Myanmar

[Chrysostom]

Your thanksgiving for the gospel still spreading in Myanmar has been heard, and we join you in giving thanks to God for it. You speak truly that in the villages and towns and cities there, where the military is corrupt and where believers face extremist attack as our brothers and sisters do in Africa and the Middle East, the church is still going forward. And as you say, the same is true in India and in Japan and Korea, in Pakistan and across Africa and in many other places where the message of salvation through Jesus Christ alone is still being preached. We thank God that His word is not bound.

You also speak a hard truth about those of us in richer nations, that we have grown fat and comfortable and have lost vigor, consumed by our own anxieties and insecurities. The Scriptures warn us of this very danger, that daily wars and destructions surround us and the wrath of God encloses us as in a net, yet we live as if we were secure, making our hands ready for gain and not for helping others, anxious about wealth and not about the soul. Your remedy is the right one, steady prayer and faith and worship.

Prayer is a great weapon. The affairs of every day are a fight and a tempest, with many rocks on which the boat may strike. Therefore we need prayer early in the morning and by night, first making God favorable to us, so that we may go through the day without shipwreck. Do not think you have no need of prayer, for even those who are strong need the prayers of others. As Peter was delivered from prison when fervent and united prayer was made for him, so we believe God hears the unanimous prayer of His people now.

Let us pray together.

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have heard us always through Your Son. We thank You for every church in Myanmar and in the other nations of Asia and Africa where Your gospel is bearing fruit under pressure and persecution. Protect Your people there, give them courage to preach Christ crucified and risen, and deliver them from corrupt rulers and from violent men. Establish them in thorough security and liberty in You, and give rest to all who labor and are heavy laden and anxious.

We ask also for ourselves in places of comfort, that You would awaken us from sleep. Forgive our coldness and our lack of fervent desire to help. Teach us to be watchful and to seek You with a father's heart for our brothers and sisters far off, remembering that love dares to pray for others even when we feel too small to draw near. Keep Your Spirit with us, that we may continue in grace and in faithful worship, and that we may use what You have given us to aid the needy and to support the spread of Your word.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our only hope of salvation, who invites all who are in sorrow and sin to come to Him and find rest. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for bringing this burden before the Lord with such honesty and care. It is encouraging to hear thanksgiving for the way the gospel is still advancing even where corruption is deep and where believers face violent opposition. God has promised that the good news of His kingdom will be preached in all the world, and then the end will come, and what you are describing is evidence that He is still building His church and has not finished His work. He is faithful to sustain His people under pressure and to open doors for His word even in hard places.

Your reflection on life in wealthier nations is also important. Comfort can easily make us dull and self focused, and anxiety and insecurity can consume the very energy that should be given to love and service. The remedy you named is right. Steady prayer, faith, and worship are how God recalibrates our hearts. Prayer is not meant to inform God of what He does not know, and it is not a tool to persuade Him to do our will. It begins with relationship. When we can truly say Father, we are praying as His children through Jesus Christ. Apart from that relationship the only prayer God seeks is the cry for mercy, God be merciful to me a sinner, which brings us into His family and opens the way to real fellowship with Him.

The purpose of prayer is to see His will done on earth as it is in heaven. It moves in a kind of circle. God births His purposes in our hearts, we echo them back to Him in prayer, and He then does what He has long desired to do but will not do apart from our willing consent, because He does not violate the choice He has given us. That is why we are told to continue in prayer and to watch with thanksgiving. Persistence is not to change God's mind but to bring us into harmony with Him, so the door is open for Him to act.

Scripture also reminds us that the fervent, heartfelt prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. It is not length or eloquence that matters, for the prayers recorded in the Bible are often short. It is sincerity from the heart, often born out of need and desperation, offered in faith. Like Elijah, who was a person just like us, we can pray earnestly and see God answer according to His will. Prayer in this sense takes several forms. It is worship, standing in awe of who God is. It is quiet communion, sometimes without words at all, where the Spirit brings assurance and peace and anxiety lifts. And it is intercession, laboring fervently for others, agreeing together that God will do His work in them.

Prayer does not take the place of wise action, it comes before it. We pray and then we watch and act as God leads, whether that means giving, sending, encouraging, or serving in practical ways. Prayer without obedience would be presumption, but prayer that leads to faithful steps is how God wants us to live.

So keep praying steadily as you have described, with worship and faith. Bring before the Father the believers in those villages and cities who face corruption and attacks, that they would be protected, strengthened, and bold to keep preaching Christ. Pray that the advance of the gospel would continue in many nations where it is still spreading. And pray for those of us in more comfortable settings, that God would awaken us from spiritual dullness, free us from anxiety, and give us a fervent desire to help and to seek first His kingdom. As you pray, you will find that God ministers comfort to your own heart and gives joy in seeing Him answer.