We’re picking up steam!  Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for your commitment to prepare for our day of concentrated prayer on Friday.  We have set aside that day as a day to pray and fast for:

• The Peace of Jerusalem
• Persecuted Believers
• A Third Great Awakening in our Nation that Impacts the World

Yesterday we focused on the first of those three prayer points: Preparing to Pray Confidently for the Peace of Jerusalem, and today we turn our focus to the second.

We’ve all seen headlines like these:

• Christians Flee ISIS Rule in Northern Iraq Amid Persecution
• China Ramping Up Persecution of Christians
• North Korea: where Christians are persecuted but strong in faith
• Christians persecuted at alarming rate in Iran, Arab world, US report says

Indeed, Christians throughout the Middle East, Far East, Africa and elsewhere are facing persecution that we in America can hardly fathom.  Ministries such as Open Doors and Voice of the Martyrs often provide prayer maps and watch lists of the top 50 countries where persecution of Christians is worst.  We’ve heard the stories of rape, mutilation, torture, beating, burning, people buried alive and horrific murder.  We’ve prayed by name for some persecuted Christians who have garnered more attention than others.  However, have we identified with them in their suffering?

Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated,
since you yourselves also are in the body.
~Hebrews 13:3

Dear friends, we do not fulfill our calling as believers until we remember these brothers and sisters as though we are in prison with them.  The writer of Hebrews is reminding us of what Paul taught in Romans 12:4-5:

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

So, just how do we exercise our oneness with persecuted believers?  I think Acts 12 gives us a great example.  There, we learn of the apostle Peter’s arrest and imprisonment.  Soon after the church was born, King Herod got his hands on some believers to mistreat and kill them.  James, the brother of John, was put to death by the sword.  Peter was also arrested and put in prison, but verse 5 tells us that “prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.”

The passage goes on to give an account of Peter being miraculously rescued by an angel of the Lord.  Once Peter realized the miracle, he went to Mary’s house where the believers were praying.  However, Rhoda, the servant-girl, was the only one who recognized him!

From that passage, we learn that exercising oneness with persecuted Christians means:

• To pray for those who are imprisoned and/or mistreated because of their faith.
• To pray until the prayer is answered. (Then, don’t be surprised when it is!)

Galatians 6:2 exhorts us to bear one another’s burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ.  Conjure up for yourself what you think that means, but to me it means (in part) thinking of those who are persecuted, imagining their suffering, then choosing to pour out our hearts to the Lord in petition for mercy.

Finally, we must understand that persecution is something that could come upon any of us.  In John 15:20, Jesus reminded us, “’A slave is not greater than his master.’  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”  Whether we like to think of it this way or not, persecution is one way in which we exercise oneness with Christ Himself.  Not that any of us would wish it upon another, but God’s perspective is so much different than ours.  Indeed, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:10)  Then, later in the chapter, He went even further to say, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  (Matthew 5:44)

That’s a tall prayer order, isn’t it?  But, though we may be challenged by these particular prayer points, let’s be prepared on Friday to ask the Lord to use these persecuted believers to “shake up” the world.

Thanks for joining in today.  See you again tomorrow!