In the Book of Revelation, Jesus released seven letters to seven churches in the province of Asia. This revelation was given to John late in life, probably around 96 A.D. By then many churches established by the apostles and other evangelists were several decades old. The first generation of believers was giving way to a second generation. The passion and commitment of the first generation was giving way to a generation that had not seen Jesus in the flesh. Out of the seven churches, two were totally affirmed because of their faithfulness in the midst of persecution while five others were admonished in some way.

Although, these letters were written to churches, the affirmations and admonitions could be given to individuals as well. It is always a good thing to “run a quick diagnostic” on ourselves to see how we are doing in the eyes of the Lord. So, in the next few blogs lets use these letters as a quick-check for our spiritual lives.

Two churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, were in the midst of persecution. Jesus praised both of them for having patiently endured and for having kept his word. He promised victory to both of them if they would continue to endure a little longer. The flavor of the letters suggests that these were small communities of believers that did not have much wealth or influence, yet they had endured and stayed true to the faith.

Endurance is a spiritual quality that is frequently spoken of in scripture. In America, we have not experienced much direct persecution from government or other religions on the basis of our faith (although we may be on the brink of considerable persecution), but we all have experienced persecution that comes from Satan.

Many believers don’t recognize the persecution of the enemy that works through individuals in our lives (family and co-workers). Satan prompts these individuals to accuse, attack, reject, gossip, and slander us. That persecution is real and affects us spiritually. Think about how it wears you down and wounds you. Think about how it has caused you to doubt God’s promises when you have cried out to him about these relational injustices. Think about how it has caused you to doubt yourself. The persecution is real.

Endurance and a continuing faith in the promises of God is what Jesus is looking for. James declares, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (Ja.1:2-4).

As believers, there will be times when we have to endure injustice, discrimination, and persecution with no quick fix. Endurance perfects our spirits. If our trials were resolved quickly, there would be no need for endurance and patience. I talk to many believers whose faith is fragile because they have been in a relational battle for months or years. They feel as if God is not hearing their prayers because the battle has not gone away. Yet the greatest heroes of the faith had to endure – exile, prison, deserts, persecution, slander, etc.

The message of Revelation is, “Hold on a little longer. Do not waiver. Your victory is in the pipeline.” These victories typically come just when we are on the brink of totally giving up because we have exhausted all of our strategies. It is then that we truly surrender the problem to God and it is then that victory often comes. Sometimes the victory is not a change in our tormentor but is a change in our own hearts that allows us to view the tormentor with different eyes and face the assaults with a different heart.

How are we doing on endurance? Have we allowed the enemy to wear us down and undermine our certainty in the promises of God? Go back a reaffirm the promises of God in your heart. Determine to simply be obedient to God, regardless of what others may do. Wait on the Lord and be known in heaven as one who would not give in.   Wait on the Lord and be known in heaven as one who won the applause of Jesus. Blessings and endurance in every hardship today.

More from Revelation on Wednesday.

Have you ever been disappointed or felt betrayed by God? Those feelings typically arrive when we feel that God let us down in some way or didn’t give us the desires of our heart. I’ve known a lot of people who were angry with God. I recall one man in particular that I worked with when I was a new believer in my college days. I rode in a company truck for two hours with him every day and each day I tried to share my faith in some way. One day he stopped me and said that he didn’t want me to talk about “the God stuff” anymore. He went on to explain that he had once been a strong believer and very involved in his church. But one day he had come home from work early only to find his best friend in bed with his wife. He said, “I decided right then that if that was how God was going to treat me after the way I had been serving him, I didn’t want any part of him.” I don’t know if he and his heavenly Father ever reconciled.

In his short book, Hiddenness & Manifestation, Graham Cooke speaks about the phenomenon of unmet expectations in our relationship with God. He says, “…if we’re honest, we sometimes have a perception of how God should be, how things should work, and what He should be doing. When things don’t happen the way we expect, we live with a sense of disappointment that maybe God has in someway let us down. The disciples said to one another, ‘We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.’ They had this expectation of God which he had no intention of fulfilling at the time. I wonder how many of us are living with an expectation of God which He has no desire or intention to fulfill in our life, because our expectation is flawed? Often our hopes and expectations about God are built on very shaky thinking and need to be pulled down” (p.27-28).

The Jews had a set of expectations regarding their Messiah that Jesus didn’t meet. They expected him to come as a statesman and a warrior to deliver them from Roman oppression. However, Jesus seemed to skirt politics and he told his followers to put up their swords rather than to raise an insurrection. The Jewish leaders expected the Messiah to come to them with praise for the way they had maintained traditions and kept the Law. I’m certain they expected to have seats of honor around him as he established his kingdom on earth. Jesus, however, had little to do with the Jewish leaders and little regard for them. Most of his encounters with them led to scolding them for their hypocrisy rather than praising them for their religious fervor. They expected Messiah to be born into an aristocratic family of the Jews and attend the finest rabbinical schools. However, Jesus was raised in the backwater town of Nazareth and attended only the local synagogue school. Jesus did not meet their expectations of Messiah so they killed him and, in a sense, missed God altogether.

My co-worker from years past expected God to override his wife’s and his best friend’s free will and to guarantee him a happy wife and happy life because he taught Sunday school and coached church softball. Others I have known felt betrayed by God when a loved one died or when a marriage ended in divorce as if God had contracted to keep us from all hardship if we were followers of Jesus. I believe that one of Satan’s great strategies is to establish unbiblical expectations about God in our minds so that sooner or later we will be disappointed and blame God for welching on a promise he never made.

If you were to sift back through the New Testament you would find that Jesus never promised smooth sledding but, instead, he assured us that in this world we will have trouble. He never promised “the good life” as the world defines it, but tells us clearly that in this world we will be persecuted because if we love Jesus the world will hate us.

God does not promise us a trouble free life. What he does promise is that he will be with us in all of our troubles. He does not promise a pain free life but does promise healing from the pain. On the other hand, He does promise to fulfill the desires of our hearts but some believers approach that promise as if God were a genie in a bottle doing their bidding. We need to understand that he fulfills the desires in our hearts when those desires are aligned with his heart.

An inaccurate expectation of how God works in our lives has caused many to miss the Father just as the Jews missed Messiah. If we find ourselves disappointed or angry with God, it might be good to examine the source of our anger and to make sure that we are not holding Gold responsible for something he never promised. It’s also good to get alone with God and air out your thoughts and feelings. Shout a little. Pace back and forth. Talk to God about your frustrations and ask him for a revelation that will help you understand what has happened in your life and how you can find his love in the midst of your pain. You will find that he is faithful and that he can be counted on to keep his word.

Expectations are important but if you have felt disappointment with God or are angry with Him,check your expectations. See if they are biblical as you consider the whole counsel of God rather than just one verse. But more than that, have it out with Him if you must. He can handle it and in the end, all He wants is for you know Him better and to trust Him again.

I’m rereading Dutch Sheets book, Intercessory Prayer (everyone should read it), and have been reminded of some critically important principles about which we can become careless to our detriment. Let me quote from him.

“Many Christians believe that protection from accidents, destruction, satanic traps, and assaults, etc. is automatic for the Christian – that we do nothing to cause it – that it is based on the sovereignty of God alone. In other words, when God wants to protect us from these things, He does; when he chooses not to he allows them to happen. This belief simply means that whether or not we are delivered from destructive things is based entirely on God, not us….Whether or not God directly controls every event in the life of a Christian can be answered by stating that the basic laws of sowing and reaping, cause and effect, individual responsibility and the free will aren’t negated when we come to Christ. All promises from God are attached to conditions – governing principles. Most, if not all, of these conditions involve responsibility on our part. Protection is no exception” (p.81-82).

I would add to Sheets’ thoughts the admonition from James that “we have not because we ask not.” In addition, Jesus taught us to pray, “and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” In other words, we need to ask God daily for protection from the enemy – not only for ourselves but our families, friends and spiritual leaders as well. Satan is not indifferent toward us. He plans, schemes, and lays traps for God’s people. Because of that God counsels us to put on his armor, to be alert, and to pray in the Spirit at all times (see Eph.6:18).

I’m reminding you and myself that we have been instructed to pray for protection and for the wisdom to detect the schemes and traps of the devil. We have been given authority over the enemy but we must exercise that authority in our prayers and other settings for that authority to do us any good.

We are living in a season of heightened demonic activity. Inevitably, what we see going on in the natural realm is a reflection of activity in the spiritual realm because our primary struggle is not against flesh and blood. Across the globe there is unprecedented persecution against Christians. Hatred against Israel is on the rise again. Even in America there is clearly a war being waged against Christianity and biblical truth. When a nation’s leaders legislate to remove the name of God and the commandments of God from the public realm, when they deny that Jesus is the only way to the Father, when they call evil good and call good evil then they release the demonic over a nation.

School shootings, child trafficking, beheadings in Oklahoma, domestic violence, murder, rape, natural disasters, and the rise of Isis with crosshairs on America are not primarily political, social, or environmental in nature. They are primarily actions and conditions prompted by spiritual forces. Weapons or strategies of the world cannot resolve those forces and influences but only God’s divine weapons (see 2 Cor. 10:4) can overcome them. As we pray for solutions to these huge issues in the world we must not forget to pray daily for the protection of the Lord because the enemy has been released in our nation.

The psalmist declares that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear the Lord and promises protection as we dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. But that protection comes when we are obedient to the Lord and when we consistently and persistently intercede for ourselves and others asking God to keep the evil one from us and to build walls of protection around us. Pray for protection from the enemy, from his snares, from wicked men, from disease, and from poverty. Pray and pray everyday. It is God’s will and his counsel.

