All around the world today, Christians are still being abused, beaten, arrested, imprisoned, and executed. Just like Paul wrote to exhort Christians whom he had never met to remember his chains, persecuted saints in other countries are asking us to do the same for them. That’s why we have the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. It is set aside for Christians in the West to remember and identify with the persecutions and sufferings of our brethren around the world. After all, there were more Christians martyred for their faith in the twentieth century than in all the previous nineteen centuries combined! Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians of our spiritual unity in Christ: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26). Likewise, the writer of Hebrews exhorted his Jewish Christian readers to “remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:3). We cannot fully understand God’s sovereignty in allowing some of His children to suffer poverty and persecution, while others experience peace and prosperity. However, we do clearly know that “from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48). If your local church is not already involved in this special prayer focus for our persecuted brethren, take the initiative and be an advocate for our brethren in the suffering church around the world. Say of them what Paul said of the suffering saints at Thessalonica: “Among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring” (2 Thessalonians 1:4). So, please unite your love and prayers with all of our brethren around the world who are experiencing the “participation in his sufferings” (Philippians 3:10).
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