STAYING FAITHFUL IN SEASONS OF TESTING
When Jesus was arrested his followers went from following the Son of God to following a common criminal within a couple hours. The disciples response to scatter in fear was evident of this truth of losing their dynamic leader.
We can see where doubt could have crept in and how they would have started to question how he could die if he really was the Son of God. In their state of fear the only thing they knew to do was to run and hide. They ran and hid trying to figure out what to do next. But while they were hiding something happened, something changed. After three days Jesus showed up in his resurrected body and showed himself to the women and the disciples. The bible says that all of them doubted not just Thomas as most like to keep it. Through seeing Jesus and being filled with the holy spirit on pentecost the once scared disciples became fearless men.
The evangelization and fate of Christianity rested on these men and they were scared up to the point of seeing the resurrected Jesus. For forty days Jesus sat and taught them and from those interactions they were convinced he was God, and from then on nothing could stop them.
The lesson to learn in all of this is that until we see Jesus and have the living revelation that He is who he says He is we cannot go forth in boldness in being the light we need to be in the world.
WE HAVE TO BE CONVINCED THAT JESUS WAS WHO HE SAID HE WAS!
In our spheres of influence we are called to carry the same mission as the disciples in spreading the fame of Jesus. Nothing in us can be afraid of being associated with him. When things look bad and times are tough and struggles are a reality, we don’t give up on Jesus. We are called to be faithful witnesses even in our weaknesses.
Jesus does not want our struggles to overcome us, we should not turn tail and run but stand strong and fearless because we have seen the risen King and He has given us His full allegiance. Our struggles give us an opportunity to glorify God and help others through the same things.
Millions have gone before all of us and decided to serve Christ not matter the Cost. The apostle Peter was so scared that he denied Jesus three times. But through Jesus restoring Him and being filled with the holy spirit on pentecost we see a different peter who preaches to a multitude and 3000 people give their life to following Jesus. Just like Peter we are all invited to this life transformation from fear and shame to a life of boldness where we can be witnesses of the risen Christ leading many to repentance.