Burned orphanages. Businesses looted. Churches and homes destroyed. Citizens beaten and knifed to death in Cairo while the police stood by watching. This has been the kind of week our family in Egypt has faced.

As if this weren’t bad enough, the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters are now forcing Christians in one Egyptian village to pay a jizya tax – “conquered non-Muslims historically had to pay this tax to their Islamic overlords ‘with willing submission and while feeling themselves subdued’ to safeguard their existence, as indicated in Koran 9:29,” reports Raymond Ibrahim. The extortionist tax is between 200 and 500 Egyptian pounds per day. (200 Egyptian pounds equates roughly $29 per day, or $203 per week). Those unable to pay have been attacked, and even their children and wives kidnapped and beaten.

“Far be it from us that we should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for our brothers and sisters at this time” (1 Sam 12:23, paraphrased). It can be easy to dismiss these reports as far away, distanced from our world. But what if this were your children, your immediate family who were suffering? The reality is, they are.

May we be stirred to fervent, specific prayer for the needs of our brothers and sisters at this time. And may we be somberly remembering that while our freedom here in America has been sweet, it also is no longer a guarantee. When we’re the target, will anyone pray for us?