Victory Is Our Sign

They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Mark 16:18

Really take hold of and notice that Jesus does not say that our testimony about Him would be the sign of our unity with our Father, but rather that the miraculous works of God through us would be the sign! Deadly drinks and poisonous snakes kill men, but they have no effect on God and on those whom God indwells!

And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Acts 28:3-5

Paul didn’t have super human power, our Father had the power, and God is exactly the same within us, our Father never changes!

Our Father allowed Paul to be bitten by the snake, Daniel to be cast into the lions den, Goliath to taunt David, and Jesus to endure the Cross. Persecution will arise for the Word’s sake, but our Father will never leave us or forsake and through Christ we are always and eternally more than conquerors! No weapon, and there are many weapons that are formed against us, will ever prosper. Our Father working through us is the sign of His Truth and His Truth sets us free! So welcome the attacks, rejoice in the tribulation, for we have been counted as worthy to be used by God to glorify His Kingdom!

Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5