I have spoken many times about places I go that I can’t mention.

One of those places is currently under attack from every angle. Although the people there have never known true freedom, what they are dealing with right now is more intense persecution than ever.

As I prepare to go back, I am excited for what God has planned. Each day I turn on CNN or read the New York Times, praying that my friends are okay—that they made it another day.

Recently a friend made a rather innocent statement about the church in America. He said he hated the fact that the church is always under oppression. He was referring to others being outspoken, sometimes in a hurtful manner, about our faith in Christ.

I couldn’t help but think about the difference in our concept of oppression versus that of our brothers and sisters abroad. To them, oppression isn’t inconvenience or verbal abuse—it’s when their enemy runs into their homes and drags their children into the streets.

Sometimes it mean’s mom or dad go to jail for professing in Christ as Savior. Other times it may be barrage of bullets sprayed into their living room, killing a family member.

Some of my friends are being injured, and some of them have lost loved ones when their churches have been burned to the ground, or husbands and wives have been shot at a funeral procession while paying their respects to those who have been killed in the fighting.

Pray for them and thank God for what we have here. The Gospel will spread no matter what happens, but every day there are more and more children dying, parents disappearing, and churches burning.

They aren’t asking for deliverance—they’re asking for strength.