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. (Rev. 3:7-11)

The church at Philadelphia receives no rebuke from the Lord but only a commendation and a promise. When we are aligned with the Father’s heart we can expect the same. Let’s look to see what they did have. First of all, this church was faithful. Apparently it was not a large church full of resources and influence but it was a church that had continued to serve Jesus with good deeds, they have kept his word and been obedient to his commands, and had not denied his name even in the face of Jewish opposition or criticism. They had endured patiently and that fact caught the Lord’s attention in a big way.

Endurance and patience are spiritual qualities of the mature. It is easy to stay passionate and faithful when everything is going your way. When churches are growing and God is prospering his people the kingdom looks bright. When persecution is a short-lived event then people shake it off like a bad storm and move on feeling triumphant because they survived. The hard thing in the kingdom of God is grinding out a life of faith when the persecution keeps coming and you are not seeing massive breakthroughs. It is easy for discouragement to set in when God hasn’t answered the prayer or brought the solution as quickly as you thought he would. It’s even tougher if you see other churches or other believers prospering and having quick victories in their lives while you continue to slog it out.

The praise and the promise for Philadelphia came because they had continued to do what they could with little strength or power even in the face of constant discouragement. They were faithful and had endured. Because of that Jesus, determined to open a door for them that no man could close. Because they had endured long he was giving them success that would last long time…an open door for evangelism, ministry, or blessing. Not only that but he was going to protect them from trials that others would soon face because they had already faced their trials. In addition, he would cause those who had persecuted them to come and acknowledge that these believers were true children of God.

The principle in this is that those who must wait another season before prayers are answered are given a greater blessing if they endure the season with faith. The question of Job is whether God is worthy of our worship and service regardless of our circumstances or only if we always get what we want. Job answered that he was always worthy and because of that he was blessed more in the end than in the beginning.

Some believers wait for healing, others wait for pregnancy, others wait to be release from re-education camps in China, others wait for a child to come home. If they wait in faith and continue to serve and obey God will surely honor that faith when some kind of open door that no man will be able to shut. God declares, “Those who honor me, I will honor” (1 Sam.2:30). Patient endurance and faithfulness honors God. Be sure, he will honor you as he honored those in Philadelphia. Be blessed.

To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. (Rev. 2:8-11)

In the book of Revelation, Jesus delivers words of warning and encouragement to seven churches in the province of Asia. The second church is the church of Smyrna. This church existed in a wealthy city with a large Jewish population and yet the church is characterized by afflictions and poverty. The sense we get from the letter is that they were suffering persecution that was provoked by Jewish leaders in much the same way that Jesus was persecuted.

If we do the things that Jesus did, it is inevitable that we will also be slandered and persecuted in some way. Some of that slander and rejection will come from religious people. Just a few months ago, a prominent west coast preacher and author published a book that was an impassioned attack on all those who claim that God still does miracles through his people and that God still speaks in any way other than through the Bible. Although God is doing amazing things all over the globe there are many who will still declare that any such activity is a lie, a deception, or from the devil. If you walk in the power of the Spirit you will probably hear some of that from your own family members, from friends, or from your church or former church.

In the face of that slander or rejection you will be tempted to go underground with your faith and your prayers and to display your faith in Jesus and the power of his Spirit only in the presence of those who believe as you do. And yet, the power of the Spirit is to be displayed before unbelievers so that they might believe and so that they can experience the goodness of God which calls them into the kingdom.

The church in Smyrna had it right. Jesus said that though they were poor and afflicted by worldly standards, they were actually rich. The church in that Roman city was laying up treasure in heaven through faith and persistence in doing what God was calling them to do – regardless of the cost. The people that I know who walk most powerfully in the Spirit are those who do what the Spirit prompts them to do regardless of the cost or the risk. That mindset is alignment with Jesus because Jesus did exactly the same thing.

In this short statement to the church at Smyrna, Jesus simply told them that a season of persecution was coming and that they must remain faithful in the face of that persecution. Christianity is statistically the most persecuted faith on the planet. Even in America there is a war on Christianity. If we are to stay aligned with the Father, we must simply accept the fact that if we follow Jesus the world will reject us because it rejected him. We do not have to enjoy the fact but we must accept the fact as part of the cost of following Jesus.

On the other hand, when you walk in the power of the Spirit you will also be loved by many. Those individuals whose lives God touches through you will love you. Those who share your faith will love you. More importantly, God himself will delight in you. But others will not because they do not know God as they should or at all. If you read Chapters 8 and 9 of the gospel of John you will see what Jesus has to say about that.

In his letter to Smyrna, we discover that true alignment with the Father requires the acceptance of some level of persecution and rejection in our lives and the willingness to do the works of the Father regardless. As we become willing to endure that realty from time to time, the power of the Spirit will increase in our lives. For many of us that is a bitter pill to swallow because our greatest desire is to be loved and accepted by every person in our lives. There is nothing wrong with the desire to be loved but we must love Jesus more than any other. To do so will require experiencing the disapproval of those who do not love him or know him as they should. It is how you become rich in heaven and it is one of the qualities that invites a greater measure of the Spirit into our lives which is true wealth even in this world.