Said (Sa-yeed) Musa is an Afghan father of six, a Red Cross worker, and a prisoner of Christ Jesus. Musa was imprisoned because of his conversion to Christianity. A judge recently warned Musa that he would be hanged within days if he does not recant his Christian faith and reconvert to Islam.
In response to this their has been a twitter campaign launched by Christian Leaders in an effort to stop the execution of Musa- pimarily by way of tagging @BarackObama in their posts and challenging him to intervene on this since he did so re: the potential burning of Quran's in Fl.
As I've been reading thru, and memorizing, the book of Philippians for the past 6 weeks I've run into verses like these(and more) and been challenged to reconsider the way I view trials of all sorts.
1:12I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel
1:20-21 it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to meto live is Christ, and to die is gain.
1:28-30 [do] not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
3:8,10Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death
...and on and on I could go.
Paul's letter to the Philippians is primarily in praise of their faith and love for one another. His biggest exhortation is simply that they would abound still more(1:9). This is a stark contrast to some of his other epistles- take 1 Corinthians for example. It could be said that the message of Philippians is what the Lord has to say to the maturing Christian. So when there's no reason to admonish a church for conduct or condoning of sin, error of doctrine, or lack of faith/hope/love etc. - we get "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.(4:4)"
So what should we pray for Musa during this fiery trial? Two prayers have been on my heart since I woke up this morning. The first is that God would be pleased to release Musa from prison. God has done such things before — sometimes through earthquakes and angels (Acts 5:19; 16:26), other times through rulers reversing their decisions(Acts 5:35-40) -which seems to be what most are currently praying for.
The reason I write this blog though is because there seems to be an absence of prayers toward the other end. It may not be the Lord’s will that Musa be released. The number of martyrs is not yet complete (Rev 6:11), and Musa may soon join the white-robed company in heaven. The cup of suffering isn’t always taken from our hands, as our Lord himself would remind us (Luke 22:42). So my second prayer is that Said will "Rejoice" and that God will strengthen Mr. Musa unto death if need be. I once read of a Christian on his way to be executed whose believing wife and son cheered him on until the end. In my opinion we must do no less for Musa through our prayers.
Good and wise Father, please strengthen Said Musa:
- to fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith, knowing that the noose around his neck will be displaced by a crown upon his head (2 Tim 4:6-8);
- to rejoice as did the apostles that he has been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name (Acts 5:41);
- to have confidence that even if he is killed not a hair of his head will perish (Luke 21:16-18);
- to not be afraid of those who can only kill the body (Matt 10:28);
- to face his persecutors with the certain hope of a better resurrection (Heb 11:35);
- to feel at peace in the hands of him who who judges justly (1 Pet 2:23);
- to draw his last breath believing that death is gain (Phil 1:21);
- to endure to the end (Matt 24:13).
Either way, my fellow Christians, will you pray? May the Lord work his will in Said Musa, in the comfort of Musa’s family, and in the spread of the gospel among the Afghans and around the world.
For the glory of the King,
Da' sciple
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