Praying for persecuted Christians in one country
In some countries, following Jesus costs your job, your family, your freedom, sometimes your life. We can't always act from a distance, but we can pray, and that is not nothing. This quest asks you to choose a country and carry its Christians before God.
What it looks like in your day
Choose a country. If you don't know which, take one you have heard about recently: a country in the Middle East, Asia, North Africa or sub-Saharan Africa. Organizations that support persecuted Christians regularly publish prayer sheets you can consult.
Then, here are some ways to pray:
- For their protection. For those who face threats, who are locked up, who have been separated from their families.
- For their perseverance. That they would stand firm in the faith, that their hope would not waver.
- For the families. The wives, the children, the parents of those who have been arrested.
- For those who persecute them. It seems strange, but Jesus invites us to.
- For those who stand with them. For those who accompany them, lawyers, journalists, pastors.
You can also take the opportunity to get informed: five minutes of reading about the situation in a country make prayer more precise. If you are short on time, one sentence is enough: “Lord, keep your children in [country].” If you feel small in the face of so much suffering, remember that your prayer joins that of thousands of others.
What the Bible says
The author of the letter to the Hebrews was writing to Christians who had known prison and the plundering of their goods. He asks them:
“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”
“As bound with them”: this is a solidarity of empathy, a way of putting yourself in their place, even from afar. When we pray this way, we stop looking at suffering as a distant spectacle.
Jesus himself had warned that persecution would be part of the road:
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
He doesn't teach it as an ideal to seek out, but as a reality to go through with hope. And when Peter is in prison, the church's reaction is a collective, continuous prayer (Acts 12:5). Paul also counts on his brothers' prayers: he writes that their help through prayer means that many will give thanks for the deliverance granted (2 Corinthians 1:11).
Pitfalls to avoid
Sensationalism. Some news about persecution is dramatic, and it is tempting to share shocking images. But prayer doesn't need that. Pray with respect, as for brothers and sisters, not to feed fear.
Hatred. When you learn of injustices, it is natural to feel anger. But our prayer is not a prayer for vengeance. Jesus asked us to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).
Helplessness that paralyzes. The subject is immense, you can't solve the situation. But you can pray for a country, a name, a face. Your small prayer is not useless.
Forgetting once you have read the article. If you can, write the country on a piece of paper or in your phone, and take it up again the next day. Perseverance in prayer is a form of faithfulness.
Forgetting that we too have to be faithful. Praying for those who suffer because of their faith should also make us question our own courage, without guilt, with gratitude and humility.
Today, choose a country. Get informed in a few minutes, then pray for it with one specific request.