So often when we see God working powerfully we expect everything to go well. Although we would not adhere to the prosperity gospel we expect to find blessing and constant victory and we shout and scream when it does not work out well. Yet the Biblical record and Church History show us that w God works in a special manner opposition arrives. We wonder why things go wrong just as are about to do something we are sure that the Lord has called us to. Sometimes we speak of spiritual warfare but very often we forget how mundane spiritual warfare is, Satan will use anything to distract us from God’s purposes. We see this pattern constantly in the Gospels and the book of Acts, when Jesus performed aa miracle, there was always opposition. Jesus was forever being found fault with, it was not plain sailing for him and as we follow him it will not be for us.  This is why in the letters we find so much teaching about trials, troubles , persecution and the need to persevere. We need to remember that the letters were written to help people going through difficult times, each of the letters shows that the church was under pressure in varied ways. Books as different as Galatians and Hebrews were written to keep God’s people being gospel people. The pressure on the early believers to conform to their culture was immense. Family pressure would have been a great problem for many believers both from Jewish and Pagan backgrounds, the pressure to just compromise a little was always there. But the same things that motivated them to keep on keeping on can motivate us too.

They were motivated by the truth of the Gospel, they knew that Jesus had won the ultimate victory on the cross which had been proven by the resurrection. They also knew the presence of the risen Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. They not only knew about God they knew him in a dynamic way. We believe that same gospel, we know the same Lord and the Spirit indwells us. When we see the pattern of the scripture we will realise that although opposition is to be expected, we serve the Lord of heaven and earth who will gain the ultimate victory. We sometimes think that because we are opposed we must have done something wrong but the Word of God tells us time and time again, that opposition comes when we have done something right.