FRIDAY, JANUARY 22
Scripture: Revelation 6:9-11

God DID deliver Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego from the fiery furnace, and in the process, began to turn the heart of the most powerful earthly ruler of the age. But does God always deliver people so spectacularly? The testimony of the martyrs in Revelation gives us a big hint that God does not always deliver. The suffering and death experienced by Christians in speaking the truth of their faith was seed for the Gospel, as the early church father Tertullian wrote in his Apologeticus. When we face struggles like the pain of a prodigal son or daughter, a hostile homeowners association, or even people in church who are judgmental toward suffering and perhaps blind to the truth, we must remember that God’s grace for us will not necessarily involve a direct intervention, but instead may be the strength or the patience to endure the hardship or the consequences that come from taking a stand for our faith. That faith-stand may be in the face of angry protestors or perhaps in the face of people we know well and love! An important application of our faith in the end-times is to faithfully and consistently use our faith on our flesh to obey God.