Tomorrow (Sunday) is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. 
We are blessed in that we can worship God and confess Jesus Christ as our Savior. Most everyone reading this blog can freely do that without fear of punishment. But it is easy to forget that there are parts of the world in which this is not possible. I checked out the IDOP web site and I was horrified to see in how many nations Christians are being persecuted and are victims of genocide.
Christians are still being martyred, people. In 2008. I have no words.
There is a list here of critical prayer requests, for nations whose Christians are particularly at risk. I have never even heard of some of these places. Some are in extreme turmoil, some are at high risk for persecution, for some genocide is already occurring or looms on the horizon under oppressive regimes.
I am just stunned. I sit here, in my comfy home in my comfy life and, sure, I have battles with sin and I fight with Satan’s attempts to part me from my Lord. But what’s the worst that’s going to happen to me if I profess my beliefs or if I try to witness? Maybe some embarrassment or some ridicule? So what? I get that for being fat! And short! Talking about the Lord and bringing Christ to nonbelievers is worth that easy! Certainly I’m not going to be persecuted or killed. I’m just… humbled? Shamed? Grateful? I don’t have the right words…
Please keep these heroes of Christianity in your prayers, on a daily basis if you can, but certainly let’s unite for this one day in prayer for them!
Thanks to Meditations and Confessions of a Homemaker, without whom I wouldn’t have known any of this.
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Thank you for posting this today, Willow. I also posted about the persecuted church. Our church had a special time of prayer for the persecuted church as well.
Have a peaceful evening.
Hi Marsha! I missed the morning service but there was nothing even mentioned about it during the evening service. I was a little disappointed but I figured they must have done it in the morning. I am still completely horrified by the realization that Christians are being persecuted and martyred. I have been, and will be, in prayer for these Christian brothers and sisters and, hard as it is, will pray for the oppressors as well.