Speaking for the Voiceless

Yesterday I joined the blog network of Open Doors USA. It is an organization that ministers to the persecuted church around the world, in places like the Middle East, India, China, and Korea. They raise awareness of the tragedy of persecution and gain support for those Christians who are targeted for their faith, or prohibited from practicing their faith in their own communities. As a member of the blog network I will occasionally write about those around the world who are suffering for their faith in Christ and about what we can do to pray for, write to, and support the persecuted church. As we speak up and raise awareness of what is happening on the other side of the world, hopefully we will see things change and will see freedom become a reality for those behind the closed doors of oppression and persecution.

I would ask that you join me in praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ who do not have the freedoms that we have in this country – the freedom to read the Word of God any time we want; the freedom to worship in a building or in public; the freedom to pray openly; the freedom to share our faith with our neighbors, friends, families, and even total strangers; and the freedom to be called Christians, followers of Christ, believers. We enjoy those freedoms while others in closed countries can only wish to have them and pray fervently for them. Instead, they must worship God in secret, they must share only pages of the Bible, they must sing praises in whispers, and they must keep their faith to themselves for the sake of their lives, their businesses, and their families.
While you are lifting these suffering believers up in prayer, I also encourage you to ask yourself a question: “Do I take for granted the freedoms that I have as a Christian in this country?” I think that, sadly, the answer for most of us is yes. We do take our freedoms for granted. We don’t read our Bibles as often as we can or should. Some of us may attend a church service weekly, but many Christians don’t. And when is the last time any of us shared our faith with someone else? We tend to keep our faith to ourselves, only going so far as to invite a person to a special church event where a prize will be given away or when there is going to be a concert or “revival.” With all the freedoms we enjoy in America, why aren’t we doing more? Why are we not more spiritually developed, more bold in our witness, more unashamed in our faith? Tragically, we have taken all of our freedoms and allowed them to go to waste, replacing a passion for Christ with a passion for football or movies or food or shopping.

As Christians in America, we need to take advantage of the freedoms that we enjoy here. We need to be sharing our faith, telling the world about the Christ who saved us. We need to be spending time in God’s Word, growing in the knowledge of God. And we need to be praying for the world around us, that they too would one day experience salvation. One day these freedoms may be gone, taken away forever. What will we do then? Complain and beg God for a release from the oppression? Or live comfortably, feeling justified in our lack of effort or passion for Christ, telling ourselves that even if we wanted to we couldn’t share our faith or publicly follow Christ. How sad…

Please, pray for the persecuted church. And please, live for Christ here and take advantage of the freedoms you have been given, before it’s too late.