Voice of the Martyrs estimates that 176,000 Christians passed into Christ’s arms in the past year through martyrdom.

Read that again.

Approximately 176,000 people like you, like my man, like my children, like my grandparents, mother, brothers, were tortured, imprisoned, murdered.

Not in the Dark Ages. Not in a century gone by.

Last year!

Why?

What was their crime?

They trusted Christ as their Savior.

When told to renounce their faith, to recant as it were, they did not.

Here I stand. I can do no other.

I wonder…

…were I so squeezed, what would I do?

My faith, my conviction, my heart tells me I would stand tall for my Lord, for not just the name but the person, the deity, the saving reality that is Christ.

I know the truth, that the only people who need fear are those who walk without Christ.

Yet, am I audacious enough to think that I could stand strong?

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

And then I remember.

It is His strength, not mine, that carries me safely to His arms.

Run the race and trust Him to catch you at the finish line.

Lord, hold us up. Teach us to entwine our lives so fully in You that when we are squeezed–and we will be squeezed–our lives are a reflection of your love. Strengthen us with your divine strength. Remind us, as you do, that the powers of Satan, the world, even death are nothing next to you. Uphold those who are persecuted in your name, and teach them and us patient endurance. Show us your will.

Gentle reader, you must know that the estimated number of Christians persecuted each year is growing in unbelievable numbers. Please, please pray, and teach your children to pray. This is a reality hard to imagine in our modern world, especially in the Americas, but it knocks, no, pounds at our door as well. Pray, pray, stand firm, and pray.

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