How to pray for persecuted Christiansecuted Christians
 1. Praise God that He is all-knowing, that in Christ Hehimself experienced shame, pain and agonising death.
Thank Him for His promise: “I will never leave you nor
forsake you” (Josh 1.5).
2. Pray that all governments will work for justice and
righteousness. While Jesus says that in this world we will
have trouble, He does not say that it will always be present
in every place.
3. Pray that leaders of liberal democracies will use their
influence to find ways to reduce, if not end, persecution in
countries where it occurs. Just as Paul appealed to Caesar
to seek justice, so we can appeal to secular governments.
4. Pray for the growth of the Church where persecution
flourishes, remembering that “the blood of the martyrs is
the seed of the Church”.
5. Pray for strength and courage for those experiencing
persecution, and for peace that only God can bring. Thank
Him that His grace is sufficient for their needs (2 Cor 12.9).
Pray that their faith will not fail, but that their suffering will
draw them closer to Him and increase their faith.
6. Pray that the Holy Spirit will enable persecuted
Christians to forgive and love their persecutors (Matt
5:44) and that their Christ-like reactions will have an
impact on their persecutors.
7. Pray that the Lord will be at work in the hearts of
those who currently persecute our sisters and brothers
to bring them to a saving knowledge of Himself, as He
did with Saul of Tarsus.
8. Thank the Lord for the privilege of entering into the
sufferings of our sisters and brothers, remembering that
“if one part [of the body] suffers, every part suffers with it”
(1 Cor 12.26).
9. Pray that Christians who are experiencing
persecution will not lose the ability to accept or trust
genuine approaches from those who have formerly
persecuted them, as when the believers in Jerusalem had
to accept the reality of Saul’s conversion. Pray that the
Lord will give discernment, and relief from unnecessary
fears.
10. Pray for yourself and for persecuted Christians to
be spiritually ready for whatever tomorrow brings, be
that persecution, respitefrom suffering, or Christ’s return.
© Barnabas Fund 2007
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