Devotion
Dear Subscriber,
Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are unable to continue the weekday Lift Up Your Heart devotionals.
It is our hope that in the future we may be able to resume providing the devotional, or at least, have a series at particular points in the Anglican Liturgical Calendar.
As you will appreciate there has been considerable time and effort involved in producing the devotionals thus far.
Much of that work has been done voluntarily and we want to thank our writers, recorders and translators for providing such a wonderful service over the course of these past months.
We continue to pray that the devotions will have caused you to regularly turn to the Scriptures and seek the counsel of our great God for your daily life.
The Lord be with you.
Archbishop Ben Kwashi
General Secretary
3rd April 2020
Those who previously were uninformed about – or closing their eyes to – the severity of what Christians around the world face have found it hard to avoid reality in recent years. Groups like ISIS,...
2nd April 2020
Yesterday’s devotions focused on Hungary, an advocacy partner for the Suffering Church. I mentioned their museum exhibit, Cross-in-Fire. The exhibit is both spiritually and artistically powerful....
1st April 2020
Advocacy partners amongst fellow churches and groups here at home help persecuted Christians. So do partners amongst fellow churches on the ground where persecution occurs. And then God does...
30th March 2020
I discovered on Facebook today (writing on Friday, March 27) that it is my friend Alexander Ogorodnikov’s birthday. I’d already been planning to include Alexander, “Sasha,” in my devotions. So this...
30th March 2020
In the remaining days I have left to share my thoughts on advocacy for persecuted Christians with you, let’s explore some additional characteristics that make an effective advocate.
27th March 2020
Yesterday I shared the story of Iranian Christian martyr Bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr. I also mentioned the friend for whom he, a persecuted Christian himself, became an advocate: Mehdi Dibaj. Today I...
26th March 2020
In these Lenten devotions focused on the Suffering Church we have seen powerful Biblical examples of advocacy. Those examples are in the Hebrew Scriptures through the stories of Abraham, Moses,...
25th March 2020
I talked about the role of praying the Psalms in a previous one of these Lenten devotions. As advocates and intercessors for the Suffering Church, we can see the Psalms as a great aid to spiritual...
24th March 2020
This past Sunday, March 22, Archbishop Ben Kwashi and Archbishop Foley Beach issued a call to GAFCON to pray and fast to intercede against the spread of COVID-19; the locusts moving across East...
23rd March 2020
Jesus, The Advocate, is our model for advocacy. And Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us as another Advocate. Jesus calls Him “another comforter,” but as many have said, sometimes God comforts us in our...
20th March 2020
This Lenten devotions series is unusual, I admit it. Is it appropriate to talk about advocacy – whether political or social – during this Holy season?
Is it proper to take inventory of our failures...
19th March 2020
Jesus, the perfect example of advocacy for us as we seek to be advocates for our persecuted brothers and sisters, revealed how much God cares about justice. “Will not God bring about justice for His...
18th March 2020
As followers of Jesus, forgiven and redeemed by His blood, and already embarking on the Eternal life we will experience more fully in Heaven, we are instructed by Paul to be “imitators of Christ.”...
17th March 2020
For today’s devotions, coming on the day we celebrate Patrick, Bishop and Apostle to the Irish (461 AD), it may look as if I’m taking a detour from talking about the Suffering Church – but not really...
16th March 2020
Last Friday we looked at the overall plight of Christians in Pakistan. Christians are oppressed, persecuted, arrested, and killed. In an ideological sense, Christians are dhimmi – second class...
13th March 2020
In a population of over 180 million, Pakistan’s Christians make up only about two percent. They’re disenfranchised, harassed, and persecuted. Many suffer from grinding poverty. Education and...
12th March 2020
Long before the rest of the world began getting insomnia thinking about “Nuclear Iran,” Christians in that Islamic Republic lost more than just sleep. For decades, Iranian Christians have lost human...
11th March 2020
There is one example of advocacy from the Hebrew Scriptures that is quite different from all others. It’s the only one that actually uses a word that can be translated as “advocate.” It is also one...