Last Thursday Steven Sebyala was in town. He invited the interns and I to spend some time with him. I gladly accepted. I have a personal rule of never turning down an opportunity to hang with someone who's 40 year ministry goal is to win one billion souls for Jesus.
We had an awesome time. He was staying with a Ugandan friend, Sam Kewasi, who lives in Southfield. Sam's wife told us her amazing story.
As a teenager she was imprisoned in Kampala by Idi Amin. I actually saw the prison this past April. Her crime was being a Christian. That was the official charge.
While in prison, she and the other believers she was imprisoned with got word that Amin's Vice President was on his way to execute them. They began to pray. As they were praying his caravan was interrupted and his itinerary was changed. A few days later they were all unexpectadly released.
She told us that the one thing that kept her faith strong during those months in prison was the knowledge that people around the world were praying for her. She thought about those prayers everyday. She literally felt them. And she encouraged us to prioritize our prayers for the persecuted church around the world.
I've often felt discouraged while praying for persecuted believers because my prayers didn't feel specific enough. I've never known the names of prisons or inmates. For some reason praying generally for all the persecuted believers in Sudan didn't feel powerful to me. But hearing this story changed my thinking. Sam's wife encouraged us to continue praying for persecuted Christians. She actually mentioned Sudan specifically. I can still hear her words.
An imprisoned believer somewhere in the world can feel my prayers for him. Some disciple in a humid cell is depending on me to pray.
Maybe Paul was on to something.
Deep!
Posted by: Jerome | June 05, 2007 at 12:07 PM
Wow... that's powerful, and challenging. Thanks
Posted by: Andrea Gideon | June 05, 2007 at 01:31 PM