Earnest Prayer Is Needed

I want to begin my blog this week with an urgent call to prayer for an imprisoned Iranian pastor who is under a sentence of death. His name is Yousef Nadarkhani, a husband and father of two small children. He was arrested in 2010 and convicted of converting from Islam to Christianity. His trial before an Iranian court resulted in his receiving a death sentence. His lawyers appealed his case to the the equivalent of the Iranian Supreme Court which in the fall of 2011 rejected that appeal. In January, the Court released Pastor Yousef to be hanged. As of today, that sentence has not been carried out, and the outcry from across the world is great for his release. Even representatives from both sides of the aisle in Washington have co-sponsored a resolution that will be presented to the United States Congress in a few days strongly requesting the Iranian government to release Pastor Yousef.

As I have been sharing this request with many these past few days, I was strongly reminded of the account in Acts 12 where Peter and James had been imprisoned for their faith. The Bible tells us that Herod Agrippa I had James put to death with the sword. Peter's trial and death could await the end of the Passover. I love verse 5: "So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him." I wonder how much "earnest prayer" is made by the church today? I am afraid that too often our prayers are weak and anemic, certainly not powerful and effective as the prayers of a righteous man should be (James 5:16).

As the church prayed, God worked, sending an angel to appear before Peter and telling him to get up. When Peter did, the text tells us that his chains fell off. Now that should have told Peter something. But Peter was still in a daze, thinking this was all a dream. Finally when he walked outside the prison, he came to his senses. He knew this was a miracle of God. His first thought was to go to the house where he anticipated people would be praying. I will not elaborate on what he found there, except to say that the people had prayed but had difficulty in believing that God would act on their prayers. Pretty common malaise among Christians today, by the way. We pray with so little faith to believe.

I have been praying that God would open those prison doors in Iran for Pastor Yousef and bring him forth so the world will know that it was God who had acted strongly on Pastor Yousef's behalf. Do you think that if this happened many of the Iranians might come to Christ?

Perhaps, as you are praying for Pastor Yousef and his family, you will be reminded of others whom you know that are in some type of bondage and need freed by God's grace. It might be a relationship or marriage. It might be a job situation that is difficult. It might be with neighbors or friends. It is time that you pray for God to open those prison doors and release the "peters" there. Our God is still able to do this. His power has not diminished one iota since the day He brought forth Peter from that prison in Jerusalem. Our God truly is mighty to save!

One other matter for prayer: This coming Monday, March 5, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Obama in Washington. From all indications, it will be a rather cool reception by the President. Word has come from several sources indicating that Israel has already informed our government that they will not be given an information concerning any pre-emptive strike Israel might take against the Iranian nuclear program. Please join with me in praying for this meeting on Monday that the Prime Minister might have courage and boldness to share the feelings of the Israeli people well and that our President might have a listening heart. I will keep you posted as to the outcome of that session.