God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Matthew 5:10
Why would anyone persecute Christians? The centre of all their beliefs is love! No one can hate people of love. Except of course, they do. In fact, this is one of the things that catches most new Christians off guard. They decide to follow Jesus and are super excited to tell all their mates and then are surprised when they don’t want to hear about it. Or when they start making fun of you.
Following Jesus has always had backlash. Over 380 million Christians face high levels of persecution and discrimination – that’s one in seven believers worldwide. For them, the persecution is not social, it is severe and life-threatening.
Open Doors shares powerfully about the persecuted church and encourages us to pray for other believers who are facing persecution. Here are a few that they highlight:
Leah was abducted from her school seven years ago. She is still being held because she refuses to deny her faith in Jesus.
Pastor Myint (name changed) and his family had to flee attackers who burnt down their home.
Joo Min (name changed) escaped the darkest place on Earth - and chose to return to share the Gospel.
To become a Christian does not mean that your life gets easier, it means you have stepped into the battle. There is always push back and challenges to your faith. Whenever you experience persecution of any kind, Jesus says that there is a Kingdom blessing that is yours.
