Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

---

 COMMENT:

If a Christian is not having tribulation in the world, there’s something wrong! This quote by Leonard Ravenhill needs to be stamped upon the doorpost of every church. It reminds us that those who expect their “Christian” walk to be a bed of roses have a very bad understanding of Christianity.

What can we do when persecution comes knocking? We can pray, pray, and pray some more. John Calvin said, “Against the persecution of a tyrant the godly have no remedy but prayer.”

Below is an excerpt from Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer. This section is about John Knox and his writings on prayer. The year 1554 is significant; Mary had become Queen, and the year before and in 1554 declared all Protestants heretics.

---

PRAYER

…It is with this circumstance in mind that Knox exhorts his readers to seriously pray for the protection of the persecuted as well as for the conversion of the persecutors. Knox himself, at the end of his discourse, prayed for this:

Behold our trouble and apparent destruction, and stay the sword of thy vengeance before it devours us. Place above us, O Lord, for thy great mercy’s sake, such as a head, with such rulers and magistrates as feareth thy name, and willeth the glory of Christ Jesus to spread. Take not from us the light of thy evangel [gospel], and suffer thou no Papistry to prevail in this realm. Illuminate the heart of our sovereign lady Queen Mary, with pregnant gifts of thy Holy Ghost; and inflame the hearts of her council with thy true fear and love. Repress thou the pride of those that would rebel; and remove from all hearts the contempt of the word. Let not our enemies rejoice at our destruction, but look thou to the honour of thy own name, O Lord; and let thy gospel be preached with boldness in this realm.… Mitigate the hearts of those that persecute us; and let us not faint under the cross of our Saviour, but assist us with the Holy Ghost, even to the end.

Brian G. Najapfour, “John Knox: A Theologian of Prayer,” in Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer, ed. Joel R. Beeke (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011), 54.