From the Shepherd's Heart...Praying for the Persecuted Church

 

There are an estimated 750,000 to 1.2 million Christians converts living in Iran today. Most, if not all, are converted from Islam having "seen the light." God is giving dreams of Jesus to these unconverted souls and they are coming to Christ. I do not understand how God is doing it, but He is and He doesn't have to explain it to me.

The Iranian government cannot stop the move of the Spirit and the gospel. Pray for these believers who are living under great persecution. Pray for them to preserve.

As I read about these followers of Christ, they are under attack from family members, sometimes even a spouse who has not come to Christ. These spouses will even restrict time and availability to their children afraid the follower of Christ will influence their children. Their employers can make it hard on them since most of the employers are Muslims (though in name only but must keep-up-the-appearance of following Islam). The court system is filled with Islamic followers who throw Christians into prison in harsh and inhuman conditions.

Then ask the question, Lord, why do we in America not have to suffer like these brothers-and-sisters? We believe the same gospel as they do and follow the same Christ. This is a question I have long asked myself. Some say, "We live in American with freedom of religion - that is why we don't suffer." But freedom of religion does not make Christianity easier - it might make us more blinded to the truth.

False religion in America can even be in the form of cultural Christianity. As a missionary in a Muslim country said to me one day while sitting at a red light in his Muslim country, "Every county has its cultural religion. Ours in America is Christianity."

The Lord said to me the other day, "We are all playing the game at some level or another." Ask God to reveal where we "are playing the game" of following Christ and repent. Don't be a luke-warm Christian. Others, even in the church, will scoff and ridicule because most of us only know a cultural Christianity that is acceptable and pleasant.