The Executive team of Wycliffe Associates recently completed their Strategic Planning meetings in Orlando. I have been thinking and wondering what this new fiscal year will bring. One thing we all learned from COVID last year is that we really don’t know the future. Our Lord knows, so it behooves us to place our hope in Him.
I have been meditating on and praying over this Scripture in Romans for quite a while now:
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12 (NIV)
I, like many of you dear folks, have medical “afflictions” that daily teach patience. What I really became interested in is the phrase “be joyful in hope”.
Then I looked up some Scripture verses about hope—amazing!! The following verses are just a few examples since there are so many! Let’s read a verse and then pray for Wycliffe Associates and Church Owned Bible Translation.
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you
to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
1Peter 3:15 (NIV)
Let’s consider first our own attitude toward Jesus Christ. Do we revere Him as our Lord? Then let’s pray that Wycliffe Associates leadership team chooses to revere Jesus Christ as Lord and that they will discern the direction the Lord would have this organization move going forward.
Pray that all the staff and volunteers, all the prayer partners, and financial partners will have a clear answer as to the hope and vision that every family in all the nations of the world would soon have the Bible available in their heart language.
Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him,
and so your faith and hope are in God.
1 Peter 1:21 (NIV)
Yes, we believe in God. We believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and God has glorified Jesus. Yes, our faith and hope are in God. Pray that very soon all the peoples of the world will be able to read and hear this and that their faith and hope will also be in God.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)
Let’s praise God for His great mercy. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give Bible translators eyes to see that Jesus is God’s Son and that Jesus paid the price for sin—our sin and theirs, too. It is through the resurrection of Jesus that we are born again into a living hope.
Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.
Psalm 31:24 (NIV)
When we think about Bible translation, we realize it is a huge task and even greater responsibility. Pray for the national Bible translators that they will be encouraged and strengthened because their hope is in the Lord. Pray they will be able to bring the Bible to completion in their heart language—for their family, their friends, and their community.
Please pray for the language groups working on their own Bible translations and that they will then desire that their neighbors will get the Bible translated into their languages, also.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
Psalm 33:13 (NIV)
We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
Psalm 33:20 (NIV)
Praise God for His unfailing love for each of us. In His love He keeps watch over those who fear Him. We wait in hope because He is our help and our protector.
Let’s pray for national Bible translators who are in areas of persecution and remember to pray for them that the Lord God will indeed help and shield them because of His unfailing love for each one.
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
Psalm 62:5 (NIV)
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Hebrews 6:19 (NIV)
In this world of persecution, wars, floods, volcanic eruptions, and COVID-19—it is only our hope in God that one can find rest for the soul and an anchor, firm and secure.
Oh, how the peoples with no Scriptures need and crave rest for their souls—they search relentlessly for a god who will give them hope and security.
My dear prayer partners, we know the only God in the universe who loves, cares, and helps everyone whose hope is in Him.
Please add your own prayers to these when you read the Scriptures on hope. Please pray for all the nations at war—nations who care nothing for their civilians. Pray for the people who feel stuck in religions who are hurt, harmed, demands made, and are ineffectual—they have no power to save. They have no god of love.
Please join us in striving to give the world the Word of God.
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.
John 3:16 (NIV)
Praying with you,
Prayer Coordinator
Wycliffe Associates
Also in recent news...
