Every November, Christians in America specifically and vividly honor those Christians who suffer for their faith, even christening the first or second Sunday of the month as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
And to help Christians pray on this day — and every day — various organizations, such as Voice of the Martyrs and Open Doors, regularly publish prayer requests for those who risk discrimination, imprisonment and even death.
Yet despite these dangers, these Christians never ask comfortable Christians to demand God deliver them from their suffering. They instead primarily ask for strength to endure well and love their enemies.
And they might even say they’re praying for the comfortable Christians.
With the dawning of the holiday season, particularly when people remember to thank God for their comforts, I pray Christians can thank God for the examples of these persecuted Christians. I pray they’ll stir me to entrust those comforts to God, and if He decides to take them away, I pray I will rejoice in the opportunity to glorify His name, like the heroes in the persecuted church and the heroes of Hebrews 11, who “had trial of cruel mocking and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world was not worthy).”
Verse 1:
This world tries to tempt us to earn its applause
To seek first its fame, or suffer the cost
But God loves the sufferer who loves faithfully
So I’ll live so this world’s not worthy of me
Chorus:
Worthy to be unworthy
Prepared to pay the price
Giving up all for His glory
A living sacrifice
Embracing a faith that follows
Heroes who laid down their lives
Worthy to be unworthy
Prepared to pay the price
Verse 2:
The saints who are beaten, hunted and slain
Will shine in white robes and gloriously reign
But until their King comes and wipes tears away
I’ll pray for them always that they would remain
Chorus:
Worthy to be unworthy
Prepared to pay the price
Giving up all for His glory
A living sacrifice
Embracing a faith that follows
Heroes who laid down their lives
Worthy to be unworthy
Prepared to pay the price
Verse 3:
And when this world hates me, when it condemns
By faith through God’s grace, I’ll endure to the end
I’ll seek first the Kingdom, no matter the cost
I’ll stand for the truth, and pick up the cross
Chorus:
Worthy to be unworthy
Prepared to pay the price
Giving up all for His glory
A living sacrifice
Embracing a faith that follows
Heroes who laid down their lives
Worthy to be unworthy
Prepared to pay the price
Learn more about the persecuted church at https://idop.org, https://www.persecution.com/ and https://www.opendoorsusa.org/
baumofchet@gmail.com
