Be inspired by this inspirational story from the book Extreme Devotion, which you may purchase in our The Voice of the Martyrs bookstore.

As we begin 2012 I'd like to wish you a very happy new year and thank you for making a resolution to pray for the persecuted church and inform your friends and family who may not know about what is happening to Christians worldwide. We offer a free monthly newsletter that you can sign up for here.

The following quote is in our book Extreme Devotion. As you consider the depth behind this message, consider if your passion to speak about Christ is at this level of devotion.

It was getting late, and the Soviet officer had beaten and tortured Paulus for many hours. “We are not going to torture you anymore,” he said, smiling brutally when the Christian looked up. “We will send you instead to Siberia, where the snow never melts. It is a place of great suffering. You and your family will fit in well.”

He’d heard the rumors. In fact, Thomas had heard it directly from other disciples who had seen the Master alive. At least that’s what they had said. “When I see his hands and put my fingers into the nail holes, when I put my hand into the hole in his side made by that Roman spear, then I’ll believe he is risen,” Thomas had said.

I really love to start the week out by sharing with you a devotion from The Voice of the Martyrs book Extreme Devotion. As you read today's devotion, think about what you would do in this situation.

“But I am not a Communist. You must believe me,” pleaded Pastor Im when the United Nations regained the occupied territory in September of 1950. The North Korean Communist soldiers had kept Im locked in an isolated prison cell for two years for preaching to others about Christ and for refusing to change his sermons into pro-Marxist propaganda.