Most of us have never been afraid to own a book.
We keep a Bible on the nightstand and a devotional by the coffee pot. Nobody checks our shelves. Nobody follows us home from church. For a great many believers in the world, that ordinary freedom is something they have only heard about.
In some places, following Jesus costs something real. A job. A family’s welcome. A seat at the village table. Sometimes it costs far more. Picture a pastor teaching in a back room with the curtains drawn, or a new believer keeping her prayers quiet because the walls are thin. These brothers and sisters are alive tonight, and they belong to the same family we do.
The writer of Hebrews would not let the early church forget them:
“Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.” (Hebrews 13:3, BSB)
That verse pulls us close. It asks us to stand in the room with them, as if the chains were on our own wrists. Family does that for family.
So what does remembering look like from half a world away?
For us, a big part of it is a book. A believer who pays a price to follow Jesus often has almost nothing in her own language to help her grow. No shelf of devotionals. No study guide. Often no one nearby she can safely ask. When a simple book of prayers reaches her in the words her heart already speaks, it becomes a quiet companion that needs no building and no meeting to do its work.
That is one reason we give these books away free. A person whose faith has already cost her a job should never have to pay to grow in it.
And that is where you come in. You may never sit in one of those back rooms. You can still stand with the people in them.
Would you pray for them this week? Pray for courage when the knock comes at the door. Pray for wisdom for the pastors who carry the most risk. Pray that every book reaches the right hands, quietly and safely.
Let me give you one simple way to start. Tonight, before you sleep, picture one believer who will have to pray in secret tomorrow. Then pray for her as if you knew her name. God does.
They are bound, and in Christ we are bound with them. The light they carry in the dark is the same light that once reached us.