Did you know that the majority of Muslim international students living in the United States have never set foot inside a Christian home?

Recently during a meeting of VOM’s department directors and executives, the following devotional was read from “On This Day” by Robert J. Morgan. The story was the entry for June 17 in the book.

We are very familiar with the normal reasons to pray: to worship God, to intercede on behalf of others, and to petition God when we desire something from him. For our prayer to be radical it must go beyond the normal reasons and move into a higher or deeper realm. It needs to be seen as a weapon against evil and for good. It becomes intentionally audacious, going into spiritual battle with powers and forces which we cannot see but whose destructive presence we can sense. When we thrust forward in the power of the Spirit, we will meet opposition of some form in our spiritual lives and perhaps in our work or ministry.

How valuable is God’s word to a Christian in prison? More valuable than gold!

“Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels (Hebrews 13:1-2).”

One of the frustrations of my work at VOM is the seeming indifference of the secular media to the suffering of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world. Yes, there are times when a story of persecution breaks through into our national conversation—Youcef Nadarkhani in Iran, or the attack on Dogo Nahawa in Nigeria—but for the most part Christian persecution is not a story we see on the evening news or read even in the fine-print sections of the newspaper.

Earlier this week, we shared a video report from Gary Lane in Tanzania that included the story of Pastor Mathayo Kachili, who was killed because of his faith in Christ. Pastor Kachili’s story is also included in VOM’s June newsletter.

Every other Wednesday, VOM's Todd Nettleton checks in with Moody Radio Quad Cities for a brief update about VOM's ministry and news from the persecuted church around the world.

The feature story in VOM’s June newsletter focuses on the rise of Islam in Africa, with stories of recent persecution from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Gary Lane contributed to that feature story, and also filed this video report to CBN News:

Opposition to our faith causes us to cry out to God for justice, for God to deal not only with personal pain but also with those who perpetuate evil against us. The various authors of the Psalms vent their deepest desires regarding the enemies of God who were also their enemies. In Psalm 83:15, the Psalmist asks God to pursue them with a tempest just as a fire consumes a forest. Or, in Psalm 79, the writer asks God to pour his wrath upon the nations who resist God and who have menaced God’s people. The Psalms recognize that God punished and disciplined Israel for its sin and these writers desired to see the same justice applied to the pagan nations who had defied God.