Pray for the Persecuted in the Middle East and North Africa

Greetings from sunny Florida! My husband, Art, and I spent Labor Day weekend in a beautiful place in Bonita Springs, Florida. We were celebrating our 55th wedding anniversary. We watched to a short video in which Art says we have been involved with Bible translation for over fifty years. We both praise the Lord for the time we have spent in this ministry together.

This email is not about me. I have had a life filled with God’s blessings—reading God’s Word in my language.

I am writing to ask you to pray with me for the persecuted believers and Bible translators in the Middle East and North Africa. I’ve just read about persecuted believers who asked Wycliffe Associates to get them Bibles. They need to hear God’s Word in the midst of the persecution. God’s Word needs to be in their heart languages for them to hear God speak to them. These brothers and sisters are behind walls that we cannot penetrate.

And then I read, “But, God has made a way. . . .” My dear prayer partners, our God is continually at work in this world because of His great love. He chooses us to help the persecuted get God’s Word in their heart languages, and then we get to see God at work making a way for Bible translation to take place and for national believers to become Bible translators. As we do our part to help these national Bible translators, we can only say thank you to our Father God for His faithfulness to them.

Let’s pray Psalm 100 (NIV) together because it is time to:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
Come before him with joyful songs. 

We come together before the Lord, singing and worshipping the Lord because of His great goodness to all the peoples of the earth. We are filled with joy even as we observe and take part in assisting people with Bible translation—so that all people will have God’s Word in their heart languages.

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Here is what John says in chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 (NIV):

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made. 

Yes, we do know the Lord is God; He made us and we are His. Our brothers and sisters, living in lands where believers are persecuted, are His people, too.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name. (Psalm 100:4 NIV)

So, let’s pray together, coming before Him with thanksgiving and praise. God is good. The Creator God made all peoples to be like Him. So, we give Him thanks and we praise His Name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations. (verse 5 NIV) 

We praise the Lord, together, because out of His goodness, his love endures forever, and his faithfulness continues through all generations. What an honor to be loved by the Creator God who is continually faithful. He is our Father, and He loves everyone in the world. John also writes in chapter 3 verse 16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
That whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV) 

We thank the Lord God for His great love for all the people in the world—that He would save us from our sins and give us eternal life when we choose to believe in Him. Let’s close by thinking about how much God loves the persecuted believers and the national Bible translators.

God is truly at work, providing people who can make a way to help believers get to a safe place. And God helps Wycliffe Associates provide the training and technology for these believers to translate God’s Word into the heart language of their people.

When a Bible translation is completed, there is indeed shouting for joy, glad worship, and great singing—praising the Lord God for His Word in another heart language, even at the ends of the earth.