Central Truth

Paul encourages the church in Thessalonica to endure in suffering. He urges them to give thanks because their suffering proves God is really at work among them, intending to make them fit for His kingdom.

Reflections

I have learned through many years of sharing my faith that I will encounter tribulations and persecutions. Why? I know in these persecutions that Christ is continually glorifying himself in me and making me more fit for His kingdom. God has shown me that Jesus is the king; He has a kingdom; and as an evangelist, I am called to expand His kingdom. 

I can remember being charged by my superior officers while on a military mission with 22 counts of sharing my faith in Christ, not dereliction of duty. They threatened to demote me if I did not stop witnessing about Christ. I read and signed these charges as true and then told my superior officers that they could not demote me in rank because it was God who had promoted me and only He had the power to demote me, not them, and I would continue to share my faith. Their only response was, “Well, why don’t you become a chaplain?”  (Little did I know that years later, I would become a chaplain!)

I continued to share my faith and they continued to punish me with extra duties until the Kosovo war started. Since qualified agents were in short supply, they had to let me go. During their persecution, I remember I didn’t get angry or resentful. I felt peace and comfort because I knew God was with me, and I was not going to stop doing what He called me to do! I had sold out to Christ 100 per cent when I became a believer, so I had no fear of anything God wanted to do in my life, even in life-and-death situations in the military. 

In the Balkans, I served as the anti-terrorism Officer-in-Charge and because my superiors were Christians, I was free to share my faith. I started an international praise band, and even led my Islamic interpreter to the Lord in the chapel where I preached. God has shown me that I can have complete trust in Him and in everything He wants to do in my life.

Discussion Questions

1. Why should we give thanks to God in our suffering?
2. How have you managed endurance in suffering for your faith? How have afflictions and suffering changed your life?
3. Why or why not do you consider that God is working for your eternal benefit when you endure afflictions and persecutions in order to be fit for the kingdom?
4. Why or why not do you think it only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you?