The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 2 November 2020 – TOPIC: VICTORIOUS MARTYRS
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TOPIC: VICTORIOUS MARTYRS
READ: REVELATION 20:1-6 (NKJV)1. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.2. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is [the] Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;3. and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.4. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then [I saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received [his] mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.5. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection.6. Blessed and holy [is] he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.*THE MESSAGE:*All over the world, Christians are facing death and other forms of persecution because of their faith and witness for Jesus. This should not be strange: It is part of our calling (1 Peter 2:2). The passage we read today tells us about those believers who were killed for their faith in Christ Jesus. Though they were beheaded for their witness for Jesus, they were pictured in heaven as victorious saints. “For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:36-37). We are on the eve of persecution. Are you facing any form of suffering, pain, humiliation or are you threatened with death because of the Gospel? Verse 4 gives us hope beyond the grave. We shall not only be in heaven, but shall judge with Christ and also reign with Him. Stand firm therefore and do not compromise your faith, nor deny your Lord for faithful is He that called you. Do not fear them that can kill the body, for there is going to be victory for all martyrs at last (Matthew 10:28, Romans 8: 38-39).*PRAYER:* God, please help me to be faithful even unto death