One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 103
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January 27
My heart is like wax,
melting within me.
My strength has dried up like sunbaked
clay.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my
mouth.
You have laid me in the dust and left me
for dead.
My enemies surround me like a pack
of dogs;
an evil gang closes in on me.
They have pierced* my hands and feet.
I can count all my bones.
My enemies stare at me and gloat.
They divide my garments among
themselves
and throw dice* for my clothing.
22:16 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek and Syriac
versions; most Hebrew manuscripts read They are like a lion at.
22:18 Hebrew cast lots.
PROVERBS 5:7‑14
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
So now, my sons, listen to me.
Never stray from what I am about to say:
Stay away from her!
Don’t go near the door of her house!
If you do, you will lose your honor
and will lose to merciless people all you
have achieved.
Strangers will consume your wealth,
and someone else will enjoy the fruit of
your labor.
In the end you will groan in anguish
when disease consumes your body.
You will say, “How I hated discipline!
If only I had not ignored all the warnings!
Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers?
Why didn’t I pay attention to my
instructors?
I have come to the brink of utter ruin,
and now I must face public disgrace.”
HELEN BERHANE CLIMBED BROAD STAIRS to the church building in
Asmara, Eritrea, unsure of what she’d say at the top. She only knew
God wanted her to speak to the crowd relaxing on the sunny steps.
The words that came to Helen about Jesus Christ and his peace cost
her two years’ imprisonment in appalling conditions, including being
held in a shipping container. • LORD, THANK YOU that believers like
Helen listen to your Holy Spirit and faithfully proclaim the words you
give them. In every restricted nation and hostile area, speak to your
people, and give them courage to proclaim your truth. Amen.
EXODUS 4:1–5:21
But Moses protested again, “What if they
won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they
say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”
2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in
your hand?”
“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.
3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord
told him. So M
oses threw down the staff, and
it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
4 Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and
grab its tail.” So M
oses reached out and
grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.
5 “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him.
“Then they will believe that the Lord, the God
of their a ncestors—the God of Abraham, the
God of I saac, and the God of J acob—really has
appeared to you.”
6 Then the Lord said to M
oses, “Now put
your hand inside your cloak.” So M
oses put
his hand inside his cloak, and when he took
it out again, his hand was white as snow
with a severe skin disease.* 7 “Now put your
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hand back into your cloak,” the Lord said.
So Moses put his hand back in, and when he
took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest
of his body.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first
miraculous sign, they will be convinced by
the second sign. 9 And if they don’t believe you
or listen to you even after these two signs,
then take some water from the Nile River and
pour it out on the dry ground. When you do,
the water from the Nile will turn to blood on
the ground.”
10 But M
oses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord,
I’m not very good with words. I never have
been, and I’m not now, even though you have
spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words
get tangled.”
11 Then the Lord asked M
oses, “Who makes
a person’s mouth? Who decides whether
people speak or do not speak, hear or do not
hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord?
12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and
I will instruct you in what to say.”
