praying with bible | Wycliffe Associates | Advancing Bible Translation

So, dear prayer partner, are you and your family doing well having been quarantined for so many months? Have you discovered a new way to “attend church?” Do you get to “visit family” on Zoom or Video Messaging or Face Time? So many even have to quarantine alone in a place not their home.

We are often consumed by these kind of thoughts—they do not help us. We are troubled and wish for things to be different in our lives. COVID-19 has brought pain and grief to so many people around the world—even to our world. But remember these words:

As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
Isaiah 55:9-12 (NIV)

Amid this horrific pandemic, something very special happens in the hearts of anyone who spends time reading God’s Word. We become encouraged. We catch a vision of what God our Father has for us to do. How many times have we read Scripture, closed the Book, taken a deep breath, and find that we are filled with joy and peace? He has prepared us for His work.

His work includes the Great Commission. Let’s take a moment to listen to Tim Neu, Chief Operating Officer of Wycliffe Associates. He is speaking from a Galilean hillside telling about when Jesus met His disciples in these hills following His resurrection.

And, there are still believers, brothers and sisters in Jesus, who are in agony today, waiting for generations, who still without Scripture in their heart language. They wait. They plead for someone to help them get God’s Word in their heart language.

God, in His infinite grace, has made a way for us to equip Christians with our Bible translation tools, like Tablets for National Translators—TNT!

This means they can go on working—even remotely, even in areas of intense persecution, even in places where the internet is unavailable or subject to surveillance by hostile authorities. It is amazing. They’re able to collaborate virtually with other translators, even across closed borders. Their work can be backed up and stored in the cloud where it cannot be discovered or destroyed by enemies of Christianity. The computer tablets give national translators a private network beyond the reach of hostile authorities.

Dear prayer partners, we all have a passion for Bible translation and a commitment to share God’s Word with everyone who does not have it in their heart language. Will you please join us in prayer that the need for more Tablets for National Translators will soon be met?

Please, dear ones, keep on doing what you are doing—and do even more—to help bring God’s Word to all the nations of the world. Together let’s pray that the door God has opened in the midst of a pandemic, will remain open till all have access to God’s Word in their heart languages.

And, let’s pray for the Bible translators, now equipped to launch and complete Bible translation themselves, safely and securely.

Let’s pray, too, that all who read God’s precious Word will be transformed by it.

Let’s be the answer to their prayers by doing all that we can to make sure all language groups will receive the tools, technology, and resources needed to translate the Bible into every language on earth.

Let’s all go out today in joy and be led by Him in peace. God is at work in our lives—even in a pandemic.

I’m praying with you,

Prayer Coordinator
Wycliffe Associates

Don’t Let Bible Translations Be Locked Down! Online collaboration keeps translation possible,  even in times of crisis. Your help is needed now!