I have a friend who lives in a country where it’s dangerous to be a Christian. I worried about him, sent him a note, and was deeply relieved to hear back from him today. I don’t know if I will ever see him again this side of glory, but it comforts me that today he and his family are safe. I want to share what he wrote to me in broken English because it’s deeply important. Please note that he doesn’t necessarily ask for protection (which would be my number one prayer), but he asks that we’d pray the believers wouldn’t be afraid. He says the enemy of our souls will use terror and fear to paralyze us. Here’s his note:

I send you many greetings in the name of our Father and LORD Jesus Christ and wish you all the best. As you heared from the news about the aggretion for attaching the Churches and Christian in COUNTRY and spcially in CITY, we as Christain in Midle east and spicialy in COUNTRY our life in threaten every day. So please i urge you to put us in your daily prayers that the LORD protect us from the hands of evil. Pray for the Christian that will stay firm in their faith, for protection, against fear becouse the tool of the enemy using the fear (Terror) to parallize the believers and then it’s easy to attach them from inside and after that from outside.

Would you pray for my friend? And would you commit this week to pray a different way for yourself? Not for mere protection, but that you wouldn’t succumb to fear, as fear is one of Satan’s greatest tools to intimidate us.

Whether bombs are detonated outside your home because you love Jesus, or you suffer rejection because of your faith, fear will immobilize you, keep you immobile. Fear not. By God’s grace, choose not to fear. We have a mighty, huge, amazing God. He is bigger than calamity. Trust Him today.

If you have a heart for the persecuted church, read my new friend Judy’s post here. And find out news about persecuted believers at Compass Direct News.