Called to Pray

“If one member suffers, we all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” — 1 Corinthians 12:26

Next Sunday, November 6, 2016, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. We will be joining with churches around the world next Sunday to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ who are imprisoned, tortured, harassed, beaten, and killed for their faith. For the fourteenth year in a row, the worst persecutors of Christians in the world is North Korea. According to a pastor of an underground church in North Korea, the North Koreans are taught not only to hate Christians, but also to fear them. They are taught that Christianity is like opium: addictive and destructive. They are taught that Christians kill people and suck the blood out of their bodies. Many Christians are imprisoned, forced to carry out long days in labor camps. The Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that there are thousands of Christians suffering from extremely harsh torture in labor camps and in some cases, Christians are hung on a cross over a fire, sometimes run over and crushed by a steamroller. Despite the persecution, Christianity continues to grow in the restricted country. Open Doors reports that there are 300,000 Christians hidden among North Korea's population of 26 million. So what can we do? We can pray for those persecuted. Can we, together this week remember to pray for the persecuted? Can we, together fast one meal every day this week and earnestly seek him? Let us pray that God will deliver them from wicked and evil men (2 Thessalonians 3:1-3).