A Special Gift

Read Acts 7

But Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and
saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of
God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the
Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
(Acts 7:55-56)

Thoughts… Whether reading about the death of Stephen here in Acts, or the stories of the saints in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, or even modern day accounts of Christians dying for their faith, your tremendous admiration for these martyrs is likely mixed with the realization that you could never face death with such grace and confidence.

Yes you could! Time and time again we read where God has given special grace to those he counts worthy to die for their faith. In fact, I would be so bold as to call martyrdom a gift of the Spirit.

As he did in Acts 6, the author again makes clear that Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. There is no other explanation for Stephen’s death-defying boldness in declaring truth to his adversaries, his clear vision into the unseen realm, his peacefulness in the midst of the most painful type of death, and his willingness to forgive those who were guilty of killing him.

That kind of calm is supernatural. That’s why you can’t imagine having it yourself. You don’t—not naturally, anyway. But in the unlikely event that you are called upon to give your life for the cause of Christ, the Holy Spirit will infuse you, too, with this gift of grace.

In March of 2007, a Muslim man named Bekele, his wife, eight children, and several from his extended family, all joyfully received Christ as their personal savior in one of the Ethiopian villages where the missions foundation I serve planted a church.

The Muslim leaders in this village were angered by Bekele’s conversion. They came to his house the following week to demand that Bekele renounce his faith in Jesus and return to the mosque for their Friday service. To make their point, they beat him, but Bekele remained strong in his new faith. The transformation in his life was so profound that even though he was just a couple of days old in the Lord, he actually began to witness to his persecutors. He told them that they, too, needed to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

Ignoring the demands of these Muslim leaders, Bekele didn’t attend mosque that Friday, so the following evening, they returned to his house armed with clubs and knives. After tying up his wife and pelting her with rocks, they again beat Bekele, but he remained strong. The Muslim leaders became so enraged at Bekele’s refusal to recant faith in Christ that they slit his throat with a knife.

Bekele, less than a week old in the Christian faith, and having received no formal instruction in the way of Christ, remained true to Jesus. On that day, Bekele bled to death, the first Christian martyr among our Ethiopian church plants.

That is a special gift granted by the Holy Spirit. You won’t know that you have it, but it will be there if you need it.

Prayer… Lord, like Stephen, the martyrs of the church, and a simple convert named Bekele, I, too, want to be so full of the Holy Spirit that I can not only die courageously, but more importantly, live courageously as your faithful witness.

One More Thing… “The highest honor that God can confer upon his children is the blood-red crown of martyrdom. The jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the kings that God has made, are their troubles, their sorrows, and their griefs. Griefs exalt us, and troubles lift us.” — Charles Spurgeon