"The Ministry of PERSECUTION!"

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

                                                                                      (1 Peter 5:8)

The Ministry of Persecution [MP] ("personal execution") is exemplified by the dying to oneself and the ruthless pursuit of fleshly desires. It encompasses the anatomy of death rooted and grounded in the person of Christ Jesus.

The MP represents the cutting away of strongholds. The "cutting" is a type and shadow of the the Covenant Believers have with God. Persecution [P] brings the Believer in right relationship with the Father. P is adversity; the thing we have most in common with Jesus that we seldom discuss.

In the midst of P, it is not important to defend yourself; it is more important to defend the God in you by resisting the evil that comes upon you. The goal of the Believer is "spiritual integrity" with regard to sacrificing self as Jesus did for us. The destruction of His flesh allowed us to see His mortality (His ability and willingness to die), void of His works which did not save Him. But what did save Him was His obedience to death. 

Likewise, we are empowered the same as Christ. Every Believer must take the same path. Persecution is a ministry and it is necessary; but most importantly, it is unavoidable! It is not how many times you suffer, or how long you suffer, the details are irrelevant, the character of the perpetrator against you is not a factor and your life and present economic status is a non-issue. 

All that matters is your posture (your vertical relationship with the Lord God and and your horizontal relationship with the Body of Christ) and your "spiritual compass" (the Holy Spirit) that helps navigate you through the deep waters of divine revelation. Selah...