Luke 21:12-13 KJV

But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony.

DAILY READING – Acts 20:1-16; Judges 13; Job 41

Elimination of religion was  a key part of the ideology of the Communist party in Bulgaria. Their ideology included removal of religion and the introduction of atheism as an ideological objective. The Communist regime prohibited public display of religious beliefs and regularly confiscated religious property and harassed believers, with some priests killed in the process.

In 1985 Pastor Christo Kulichev,  an evangelical pastor  in Bulgaria became a marked man by the Communist party in Bulgaria for his outspoken faith and preaching. On January 9, 1985 he was arrested, tried, and imprisoned for his disobedience to the Communist regime. His crime was that he preached in his church when the state had appointed another man to preach in his place. His trial was a mockery of justice. He was sentenced to eight months imprisonment. During his time in prison he made Christ known every way he could. When he finally got out of prison, he wrote, “Both prisoners and jailers asked many questions, and it turned out that we had a more fruitful ministry there than we could have expected in church. God was better served by our presence in prison than if we had been free.”

Though it seemed the communist government  were restricting him, they only ended up helping to expand his ministry while in the prison. Sometimes what may appear as tribulation in your life may be God expanding the scope of your mission. In Acts 8, when the apostles were scattered they went about preaching the Gospel to many cities.

When you are a child of God things don’t happen to you anyhow, there is a reason behind every season of life. Your life is following a divine script.  When Joseph’s brothers sold him into a foreign land, it seemed like the end of the road.  But rather they had only sent him to the place of destiny.  Sometimes God can use your enemies to scatter you from the familiar only to bring you to the place of destiny. Change is often not comfortable. Leaving behind the familiar and venturing into the unknown can even be scary. But in the case of Moses, Joseph, Esther, Daniel, David, it seemed none of them could come into their destined place until they had first been displaced from their comfort zone.

In Isaiah 66:19 God said ‘and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations.., to the isles afar that have not heard My Name, neither have seen My Glory, and they shall declare My Glory among the gentiles’.

Therefore whatever we go through, we must realize the purpose is ultimately to manifest and declare God’s glory. Even when you face trials and tribulations, it is all for the purpose of manifesting His Glory. God said in Isaiah 43;7  ‘Even everyone that is called by My Name, for I have created him for My Glory’.

We are created and prepared for the purpose of manifesting God’s Glory.  Everything that is being done in our lives is for the purpose of declaring His Glory.

Isaiah chapter 60 lets us know that despite the gross darkness in the world, the glory of The Lord shall rise upon us and the gentiles shall come to the brightness of our rising. Therefore, no matter how dark situations may sometimes look, understand that it will surely end in praise, this is because you are destined to be a vessel for the revelation of God’s glory. This is why in everything we give God thanks, everywhere we go we proclaim His Name. Indeed in every situation we face, God is at work to cause all things to work together for our good. We trust Him in all things knowing that He that has begun this good work in us is able to bring it to perfection.  And it is only when we have been pruned, purged and prepared that we can be vessels of honor fit for the master’s use.  Job 23;10 says ‘But He  knoweth the way that I take, when He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold’.

Indeed you are coming forth as gold. what the enemy meant for evil, God shall turn it all around for you. Though the enemy may think he is persecuting you now, you will only end up being multiplied. What looks like tribulation right now is working out for your good, and The Lord shall be glorified through your testimony.

PRAYER: Lord, please give me  the grace to see beyond the present and see Your will being done in my life. Whatever situation I may face, please give me the wisdom to discern your voice as You guide me to my place of destiny..

quote :

The test you are going through in life today is not for your destruction, it is for your testimony. – WORDBITE 222.