Keep a Positive Spirit

Jesus encourages his followers to keep a positive spirit when they meet with various trials.  He says:  "Happy are you when people reproach you and persecute you and lyingly say every sort of wicked thing against you for my sake." (Matthew 5:11)  What reason do we have for happiness under such circumstances?  Our ability to withstand opposition is proof that Jehovah's  spirit is upon us.  The apostle Peter told fellow Christians in his day: "If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy, because the spirit of glory, even the spirit of God, is resting upon you."  (1 Peter 4:13, 14) By means of his spirit, Jehovah will also help us to endure and, as a result, to maintain our joy.

Even when we are in the direst of circumstances, we can find reasons to rejoice.  A Christian named Adolf found tha to be so.  He lives in a country where the work of Jehovah's Witnesses was banned for many years. Adolf and several of his companions were arrested and sentenced to serve long prison terms because they refused to renounce their Bible-based beliefs.  Prison was hard, but like Paul and Silas, Adolf and his companions found reasons to give thanks to God.  Their prison experience, they noted, helped them to strengthen their faith and to develop valuable Christian qualities, such as generosity, empathy and brother affection.  For example, when a prisoner received a package from home, he shared its contents with fellow believers, who viewed these extra provisions  as coming from Jehovah, the ultimate present."  Such acts of kindness brought joy both to the giver and to the recipients.  So the very experience that was intended to break their faith  actually made them stronger spiritually! -James 1:17; Acts 20:35.

Ella, who also lives in a country where the Kingdom work was long banned, was arrested for sharing her Christian hope with others.  For eight months, she was subjected to relentless interrogation.  When finally brought to trial, she was handed a ten year sentence in a prison where there were not other worshipers of Jehovah. Ella was only 24 years of age at the time. 

Next time: Conclusion of Keep a Positive Spirit

The Watchtower, 2001