Luke 21:12-19

12 "Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.

13 It will lead to your giving testimony.

14 Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,

15 for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

16 You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

17 You will be hated by all because of my name,

18 but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.

19 By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
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In yesterday's passage Christ talked about the signs of the end times. Today he continues, describing how the Church, and specifically His disciples, will be treated after He leaves the earth. Sit down sometime and read the Acts of the Apostles, and you'll see all of these things borne out.

I can only hope that should I be put into anything even remotely resembling the type of situation Christ describes, that I respond the way Christ instructs the disciples -- to persevere, and to wait on God to provide me with words of wisdom that I will need.

I've spent too much of my life relying on myself in situations where I'm called to defend our faith. I worry about what other people think, and about being rejected, and about looking stupid, and about being inadequate, and about failing God, and a bunch of other things.

Hopefully someday I'll allow God to put all of that behind me, and just do what He wants me to do. I know I'm supposed to take that step, but I haven't had the courage to take it yet.