Heavenly Father,

Thank You for all of our blessings, great and small. 

We come to You to ask that you continue to watch over Saeed Abedini.  Protect him from every harm while he is incarcerated in this dangerous environment at Rajaï Shahr.  We ask that You keep him strong and mighty, in order to spread the glory of Your promise.  Please instill a sense of duty in our leaders, so that they will press with determination to bring about our citizen's freedom from this terrible ordeal.  We ask You to soften the persecutors' hearts, so they will release him to come home to his family this Christmas. 

We ask that You comfort the many who suffer in Your name, all over the world this, the season of Your Son's birth. 

In the name of Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please read this update by Jordan Sekulow, Pastor Abedini's Wife to Congress: Don't Forget My Husband, at Charisma News.

"Pastor Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh, and I testified before Congress Thursday about the American pastor's worsening plight.

"The U.S. government must make Pastor Saeed a priority.

"Pastor Saeed’s wife told Congress about the dire situation facing her husband in Iran: "After he endured more than a year in one of the world’s worst prisons, Evin Prison in Tehran, on Nov. 3, 2013, the Iranian regime transferred my husband to Iran’s most deadly prison, Rajaï Shahr. The Iranian regime sends prisoners to Rajaï Shahr to disappear. It sends prisoners to Rajaï Shahr to deny them their human rights. It sends prisoners to Rajaï Shahr to die.

" "While he was in Evin Prison, I feared for his life because he was brutally beaten by guards and interrogators, which resulted in internal injuries. But at least in Evin Prison he was in a ward with fellow prisoners of conscience. When Iranian officials transferred him to Rajaï Shahr, he was surrounded by some of Iran’s most violent criminals, rapists and murderers.

" "Since he arrived at Rajaï Shahr, he has been repeatedly threatened and robbed at knifepoint. At times he has awoken to find a knife-wielding prisoner standing over him at his bed.

" "Prisoners have murdered other prisoners while prison officials stood by and did nothing. In that place, nothing but the hand of God keeps him from being killed. Each day he remains in that dreadful place could mean a death sentence; any day could be execution day." "

Dear Father,

Please watch over Saeed as he struggles to survive brutal conditions in Iran.  Please, Father, give to him much perseverance and robust health, so that he may stand strong in his faith in You.  Please give his wife great confidence, as she comes before the House Panel.  Please fill the members of our congress with Your Grace and Your Will, so that they may turn and work together in earnest to free Saeed Abedini. 

We thank You, Father, for all of our many blessings.  We acknowledge that all things work toward the good, according to Your Will. 

In the name of Your Son, Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~

You demanded Members of Congress take action, and now they're stepping up.

Yesterday, Representative Chris Smith directly confronted Secretary of State John Kerry about Pastor Saeed. Tomorrow, Pastor Saeed's wife, Naghmeh, and I will testify before Congress. We will directly urge Congress to take action to Save Saeed. There should be no compromise with Iran until it releases Americans it is imprisoning and torturing. Pastor Saeed has been denied medication.  He is suffering increased pain.  He is malnourished.  His life is at stake. Stand with Pastor Saeed as we stand before Congress – let's
send a message. Sign the Petition to Stand Firm Against Iran and Stand Firm for Pastor Saeed.

Jordan Sekulow, ACLJ Executive Director

~~~~~~~~~~

"The wife of U.S. Pastor Saeed Abedini, Naghmeh, and American Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Jordan Sekulow will testify before the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations this week.

"The hearing on the plight of Pastor Saeed, who's been imprisoned in Iran for his faith, is set for Thursday morning in Washington.
    
"Pastor Saeed was transferred last month to the violent criminal ward in Rajai Shahr Prison, the deadliest prison in Iran. Since then, he has been repeatedly robbed and threatened at knifepoint."

Please read Saeed's Wife to Testify before House Panel at The Christian Broadcasting Network. 

"A well-known Christian campaigner for religious liberty, Mohammed Hegazy, has been detained in Egypt for allegedly inciting 'sectarian strife'. Sources are concerned he may be tortured...

"...Boulos's friends believe his arrest was yet another attempt to persecute Egypt's 'best-known convert from Islam.' Boulos was the first Egyptian ever to file a legal suit to seek to change his religious identity on his ID card. As a result, he received death threats, forcing him into hiding. He had previously been arrested and tortured because of his conversion."

Please read High-profile Convert Jailed for 'Inciting Strife,' at Release International.

Click to pray at 8thirty8 for persecuted Christians around the world!








Tonight prayers focus upon Lebanon...

"The [assassination of a senior member of the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah] fueled fears of a revenge cycle. Nobody wins there. Plus, the trouble puts Christians in the line of fire, too. [Tom Doyle, the Middle East expert for E3 Partners states,] “We may hear some of the chants in Lebanon that they’re hearing in the streets in Syria from Sunni Muslims: ‘Death to the Christians!’ They have a different political system, but the same groups fighting to be in control.”

Please read Assassination in Lebanon Heightens Tensions, by Ruth Kramer, at Mission Network News.

Please read For Victory over Temptation, by Charles Swindoll, Insight for Living, at One Place.








"Lord, because You don't save us and then suddenly take us home to heaven but leave us here on earth, hear us as we ask You to bring to our attention those things that will assist us in staying clean in a corrupt world. Give us an intense distaste for things that displease You. At the same time, give us a renewed pleasure in things that uphold Your honor and magnify Your truth. As You do this, we will have what we crave: victory over temptation.
  
"We ask this in the name of Him who consistently and victoriously withstood the relentless blast of the Devil's temptations, Jesus our Lord. Amen."

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.   

1 Corinthians 10:13