Saturday, October 31, 2015

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH TODAY

Many who have been on the front-lines with brothers and sisters in Christ who are the victims of the vilest forms of persecution worldwide, tell us that they all have the very SAME request: "Please Pray for Us!" This simple request is stunning, when you consider it comes from people who are not just being persecuted for just being the peace-loving Christians they are, but have their cities and homes destroyed, their churches burned and in too many cases now - lose their actual lives.

The period from last year's International Day of Prayer (November 1, 2014) to now, one year later, marks incredible devastation to the Body of Christ worldwide and increasingly here in the United States of America. 
-  Just this past week, Bremerton High School (Washington State) Football Coach Joe Kennedy was suspended from his job for praying with his team....while three teachers in the same school invited members of the local Satanist temple to come to the game! (ABC News).
-  In an eerie similarity to Columbine back in the 1990's, a vile shooter singled out Christians at an Oregon's Roseburg Community College and then killed nine of them on October 2, 2015 (Washington Post).
-  Then there is Kimberly Davis, the Kentucky County clerk and first Christian openly imprisoned in America for her Christian beliefs about Biblical Marriage. (Breakpoint formerly with the Late Chuck Colson).
CLICK TO READ HOW PRAYERS
HELP SYRIAN CHRISTIANS!
These are just a few examples of a worsening trend in the USA, but nothing tops what is happening to millions of Christians whose family lines go back further than the islamic religion which represents most of the current configuration of the Middle East. This is a hard Truth for the average "open minded" westerner to grasp who cannot grasp the enormity of this form of religious persecution. In order to help us understand, the following article will assist tremendously:
HERE ARE THE TOP 30 COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD WHERE PERSECUTION IS THE MOST HORRID (PER CAPITA. STATS: COURTESY OPEN DOORS):
Adopt one of these countries or more than one, and pray for ALL Christians who live there, attempted to live there and are still evangelizing entire villages and regions, before being found.  Click on the "pdf" listed for that country: 
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PRAYER RESOURCES FOR THIS YEAR'S EVENT & BEYOND. Also, these are just starting points.  The key is persistent prayer.

To assist in this, here are just five Prayer Points, courtesy Campus Crusade (now called "Cru") with the Bible verses, which I have linked, to go with them. Let's get to it:
Please pray persecuted believers would know the hope God gives (Ephesians 1:18).
Pray the Holy Spirit would strengthen them (Ephesians 3:16).
Please pray persecuted believers would know how much God loves them (Ephesians 3:17)
Pray they would know how to share the gospel (Ephesians 6:19).
Please pray persecuted believers would fearlessly tell others about Jesus (Ephesians 6:20).

No comments: