AC 17:5a But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.

 

   This above point became clear to me when I was ministering in Hollywood California and God's power was manifesting there. One Sunday when we showed up at the hotel we were meeting at, there was a crowd of jealous Christians there with a bullhorn telling people not to go into our meeting. One of them was my own Aunt that had led me to the Lord and that I had ministered with for many years. I guess she was upset that I was no longer ministering with her, so she joined in with the persecution as the Christian pharisees began to taunt us and try to disrupt the meeting in any way that they could. It was really pathetic to witness.

 

EX 23:1 "Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness.

 

   A lot of the attack against you will come in the form of malicious gossip and/or cowardly slander. People will try to bring up every failure that you have ever had, and anything in your life that is reproachable in any way. They will try to tell people that you are preaching heresy and teaching demonic doctrines, but in reality they are just jealous of God's power and the miracles that are flowing and manifesting in your midst, and hoping they can shut you down. Expect them to go to anyone who is sponsoring you, or anyone who is benefiting from your ministry, and to say all manner of evil again you. Even Jesus had a Judas, and so will you.

 

^{PHP 1:15} It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. ¹⁶ The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.

 

   Until and unless God breaks our heart and replaces it with His, many people's underlying motives for doing ministry will always be selfish. But once Jesus develops a heart in us that just wants to feed His sheep, He can then trust us to do the right thing for them, and to not use what He gives us to hurt people, or glorify ourselves. We need to always minister out of unselfish motives and a genuine love for those whom Jesus died for. If a Christian has not matured to this place of love, they can then become subject to pharisaical propaganda and every form of evil practice that accompanies those who attack Jesus through His servants.

 

MT 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

   Below are just a few tips to help you to get through an envy-motivated persecution attack:

 

1. Pray about what happened before doing anything else. As someone else said, go to the throne, not to the phone. Your flesh will want to defend itself, but you must resist the urge to run to people rather than to God for support. Defensiveness is born out of pride and fear.

 

2. Do not retaliate. You are going to be done wrong by those you have done right, so just expect it. Like I said, even Jesus had a Judas and so will you, but Jesus did not retaliate; instead he trusted God to sort things out later and to judge things and people appropriately.

 

3. Do not fear. Nobody can take anything from you that God has given you. It was God that placed you into ministry and called people to be involved in it, and it will be God that keeps you and them there. Even Moses didn't react in fear when his own family attacked him.

 

4. Forgive as quickly as possible. If you sit and spin on how people have wronged you it can make you bitter and poison your heart. Your heart must be full of God's love in order to flow in the anointing, so forgive and avoid the distraction that undealt-with resentment generates.

 

5. Keep on loving and serving. Don't change your schedule or cancel ministry just because an attack takes place. Just press on with business as usual and God will show up even if nobody else does. I did a meeting once where angels showed up even when people did not.

 

6. Avoid talking about it or responding. Satan wants to get a reaction out of you when he attacks, so don't give him what he wants. Keep your peace and do nothing unless God tells you to and things will just die down and pass away. If you react it just makes things worse.

 

7. Keep your focus on the sheep, not the pharisees. Jesus kept his focus on the people that needed the ministry, and he didn't bother getting involved with the pharisees unless it helped the sheep in some way. The pharisees want to bog you down, so just stay out of their bog.

 

MT 5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 

   Remember that no matter what you face, or no matter how nasty the attack is, that you are blessed and great is your reward in heaven. Expect some people that are closest to you to betray you, but many of these people will repent later on and you must forgive them even though you may not allow them back into your life. God always leaves room for repentance and so should we, so restore someone if possible. But do not ever expect to be at peace with satan especially if God's power is flowing. Persecution and betrayal because of envy and jealousy are automatic when God is moving, but God will always remain faithful to you.

 

^{DT 1:21} See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."