The Christians in Afghanistan are getting what they signed up for.
Believe me, I know how that sounds. Stick with me.
Yesterday, I was walking around in my yard and talking with the Lord as I often do, and here's how it went:
"Lord, you know my heart is heavy and so broken for my brothers and sisters in Afghanistan. I don't even know how to pray. Words seem so inadequate."
Then I sensed the Holy Spirit say,
"They are getting what they signed up for. They are not surprised by the persecution. They expected it."
Whoa.
As you can imagine, this realization was followed by a tsunami of thoughts and emotions. My mindset was radically altered, and my prayers drastically changed.
The reality is this – when men and women choose to leave the false god of Islam and follow the One true God, they know they are signing up for suffering, persecution, and possibly physical death by sword or by fire - YET THEY STILL CHOOSE TO FOLLOW JESUS.
In countries like ours, the invitation to follow Jesus doesn't usually come with a warning label. I mean, don't remember surrendering my heart to Jesus with the realization that someday I may have to surrender my physical life too, do you?
Yet the reality is, when we make the decision to follow Jesus, we are saying to Him, "I believe You laid down your life for me, and I am willing to lay down my life for You."
Here's the deal. Jesus spoke plainly about this. He did not hide the truth from His followers. Instead, he told them (and us) plainly:
"If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first." John 15:18
"If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." John 15:20
Will you allow me to ask you the same question I sensed the Holy Spirit asking me? "Do you know what you've signed up for?"
We've never dealt with persecution in this nation to the same extreme as our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and other parts of the world. But fellow believers, please listen – we need to be prepared. We need to know what we've signed up for.
Troubling news has come out of Afghanistan that every follower of Jesus should be aware of. As of today, there are reports that our nation's current administration and the State Department deliberately worked against rescue efforts to bring Christians out of Afghanistan.
Please read that again.
Please don't take my word for it; look it up for yourself (I will post one article in the comments). This post isn't meant to be political or to make a political statement. My point is simply to give another wake-up call to everyone who claims to follow Christ – we are living in an ever-increasing hostile environment toward Christianity. Are we ready for what we’ve signed up for?
None of us know what lies ahead for those who take a stand for Christ in America, but we have our heads in the sand if we think persecution isn’t on the rise (just ask people like Sean Feucht who takes the Gospel of Christ to the streets. His team regularly encounters threats and physical attacks. One of his team members even had a bucket of blood thrown on him from someone in the occult). Does that make you uncomfortable? Good. It does me too. It means God is shaking the Church. We can choose to stay comfortable or we can advance God’s kingdom by embracing what we signed up for and advance forward.
So what should we do? We can start by praying -
1. We can pray for our brothers and sisters to experience the peace of Christ, profound courage in the face of persecution, and yes, to experience the joy of the Lord until their last breath.
We know that the Lord Jesus stood by Paul in prison and told him to have courage (Acts 23:11). So let's pray that the eyes of our brothers and sisters will see that He is standing by them too.
2. We can pray for the enemy.
For whatever reason, this one seems to trip up a lot of us. We associate praying for someone with praying for blessings. Have you read some of David's prayers in the Psalms as he prayed for his enemy?! Bottom line is this – we don't want anyone to go to hell and be separated from God for eternity – not even our worst enemies. So, we can pray that God will do whatever it takes to bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ. Remember, it took seven years in a field thinking he was a cow for the wicked and prideful King Nebuchadnezzar to repent. Do I think it's okay to pray for God to send wicked and evil men "to the field?" You bet I do. We can also pray for God to "uproot, tear down, demolish and destroy" the enemy's plots, plans and schemes (Jeremiah 1:10). It's time for God's daughters to rise up and pray bold prayers that move the hand of Almighty God.
And one more thing I’d like to suggest we should do. We can follow what the Lord told Jeremiah to do –
“Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1:17-19
We can decide today to stand firm when the day of evil comes, just like God's Word tells us to do.
Be encouraged, sisters. The days may be dark right now, but the Lord warned us ahead of time so we could be prepared. So, let's get ourselves ready and go to battle. Victory is ours in Christ Jesus!
And yes, HE IS WORTH IT, even until our very last breath.