Awakening Faith: Hope From the Global ChurchSample

Joy in Suffering

The jail cell was dim, cold, and crowded. Hours earlier, the police had stormed a small gathering where new believers were being baptized. One by one, each was dragged away, arrested, and accused of blasphemy for declaring that Jesus alone is Lord.

Now behind bars, their request wasn’t for release. It wasn’t for easier circumstances. Their plea was simple: “Pray that we would have courage and faith to be history makers in our nation.”

They had been hauled before an earthly judge, but their confidence rested in a higher one. Shackled and mocked, they still prayed for their captors. They sang softly, voices rising in worship against the weight of chains. They had discovered something the world could never take: joy rooted not in circumstance, but in Christ Himself.

As I listened, I was undone. How quickly I complain at small inconveniences…traffic, a long line, a crowded schedule. Yet here, in a prison cell, joy was flourishing. These brothers and sisters knew what they carried was worth more than gold, more than rubies, more than even their very lives.

They remind us of the apostles in Acts 5, who rejoiced after being beaten, “because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” Joy that endures is not shallow optimism. That kind of joy is the unshakable presence of Christ.

Where do you look for joy? In convenience and comfort, or in the presence of Jesus?