#STRask - Should I Pray for Protection for Persecuted Christians When God Might Want Them to Be Martyrs?

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Questions about how to pray for persecuted Christians in light of the fact that God wills that some will be martyrs, and how persecuted Christians who are being threatened and beaten know if they should stay and preach the gospel or leave and protect their family.   I have a hard time praying “Old Testament promises” for protection and deliverance for persecuted Christians since I know that, in some cases, God wills that there will be martyrs for Jesus. Any suggestions on how to pray? Why don’t Christians who are being persecuted, threatened, beaten, etc. relocate if they are able, especially if they have a family? How do they know if they should stay and preach the gospel or leave and protect their family?

You're listening to Stan Teresa's podcast with Greg Kokel and Amy Hall. And Greg, to follow up, our last episode we talked about facing opposition and how to deal with that, how to cope with that. So, continuing along this line, going a little farther down the line, this one comes from Mark. I have a hard time praying, quote, Old Testament promises for protection and deliverance for persecuted Christians. Many believers, Old Testament and New Testament, died for their faith. God wills in some cases that there will be martyrs for Jesus. How do I resolve this dilemma? Any suggestions on how to pray?

Well, this is a great question, and it's one that I struggle with, actually, myself, so I'm sympathetic to the concern. Because I've mentioned before many times, I don't understand how prayer works. I don't understand the calculus, if there is a calculus even. In other words, how many prayers by how many people with how much intensity is required in the mix, added up together to get an answer. But, of course, that presumes it's a mechanical process, which C.S. Lewis points out. It's not. It's not a mechanism. You're asking a person. And the person can say, yes, no, maybe so. Wait, or maybe never. I don't know. And we don't know in most cases what the circumstance is. I have a difficult time praying for things like this because I don't – what good is my 30-second prayer going to do? That's kind of what's in my own mind.

Or maybe it's two minutes. Or maybe I'm just pouring my heart out to the Lord. I reread God's smuggler by Brother Andrew, maybe that's. last fall or this spring. I can't remember fairly recently. And it was really, I'd read this when I was a new Christian. I spent time behind the Aaron Curtin doing the kind of things that he was doing in 1976. And it was bothered me when I read it now because it seemed like every time he tossed up a prayer, he had a miracle. Every time he tossed up a prayer, there was a miracle, which isn't the way the Christian life worked. And I'm not disparaging Brother Andrew or, you know, his writing. I don't

think he was being dishonest. It just doesn't always, it may give the impression that this is the way it works or it's supposed to work. And that's not the case. That isn't the way it works. And all the rest of us mortals understand that, even though we are faithful in prayer. God decides. God knows. God decides. So what is our job? Our job is to ask for what we want, whatever that happens to be. Now, James says two things that pertain to this, and the first one is you have not because you ask not. So we ought to ask. Jesus says knock. Let's see, no, he says, ask, seek, knock. Three levels of intensity, you know, ask, go. Ask, go. after it, pound on the door, you know, and then he gives some parables to that effect, because God is the kind of God who wants to answer prayer. Now, that doesn't mean he is obliged to answer every request, and this is where the calculus comes in. I don't know. Think of all the people in England who routinely say God save the queen. What do we do with that?

No, I don't, actually, I don't even know in most cases whether that's a real prayer to God. I think it's just a perfunctory thing that they do out of respect for the queen. And this is what we all say. So maybe that's not such a good example, but there are lots of things that people pray for. As for persecution, yes, we're going to experience persecution, but Peter was experiencing persecution. He has put in prison, and what was going on? The believers were praying and praying and praying for him until an angel came and released him. I don't know if this is Acts 5 or 6 somewhere in there.

And the irony is when Peter came to knock on the door, the handmaid whatever went out to see him and said, oh, my gosh, it's Peter, and said, no, it's his ghost. That's not Peter. In other words, no, God's not going to answer our prayer. No, come out and see him. Okay. So it's almost as if, and John McCarthy made this observation about this particular thing, that here they are praying, but not with much faith. Because when the prayer was answered, they would believe the gal. all right. But notice, though, that they are praying for a persecuted Christian, and God heard the prayer in that instance.

