of the prayers in the Songs of Ascent calls us to mature (or ascend) in our prayers for those who have hurt us.

“There is always a better way of doing things, and either you or your competitor will find it.” —Brad Anderson

On The Watch

In the morning, Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will present my prayer to You and be on the watch. (Psalm 5:3) 

The phrase “be on the watch” is just one word in Hebrew. It means to lean forward, to peer into the distance, to be the best of watchmen trying to see something the moment it appears on the horizon. 

This is the posture David encourages us to take with each and every prayer request we present to our Heavenly Father. Our attitude should be, “I am so excited to see how God is going to answer me!”

  • “wait expectantly” (NIV) 
  • “look up” (NKJV)
  • “wait for You to speak to my heart” (AMPC) 

I shared a video on this idea on an episode of The Podcast—Faith Starts Walking. 

I also like these insights from Charles Spurgeon on this psalm—Prayer Preparation and Prayer Expectation.

Links & Quotes

This is the intro to an exclusive video for my Patreon supporters. Your support would be so helpful and you will get some cool stuff too!

I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

I’m proud to be a part of the Assembly of God fellowship that has its roots in missions. Alice Luce is a great example of a missions pioneer whose work in the 1920s is still bearing fruit today. 

“Our nation’s founding document declared independence from Britain, but, with equal fervor, declared dependence upon God. Expressing ‘firm reliance on the Protection of divine Providence,’ the signers committed the American experiment to their Maker. The Spirit of 1776 was reverence and trust. So, as we mark this solemn occasion, let us seek a rebirth of true liberty, which is possible only when governed by divine law. For, without God, we can never have ‘liberty and justice for all.’” —Chuck Colson

“It is impossible to describe the abundance of peace and heavenly joy that often flows into my soul by means of the fresh answers which I have obtained from God, after waiting upon him for help and blessing; and the longer I have had to wait upon him, or the greater my need, the greater the enjoyment when at last the answer comes, which has often been in a very remarkable way, in order to make the hand of God the more manifest.” —George Mueller 

The Institute for Creation Research reports on a study: “Physicists at Roskilde University in Denmark have shown that a single equation correctly describes the frequency of wing and fin strokes for a wide array of flying and swimming creatures, including birds, insects, bats, and whales.” Wow, it’s almost as if an all-wise Creator knew what He was doing!

T.M. Moore uses the understanding of wireless internet access to help Christians with a picture of prayer. “When we bend our increasingly Christ-filled minds, hearts, and consciences to the spiritual code-writing of prayer, we craft messages which shape the spiritual air as they course their way toward the Source of all living-water spiritual power, Who is filling all things with Himself. The more we pray with Christ-overflowing souls, the more we flood the spiritual airspace with the Lord, crowding out and sidelining those forces of wickedness which seek to jam those airwaves or fill them with spiritual disinformation. And the less spiritual ‘airspace’ the devil can command, the better for all of us.” —T.M. Moore 

God’s Strong Support

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, for that reason the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, He handed them over to you. For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will have wars.” (2 Chronicles 16:7-9) 

Asa had trusted God to help him against a much more formidable army (see 2 Chronicles 14:9-15), but he now tries to deal with Baasha on his own. One of the lies the devil gets us to believe goes like this, “Don’t trouble God with the little stuff. After all, God helps those who help themselves.” 

The truth is, God helps those who admit that they cannot help themselves. 

God is called our ever-present help—He wants us to turn to Him as our first response in every situation. 

I talk more about King Asa in one of my godly leadership posts called Finishing Well is Better. And you may also be interested in a related post Does Self-Help Get God’s Help?

Pray For Them?!

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

How exactly should we pray for those who have so badly mistreated us? There’s a natural response, and then there’s a supernatural response that Jesus calls us to.

Check out this episode of The Podcast.

In chapter 14 of When Sheep Bite I wrote—

      In the New Testament, the Greek word for “bless” is eulogeo. The prefix eu- means “good” and the root logos is “word.” So, in the New Testament context in which we now live, to bless someone literally means to say good words both to them and about them. So when Jesus tells us, “Bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you,” He is telling us to say good words to them, and to say good words about them in prayer to our Heavenly Father. …

      Commenting on Psalm 109:4, my friend Kevin Berry said, “While they accuse me like satan, I will pray for them like Jesus.” This is the highest level of Christian maturity: To pray like Jesus did for those who insulted Him, slandered Him, and crucified Him, “Father, forgive them for they don’t understand what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

The Scriptures that I reference on this episode of The Podcast are Matthew 5:44; Psalm 109:4; Revelation 12:10; John 10:10; Luke 23:34; Psalm 139:23-24; Romans 12:18-21.

