PRAYERS FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS

[KristiD]

As a few of you may know, I have a peaceforearth.com website where each week, I chose a location or thing and ask people to pray, meditate or send positive energy to it.  This week, Easter, I chose Christians.  The relentless persecution of Christians really bothers me and I found some interesting information about it when I did my research this week.  I know there are my Christians on this site, and I think some of you may be interested in ***  Below I've copied the write up I did on it.  I hope you will want to support these people this week and thank all of you who do.  Happy Easter to everyone. 

 

This week our focus is on Christians around the world.  Christians are the largest religious group in the world, representing 32% of the world's population.  This Sunday is Easter which celebrates the resurrection of their Lord Jesus Christ.  Christians are the most persecuted people in the world going on three years in a row now.  Some 200 million Christians are believed to be suffering for their faith  and 90,000 Christians were estimated to be killed for their faith in a year.   Moreover, it was estimated as many as 600 million Christians a year were prevented from practicing their faith in one year alone.  Christian women are persecuted more than men and it is usually done by radical Islam extremists despite the fact that there are 28% fewer Muslims in the world than Christians (1.6 billions Muslims compared to 2.3 billion Christians).  Still, North Korea is the worst persecutor of Christians in the world.  Last week a Christian man was beaten to death by staff members in a maternity ward at a hospital in Pakistan when his family arrived to seek treatment for their pregnant sister who was in labor.  The doctor would not help her because she was Christian and started slapping her so her brothers came to defend her and were also beaten by other doctors and security gaurds.  The doctors delayed treating the beaten man, and he died as a direct result of the delayed treatment.  The hatred of Christians is very strong in that area and the hospital has threatened to call a strike in all government hospitals if the government does not drop the murder complaint against the hospital staff.  Such outrageous behavior should not be tolerated anywhere in the world.  So this week we ask you to please support Christians all over the world.  And please share this site with others who may also want to help.  Thank you!  

[umbertino]

 

Joining in prayer...Thanks for sharing

[coorslite21]

Always a good read!  CL

[Synopsis]

Thank You, KristiD, for posting.

 

I suspect a good thing to do is to pray scriptures over them. In the time of difficulty and persecution, I have heard a persecuted Christian say they desired not to be forgotten by brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. The person did not ask to be removed from the suffering but only to be remembered. Jesus never forsakes HIS own and is present with them in their suffering for HIS name. One of the privileges is to suffer for HIS name. One of the treasures is to know HIM better. If led, here may be a useful piece to pray for them:

 

Ephesians 1:15-23 New International Version (NIV)

Thanksgiving and Prayer

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Footnotes:

1. Ephesians 1:17 Or a spirit

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[KristiD]

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[tankdude]

Psalm 91 for those being persecuted - 

 

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

³ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler^[a]
And from the perilous pestilence.
⁴ He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
⁵ You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
⁸ Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

⁹ Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
¹⁰ No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
¹¹ For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
¹² In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
¹³ You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

¹⁴ “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
¹⁵ He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”