So pray for what you want. Now, James adds something else. You pray and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives. So that may be a factor in not getting your prayers answered, and everybody's got to think for themselves with the requests they're asking, are they asking with wrong? motives. Now, sometimes motives are going to be mixed, okay? Boy, I'd love to see sales for story of reality go through the roof for the sake of the kingdom. But now I, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, yeah, and I get, you know, royalty at every book's old. I have self-interest, but I wasn't, I'm not praying in a self-interested way. I'm praying for the kingdom's sake. That's what motivates me to pray. So we ought to, yes, pray for people who are being persecuted. God, is hearing the prayer, and sometimes we say, God hears the prayers, we mean, yeah, he heard my

prayer, i.e. he answered it. Well, he doesn't always answer it the way we pray it, but he certainly is aware of it, and he takes it into consideration, not even sure how to entirely qualify that, but the scripture makes it clear, you know, that God is there, and he's, he's, he's, he answers prayer. And so our job is to offer the prayer and then let him decide. and we offer it, you know, from our heart, and frequently, praying more and more, it seems to me, some people have said, no, ask once, that's it. That's not my view. You keep hammering on the door. You know, Paul was going, told the Romans, he wanted to go visit them, but he hasn't been able to go. And he's going to keep trying until at last, I can, if at last, by the will of God, I can succeed in coming.

And in other words, he's trying, trying, but he knows that God has not opened the proper door yet. But I guarantee you that that whole desire was bathed in prayer. And because he prays about all kinds of stuff, we see that in the text. So, I mean, maybe I'm talking too much about this. But I think prayer is hard to understand, so let me sum it all together. But here's what I do understand. God wants us to pray. He wants us to pray about the things that we care about and for other people,

for godly things and virtuous things, all right? And some of those things have to do with our own provision, you know, and also for Christians that are suffering, even though God has ordained suffering for many Christians, he does answer prayers to release or relieve Christians from suffering. And that's up to him when he's going to do it. It's up to us to ask. You have not because you ask not. And we don't have to figure out his secret will in order to pray for what what we want to pray for. We're not going to know that. We can't know who is going to be a martyr and who isn't. So therefore, we pray for their release. I think one thing, Mark, I will say, is that I appreciate so much that you even recognize that God doesn't always want to release

people, that he actually does have a purpose for persecution and suffering, as hard as that is. that actually is true. You mentioned here you have a hard time praying Old Testament promises for protection and deliverance, and I think there's a good reason for that because we're not part of that covenant. We're part of the new covenant. And those promises that God made in the Mosaic covenant for protection, they had their things that they had to follow, and then he had the rewards and punishments for following those things. We're not under that system. So I wouldn't pray those promises because those promises aren't for those who have died to the law and been raised in Christ. That doesn't mean, again, that doesn't mean we don't pray for protection and deliverance. You can still pray for those things, as Greg explained. So please do those things. So then the question comes, knowing that God hasn't promised these things to everyone, as you note that Mark here, there are other things to pray.

And I think praying about how they can persevere is where we, we know, we know, should pray. And first, I would say, before I even answer this, Greg, I want to say about Brother Andrew, those are just the prayers that he wrote down. He was probably praying all the time. That doesn't mean, you know, whenever somebody just writes down the prayers that are answers. He's recording, yeah. It's selective. Of course it's going to look like everything he prays is answered, but that's not necessarily the case. Anyway, that's just, that's just a lot of them in tight spots too. So it was amazing. Yeah. Okay, good. That's good. didn't tell us the ones that didn't get answered. Well, that didn't get answered the way he was asking

for, we should say. Okay, so what can you pray knowing that God might not rescue them? And the first thing I pray for anyone who's suffering is that they will continue to see God as he is. So they won't be tempted to think he's not good or that he doesn't love them, but they'll see him as he is and they won't be swayed from that. I think that is the first way that we start to go wrong when we're suffering is that we start to view God in a way that he is not. I also pray that they will love Jesus above all else. And I talked about this little in the last episode. I pray that because I think that sustains people in persecution if they value him above getting out of suffering or getting the approval of others. And then I pray that they would glorify God in their suffering and even that they

