Have you hurt so bad that you felt completely alone—even though loved ones were nearby?
Have loved ones gone through something so hard yet there was nothing you could do to relieve their pain? Do you lose direction when life throws you curve balls?
Where do you find hope? Where do you go for help? Where do you go for encouragement?
Have you ever wanted something so much you thought you’d do anything to get it?
You and I can choose to go to God’s Word when we feel lost, hurt, alone. We can choose hope in Jesus when we feel hopeless.
I am so dependent on God’s Word. Hearing His Voice. Knowing the peace that passes all understanding.
I can hardly imagine life without Jesus. Can you?
My dear friends, what can we do for those without one word, without one verse, with no Scripture at all?
First, yes first, we pray. There is power in prayer. We see, almost daily, God’s answers to prayer for Bible translation.
So, we will pray for those without Scripture. Have you ever experienced when God chooses you to be the answer to your prayer? Think about our brothers and sisters in the Lord who have prayed for years to have Scripture in their language. Then God chooses them to sit in a MAST workshop learning to translate God’s Word into their own language!
Think about when that national Bible translator, whose language is oral, is handed a computer tablet and a set of earphones so he can record Scripture in his own language. God is answering his prayers. And think about that young Wycliffe Associates’ staff member leading the MAST workshop realizing that he has been praying for ten years that this very language group will soon have God’s Word in their language. Think about those national translators, using a tablet, to speak God’s Words for their people. The words they translate and speak into the microphone are reaching their own hearts–healing their hurts–giving them peace and calming their own soul. It’s answering their own prayers for understanding Scripture because as they speak it, they hear it, and as they write it, it penetrates their hearts.
My dear prayer partners, God is working around the world answering our prayers and the prayers of every believer in far away lands who do not have God’s Word. Believers in the lands of persecution who will do anything to have Scripture in their language. Believers who live on mountain ridges, in hidden valleys, along jungle rivers are praying that one day they too can hear the God of creation speak to them through His Word.
Today, there are MAST workshops scheduled for 125 more language groups. And every day Wycliffe Associates receives more requests for training in Bible translation.
Friends, it’s time for us to pray fervently that God will supply 12 to 20 tablets, prepared with Bible translation software, for each of the language groups preparing to be trained in MAST workshops.
Please pray with me, my dear ones, that Wycliffe Associates will soon have the funds to purchase and prepare tablets for these 125 scheduled Bible training workshops. Some days it feels overwhelming when I realize how much is occurring in the world of Bible translation. Yesterday, I read that there are over 1,000 language groups, whose Bible translators are MAST trained, currently working on their Bible translations. Many working to complete their New Testaments and many translating the Old Testament.
Then I think of you. I praise God that we have you supporting in prayer the advancement of Bible translation around the world. I am so grateful for each of you. I know that you trust in God’s power to work in us together to bring God’s Word to the world.
I pray, and please pray with me, that very soon every person in the world can choose to go to God’s precious Word when they are hurt, alone, lost, or hopeless. Let’s pray that very soon every person on earth will have the Bible available to them in their own language.
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