Hunger for God

There is a hunger for God and His word in places on this earth where the freedom to worship Him is not permitted. There are places where people will pray, listen and worship God for days, and continue to want more. 

At the Voice of the Martyrs Advance Conference this past weekend, Brother Kamran from Iran shared that he instructed his church not to invite any more people because there were already too many to attend. He said that 15 to 20 people is ideal for an underground church. They kept inviting people anyway. 

He went on to say that church members wanted to meet two hours before the service to pray at 7:00 PM, and by 1:30 AM he had to tell them that he had to stop preaching for the night.  

Sarah Liu said something similar about China. She said that there is a famine in China. She's talking about a famine for God's word. She referenced Amos 8:11:

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—

not a famine of food or a thirst for water,

but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord."

The Bible is precious to Chinese believers.

There is a hunger for God in places where it is dangerous to be a Christian. According to Operation World, Iran has the fastest growing church in the world. Brother Kamran said that for every five people he shared his faith with in Iran, two gave their lives to the Lord. Sarah Liu said there are 120,000,000 believers in China. 

How can this occur in regions of the world where freedom to worship God is forbidden and Bibles are illegal? Brother Kamran attributes it to government oppression. He said, "the more the government pushes for power, the more the people are broken. The more the people are broken, the more open to the Gospel they are."

We tend to take advantage of our freedom to worship God and to share the love of Jesus here in America. An hour and a half church service on Sunday morning is often times too long for our busy, active lives. Sharing Christ with others is not a normal part of the American Christian's life. Reading the Bible is not important enough to be part of our daily routine. Christians who pray are tagged as "prayer warriors" because even prayer has become abnormal to the American Christian lifestyle. Our nation is in chaos in large part because of these very things. We are losing our religious freedom bit by bit and soon we too may live under government oppression.

 

We are blessed to have men and women like Brother Kamran and Sarah Liu who live in parts of the world where oppression and persecution are a typical part of the Christian's life. We can learn from them how to have daring faith in a world where evil is becoming more and more prevalent. Please stand with and pray for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith.