Thank you for praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. "Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this – always obey such an impulse." Martyn Lloyd-Jones "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." – Joshua 24:15


VOM-USA Prayer Update for March 12, 2010
On Wed. Mar 10 2010 at 06:57 AM Moderator wrote:
UZBEKISTAN — Baptists Fined — Forum 18 News

Uzbekistan’s government continues to fine members of the
Baptist Union and harass Protestant Christians, according
to Forum 18 News. “Valery Konovalov has been forced to
pay a fine, after he was forced to appear as a witness in the
trial of three leaders of the Baptist Union,” Forum 18
reported. “The three have themselves been forced to pay
what the same court claimed was unpaid taxes, and two
were removed from their posts.” In addition, the parents of
children who attend Protestant schools in Uzbekistan have
been warned to stop attending church. “The children were
made to write statements promising that they would stop
attending churches,” a Christian told Forum 18. “People are
afraid to talk to us when they find out we are Christians.”
These incidents are the latest in the Uzbek government’s
ongoing persecution of believers. VOM stands with
Christians in Uzbekistan and encourages you to pray that
charges against believers will be dropped. Ask God to
encourage and protect believers and their families. Pray that
their testimony of faithfulness will draw the authorities into
fellowship with Christ.

2 Corinthians 12:9–11

IRAN — House Church Leaders Arrested — Farsi Christian
News Network

On Feb. 28, Hamid and Reyhaneh, a former-Muslim couple
who led a house church, were arrested by secret police in
Isfahan, Iran, according to Farsi Christian News Network
(FCNN). Twenty secret police officers arrested and assaulted
Reyhaneh when she resisted. “Hamid was arrested when he
returned home an hour later,” FCNN reported. “Other
believers present at the time were threatened but not
detained, though one was also assaulted when he protested
[the arrests].” Police confiscated computers, telephones
and literature, including many Bibles. On March 1, Hamid
and Reyhaneh’s family contacted the authorities and were
told their case would be referred to the Revolutionary Court
once charges were finalized. The couple’s two teenage sons
are being cared for by Reyhaneh’s sister. Pray that Hamid
and Reyhaneh will be released and reunited with their sons.
Pray that their sons will be comforted by the presence and
peace of Jesus, and pray that Iranian believers will be
encouraged. Pray that officials involved will act justly and
that they might come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 91

IRAQ — Three Christians Murdered in Mosul — Middle East
Concern

On Feb. 23, three men were shot and killed in their home by
unknown assailants, according to Middle East Concern. The
men, Aishwa Maroki (59) and his two sons, Mokhlas (31)
and Bassim (25), were relatives of Father Mzen Ishoa, a
Syro-Catholic priest who in 2007 was abducted and later
released. Aishwa’s wife and daughter were also in the home
but were not harmed. Pray that those in mourning will trust
God as the defender of widows and a Father to the
fatherless. Pray that authorities will do all they can to
improve security for all citizens of Mosul. Pray that the
results of recent parliamentary elections will lead to greater
stability and a reduction of violence in Iraq.

Psalm 68:5

from VOM-Extreme Devotion