With tomorrow being the National Day of Prayer I wanted to share a story I recently heard about the power of prayer.

In 1982 there was a vision to pray for the people groups that needed a translation around the world and the Bibleless People Prayer Project was started.

In 1983 the first couple began praying for the Tira language in northern Sudan.

The month they began praying, Fajak, who was not a Christian, living in the Sudan had a dream; and in that dream he was visited by an angel that told him he should read Psalm 51. The problem was that the only Bible available to him was in English and he didn’t speak English. So, Fajak went to a priest and they read Psalm 51 to him in Arabic. That very day Fajak gave his life to Jesus!

In 1986 Fajak had gone to enroll at a small Bible college in southern Sudan. While he was there Wycliffe translators visited the school to share about the need for translation of the Gospel. It was at that time that he felt called to translate the Tira language. That very month the second group began praying for the Tira language. At that time Wycliffe was not able to assist with the project in Northern Sudan so Fajak committed to pray for the Tira translation project

Fast forward to 1991 and Fajak had continued to pray that God would lead people to northern Sudan so he could be trained to translate the Tira language. One day Fajak was in Khartoum and was introduced to Wycliffe by a mutual friend and in March he was enrolled in an introductory translation principle course in Nairobi. Also in that March the third team began praying for the Tira language. He did so well that he was enrolled to complete his degree in translation and over the next ten years he translated the NT and portions of the OT into the Tira language.

In April 2008 they had just finished the type setting of the Tira Bible and there was a celebration and there was a 6 year old drummer that was part of the worship band at the celebration who was called forward and was handed the first copy of the Tira NT.

Fajak said, “Unlike us this boy will grow up with the word of God in his language available to him and he will be led by God.”

Pray with me on this National Day of Prayer for those who still do not have a Bible in a language that they understand.