Last Saturday we prayed for North Korea, for believers in the prison camps and for those living in secret in probably the worst place on earth for believer and unbeliever alike. In the face of severe deprivations and the horrors of that place, the prayers were that believers there would know and find resource in Christ to make it thru. . . that they could be a display of Christ in that place.
And yet prayer has a power and life if the Spirit directs. There can be a burden for others given by the Spirit where in the strength of Christ we can bear for others. There is a striving in prayer that brings resource and relief in Christ in the lives others. There is a ministry of prayer like that of Epaphras that bears fruit in the body. . . “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.” (Col. 4) Not just that a prayer list is prayed over but that there is a striving in prayer. . . a continual faithfulness of brother for brother that bears them in prayer not just during a meeting, but will carry them and their burdens with them till their burden is lifted and their circumstances change. And in that bearing of others, there can be life. Not just the help and resource to the one prayed for, but also life to the whole body of Christ.
M
aryam Rustampoor (27) and Marzieh Amirizadeh (30) were arrested in Iran last year for converting from Islam to Christianity. They spent 9 months in Evin Prison, suffering from untreated medical conditions. During that time, they appeared before a Revolutionary Court and there bore a faithful testimony with a boldness found in Christ. A portion of the transcript follows:During one tense moment in the questioning, Maryam and Marzieh made reference to their belief that God had convicted them through the Holy Spirit. The prosecutor, Mr. Haddad told them, “It is impossible for God to speak with humans.”
Marzieh asked him in return, “Are you questioning whether God is Almighty?”
Mr. Haddad then replied, “You are not worthy for God to speak to you.”
Marzieh said, “It is God, and not you, who determines if I am worthy.”
"We will not deny our faith," the women later responded to demands that they sign documents recanting their faith, "if we come out of prison, we want to do so with honor."
Two Christians women in an Iranian Revolutionary Court. . . bold witnesses for Christ. They were released from prison in December with the understanding that they could be called back at any time to face trial.
In November had the pleasure of being with a group of saints in Benton PA who came out on a cold evening to pray for persecuted brothers and sisters. It was a small church in a rural area and it was not in their regular schedule to meet in this way. We prayed for brothers and sisters who were suffering in places that did not offer much in the way of relief, sisters like Maryam and Marzieh. For most there that night they were unfamiliar with their stories and suffering and yet the prayers and tears that went up on their behalf were humbling.
Some weeks later when Maryam and Marzieh had been released, there was great joy in sending a note to the pastor telling of their release, and his joy in telling the body in Benton, and their joy in seeing prayers answered. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1 of all the troubles he had faced in Asia and of the despair he felt. . . of being under the sentence of death and yet finding in God the resource to go forward, that God would provide. He requests prayer from the body, “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” Paul asks for prayers from others so that when God helps thru the prayers, that praise to God would result. If some believers pray, God will act and help, and others will hear of what God has done and give praise to Him.
What life in things. . . out of the troubles of one comes the praise of many. The way of God in Christ is life. . . God has his purposes when He leads us into hardship. For Paul it was to learn to rely not on Himself but on God who rescues, and it is the same lesson for us. And yet there is a going thru things. . . if God leads into hardship, He provides in Christ the resource to make it thru. . . the hardship of the circumstances are not the end of the story. And His leading us into hard things is not meant only for us but that we would be a testimony of Christ to the body and in the world. Our joining in prayer with the sufferings of others in the body is meant for life in His body and a testimony in this world.
And yet how we let the unfamiliarity and our lack keep us from praying. . . how few Epaphras’s there are in the body. The Spirit will be life in our prayer and thru our prayers if we are faithful. Jesus said in John 15, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. . .” There is no following of Jesus without the cross and the lesson of the cross that everything is found in Christ and nothing in me. . . no learning of Christ without renouncing all. It is the same principle in the prayer life. . . that going to prayer for others is not about lists but about life. God provides the resource and the requests in the life of prayer of the one who wholly follows the Lord. What blessing in this life to be involved in the work of the Lord in this way. Remember to keep Maryam & Marzieh in prayer. . . on 13 April they were called back to court to face charges of apostasy. They are awaiting the decision of the court. Go to the Lord on their behalf and find life in Him in this.
