For our Brothers and Sisters.

Praying this morning for the persecuted Church, in particular, the church in Syria and Iraq who are standing firm in the shadow of scalding persecution at the hands of the infidels of the Islamic State in the Levant.

"Heavenly Father, we bring before you today the people of the Middle East, especially those of Syria and Iraq, asking you to be their defender and help in this time of great need. Walk with them in their suffering and loss, and give them strength to face the days ahead. We pray for the release of those imprisoned or held hostage for their Christian faith. We pray for your intervention against the violence and evil directed toward your people. We pray for your grace and provision for the hungry, the homeless, and the bereaved. We beseech you to help your people who are called by your Name, as we pray in the matchless name of your only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen"

We have nothing in our sterile, western experience that even approaches what our brothers and sisters in the Levant are facing.  Even the most brutal slasher flick would pale in comparison.  This calls to mind the vision of St. John in the Apocalypse:  

"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been."  Revelation 6:9-11

Continue in prayer.