Growth in the Church despite or because of persecution Acts 21.
Paul and his companions reached Caesarea and stayed in the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, with the four unmarried daughters who prophesied. After they’d been there some days, a prophet Agabus came from Judea. He took Paul’s belt and tied his own hands and feet and said the Jews of Jerusalem(where Paul was headed) will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles(Rome). Paul kept his course and headed to Jerusalem, though Acts is full of warnings from the Holy Spirit about persecution and hardships awaiting him. Eventually the enemy did put Paul in chains, but as he himself said, “the Gospel was not in chains”.
I recently watched a film on godreports.com
It was produced by Frontiers Alliance International(FAI), which supports ‘disciple making’ teams targeting areas within the 10/40 window. The documentary is called, ‘Sheep among wolves’ and tells the story of the growth of the Church in Iran. Researchers say it is now the fastest growing church in the world. The caption is;
Fastest growing church has no buildings, no central leadership and is mostly led by women.
They face huge persecution if caught and yet the church is growing rapidly. Some striking comments are, ‘everything is done by prayer’, the Spirit leads them to people of peace and places of peace to share. Often He has gone before them and the people have had dreams of the Lord. They make disciples(Disciple Making Movement DDM) not converts. They say converts run away from persecution but disciples are willing to die for their Lord. The church also loves and prays for Israel, very unusual in the Middle East, can only be the work of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, an Iranian couple had a chance to move to the US (any western country) but after they’d been there some time the wife told her husband that she wanted to go back to Iran.
“There is a satanic lullaby here. All the Christians are sleepy and I’m feeling sleepy”. She was discerning a greater threat to her faith than the persecution in Iran. The film makers state that in Revelation the only church the Lord didn’t criticise was a persecuted church. They believe that what is happening in Iran today will become much more prevalent in the body during the times ahead.
May the Lord wake us up to the times we live in and give us hearts to go with Him through all problems and obstacles.
God bless and keep you.