Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (I Peter 4:1)
The Apostle Peter told his scattered persecuted flock to prepare for suffering by “arming yourselves.” As Christ suffered in the flesh, we likewise will be “partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (I Peter 4:13). If we are going to suffer, what is our armor? It is Christ’s thoughts. We, believers, have “the same mind” as Christ, revealed in Scripture. We have been given Christ’s Spirit as well by the Holy Spirit. So, Arm yourselves with the same mind as Christ! We must spiritually prepare ourselves for the adversity we will face by putting on our mental armor.
Richard Wurmbrand endured fourteen years of imprisonment and torture in. His homeland of Romania between 1948 and 1964. He had been leading a secret underground ministry when the Communists seized Romania and tried to control the church for their purposes. Like the apostle Peter, Wumbrand stressed the tremendous need to get spiritually ready to suffer.
What shall we do about these tortures? Will we be able to bear them? If I do not bear them, I put in prison another fifty or sixty men whom I know, because that is what the Communists wish from me, to betray those around me. And here comes the great need for the role of preparation for suffering, which must start now. It is too difficult to prepare yourself for it when the Communists have put you in prison.
I remember my last Confirmation class before I left Romania. I took a group of ten to fifteen boys and girls on a Sunday morning, not to a church, but to the zoo. Before the cage of lions, I told them, “Your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith. Know that you also will have to suffer. You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to do with men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ.” They had tears in their eyes when they said yes.
We have to make the preparation now, before we are imprisoned. In prison you lose everything. You are undressed and given a prisoner’s suit.
No more nice furniture, nice carpets, or nice curtains. You do not have a wife any more and you do not have your children. You do not have your library and you never see a flower. Nothing of what makes life pleasant remains. Nobody resists who has not renounced the pleasures of life beforehand.
Taken from: Richard Wurmbrand, “Preparing the Underground Church” Ephany Journal 5, no. 4 (Summer 1985)
