Pray for the Persecuted: Deliverance from Death

The early followers of Jesus were persecuted for their faith throughout the Roman empire. All of the original disciples died due to persecution except for John. Persecution of believers is growing today. According to Open Doors in 2021 over 340 million Jesus followers faced persecution or discrimination because of their faith. There was an alarming 60% increase in deaths in 2019 and an additional 24% increase in 2020—when 5,898 believers were killed for their faith in Jesus.

Pray that God would protect believers, churches or organizations being attacked. Pray that the testimony
of martyrs would speak to many. Pray for the hundreds of thousands of Jesus followers forced to leave
their homes or go into hiding for faith-related reasons.

Persecution of other peoples also continues all over the world, especially against minority groups. For 35 years, the Chinese government persecuted its own people, forcing abortions on millions of women with its “one child” rule. Now it is using prisoners and minority peoples like the Uyghurs for its organ transplant industry (see amnesty.org).

Pray for those being killed or oppressed for their faith, religious beliefs or for being a minority people
group. Pray against the increasing use of technology for persecution, including video and digital
surveillance, contact-tracing apps and other technologies. Pray that the pandemic would not be used to
justify discrimination against anyone.

Although it is not the same as persecution, innocent people can become targets in border or sovereignty disputes. Two to three million people in Bangladesh were killed when it declared independence from Pakistan in 1971. Ukrainian civilians are being massacred in a
violent war to take their territory. Conflicts like these also result in millions of displaced people each year.

Pray for the many FPGs that are suffering through
generations of unending conflict, such as the peoples of
Afghanistan. Ask God to help families caught up in wars.

Pray for relief organizations and others working in these
areas: www.runministries.org/ministries, www.fai.org,
samaritanspurse.org.

Pray for Jesus to bring peace and healing into the
problems and suffering in the world and reveal to the
FPGs that He has conquered death.

with you for FPGs who have almost no opportunity to hear the Good News. Teach them to pray for people to go make disciples of all nations until there is no place left for the Good News to spread. Have them pray for those who are poor, persecuted, illiterate and without God’s Word. Encourage them to learn about different cultures, religions and FPGs to empower their prayers. And teach them about God’s love for all the families of the earth so they will also know how important and valuable every single person is to Him. Use these QR Codes to access a prayer guide and podcast leading children in prayer for FPGs: