Martyrdom. Not really a popular word. Suffering, another word that is frowned upon. Yet between the two words there is a tremendous amount of power. Not the words themselves you understand, but literally suffering for the cause of Christ, and actually dying for His sake. We like to spiritualize it , and it does have spiritual application. Yet if a kernal of wheat falls to the ground and dies it produces many seeds.

When Stephen fell to the ground, a seed was planted in Saul. It would germinate in Saul. It was not the dying of Stephen, for Saul had seen many men die. It was the way that he died. The men who hung Dietrich Bonhoeffer later testified that they had never seen a man die with such dignity. When Stephen is dying, in the midst of his brutal murder, he is crying out to God not to hold this against his assailants. He has an open vision of heaven. Ordinary men do not die like this and it undoubtedly shook Saul to the core. The kernal, the seed was planted and it would, through Paul, produce many more seed.

In the book of Job we see in the opening chapter a scene where Satan and the fallen angels make an accusation. He basically says to God that Job does not really love Him or respect Him, he only bows down to Him because of all the things that God has given him. Take all of that away and it was stated that Job would curse God to His face. Principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places accusing man and God that they had no actual relationship, no genuine love, just something very basic.

So for the saint, great power is manifested when this false charge is stripped down and exposed. The proof of our love, our true and genuine relationship is to be found at its most powerful, in the bottom of the dungeon, not the mountaintop. There is a reason why the very building shook for Paul and Silas. We see this perfect example on Calvary, the very last place you would expect to see love and power and victory. Yet on that cross, Jesus makes an open show of the very principalities and powers that had dared to tell God that He was wrong about Job and that Job only loved Him for what He could get from Him.

Suffering and death is the ultimate revelation of who we are in Christ. It strips away all of the flesh and reveals what is left. Could we, would we, do as Jesus did and call out to His Father to forgive those who had crucified Him? Could we follow in the footsteps of Stephen and ask the Lord not to hold this crime against those who were carrying it out? This is the disarming of principalities and powers. This power shakes the gates of hell. While it disarms our true enemies, it arms the saint. We become the perfect witness not only to the world but to the unseen world. To willingly die, to willingly suffer for the sake of the Lord and His Kingdom. We wrap ourselves in impenetrable light. The darkness is vanquished.

Remember saint, you do not suffer alone nor is your suffering in vain. You may think that your life or the things that you have suffered for His cause have been in vain and has not counted for much. That is a lie from the enemy himself. Your uninterrupted love and passion for Jesus, despite your circumstances, is precious treasure to your heavenly Father. That He may say of you, to the enemy of your soul, have you considered my faithful servant? In the world to come you will have your reward dear saint, just as all things were restored to Job, you will find in that day that your losses for the cause of Christ in this world will be great gain in the economy of the heavenly Kingdom.