Getting down in the dirt to pray - 9 May 2017
We love the work of Open Doors, working with Christians all over the world who face persecution for their faith in Jesus. This incredible, humbling story is from Eddie Lyle - President of Open Doors UK & Ireland:
"Getting down in the dirt is something that our Saviour modelled so beautifully..."
The day I met Angela in Nigeria was one I’ll never forget.
It started with a visit to a church whose rear garden was now home to 3,500 displaced people. A vast number – but a small percentage of the 1.3 million believers who have been made homeless and hungry by Boko Haram attacks.
The leader of the church had no financial assets to do this, so it was totally a matter of faith.
The day after we got there, we were told that the warehouses were empty, so together we laid hands on a couple of bags of wheat and maize and prayed for food. About 15 minutes later, miraculously from nowhere, two lorries appeared from round the corner and as the people danced and sang, I felt as if I was looking at a New Testament miracle!
Then I met Angela.
She told me she was in her home town when rumours began to spread that Boko Haram were on their way. Her husband urged her to flee, so she gathered their three children, got some essentials together, and left on the next bus south.
Arriving, she opened her handbag to find three missed calls from her husband. She spent the next few days trying to get hold of him but a week later was told that he was dead and his body had been found, so she travelled back home.
A few weeks later Boko Haram attacked the town again, so she fled to the mountains of Cameroon, then back to Yola in Nigeria, and then Abuja, where her youngest child, who was 5 months old, became ill and died.
I asked to pray for her, and she immediately fell to her knees at my feet. My immediate reaction was to get down in the dirt with her and pray. My friends did the same. She looked at me with incredulity.
Here we were, face to face in the dirt. What could I say?
Getting down in the dirt is something that our Saviour modelled so beautifully. Whether it be mixing a clay potion and putting it on the eyes of a blind man, or sitting with a Samaritan woman whom no one would associate with. He stepped out of heaven into the mess of this world to love and to save the least, the last and the lost – of whom I was one.
So I turned for inspiration to the words of Isaiah 61 - which describe so beautifully the ministry of Jesus - as I prayed for Angela and her children, and for their financial and housing needs.
“ The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, and to proclaim that captives will be released, and prisoners will be freed.”
- Isaiah 61:1
God, I knew, heard our prayers that day and would heal her heart, giving her a new purpose to live for. And part of that healing comes from each of us as we draw close to our persecuted family in spirit. They need us to get down in the dirt with them and pray.
Bishop Naga, who was forced to flee his home when Boko Haram declared his city their ‘caliphate’, says: “Christians all over the world, we yearn for their prayers. Pray for God to give us hearts to forgive and to love our Muslim brothers. Pray for us Christians to seek the face of God to ask for strength to start our lives afresh. Pray that we will not give up our faith, but that we will continue in our faith dynamically, strongly, vibrant and bold.”
Amen.
Every month we join with Open Doors to pray for Christians living in a country where they face persecution. Head to our Persecuted Church page to join in.
Find out more about the situation in Nigeria on the Open Doors website.
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