Friday, January 16th was Religious Freedom Day in the United States. We in the United States probably take this freedom for granted. Yesterday was Sunday and millions of Americans went to church and didn’t worry about the government storming in to shut down the service.

But, if you pay attention at all to current events, you know that much–if not most–of the world does not enjoy religious freedom. Christians in many parts of the world are facing incredible persecution. We need to be in prayer and financially support our brothers and sisters in the faith that literally risk their lives by living for Jesus. So many over the last year have been killed or displaced for their faith in Christ.

We who experience religious freedom need to never take this for granted. There are no guarantees that the next generation will enjoy the freedoms we enjoy. Freedoms are never free in terms of man-made governments. They must be fought for to be won initially and then fought for continuously to be maintained. This is just fact. Look at any civilization in history and you will see that who they were at the end of their reign was different from who they were at the beginning of their reign.

We must remember that our true freedom comes from what Jesus did for us on the Cross. That is a freedom that no man-made government can take away from us.

So, your challenge this week is to:

1. Thank God for the religious freedom you enjoy today.
2. Pray that God would fully restore our religious freedoms in the U.S.
3. Pray for those in countries around the world who have NO religious freedom and whose lives are in danger right now.
4. Thank God for the relationship we enjoy in Jesus Christ.

More to come…
Jeremy