Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

Jeremiah chapter 11, verse 21.

Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathothoth,

who seek your life, and say, do not prophesy in the name of the Lord,

or you will die by our hand.

Now, in order to understand this verse, we need to understand something about Anathoth. This was

Jeremiah's village, and the people of Anathoth had revolted against David and were excluded from

service in the temple. They were disconnected from worship in the temple. They were living,

disobedient to God's word. They weren't worshiping in ways that

brought honor to God. So it's no surprise then that they would speak to Jeremiah and threaten him and

tell him, do not prophesy in the name of the Lord. Don't speak the word of God to us. And if you do,

we will kill you. You will die by our hand.

So this is one of many places we see in the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible, where there is cost associated with speaking the Word of God. And there are so many different

ways this could lead us in prayer, but I want to lead

us to pray in two particular ways in light of this threat against Jeremiah in Chapter 11. First,

I want to lead us to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world for whom this

threat is real today. Our brothers and sisters in places where if they proclaim the

word of God, it is possible, if not likely, that they could be imprisoned, that they could have

land or jobs taken away from them, that they could have their lives taken away from them.

We need to be faithful to pray for our persecuted brothers and

sisters around the world. They are our family. And the Bible tells us when one part of the family

hurts, the whole family hurts. We need to continually pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters

...