"I hope nobody calls me a hero, because I know the facts about the bitterness that blazed in my heart that year. I knew, for example, that I was supposed to forgive my captors but the truth is that I often hated them not only for snatching me away from my family and the simple comforts of a life I loved, but also for forcing me to see a side of myself I didn't like. There was a Gracia I barely knew existed: fearful Gracia, selfish Gracia, bitter Gracia, angry-at-God Gracia. Every once in a while, Martin and I talked about the fruit of the Holy Spirit as listed in Galatians 5 and how much we wanted to see love, joy and peace in our lives. 'All I see is sadness and grief and sorrow,' I'd say. 'How can we produce the opposite?' We couldn't force joyfulness or loving action or a peaceful mind. The Holy Spirit had to grow these things within us. I begged the Lord at times, 'Please just give me some peace. I can't find it in my own heart. I can't find long-suffering. I feel anything but gentle right now. Please work some gentleness into my life. Give me some joy in the middle of this horrible situation.' And he did." Gracia Burnham, In the Presence of My Enemies.
Dear brothers and sisters,
The key to joy in suffering is to embrace the suffering as God's will for you. Yiu Zhenling, known as Brother Yun, committed his life to Jesus Christ at 16 and began to memorize the Bible, one chapter per day. In his first year as a Christian he led 2,000 people to Christ. He began the underground church in Communist China and became the country's most-wanted man. Imprisoned three times, he was interrogated, threatened, kicked, brutally beaten and tortured with electric batons almost daily. But, like the apostle Paul, Yun's attitude was, "I am not your prisoner. I am a prisoner of the Lord!" He saw everything that happened to him as a privilege, not just allowed but caused by a loving Father who used these things to draw him into the sufferings of Christ, with the promise of the glory of Christ to follow.
From Yun's first day in Nanyang Prison, God led him to "fast and pray for the advance of the gospel, that thousands of souls would experience salvation, and that the house churches throughout China would be victorious. Yun did not touch food or water for 74 days. "In those days," he told his biographer, "I was just like a baby sleeping in the arms of his mother, peacefully suckling at his mother's bosom. My spirit was full of joy and thanksgiving as I magnified the Lord. Yun's toughest time was on the 38th day when the devil hissed in his ear, "Yun, Jesus fasted 40 days. How can you as a servant do more than the Master? Will you try to outdo your master?" Yun was in such intense spiritual battle he considered suicide. But the Lord spoke Revelation 3:8 to him, "I know your deeds. See, I hve placed before you an open door that no man can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." When he heard these words, Yun said his heart was filled with joy. "I felt like a little boy whose father has taken a stand for him against bullies." At that moment he had a powerful vision of a series of iron gates opening, one after another.
At the end of his fast, Yun weighed 66 pounds. His mother and wife could not recognize him. "During the long fast, my days were full of struggle, miracles, dreams, visions, and revelation from the Lord. I experienced his strength every day. My body was getting smaller and smaller, but my spirit was enlarged and strong." After all this time he was finally brought to trial. "I was bound and taken to the court in a motor-tricycle, with armed guards on either side of me. My cell mates were praying earnestly for me. I felt great joy in my heart. The (court) said I would receive either life imprisonment or the death sentence. I was amazed when the judge announced, "Yun, we sentence you to four years' imprisonment with hard labor!" Only four years! I couldn't believe it! I was full of joy because God had given me hope for future ministry throughout China. The Lord had more work for me to do! As I was driven back to the prison I had a feeling of overwhelming joy and thankfulness for the Lord's mercy."
Yun said those four years went fast and once free he worked tirelessly to evangelize, disciple and train others to win souls. As a result of his refusal to curtail his activities, he was arrested many times and imprisoned twice more. The second time, God commanded him to repent. He was battered, bruised, broken, in a prison cell with murderers and rapists who hated and abused him and God was telling him to repent? Why didn't he just give Yun comfort and reassurance of his love? But Yun realized he harbored contempt for the men in his cell and he repented. Repentance released in him a whole new level of closeness with the Lord and realization of what God was doing in his life. As a result of his obedience, he started seeing the men in a new way, with God's eyes. He started praying for them and sharing his meager food with them. The Lord used him to heal some of them and eventually they all came to faith in Jesus Christ. Their cell became heaven on earth. "One day I was sharing the gospel with a group of prisoners. The joy of the Lord was in my heart. Several guards commented, 'Look, this criminal is even happier that we are, and we are free!" As a result, some of them also believed. After his release from prison Yun would say he missed the time with those men so much he longed to return and visit them. "My first four years had been like Joseph when he was thrown into prison, slandered, and persecuted. But my second term was like Joseph when God exalted him and placed him in a position of influence and authority."
