Never once in the Bible were we ever told to cower - flee fornication, yes - but in each story and parable Jesus told, and in the histories of the Bible and the early church, it was the just who stood strong against all oppression, even unto death. How can this be?
For we are mortal, and to all who do not believe, death is the end - be it conscious eternal darkness or the simple 'off' switch to the magnitude of their being. But that, in itself, answers the question. To all who do not believe, pain, death, and persecution are as curses. To the believer - to us - we are told to see them not as the end, but a test, one He has already passed in a war that has already been won. Death is nothing to fear then, if we know in our hearts that the Savior who came to this earth to redeem us is true to His promise that all who call upon His name shall be saved. Pain and persecution are the ill borne children of a fallen world, and they hold no more power over us than that which we give, because the One in us has already overcome the world. If we believe these things, beyond doubt, beyond what our "false human nature" tells us is rational, if we believe that the God who formed the endless universe, the planet we stand on flying through it at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour, and the very God that did this made us with even greater care and purpose, then NOTHING we face is too dark, evil, or overpowering to overcome. If we believe - if you believe - that God is in You, then there will never be anything you cannot stand against in His name and for His Will.
1 Chronicles 28:20 “And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.”
Psalm 31:24 “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”
Isaiah 41:10-13 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”
1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 16:13 “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”
Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”
