The Internal Witness [Awakening Faith]
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:22)
There are many hidden martyrs, bearing witness to Christ each day and acknowledging Jesus as the Lord. The Apostle knew this kind of martyrdom, this faithful witness to Christ. “This is our boast,” he said, “the witness of our conscience” (2 Cor. 1:12).
How many have borne witness in public but denied it in private! “Do not believe every spirit,” he said, “but know from their fruits” whom you should believe (1 John 4:1). Be faithful and courageous when you are persecuted internally, so that you might do the same when you are persecuted in public. Even in those unseen persecutions there are kings and governors and judges with terrible power. You have an example in the temptation endured by the Lord.
In another place we read, “Do not let sin be king in your mortal body” (Rom. 6:12). You know which kings you must stand before, the ones who sit in judgment in your heart, where sin is in control. There are as many kings as there are sins and vices; it is these kings who attempt to rule our souls. These kings have their thrones in many hearts. But if any of you acknowledges Christ, you immediately make a prisoner of this kind of king and throw him down from the throne of your heart. How can the devil maintain his power in someone who builds a throne for Christ in their heart?
Ambrose
Awakening Faith: Daily Devotionals from the Early Church
Awakening Faith: Daily Devotionals from the Early Churchby James Stuart Bell and Patrick J. Kelly
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