Intercession For The Persecuted Church

The Lord has been laying the nation of North Korea on my heart to pray for recently. As I was tuned in to the live IHOP 24/7 prayer and worship stream this evening, they began intercession time for the persecuted church in North Korea. Someone mentioned something about concentration camps, and I began researching the conditions and prevalence of current concentration camps in North Korea. The government denies them and tries to keep the information quiet, however there is evidence and satellite proof that these camps do currently exist now in this nation. Many of these camps are hidden in mountains and valleys where an estimated 200,000 men, women, and children are held. I read an account of one of the only three known prisoners ever to have escaped one of these death camps. I learned that what happened during Nazi Germany is still happening in concentration death camps across the globe. I knew about the persecuted church before, but this reality never really hit me or sank in until recently. There is an urgency to press into God in intercessory prayer on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted for their faith. I am so privileged to live in a free country where I can pray and read the Bible openly. I am blessed with all the food I could want, and despite the busyness of life, I do have extra time. I am in a great place to give a huge part of my life to intercession. I am not pressed to spend a large portion of my day scavenging for food. The Lord has blessed me so it is my privilege to be able to focus on fasting and interceding for those who need deliverance. I hope this crushing reality takes root in my heart and pushes me to my knees daily for believers who are in a dark place, surrounded by cruelty, death, and who desperately need those walking in freedom to be standing in the gap on their behalf. Concentration camps are used to breed control, terror, and fear over the nation to gain a compliant population. I pray that the Lord would bring comfort for His persecuted children in North Korea who are crying out for a deliverer and for justice; that the Lord would exchange their ashes for beauty and give them peace in a place where one is prone to be crippled by fear. I thank God that Jesus is justice, and that He will be coming back to rescue those who love Him. He will reward those whose faith sustained, and He will restore justice.