{"id":4659,"date":"2023-09-16T17:09:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-16T17:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/middle-east-take-courage-wait-for-the-lord\/"},"modified":"2023-09-16T17:09:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T17:09:02","slug":"middle-east-take-courage-wait-for-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/middle-east-take-courage-wait-for-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"MIDDLE EAST: Take Courage; Wait For the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gospel workers in restricted and hostile nations risk their lives to spread the gospel. One worker in the Middle East, Jacob, was kidnapped last month and held by a terrorist group. He was kept blindfolded, not knowing if it was day or night. The group threatened to hang him. Even in captivity, this young newlywed pastor\u2019s heart was to share the good news and help build God\u2019s church by spreading his Word.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, Jacob has been rescued from captivity and reunited with his wife and baby. Listen as John Samara, founder and executive director of <a href=\"https:\/\/ananiashouse.org\/\">Ananias House<\/a>, shares how Jacob had memorized Scripture before being taken captive, and how he held onto several passages during his time in darkness.<\/p>\n<p>With the scripture indelibly written on his heart and mind, Jacob was encouraged by the promises of God despite persecution for his faith. One verse that encouraged Jacob was Psalm 27:14, \u201cWait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait on the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>John also shares about a new book, <a href= \"https:\/\/ananiashouse.org\/product\/through-the-eyes-of-a-child\/\"><em> Through the Eyes of a Child: Encounters with God in the Middle East<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em> Ananias House is working in schools, sharing the gospel as they provide an education to children who might otherwise not receive one.<\/p>\n<p>John will share stories from the book of a teen imprisoned and violated for her faith, yet praising and glorifying the Lord in the midst of it; and of a young child who prayed with his classmates over their small amount of food and saw God perform a miracle.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll also hear how John and his team are training up women, who often face disrespect in that culture. Now many are reaching other women with the gospel and even leading their husbands to Christ!<\/p>\n<p>John will equip listeners to pray for Ananias House and for the Body of Christ in the Middle East and North Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! <a href= \"https:\/\/www.vomradio.net\/subscribe\">Subscribe to the podcast<\/a>. Or listen each week\u2014and get daily prayer reminders\u2014in the <a href= \"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/app\/?_source_code=VOMRadio\">VOM App<\/a> for your smartphone or tablet.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vomradio.net\/episodes\/detail\/middle-east-take-courage-wait-for-the-lord\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Listen to this episode on VOMRadio.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gospel workers in restricted and hostile nations risk their lives to spread the gospel. One worker in the Middle East, Jacob, was kidnapped last month and held by a terrorist group. He was kept blindfolded, not knowing if it was day or night. The group threatened to hang him. Even in captivity, this young newlywed pastor\u2019s heart was to share the good news and help build God\u2019s church by spreading his Word. Thankfully, Jacob has been rescued from captivity and reunited with his wife and baby. Listen as John Samara, founder and executive director of Ananias House, shares how Jacob had memorized Scripture before being taken captive, and how he held onto several passages during his time in darkness. With the scripture indelibly written on his heart and mind, Jacob was encouraged by the promises of God despite persecution for his faith. One verse that encouraged Jacob was Psalm 27:14, \u201cWait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait on the Lord.\u201d John also shares about a new book,  Through the Eyes of a Child: Encounters with God in the Middle East. Ananias House is working in schools, sharing the gospel as they provide an education to children who might otherwise not receive one. John will share stories from the book of a teen imprisoned and violated for her faith, yet praising and glorifying the Lord in the midst of it; and of a young child who prayed with his classmates over their small amount of food and saw God perform a miracle. You\u2019ll also hear how John and his team are training up women, who often face disrespect in that culture. Now many are reaching other women with the gospel and even leading their husbands to Christ! John will equip listeners to pray for Ananias House and for the Body of Christ in the Middle East and North Africa. Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or listen each week\u2014and get daily prayer reminders\u2014in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[102],"class_list":["post-4659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vom-radio","tag-middle-east","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MIDDLE EAST: Take Courage; Wait For the Lord - Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/middle-east-take-courage-wait-for-the-lord\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MIDDLE EAST: Take Courage; Wait For the Lord - Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gospel workers in restricted and hostile nations risk their lives to spread the gospel. One worker in the Middle East, Jacob, was kidnapped last month and held by a terrorist group. He was kept blindfolded, not knowing if it was day or night. The group threatened to hang him. Even in captivity, this young newlywed pastor\u2019s heart was to share the good news and help build God\u2019s church by spreading his Word. Thankfully, Jacob has been rescued from captivity and reunited with his wife and baby. Listen as John Samara, founder and executive director of Ananias House, shares how Jacob had memorized Scripture before being taken captive, and how he held onto several passages during his time in darkness. With the scripture indelibly written on his heart and mind, Jacob was encouraged by the promises of God despite persecution for his faith. One verse that encouraged Jacob was Psalm 27:14, \u201cWait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait on the Lord.\u201d John also shares about a new book, Through the Eyes of a Child: Encounters with God in the Middle East. Ananias House is working in schools, sharing the gospel as they provide an education to children who might otherwise not receive one. John will share stories from the book of a teen imprisoned and violated for her faith, yet praising and glorifying the Lord in the midst of it; and of a young child who prayed with his classmates over their small amount of food and saw God perform a miracle. You\u2019ll also hear how John and his team are training up women, who often face disrespect in that culture. Now many are reaching other women with the gospel and even leading their husbands to Christ! John will equip listeners to pray for Ananias House and for the Body of Christ in the Middle East and North Africa. Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or listen each week\u2014and get daily prayer reminders\u2014in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/middle-east-take-courage-wait-for-the-lord\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-16T17:09:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"vomtechsupport\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"vomtechsupport\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/middle-east-take-courage-wait-for-the-lord\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/middle-east-take-courage-wait-for-the-lord\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"vomtechsupport\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/5ff286fd5505fccd2d5ebfd9d4203216\"},\"headline\":\"MIDDLE EAST: Take Courage; 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