Dear Friend of the Persecuted Church—

            Perhaps you are like me.  Perhaps you look at the needs of the persecuted church, and are stirred to pray for them, but don’t quite know where to begin your prayers.  After all, I’ve never experienced real persecution.  I’ve never been beaten, or imprisoned, or lost loved ones because of my faith.  Where do I begin in praying for those that have?

            Whenever I find myself wondering that, I look to the Scriptures.  Over and over again, the examples of prayers and promises in Scripture show me how to begin my own prayers!  Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to take a look at Scriptural prayers that can spark our understanding of how to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters.  And what better place to turn than the prayer that our Lord and Savior Himself prayed for His followers?  Let us look at that prayer, in John 17.

            To give some context, Jesus had just finished a prolonged teaching session with His disciples.  Knowing that His time on earth was drawing to a close, our Savior prepared His disciples for the work that they would be called to.  He told the disciples to abide in Him, as the branches abide in the vine (John 15), and then He told them of persecution: “Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.”  (John 16:2)  As the time of teaching drew to a close, Jesus told the disciples what they should expect as His followers in a lost world, as He told them, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)

            And then Jesus prayed for His followers:

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. ...

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. ...

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

            John 17:9-18 (There is much, much more in this chapter—I would encourage you to pull out your Bible and read it all for yourself!)

            Our all-knowing Savior saw the pain that His followers would go through in this world, but He also saw the bigger picture, the eternal truth that gives this suffering meaning. He prayed for the glory of that gospel to be resplendent in their lives, that through the suffering, these saints would be sanctified to service, sent out into the dark world to carry hope through their pain.

            We will continue our look at these powerful verses next week.  Until then, let us echo our Savior’s prayers for the persecuted church.

Yours for the Body of Christ,

Gabriel J. Waddell
Executive Director

PS: Praise the Lord for His blessing on our fundraising banquet last week!  Over 550 people came to “Of Whom the World was not Worthy,” and were impacted by a presentation on the state of persecution worldwide.  Thanks to all those that came and responded to the call to action that was presented, and thank you for your prayers for this event!  Please continue to pray that its impact would steadily grow, through the prayers, giving, and volunteer efforts of those that attended.

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