A Sudanese Christian boy has his knees and feet nailed to a board and he is left to die. When rescued he says he forgives the man who did this because Jesus was also nailed and forgave him. A Vietnamese pastor is sentenced to two years in prison. When he is offered an early release, he declines stating that he has a group of new Believers in the prison he has to disciple. A Colombian missionary is kidnapped and told she only has two hours to live. She tells her captors that if she only has two hours to live, she wants to spend it telling them about Jesus.

When I compare myself to these people, I don’t really know much about perseverance.

In my quiet time recently, I came across a challenging verse:

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God (2 Timothy 1:8 NKJV).

Talk about perseverance!

To many of us that sounds almost contradictory. If we are suffering, we might think that God is not paying attention in our time of need. This verse, however, describes suffering "according to the power of God."

In a Bible study we are doing at our church, we focused recently upon a verse Paul sent to the believers in Colossae:

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church (Colossians 1:24).

The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur What did Jesus mean when he said, "Follow me"? In this 20th anniversary edition of his classic work, MacArthur warns against "easy believism," explains his understanding of biblical faith and works, emphasizes the cost of discipleship, and ...

Mike is a pastor and writer for a number of online publications.

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