(This devotion failed to go out on Sunday Nov 3, the day set aside to pray for the persecuted church because of a computer glitch. Please say a prayer for the persecuted today.)
Bearing the cross was about suffering and death for the early Christians. Many ended up: on a Roman cross, losing thier jobs and homes, in an arena of lions, burned at the stake, fried in oil, and a thousand tortures imagined from diabolical minds. It is still that for some of our brothers and sisters in regions of persecution. Pray for them to stand firm, persevere, and for their protection. They are our brothers and sisters. In that Great Day they will shine as the stars of the morning. We will not be worthy to stand along side them.
“Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated– the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.” Hebrews 11:35b-38 (NIV)
