International (MNN) – Followers of Jesus have been persecuted for their faith since His crucifixion. But persecution didn’t start there. From the time of Cain and Abel, those who obey God have met with suffering and even death.

Voice of the Martyrs Canada supports persecuted Christians and helps them to remain firm in their faith. Stephen Wesley explains their needs today.

“What we’re seeing happening is that in the persecuted church, there is a need for understanding why persecution is happening, what they are going through, and how God has used persecution to bless and strengthen the church,” says Wesley.

“Where there’s persecution, it’s primarily for the reality of their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.”

Last month, Chinese authorities raided Beijing Zion Church and arrested a dozen people. Most were released the same day, but one church elder was charged with “organizing illegal gatherings” and kept in custody for a 14-day administrative detention. Similar stories regularly occur in countries with limited religious freedoms.

Persecution is more common and severe in some areas of the world, but it is a shared experience of all disciples of Jesus. On the last night with them before his death, Jesus told his disciples, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (John 15:20).

Wesley says, “We have to recognize that if I’m going to look like Jesus in the world, all those who live godly in Christ Jesus, will suffer persecution.”

So how do we respond and support fellow Christians enduring persecution? Wesley says we can start with prayer. Jesus set the example when he prayed for his followers and for all those to come:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:20-23).

“We need to pray for unity,” says Wesley. “We need to love one another as Christ has loved us.”

Jesus gave this same command to His disciples the night before He was crucified (John 15:12).

Wesley says, “The world is looking at us. They are hearing our message. But then they’re saying, ‘Am I seeing in your activity the reality of what you’re teaching?’”

To pray further for the persecuted, use this resource from VOM Canada. Want to learn more about what the Bible teaches about persecution? Read this book.

 

Header photo courtesy of VOM International.