Horrors hit home

Today is a different day for Now, Disciple.

I’m going to ask everyone to pray.

Find a way to pray like never before.

Our lives here in the good ole’ yoo-ess-of-aay (USA) are luxurious.

We were born with the golden ticket for lifestyles.

Many – many, many – of our brothers and sisters in Christ were not.

Pray.

Jeremiah 29:12 (KJV) – “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.”

Around the world our brethren face hardships, persecution, and even the daily fear of death.

Yet they still worship God, preach Jesus and work to advance God’s Kingdom on this earth.

Forty-nine more Christ followers were recently lost in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Nay, not lost, they were slaughtered. Hacked up and beheaded with machetes.

Most of them were killed inside the church compound to which they had fled to be safe from radical religious killers who hunted them. Some were even killed inside the church building where they gathered to sing and testify to their faith in Christ.

Pray.

Ephesians 6:18 – (KJV) – “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”

But this mass slaying of innocent people, including nine children, has largely gone unnoticed.

This real-world horror story was buried in the news section of a so-called conservative media outlet, not considered as relevant as the half-naked hot girl promoting a jeans brand controversy.

Killing Christians isn’t good click bait for the media.

The USA has developed a very serious, twisted lust for what is salacious news, information that does no good.

And the murdered Christians – by the hundreds so far (just this year) – are ignored.

So, pray.

Pray like never before, disciple.

Psalm 18:6 (KJV) – “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.”

The world, this nation, our communities, even our churches … all are too quickly tuning out the harshness of this reality surrounding us as we bustle off to work or scoot around the corner to grab a sugary coffee drink.

We think we are immune, protected from the evil that reigns in this world.

I won’t even go into the horrible, despicable criminal acts being conducted in this country, even in our neighborhoods. Just look at all the crime up and down the major highways coming out of all size cities across the nation.

We have become desensitized to those things the Bible warns us of, and to what is actually happening around us.

Colossians 4:2 (KJV) – “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.”

Pray.

It’s the least we can do for those across the globe – on the front lines of Christianity – still singing and suffering for Jesus, despite the threat of hardship, persecution, and death.

Now, disciple …

“Pray without ceasing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (KJV)