Over the past few days, the Lord has shown me two passages of Scripture. Every day I go back to them and read them over and over and I pray. I know that these passages are not just for me. I bring them to you, too. Let’s use these passages to pray for our brothers and sisters in the Middle East who are trying to remain hidden from their persecutors so they can translate the Bible for their people.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:31-36 (NIV)
Please pray with me:
- Lord, I pray we will hold to Your teaching so that we know we are Your disciples.
- I pray for national Bible translators to hold on to Your teaching and learn from You as they do the hard work of translating Your Word.
- I pray each translator will be confident in the truth that sets them free to be the Lord’s faithful children.
- I pray they recognize that they are Your child, Lord. Yours forever. I pray that you will bless their work.
- I pray that each brother and sister on this prayer team will be confident in the freedom of knowing that they are a child of God, in the family of God.
“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
John 16:7-15 (NIV)
Please pray with me:
- Thank you, Lord Jesus for sending the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of truth. Thank you for His guidance into truth every day in our lives.
- I pray, Lord Jesus, that our brothers and sisters in the Middle East will be guided by Your Holy Spirit into truth every day as they check and re-check their Scripture translations.
- Thank you, Lord Jesus for answering our prayers on behalf of Your children in the Middle East. Amen.
Thank you, dear prayer partner, for taking this time to pray with me for the persecuted believers and Bible translators—many that are hiding and some who are trying to escape. Let us remember to pray for them often.