And the blog posts I mention are: Unexpected Response and Choice Four-Letter Words.

I truly believe that When Sheep Bite will be a healing resource for shepherd leaders who are still feeling the pain of their latest sheep bite. Please pick up a copy today! 

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A Prayer List For Government Officials

In the New Testament, we are told to pray for those in leadership positions: “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:1-2). 

Here in Psalm 72, we find a good source to form our petitions for our leaders:

🙏🏻 Give Your judgment to our leaders

🙏🏻 May our leaders follow Your righteousness

🙏🏻 May our leaders rely on Your righteousness to make laws and judgments that honor You

🙏🏻 May our leaders exercise godly justice for those in need

You may also want to check out:

Faith Starts Walking

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Sometimes the way that we show our faith in Jesus is that we hit the road! Check out this important lesson in faith from a loving father.

Check out this episode of The Podcast.

This story of the faith-filled father is found in John 4:46-53, and the prayer that I shared from King David is in Psalm 5:3.

I wrote more about this prayer of David in Prayer Preparation and Prayer Expectation. And I wrote about another man’s faith-filled walking in When Your Walking is Your Praying.

Here are a bunch of ways to get in touch with me and follow along with other projects on which I am involved.

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Praying For The “So Thats”

“God, do not remain quiet; do not be silent and, God, do not be still. For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, and those who hate You have exalted themselves. They make shrewd plans against Your people, and conspire together against Your treasured ones. They have said, “Come, and let’s wipe them out as a nation, so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered.” … Fill their faces with dishonor, so that they will seek Your name, Lord. May they be ashamed and dismayed forever, and may they be humiliated and perish, so that they will know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:1-4, 16-18 NASB2020)

Even God’s punishment on the enemies of His people has a redemptive purpose: “So that they will seek Your name … So that they will know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.” 

This is why we are to leave judgment in His capable hands. We humans are prone to desire the complete and immediate elimination of all our enemies, but our loving God knows how to dispense punishment in perfect proportion so that evildoers may recognize their sin and repent. 

Yes, we should pray as this psalmist’s Holy Spirit-inspired words direct us. Pray for protection for God’s people, pray for punishment for God’s enemies, but also pray that all of this brings about the “so thats” that will lead these enemies of God to accept His forgiveness that Jesus paid for on the Cross.

Links & Quotes

Shepherd leaders do know the voice of their sheep, and the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. Leaders, this is the value of regularly being around all the people on your team. Check out this full conversation Greg and I had on our leadership podcast. This idea is central to my book Shepherd Leadership.

I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

Alice Reynolds Flower (1890-1991), the wife of [Assembly of God] pioneer J. Roswell Flower, is a shining example of motherhood. Affectionately known as ‘Mother Flower,’ she preached, taught Sunday School, led prayer meetings, wrote articles, penned poetry, authored books, and lived a godly example in front of her six children and everyone she came in contact with. As Mother’s Day approaches, it is good to consider an article that Mother Flower wrote for the Pentecostal Evangel in May 1952.” Check out Alice Flowers’ article here.

Kenneth Blanchard discusses when it is and isn’t a good time for a leader to be a micromanager. He concludes this insightful post by saying, “The best leaders know how to continually adjust their leadership style to fit each situation, helping to develop individuals who will ultimately achieve each goal and perform well on each task with little direction or support.”

“The pre-Flood world had some truly massive dinosaurs, and the largest of them were in the group Sauropodomorpha. Within this group were titanosaurs, which include the gigantic Argentinosaurus that is estimated to have weighed over 100 tons.” Read more about titanosaurs here.

What is it about morality that points humans higher and higher to find the Source? J. Warner Wallace, in this video based on his book God’s Crime Scene, makes the case that objective, transcendent morality is good proof for God. This reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ similar argument: “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such a violent reaction against it?”

Pastors, listen to this call to revival from the pen of Jonathan Edwards. Let us seek in prayer for a revival in our day! “The Scripture gives us great reason to think, that when once there comes to appear much of a spirit of prayer in the church of God for this mercy, then it will soon be accomplished…Spiritual waters and rivers are explained by the apostle John, to be the Holy Spirit…It is now a time of scarcity of these spiritual waters; there are, as it were, none. If God’s people, in this time of great drought, were but made sensitive of this calamity, and their own emptiness and necessity, and brought earnestly to thirst and cry for needed supplies, God would, doubtless, soon fulfill this blessed promise.”