The Power of Suffering: Strengthening Your Faith in the Refiner's Fire (Macarthur Study Series)

by John F. MacArthur Jr.

Stephen, in keeping with his status as an excellent role model, fit the ideal of one totally and continuously filled and controlled by the Spirit. He didn’t have to make any adjustments or take a final few moments to take a spiritual inventory when he saw he was going to die. He had apparently lived a consistent, Spirit-filled life ever since he became a believer. Therefore, it was natural for Stephen to react in a godly, trusting fashion in the face of persecution and death. And we should be able to handle suffering today—which is usually much less intense—in the same manner, because the same Holy Spirit is in us as was in Stephen. The problem for us may be that we don’t believe we can handle a crisis situation like Stephen’s. But such doubting is unjustified. Look again at 1 Peter 4:14, where Peter said in response to persecution that “you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” We can infer from this that God provides for us in a special way when we are severely tested or persecuted.