Outside the prison, Yun's steadfast example and his refusal to betray or implicate others gave Christians courage and fanned the flames of revival. His prayers while fasting were being answered exponentially. With no promise of financial support, new Christian workers went everywhere openly risking persecution by preaching the gospel. "We are not afraid of going hungry or of being beaten," they said. "We are willing to die for the gospel! We are only afraid of going without God's presence. Please pry he will be with us every day." By January 2000 the house churches estimated their members numbered 58 million!
Meanwhile, imprisoned a third time, Yun hit bottom spiritually and emotionally. He had escaped once and refused to promise not to try again so guards mercilessly beat his lower legs with batons, breaking and crushing the bones. "I lay on the ground screaming like a wounded animal. Excruciating pain surged through my body and mind. All I could do was try to focus my thoughts on the Lord Jesus and his suffering on the cross. I thought I was going to die but the Lord sustained me." He was so crippled his legs were "black and unusable. I couldn't even stand up, let alone walk." He had to be carried to the toilet--and to the room where he was tortured every day. Crushed in spirit as well as in body, he cried out to God, "I can't take it any more!" And the Lord answered, "Do not throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded" and "Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose."
Then, on the morning of May 5, 1997, the Lord told Yun, "This is the hour of your salvation. Go now! The God of Peter is your God!" The vision God had given Yun of iron gates opening, one after another, became a reality. The man who could not walk, could hardly crawl, stood up and walked, as if in a dream, out of the Zhengzhou Number One Maximum Security Prison, climbed into a taxi and asked to be driven to the home of Christian friends. Just like Peter, he stood at the door while a young girl, seeing who was there, left him standing while she ran inside to tell others that their brother was free! One eye-witness wrote, "I couldn't believe it when I saw Yun walking out! There were probably thirty prison guards in the yard at the time, but no one noticed Yun escape! He even walked right past several of them," and another wrote, "The prison authorities had mocked the Lord and Yun when they smashed his legs. They said, 'We'd like to see you escape now!" The Lord is always up to a challenge!"
Yun did not realize until afterward that the Lord must have healed his legs in his cell. "I marveled at God's goodness and faithfulness to me," he writes. "To this day I consider my escape from prison the most amazing experience of my life. That night I slept like a content newborn baby in the arms of my Lord."
When I think of the promise of Jesus Christ that we will do even greater things than he did on earth, I think of Brothr Yun. His autobiography, The Heavenly Man, written with Paul Hattaway and pulished by Monarch Books, reads like "Second Acts."
In Scripture, if we embrace it as Jesus did, suffering and joy are bonded together: "Jesus. . . for the JOY set before him endured the cross, scorning the shame." (Hebrews 12:2)
Read these verses together. They are written to you and me: "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you'" (I Peter 4:12) "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. (I Peter 2:21).
For those of us who follow Jesus in suffering, the joy to which we can look forward, the anticipation of which motivates us to endure, has several component parts:
--It produces Christ-like character: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." (James 1:2-3)
--It exhibits God's glory and presence: "But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you" (I Peter 4:13-14).
--It promises us the kingdom and its rewards. "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:10-12) and "Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven." (Luke 6:22-23)
So, as Much-Afraid did in Hannah Hurnard's classic, Hind's Feet on High Places, let your response to suffering be not only acceptance but Acceptance-with-Joy. Embrace it! For "the JOY of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10)
One of the desires of Jesus' heart, as he told the Father just before his crucifixion, is that his joy be made full in us (John 17:13)
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Let it in: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: "Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)
"If our Heavenly Father does not permit it, who can do anything to you?" Brother Yun
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