Do you hear the echo of the distance cries
of Christians being persecuted willing and ready to die?
Do you hear their prayers filled with faith and grief
asking God for comfort, for peace, and for relief?

Do you see each tear drop as they roll down each face
of those that are imprisoned for sharing God’s grace?
Do you see the hurting the wounded and the dead
those who have been tortured for the words that they’ve said?

Do you see the marks they bare beaten black and blue
just for holding a Bible and for staying true?
Do you see the dead, tell me what is it that you see
the Christians willing to die so that others can be free?

We forget the privileges we have to simply read and pray
while others are being persecuted every single day.
We have a Bible that we often never read
while others struggle constantly and live in desperate need.

We can serve God with boldness without being afraid
while others are martyred for the choice they have made.
We are so privileged, yet God’s message we do not share
while they suffer for their faith they so humbly declare.

We have a place of worship, yet often we do not go
while they are beaten for the faith that they chose to show.
We can pray boldly without a single care
while others are being killed for uttering a prayer.

So why is it that we live as though we are not free
for those being martyred would love our liberty?
Seldom do we pray for we don’t appreciate it’s worth
our life a reflection of a God we claim to serve.

Oh, Christian do not be silent let your heart be stirred
that the voice of each martyr is declared and heard.
Let their suffering be heard for they willing die
just for the honor of saying “a Christian am I.”

They receive no accolade, no reward, and no fame,
they found the greatest honor in glorifying God’s name.
And though it costs them their life to say that they believe
they are willing to die that this truth others can receive.

Do you hear the voice of each martyred saint
or have you turned away so that their voices become faint?
Do you hear the voices of those that die each day
or so consumed by self, do you walk away?

Author Leighton Ainsworth, Copyright ©2013