A witness from God can be relied upon. As you read our thoughts, beliefs, and experiences, we invite you to obtain a witness for yourself. If something we say or imply does not ring true, then you should feel no obligation to accept it. Life is an individual and unique journey with God. Although we can help and encourage each other, we need to be careful not to come between God and another person.

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Blessed are Ye When Men Shall Revile You and Persecute

What a strange phenomenon. Try wrapping your head around this one.

“And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake; For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.” 3 Nephi 3:10-12 

Does Christ really take away the pain, when we are reviled for Him, and replace it with joy?  This is exciting. You mean the blessing isn’t just a future incident?  Sounds like it's a lot of fun working for God. While men are saying all manner of evil against you falsely, you actually, in the moment, feel glad instead of sad?  If your enemies only knew! 

Alma and his fellow missionaries experienced this weird and wonderful occurrence. “And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith.” Alma 31:38

If you think that's amazing, look what the scriptures say about death. “And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them.” D&C 42:46

Well, if that's how it feels to be reviled, persecuted, and killed for Christ’s sake, I’ll sign up to do it every time.

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