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Intention

To pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world

Scripture

‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.
As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
That is why the world hates you.’
— John 15:18–19

Reflection

I stood in a room of young adult Christians in an Islamic country. For them to be caught in a Christian meeting was an offence punishable legally by imprisonment, and illegally by merciless beatings in police cells. They had asked me to teach them from the Old Testament.

One young woman in the group had not long been a believer. On hearing of her conversion, her father immediately took a knife to her. She escaped but could now never go home. A young man had been arrested and beaten so badly that his hearing was permanently damaged. Story after story showed me what it had cost these young people to stand for Christ.

At any moment, the door to the small house could crash open and their lives would never be the same again. In that city, a couple known to these young people, watched their sixteen-year-old daughter beaten to a bloodied pulp by police truncheons. And yet, these young people had found ‘the pearl of great price’, greater even than life itself.

A young student in one of my Indian classes appeared distracted and was shaking like a leaf. A few days before, he had been chased, surrounded, and savagely beaten by his own village people. He recovered and went on to plant a church in the very region where he had been attacked. For him, Christ was everything, and he longed for others to know Him too.

In the words of Hebrews 11:38, these people are those ‘of whom the world is not worthy.’ (ESV)

For your meditation, I have selected a song sung in Russian by Russians. Once enemies, now, we are reconciled at the foot of the cross. Let them bless you. It’s old-fashioned, but the words are rich with the experience of Jacob, a wanderer who, fleeing his family and feeling abandoned, lay with his head on a stone only to discover that where he was, God was.

Pray that in their darkest moments, our persecuted brethren will find God is there, and that they have been eternally secured by the Cross of Christ.

You might like to sing it with them:

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain: Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God, to Thee.

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy giv’n;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.

… There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,
There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;
Age after age to be nearer, my God, to Thee.

Video

Prayer

We bring our persecuted brethren before You, asking You to remove their fears, restore their souls, and be to them Father, brother, sister, and friend. In the extremities of their pain, draw them to the cross to know that they are more than conquerors ‘by the blood of the Lamb and word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.’ (Rev 12:11)

Author Bio

Ray spent much of the last thirty years working in nations where governments were often brutally opposed to the followers of Jesus. He has occasionally spoken at churches and conferences in western countries but has usually kept under the radar. Ray has written three books and numerous articles to encourage people of faith.

Prayer Points for 31 Days of Prayer & Fasting for Revival

1. To worship Jesus and give extravagant praise to God. Hebrews 12:28-29
2. Pray that the Lamb who was slain might receive the reward for His suffering. Revelation 5:6-14
3. Pray for Revival for Australia and for millions to find Christ. Isaiah 64:1-2

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