Several years ago we began the tradition of lighting
a candle on December first and praying every day in December for the persecuted
church. We find there is plenty of information available to us to pray both in
general for believers in different places in the world who are being
ill-treated for their faith, as well as quite specific prayers for individuals,
interceding for them by name.
“Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with
them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the
body.” (Hebrews 13:3)
How I have failed in this area of “remembering the
prisoners as though in prison with them” and the “ill-treated”. And what does
it mean to remember them? What are the implications of the word remember?
First, I notice Paul says to remember them as though
I was with them in prison. And he adds to that, “since you yourselves also are
in the body.” Since I would not like to suffer incarceration, I must consider
that they don’t either. Since I wouldn’t like being treated badly, are they any
different than me? No. No one likes being treated unjustly. It also may point
to the idea that the readers could have the same things happen to them. You and
I are as vulnerable to ill-treatment as others.
Paul told the Colossians to “remember my
imprisonment” (Col. 4:18). Certainly he meant for them to pray for him. He also
indicated in the book of Philippians (4: 15, 16) that few churches sent material
or financial gifts to him to meet his material needs. He wrote that it was a
great blessing when those believers sent whatever it was they sent to Paul to
meet his needs when he was in bonds in Rome. They, at least, hadn’t forgotten
Paul. Their act of remembering him moved them to action and even though they
were not wealthy, in fact, were in poverty, they gave to alleviate Paul’s
needs.
Certainly to remember those in prison and those
being ill-treated/persecuted for their faith in Christ means we need to keep them
before our minds, not forgetting about them. Certainly to remember those in
prison as though I were with them means praying for them because if I were in prison,
I’d be praying for myself and I’d sure hope others were praying for me too.
Remembering those in prison and persecuted starts
with prayer for them, but there are times when we have the opportunity to do
more, and we need to be ready to seriously consider what we can do.
I recall back around 1979 or 1980 when Randy and I
were a young married couple with little children (now we’re an old married
couple with grandchildren), my parents became sponsors for a young Ethiopian
man, Kiros, to come live in the United States because as a Christian his life
was endangered there in Ethiopia. He came and lived with my parents and became
a part of our family for the time he was there. That Christmas our family
portrait included all four biological children of my parents, our spouses and
children, my two adopted Korean brothers, and Kiros, our new
brother from Ethiopia. A way to remember those persecuted for their faith.
We only need to remain open, listen and watch for
the opportunities to present themselves, and be willing and ready to extend
ourselves as need and opportunity and our ability to meet those needs converge.
But what got me thinking and writing this blog was
Psalm 138: 7, 8. As I read it, I imagined this as a prayer of someone who is
being persecuted, perhaps thrown in prison for their faith in Jesus:
Though
I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your
hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and Your right hand will save me. The
LORD will accomplish what
concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting; do not forsake the works of Your hands.
It just sounded like something someone in such
straits might pray. The other day when I read Psalm 142 I thought of persecuted
Christians praying the same kind of things:
I
cry aloud with my voice to the LORD; I make my supplication with my voice to the
LORD. I pour out my complaint before
Him; I declare my trouble before Him. When my spirit
was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to
the right and see; for there is no one who regards me; there is no escape for me; no one cares for my soul.
I
cried out to You, O LORD; I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of
the living. Give heed to my cry, for I
am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of my prison, so
that I may give thanks toYour
name; the righteous will surround me, for You will deal bountiful with me.
When I read these
Psalms I thought of Saeed Abedini, an American pastor in a prison in Iran. I
thought of others imprisoned for their faith and still others who live every
day in fear and uncertainty because they are Christian.
We do not see persecution as Christians as God’s
will for us, yet the scriptures are full of evidence to the contrary. We
tend to think of God’s will as something that will make us secure and safe,
happy and fulfilled. Yes, I know the verses that say we should pray for all
men, including our government leaders, “so that we may lead a tranquil and
quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (I Timothy 2:1, 2). This kind of life
is certainly to be desired and we need to pursue peace as much as we can at all
times. But though we resist the idea of suffering for our faith, Jesus warned
of it and the other writers in the New Testament tell us not to be surprised at
it. Paul even goes so far as to say to the Philippian believers, “For to you it
has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to
suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and
now hear to be in me” (Philippians 1:29, 30). He told Timothy that “all who
desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).
The more I think of it, the more scripture references
come to mind! The New Testament was written to churches which were intimately
acquainted with persecution. If we open our eyes as we read, these verses jump
out at us and we see color and meaning to the words of Holy writ we never saw
before. So then keeping before our minds’ eye the suffering believers around
the world puts flesh and bone to suffering for the faith we read of in
scripture, which from our ivory towers can seem like a far removed theory.
(I am so convicted as I write these
things. In fact, usually whenever I write something it is from a sense of God
teaching me some aspect of truth. It is very personal and when I write it down
on paper—and it takes on a life of its own and sometimes takes me places I didn’t
know we were going—I am preaching to myself! You just get to listen in.)
We can be very grateful that our culture has been
greatly influenced by the Bible. Many things we take for granted and enjoy as
rights in our country slowly permeated the cultures because of the influence of
Biblical values which over centuries became ingrained in western European
civilization. No country has ever fully expressed God’s kingdom and no human
government ever will. Only when Jesus Christ comes and sets foot on earth again
we will see God’s kingdom truly and fully lived out.
But it is just because we have had so many benefits
that we must guard against the complacency Jesus and the writers of scripture
warn against. We have had it easy but we must become alert, be on our guard and
learn to stand against the encroaching evil. Jesus said to work the works of
God while it is day, because the night comes when no man can work (John 9:4).
Night is coming. Night has fallen in some places in
our world. So because we live in these bodies and understand our limitations,
we should be able to relate to our brothers and sisters whose lives are made difficult
by persecution, and remember those who are now suffering for their faith, both
those in prison and those who wake up every day and face every level of abuse,
discrimination and persecution because they name the Name of Jesus Christ. We
need to embrace their suffering as our own. My own (I’m preaching to myself).
So I light the candle and remember ….
