Hebrews Thirteen Three Sunday

I just want to take some time each Sunday morning to post about and pray about my brothers and sisters in hostile nations. My heart is this: Every Sunday (or almost every Sunday) I take my sons to worship Jesus with our friends without any fear of ANYTHING! Oftentimes while I'm singing or taking in the teaching of the Word I look around and I get pictures in my mind of huddle up peoples in Iran or North Korea, China or Indonesia, meeting in secret to sing with their friends, songs of praise to Jesus and to hear the treasured Word of God.

It's my prayer that we in America would be so united in spirit with Christ's body around the world that when we worship through song and the teaching of the Word we would be remembering those in prison and those who are mistreated for worshipping Jesus.

So this morning as I get ready to go to church I'm thinking of the body in North Korea.

The Persecution Blog has this post concerning North Korea:

Today I wanted to share with you an article from Voice of America
has an article detailing the persecution in North Korea. Here's a snip from that
article.

Religious and human rights groups estimate that
150,000 to 200,000 people are believed to be held in political prison camps in
remote areas of North Korea, some for religious reasons. Prison conditions are
harsh, and refugees and defectors who have been in prison said that prisoners
held on the basis of their religious beliefs generally are treated worse than
other inmates.

Rather than allowing for religious freedom, the North
Korean regime continues to promote a cult of personality surrounding leader Kim
Jong-il and his father. The practice remains an important ideological
underpinning of the regime, at times resembling tenets of a state religion.

If you are not already praying for North Korea on a daily
basis, please begin. Can you imagine what that country will look like once
Christians have their freedom. It could be amazing! Pray much, pray up and pray
often.

In my free monthly newsflyer from VOM I read about North Korea. As I read I thought, "Wow! Here I thought the stories like that of Daniel under the captivity of Nebuchadnezzar were thousands of years old. They're not! They're present day!" In North Korea, when people walk by a giant statue (idol) of their dictator and his father, they are expected to bow in worship before it. Their children are taught hymns about the dictatorship and every house is expected to hang pictures of their rulers on their walls, idolizing them. I read about one woman's story of coming to know Jesus through the prayers of her uncle in China. And the ensuing torture she endured at the hands of the government in prison simply for reading a Bible in secret in her own home.

There are more like that woman still in North Korea today. This very hour they may be singing and praying in prison just like Paul and Silas and they may be being tortured and abused too.

Let's sing with them and pray with them this morning! For we are ONE body!

Father, I pray that You would stir the hearts of the guards and captors who abuse and torture your saints in prisons in North Korea today. I pray you would stir their hearts to see Your power and Your love for them. I pray You would so reveal Yourself to those who are mistreated that they would be able to endure withs songs and with prayer and not loose heart. Be their food. Be their comfort. Be their pain relief. Be their friend. Be their light. Be their confidence!

Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent
men, who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually. -
Psalm 140:1

****Resources to make you aware:

• Go here to join a prayer campaign for North Korea.
• Go here to sign up for a 10 minute prayer slot for North Korea.
• Go here to sign up for weekly email updates for the prayer campaign for North Korea.
• Go here to sign up for Letters from America and send a letter to be broadcast by radio from South Korea into North Korea.

This is an amazing work! Here's a video about it:


Thanks to Open Doors for all this wonderful information and oppurtunity concerning North Korea.