One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 31
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January 4
WHEN ASIF, A PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN, dared to lead his coworkers in
prayer, the factory owner told him to stop praying. But Asif continued,
even giving his boss a Bible. The owner brought an Islamic cleric to
persuade Asif to accept Islam. Asif’s refusal led to an ultimatum: accept
Islam or lose his job. Asif’s response: “My God will provide.” • LORD,
PROVIDE FOR ASIF and all my brothers and sisters like him whose love
for you costs them their livelihoods. Keep their zeal fresh. May they stay
eager to share you with their friends, family, and coworkers. Amen.
GENESIS 8:1–10:32
But God remembered Noah and all the wild
animals and livestock with him in the boat.
He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and
the floodwaters began to recede. 2 The underground waters stopped flowing, and the torrential rains from the sky were stopped. 3 So
the floodwaters gradually receded from the
earth. After 150 days, 4 exactly five months
from the time the flood began,* the boat came
to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 Two and
a half months later,* as the waters continued
to go down, other mountain peaks became
visible.
6 After another forty days, Noah opened
the window he had made in the boat 7 and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth
until the floodwaters on the earth had dried
up. 8 He also released a dove to see if the water
had receded and it could find dry ground. 9 But
the dove could find no place to land because
the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand
and drew the dove back inside. 10 After waiting
another seven days, Noah released the dove
again. 11 This time the dove returned to him in
the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak.
Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were
almost gone. 12 He waited another seven days
and then released the dove again. This time it
did not come back.
13 Noah was now 601 years old. On the first
day of the new year, ten and a half months
after the flood began,* the floodwaters had
almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted
back the covering of the boat and saw that the
surface of the ground was drying. 14 Two more
months went by,* and at last the earth was dry!
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Leave the boat,
all of you—you and your wife, and your sons
and their wives. 17 Release all the a nimals—
the birds, the livestock, and the small animals
that scurry along the g round—so they can be
fruitful and multiply throughout the earth.”
JANUARY
4
18 So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their
wives left the boat. 19 And all of the large and
small animals and birds came out of the boat,
pair by pair.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and
there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that
purpose.* 21 And the Lord was pleased with
the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself,
“I will never again curse the ground because
of the human race, even though everything
they think or imagine is bent toward evil from
childhood. I will never again destroy all living
things. 22 As long as the earth remains, there
will be planting and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night.”
9:1 Then
God blessed Noah and his sons and
told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the
earth. 2 All the animals of the earth, all the
birds of the sky, all the small animals that
scurry along the ground, and all the fish in
the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I
have placed them in your power. 3 I have given
them to you for food, just as I have given you
grain and vegetables. 4 But you must never eat
any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.
5 “And I will require the blood of anyone
who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone
who murders a fellow human must die. 6 If
anyone takes a human life, that person’s life
will also be taken by human hands. For God
made human beings* in his own image. 7 Now
be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the
earth.”
8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I
hereby confirm my covenant with you and
your descendants, 10 and with all the animals
that were on the boat with you—the birds, the
livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming
my covenant with you. Never again will flood
waters kill all living creatures; never again
will a flood destroy the earth.”
