Stand With The Persecuted April 2016

Stand With The Persecuted Sunday
Sunday, April 17, 2016

“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” Hebrews 13:3

The Family Research Council is calling on Christians to observe April 17, 2016 as Stand with the Persecuted Sunday. Please make time during your weekend to spend time in prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters internationally. While believers face growing hostility in America, we have experienced nothing like the mistreatment, displacement, violence, rape, crucifixions, and beheadings experienced by followers of Jesus in Iraq, Syria, Libya, other parts of the Middle East and beyond. FRC is honored to partner with ministries like Open Doors USA, The Voice of the Martyrs, Institute on Religion and Democracy, In Defense of Christians, Christian Solidarity Worldwide-USA, International Christian Concern, 21st Century Wilberforce, and others who are highlighting the plight of the persecuted.

Pray for the Persecuted. Lift up your brothers and sisters in Christ as they endure unbearable persecution. Paul asked the believers to “Remember my chains” (Col. 4:18). However, do not just pray generically for the persecuted church, pray specifically. Visit the websites of ministries which are pleading the cause of the persecuted and which post stories of men, women, boys and girls who are suffering for Jesus. Read the words and listen to the testimony of the suffering and pray for them, by name. Prayer is a vital way to encourage our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world.

Pray also for their persecutors as Jesus commanded (Matt. 5:44), that they realize that it is Jesus they are persecuting (Acts 9:4-5), and repent and come to know the grace, forgiveness, and love we know.

Family Research Council RESOURCES

Here are a number of helpful resources that you or your church may wish to use:

We also recommend resources from the following partners in this emphasis:

Prayer Guide:

1. Pray for God’s people and the advance of the Gospel in the lands where they are being persecuted. May they receive courage to confess Christ in the face death or the death of their loved ones (Ps 144:1-15; Eph 6:18-20; Heb 13:3; 1 Pet 4:1-2; Rev 2:10).

2. May God’s people everywhere do all we can to help, by prayer and generous giving, to provide food, medicine and relief to the hundreds of thousands who are in desperate need. May we support Christian organizations that are faithfully and effectively providing ministry on the ground among the refugees and in war-torn areas (Ps 82:3; 2 Cor 8:14).

3. May those who flee their homes under threat to life and limb, receive angelic assistance, supernatural hope, faith to endure and grace to care sacrificially for their fellow refugees (Ps 91:4; Heb 13:6).

4. May the governments of peace-loving nations use the authority and power God has given them to end the genocide against Christians and other religious minorities, far too-long underway (Ps 82:3 NIRV).

5. May churches send ministers, medical professionals, and trained volunteers to help the raped, pillaged and wounded to find healing – spiritual, mental and physical – especially the victims of unspeakable horrors, both young and old (Mal 4:2; Jn 13:35).

6. May God give supernatural healing to the hearts and minds of those who have endured the murder of family and friends, some before their very eyes. May God heal and restore the women and girls raped, abused and discarded, their innocence robbed, their spirits crushed, their dreams for the future destroyed, their lives shipwrecked. May the peace of God fill their hearts together with hope for future and strength to stand amid the present ashes of devastation (Ps 147:3; Is 41:9-13; 61:1-4).

7. May civilian and military authorities fight sacrificially to protect persecuted Christians and despised minorities. May the valiant arise, fight and defeat the murderous oppressors (Ps 82:3; Pr 31:9).

8. May our prayers encourage the souls of the persecuted who feel isolated and abandoned. May our support help them to know that they are not forgotten (Phil 2:3-4).

9. Amid this historic world crisis, may believers in America and elsewhere be delivered from preoccupation with their own needs and interests and find God’s heart to comfort and care for His persecuted children. May we be His hands and feet to minister compassion to our desperate brothers and sisters. May we be mindful of our Lord’s admonition: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Mt 25:40 KJV; 1 Cor 12:26; Heb 13:3).

10. May we recognize the urgency of the hour and that our time to pray and to act is NOW! May Christians in the West rise to a radically new level of faith and obedience as we pray for our brothers and sisters without ceasing (Jas 2:14-17).

11. May God’s people who must suffer find supernatural joy in Christ amid their suffering and may those who face certain death for their faith be acutely aware that a crown of life awaits them. (Ps 9:9-10; 2 Cor 12:10; Jas 1:12; Rev 12:11).

Finally, let us pray for our enemies, those who like Saul of Tarsus go about persecuting Christ. Like Saul, they are blinded by their indoctrination in evil ideology, deceived to believe they are doing God’s will by killing Christians, Jews and others. May they encounter miracles that open their eyes to the Lordship of Christ. May the Holy Spirit convict them of sin, righteousness and judgment. May the fearless witness of Christians – their godly character and supernatural love – magnify the contrast between Jesus Christ and the god of hate they serve. May God give courageous Christians heaven-sent strategies to reach these lost men and women who are at war against Christ and all who will not submit to their evil ideology. May God end this terrible genocide, but may he use what has happened to cause multiplied millions of Christians, Jews, Muslims and those of every faith to look heavenward and may God propel a vast, worldwide gospel harvest of souls. May God raise an army of evangelists in our own nation who will preach the gospel fearlessly until His return! (Mt 5:44; Lk 6:27-36; Jn 16:8; Acts 4:9-12, 29)