Fear Not Suffering

[Christsfreeservant]

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’” (Revelation 2:8-11 NASB1995)​

When we serve the Lord Jesus Christ with our lives, and we follow him wherever he leads us in doing all that he commands, and we walk with him in close fellowship with him, and we listen to him, and we hear him call us, and so we answer, “Here am I, Lord, send me,” we have to know this is not going to be easy. It is hard! It is good. It is rewarding. It is peace and joy, but it is hard because, if this is true of you, Satan will fight hard against you to try to destroy you in any which way that he can, or that he thinks he can.

And he will even use some people who profess faith in Jesus Christ to come against you, for they will be mostly people who have bought into Satan’s lies and who have been trained to reject people like you, i.e. “people with strong convictions” which are of the Spirit of God and of the teachings of the Scriptures, taught in their correct biblical context. They will be against you if you are teaching the gospel that Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught, for so many have now altered the gospel to make it less offensive.

And you will be charged with being negative, and of being a teacher of “works salvation” of or being legalistic for teaching what Jesus taught. And other people will be warned about you, to avoid someone like you, because you don’t teach the modern day altered version of the gospel which is created in the minds of human beings who do not want to offend the ungodly and human flesh with the truth, but who want to feed them lies, instead, to make them feel good, and/or to make themselves feel good.

But do not fear what you are going to suffer if you stand on the truth of God’s Word, and if you don’t cave to the pressure to compromise the truth of the gospel, to make it more palatable to human flesh. Don’t be afraid of being hated, rejected, and cast aside as unwanted, like you have the plague or some terrible communicable disease others don’t want to catch. Don’t worry if friends, neighbors, family, and/or church people snub you or distance themselves from you and are critical of you for your stand on truth.

Don’t allow the fear of other humans and of what they might think of you, or might be saying about you, to keep you from obeying the Lord Jesus in being his servant and witness for the gospel of Christ. Put Christ first, and then the salvation of human lives, both above your own self and what may happen to you as a result of your dedication to the Lord and to his service and to his gospel truth. Be willing to die with people thinking evil of you, if that is what it takes to get the truth of the gospel to the people of the world.

Just be faithful to the Lord, and trust him with the results. For God is good!

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]

The Prayer

Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,
Alberto Testa and Tony Renis

I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know

I pray we'll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When the stars go out each night
Remind us where you are.

Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.

Caution: This link may contain ads

Fear Not Suffering
An Original Work / August 14, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love