Hello, friend. When we hear that someone has been sentenced to prison, we usually assume that some kind of failure has taken place. And in most cases, that rings true. But for some believers, prison can mean something else.

Scripture teaches us to see suffering differently. Paul wrote from prison, yet his chains did not mean he had failed—quite the opposite. What looked like weakness became another place where Christ was proclaimed.

That matters for us, because we are often tempted to measure faithfulness by visible, positive results. But the gospel has never depended on ideal conditions to advance.

This week, as we pray for believers in Eritrea and Iran, let’s keep this in mind: hardship is not proof that God has withdrawn his hand. Even in prison, even under pressure, even when the world assumes the church is losing, Jesus will be made known.

In today’s edition:

🇮🇷 Believers in Iran keep following Jesus—even when it’s considered a threat to national security.

⛓️ Paul’s chains were never proof that his ministry had failed.

🇪🇷 Imprisonment in Eritrea hasn’t stopped the spread of the gospel.

When Faith Is Treated Like a Threat 🇮🇷

In Iran, following Jesus can be treated as a threat to national security. House churches, baptisms, evangelism, and even being found with Christian materials can lead to arrest, interrogation, and long prison sentences. 

In 2025, at least 254 Christians were arrested, nearly double the number from the year before. About 90% of them were charged for “propaganda contrary to the holy religion of Islam.”  

And yet the gospel is not bound. 

Though the church is pressured and often pushed into house gatherings, Christ is still sustaining his people. Radical partners with believers who are discipling new Iranian Christians through virtual classrooms, online chats, and digital training, helping them grow, gather, and form new churches inside Iran.

Many Iranians live with deep disappointment in both the government and the religious system around them, and some are searching for truth beyond what they have inherited. Even when believers are accused, confined, or scapegoated, God continues to build his church.

How to Pray:

🙏🏼 Pray for imprisoned believers, converts, and house churches facing pressure, surveillance, and long sentences.

🙏🏼 Pray for boldness, wisdom, and endurance for Christians accused of being threats because of their faith in Jesus.

🙏🏼 Pray for new Iranian believers to be grounded in Scripture, strengthened through discipleship, and equipped to gather faithfully with other believers.

Prison Didn’t Mean Paul Was Wrong ⛓️

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” (Eph. 4:1)

Those are weighty words.

And they’re weighty not because Paul is writing from a quiet study or a place of comfort, but because he is writing them from a prison cell. Paul isn’t sending this letter from a position of safety or success as the world defines it. He’s writing as a man in chains—arrested for preaching the gospel and planting churches. 

To his critics, he was a troublemaker. A dangerous agitator. 

To God, he was a faithful servant.

That matters.

Paul is suffering for the very message he’s urging the church in Ephesus to remember and live out. His words carry weight because his life backs them up. He’s not asking them to do anything he himself isn’t already doing—at great personal cost.

And here’s the remarkable thing about Paul: there is no scenario in which he loses.

Let him go free, and he’ll travel to the ends of the earth preaching Christ and starting churches. 

Lock him up, and he’ll become “a prisoner for the Lord,” turning his suffering into a living testimony of the worth of the gospel. 

Execute him? Fine. As he says elsewhere, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21, ESV).

There is no situation where Paul says, “The gospel isn’t enough anymore.” 

There is no moment where he concludes, “This just isn’t worth it.”

Instead, Paul’s entire life—especially his suffering—testifies to this truth: no matter your circumstances, trusting in the gospel is never wasted.

Paul wasn’t in prison because his ministry failed. He was in prison because he believed the message was worth suffering for. And that’s an important distinction.

If a message isn’t worth suffering for, it’s probably not worth believing in.

Christianity doesn’t promise a life without pain. What it promises is something better: a suffering that is not meaningless. A hope that suffering does not get the final word.

That’s why Paul can say this in 2 Corinthians:

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Co. 4:17–18)

The gospel gives us a framework for enduring temporary suffering because it anchors us in permanent promises. We can endure hardship now because we know it won’t last forever. Our pain has an expiration date.

Why? Because Jesus has already suffered fully in our place. 

He took sin, death, and judgment upon himself—and walked out of the grave victorious. Because of him, not even death has the final say over us.

So when Paul urges believers to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling,” he’s not laying a burden on their shoulders. He’s inviting them into a life shaped by hope—a life that knows that whatever it costs to follow Jesus, it will never be in vain.

—Steven Morales

When Release Still Isn’t Freedom 🇪🇷

The government of Eritrea officially recognizes only four religious communities and treats unregistered churches as illegal, restricting everything from group prayer to places of worship. For many believers, faithfulness can mean arrest, imprisonment, and years of uncertainty.

In 2025, around 170 Eritrean Christians were released from detention, many after five years behind bars. But most were released only conditionally, after signing documents confessing that belonging to an unregistered denomination was a crime and agreeing not to return to it. Even release came with a warning to stay silent.

For decades, Eritrean authorities have tried to make believers disappear through fear, isolation, and confinement. But the gospel has not failed there. God is still strengthening his church and proving that pressure cannot silence the gospel.

How to Pray:

🙏🏼 Pray for Eritrean believers who remain imprisoned, isolated, or under pressure to deny their faith.

🙏🏼 Pray for Christians released conditionally—that they would be strengthened, protected, and not silenced by fear.

🙏🏼 Pray that God would continue building his church in Eritrea, even when the government tries to shut every door.

📍 Attention Worthy

• Use code MAKEJESUSKNOWN to get 20% off Radical merch. 100% of proceeds of your purchase go to reaching the unreached.

• Read your Bible before a crisis makes you reach for it. Scripture helps us know God, understand our place in the world, and navigate a confusing culture.

• Discipleship is not just coffee dates, convenience, or something reserved for “spiritual giants.” Ordinary believers can make disciples through everyday relationships shaped by the Word and prayer.