Hebrews 13:3
New King James Version (NKJV)
3 Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.
I haven't blogged in a while but when I heard about an event that is spreading like wildfire through our social media outlets, I knew that even I could be used as a tool to help spread the word about Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American Pastor who has been imprisoned in Iran soley for being a Christian for well over a year now. Just one person can make a difference and this is my attempt to do so. Even one prayer lifted up in faith to our Great and Mighty God is powerful. Just think about the power of countless prayers lifted up in faith by many of His saints!
The story of Pastor Saeed has opened my eyes to the growing rate of persecution of the church and the body of Christ both here at home and across the world. I have tried to envision myself in the position of Naghmeh Abedini, Pastor Saeed's wife and I wonder what I would do if it were me in her situation. Her husband left the comforts of their home here in the United States to go and start an orphanage in his homeland, Iran and ended up being arrested and thrown into the notorious Evin Prison with an 8 year sentence simply because of his Christian faith. He has been imprisoned for over a year now and has suffered severe physical and mental abuse at the hands of his captors. He has recently been transferred to Rajaei Shahr, an even deadlier prison, where he is surrounded by extremely dangerous inmates that are mostly made up of rapists and murderers. His overall health is continuing to decline rapidly.
Naghmeh lives in Idaho with their two young children. When I think about her, I often wonder what I would do if I were in her situation. Who would I turn to? Who would care? Who would help? After my initial shock, I would be pleading and praying to God for my husband's release, I would be going to my church family, all of my friends and acquaintances, and maybe even the national television networks to get my story told. I would fight and do whatever it takes to get my husband back home safely. These are just a few of the many things that Naghmeh has been doing.
Now is our chance to help. Today is an opportunity for all of our voices to be heard. We long to see Pastor Saeed set free as well as any other Americans who are being detained and imprisoned based soley on their faith alone. We trust in God's sovereignty yet we know that we can be used by God and our prayers are powerful.
If you would, please take time today to pray for Pastor Saeed, his wife Naghmeh and their two children as well as all of our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. Our prayer today is to flood social media with Pastor Saeed's story and to bring to light the injustice of this horrific situation. If you feel led to help get the word out, please use the following hashtags #savesaeed & #freesaeed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any other social media outlet that you use today and any day going forward. Also pray that the President of the United States of America and the entire Administration would work diligently to bring Pastor Saeed and all other Americans being detained and imprisoned soley for their religious beliefs home.
Thank you for reading this and I am looking forward to seeing our prayers answered according to God's perfect will.
Hebrews 4:16
New King James Version (NKJV)
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
