Lock in | “Sticking Beside Him” Series

According to The Daily Bread podcast on October 7th, “52,000 Christians were murdered in Nigeria, more than 19,000 churches have been destroyed and millions of believers have been displaced from their homes…”. Likewise, Josiah Alipate—a popular digital evangelist— made waves when he shared last week “Christians in Sudan were told to renounce their faith or starve to death.” While I am certain that headlines like these will continue to spread through social media, I want to highlight the reality of persecution within the Christian faith because there is a comfortability that the American church tends to lean into that is unparalleled to scripture. Persecution to the American church is perceived as a negative comment under an instagram post. It’s the dirty look one may get at a grocery store if they are seen wearing a “Jesus is King” t-shirt. At best, it’s a stranger unplugging the microphone of a street preacher standing on the corner telling people to repent.

Are there levels of persecution? Maybe. Are the examples I listed above generally uncomfortable for a believer to experience? Sure. But when you read about Christians on the other side of the world being killed, forced into starvation, and made to be scattered from their homes by unbelievers, many Christian’s in America don’t believe it could ever be them. America, a country where practicing your religion is acceptable under law. Many of us have relaxed into the idea that our persecution could never get that severe. Well, I want to spend this time warning you to snap out of your comfortability. Yes, persecution has gone on for centuries within the Christian faith because we see it all through scripture. The Apostles and other believers were stoned, imprisoned, slandered, beaten etc. for their faith and yet still held on. We also know that the book of revelation talks about the inability to buy or sell for those who do not take the mark of the beast. We know prophecy and we know what’s happened in the past, yet there is still a cocoon that many of us live in where we just don’t believe it will be our story.

For one, I want to remind you that even that level of thinking is unbiblical and even though you do not feel it personally, you should still be aware that it affects you according to 1 Corinthians 12:26 “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” For two, there’s less than a handful of times in my life that God has given me dreams about our country. I recently shared this story with a few members of my church and figured if the topic unraveled there, I may as well share it here. You can take this with a grain of salt, I’m not professing to be a prophet or any kind of prominent holier than thou figure. I believe God gave it to me for two reasons, as a warning, but also to impress upon my heart that I need to press more into Him because what I may think I am ready for, I am not yet. The first time I had this dream, was last year 2024. Keep in mind that dreams that stick with me even when I do not write them down are dreams that I’ve come to know is clear communication from God.

The dream goes as follows: I was home, upstairs in my room when I heard noise outside of my window. I peeked through the blinds and saw men that looked to be of some kind of military pulling people out of their homes. Men were fighting back, women were screaming. Seconds later, I heard a bang on my door. I knew why they were here but I was too afraid not to open the door so I ran down the stairs and did so. My husband was beside me. Two men barged into our home questioning us about our religion. They were 6ft tall, well built, faces masked in black with military styled guns strapped to their backs. At the time of the questioning, I had on a silver cross necklace that my husband bought for me some time ago. When I noticed that I had it on, an unexplainable and overwhelming kind of terror washed over me. While the men looked through our house to see if anyone else was living there, I turned the necklace around and tucked it in the back of my shirt so that just the bare chain showed. Then I woke up. It had to be closer to 5 o’clock in the morning when I felt the shame of hiding Jesus come over me. I got down on my face in my room and repented over and over again. I apologized for allowing fear to cause me to essentially deny Jesus. I asked God to strengthen my faith from that morning on.

Fast forward to about 3 months ago this year of 2025, I had the same dream again. I looked out of my window and saw the people screaming and fighting as they were dragged out of their homes and then came the knock at my door. My husband and I stood at the door, I opened it and the same men came bursting in with their questions and searching the place. This time, I wasn’t afraid. I stood there like a pillar, necklace still on and cross facing forward like normal. My body didn’t tremble one time, though I knew that if they took me, I would be tortured. Staring the man eye to eye, I didn’t say a word. He snarled at me and I stood there, praying in my spirit. Then I woke up. Again, I got on my face in prayer and thanked God for showing me how much stronger He was making me. The rest of that day, I kept thanking God for his strength showing up in me. It is still a prayer I lay before him and will continue to do because I’d rather stand before God having kept my faith then standing before him having denied it.

With all of this said, I hope I am communicating well what needs to be our expectation regardless of our location. Part of being a Christian is to recognize that for God we will live and for God we will die. We have to embrace that truth whether we are living in a penthouse or in a slum, whether we have money in the bank or have never seen a bank, whether we are living in a “free” country or under a dictatorship. Think of the underground churches in Asia who memorize pieces of scripture from ripped Bible pages because they will be killed if they are found owning one. Think of the last moments of the men and women in Nigeria who were killed because they stuck beside Jesus. Think about their strength, their prayers, their realities….and then think about yours. How much more should we be lifting them up in prayer. How much more should we mourn for their children?

Will my dream actually manifest into reality? I don’t know. It’s not my job to figure that out. My job is to continue growing in the strength of the Lord, laying before Him everyday, praying for the body of Christ, and for the strength to choose him everyday. My job is to worship Him with my life. My job is to reflect Him to the rest of the world no matter the cost. My job is to count it all joy (James 1:2-4). And guess what? So is yours.

God never set out to raise stuffed animals. He set out to raise an army of warriors who aren’t afraid to proclaim the Gospel, tell of His goodness and kick satan’s butt in Jesus’ name! WHERE ARE YOU?! Will you pray for our brothers and sisters suffering persecution on the other side of the world? Will you pray that God strengthens you so that your faith doesn’t fail in the case that persecution came knocking at your door? I will be. I hope you will be too.

That’s it for this week’s entry everyone. Thank you all for subscribing! I see you and I’m grateful that you’re here! Leave a comment down below if this blessed you in any way, I love to read them! Until next time, GOD BLESS YOU!