“Really? Satan can never take me from God’s hand?” Annie* said.
“I can go confidently to God, over and over and over?” she asked. “Nothing — absolutely nothing — can separate me from him?”
Annie was having a recurring nightmare that Satan was trying to snatch her from God’s hands and was worried sick that he was on the verge of succeeding.
Each time she tried to go to Jesus in her dream, but the man in white would rip off a mask, revealing himself to be Satan.
You and I, equipped with the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” can easily wield the truth of Scripture against the enemy’s lies.
We have read Jesus’ words in John 10:28-29, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”
We know the Truth, and the Truth sets us free from the tactics of the enemy.
But Annie* speaks a rare language called Dagchi* and for a long time, there was no translation of the Bible available for her to read in her own “heart” language.
Imagine having to spend years studying another language just to have the chance to open and read God’s Word, and even then, never fully understanding the Scripture you read because you never had the time or ability to truly master that new language.
For the 1.5 million people who speak one of the 6,000 languages for which there is no translation of the Bible available, that’s the heartbreaking reality they face every day.
Sadly, without access to one of the most powerful weapons of God, His Word, the lies of Satan run rampant even among the Christians whose first language has no translation.
For over 70 years, Wycliffe Bible Translators has made it their mission to translate God’s Word into every single “heart language” in the world. Wycliffe defines a “heart language” as a person’s first language, the one they think in and speak in.
When Wycliffe handed Annie* both a written and recorded copy of the Bible translated into her heart language, she bounced up and down excitedly. “It’s my language! It’s the Scriptures in my language!” she repeated. “I can’t wait to share this with my mom and read it to her!”
Missionaries could tell her all day long about God’s love for her and how Satan could never snatch her from His hands, but there’s power in reading God’s Word for ourselves and having that intimate moment with the Lord where he speaks His Truth into our lives.
And that’s why Wycliffe Bible Translators exists.
Wycliffe was officially founded in 1942 by a missionary named William Cameron Townsend, 25 years after a trip to Guatemala to sell Spanish Bibles. While there, he was shocked to learn many of the natives still spoke Cakchiquel, a language with no Bible translation, and could not understand Spanish Bibles.
Shortly thereafter, Townsend started the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and began training missionaries to translate the Bible. His work eventually grew into the ministry now known as Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Wycliffe completed its first full translation of the Bible in 1951, and its 500th translation was completed in 2000. Around the same time, Wycliffe adopted “Vision 2025,” an ambitious goal of “seeing a Bible translation project started in every language still needing one by 2025” and is making record progress towards that goal.
Wycliffe works by empowering local native speakers of each language and brings them together in a cooperative effort to produce the best Bible translations possible.
Right now, a massive translation project is underway in Papua New Guinea, a country with over 120 languages. Please see their latest video for insight into this inspiring ministry.
Please also pray for their continued success and consider contributing to the organization on their website.
*Names changed for security reasons.