would see how they were glorifying God, just as an encouragement to them to persevere in the persecution. And then another way you can pray for them. And this is something Paul in Romans 12 and 13 and Peter and Peter really hit hard. And that's the idea that no matter what evil is being done to you, you continue to do good. You are called to continue to do what is right. And the temptation is to be overcome by evil and to start responding in an evil way. But as Paul says, overcome evil with good. And by that, what I think he means is we continue to do good despite the evil that's being done to us. So pray that they will see God as He is. Pray that they will love Jesus. Pray that they will continue to do what is right and that they'll glorify God in their suffering. I pray for

their comfort. I pray for their perseverance. All of these things are things you can pray for people who are suffering, in addition to praying that their suffering will be relieved. Because no matter how much suffering is relieved, we're all still going through something. These prayers apply to all of us, I think. That's right. Knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being had by your brethren who are in the world, that's 1st Peter 5. And as an encouragement, you're not alone.

Resist the devil. That's the passage. So along these lines, Greg, here's a question. question from Worldview Cafe. I often hear stories of Christians being persecuted, threatened, beaten, et cetera, and I wonder why they don't relocate if they are able, especially if they have a family. How do they know if they should stay and preach the gospel or leave and protect their family? Yeah, well, this is another kind of judgment call that can't, there's no a blanket answer for that. what I note is that Paul sometimes moved towards the occasion of suffering because the

goal he had in mind was significant and in a sense justified the threat. So when he's completing his last missionary journey and he is heading for Jerusalem, there are prophecies that bonds and afflictions await you. And he says, I know, but that's all right. I do not count my life as dear to myself, but rather I want to fulfill this particular call that I have in Christ to preach the gospel, et cetera, the way he's doing, especially to the Gentiles. And so he had been, as I mentioned, Romans one, he talks about wanting to go to Rome. Well, he ends up going to Rome and chains, but he gets there, all right. Notice that he is actually moving towards his goal with the understanding that bonds and afflictions.

await him. But there are a number of other cases where the hardship and difficulty and persecution are right there, and he either escapes himself or he has his buddies to drag him away. When you read the book of action, you see a number of occasions, especially initially where he has lowered over the wall in a basket, you know, at Antioch or wherever, you know, because his life is endangered. And so there's nothing wrong with fleeing the danger. Actually, Actually, Jesus did this himself. He realized, his brothers said, well, why don't you go up to Jerusalem, you know, that's where all the big shots go if they want to be big shots, right?

And Jesus said, no, at least not at that moment. And they're knowing that in some circumstances there was hard opposition that was facing him, he worked around that. He planned around it, so he didn't face that. In fact, after the Bread of Life discourse, which is in John Chapter 6, that was kind of a turning point in his ministry because up until that time he had great public acclaim. And everybody was flocking to hear him and watch the miracles and get free food, you know, fed 4,000, fed 5,000. That's the context of John 6, bread of life. I'm the bread of life.

After that, a lot of people left him. And then Jesus really curtailed his public ministry and worked heavily in the last half of his ministry with his own disciples. And they moved to a lot of outlying areas that were, in many cases, Gentile areas. So what is Jesus doing? He's moving away for the conflict and trying to spend quality time to ensure that his, as one person put it, master plan of evangelism, which his discipleship would go forth a pace and be successful. So I think it becomes an individual judgment here, especially when your family's involved. It's one thing to choose suffering for yourself or choose exposure. It's another thing to expose those who you are bound by God to care for and protect.

Now, sometimes you don't have a choice. But I think when you do, that has to be taken into consideration. Once again, I'm not going to decide four people on this one. But I did missionary work in Eastern Europe behind the air curtain, 1976. I lived in Thailand in 1982, but I was single. And even though there were threats that were involved with some of that, they weren't much, as it turned out. But nevertheless, there was some risk involved.

I was risking myself, and that's all, not my family. Once you have a family, the equation changes. And you have to factor those other elements in. to your decision. So, yeah, it's one of those things that there's not a one-size-fits-all for this. What I'm saying is there are multiple choices that are biblically legitimate, and you're not obliged to stay in a circumstance that is dangerous or harmful. You might think, oh, well, I can preach the gospel.

Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. So God can do all kinds of crazy things, and he's done that. I understand. but we're responsible for the decisions that we make, and God can do what he wants to do. Yeah, since I've never been in this situation, I don't have any experience. I don't think I have any more of an answer than what you've given, Greg, because I do think it's different. I think about stories I've read, and Elizabeth Elliott, after her husband was killed, went back with her child, and sometimes people don't go back.

So I don't know what has factored into their decision, but I suspect that God in his providence kind of gives them what they need to make this decision when the time comes. I doubt they've gone through, I doubt they've developed a principle by which they leave or stay. They probably pray for wisdom, and then they look at their situation and figure out if they can still. honor God and glorify God, like Paul said, with my life or my death, and whether they're called to be there. And by called, I just mean God has brought them there for a purpose, not necessarily that they've heard anything specific directing them there. But I think when we pray for wisdom and we pray for God's guidance, I'm not looking for some sort of sign,

but I do know that he's moving things around to bring me to wherever he wants me to go. So I think in these situations, I think, I suspect people just are trusting in God and thinking through their situation. I almost don't even want to say anymore because I feel like I don't have anything wise to say about this, except that I think we honor God with our life or our death. as Paul says, and we can glorify God in either situation. And there are times when God has definitely used the persecution of people to spread the gospel in really dramatic ways. And you may be called to that. He may bring you to that position or he may save you. And I don't think we can always figure that out so cleanly. Yeah, there's an interesting detail in Cory Ten Boom's hot life.

And you just, I think, recently read my, the watchmaker's daughter, which is about her life in addition to the hiding place. There really are parallel books, but they emphasize some other different aspects. But I read both myself. And when Corey, I mean, everybody's familiar with the amount of suffering she experienced because of the principled actions she took to protect. Jews. And when you read through the story, by the way, it isn't just that she lied. You know, somebody's make a big deal about whether it's right to lie or not. And everything she did was illegal. Everything she did was a lie. Falsified identity cards, you know, getting ration cards that they made or stole or whatever, it was just all like that. But it was justifiable in light

of the greater good, all right? What's interesting is after she got caught and after everyone in her immediate family perished as a result of their aid to the Jews and her sister at the concentration camp. And then when she was finally released, well, the undergrad was still operating. And she was drawn into the underground once again and asked, can you do some of these things that you did before? And she began to do it. And then she thought, I can't do this anymore. I just can't do it. She wasn't able to do it even. She felt like she didn't have whatever she had before those things. Right, the moxie or the courage or whatever it is.

But notice there, here's a person who suffered now has a chance to take a risk and suffer again, and she just ran out of gas. You know, I just can't do this. And I guess you could argue, I mean, properly, that the kind of grace that was given to her in the first instance was no longer available to her. But notice that she didn't pursue the end that was a good end that could invite more suffering. She didn't do that the second time around. And she had the freedom to say no.

Under those circumstances, I don't think there was anything amiss with her doing that either. So I just wanted to toss that into the... That's a great point. And at that point, she turned to doing other things. She was ministering to people who had returned. She was telling her story. She had a different purpose at that point, which was... to reveal that God is in these darkest places. He is everywhere, even in your darkest moments. And that

had become her driving force. So God had moved her on to other things. Did she have a home or something that she had put together? She had a home for people returning. Then she had a home for people who had, I think it was like the Dutch, what is the word for those who went along with them? Oh, yeah. I can't think of the word. These were people, everyone hated. You're supposed to remember my words. Now this is turning your tables on me.

So she was ministered with the Nazis. So she started ministering to those who had been harmed by all this evil, and that just became her purpose. So I think I agree, Gray, there's no hard and fast rule. I don't know if that answered your question, World View Cafe, but hopefully that helps. And thank you, Mark. Please send us your question on X with a hashtag STR Ask. Or if you go to our website at STR.org, just look for our hashtag STR Ask page, and you'll find a link there to send us your question. We look forward to hearing from you.

This is Amy Hall and Greg Kogel for Stand to Reason. Thank you.