Suicide rates among active duty troops are alarmingly high. We believe that God's Word can truly save lives as our military heroes struggle with the hidden wounds of war.

Bible Societies around the world are helping to spread God's message of hope and love with those who need it most. Here are prayer requests from a select group of Bible Societies that ask you to lift them up in prayer.

Austria

Pray for our ongoing work in distributing Bibles among refugees. Give thanks that the touring exhibition “God loves the stranger” is being used by many institutions to raise awareness about refugee issues and about the Bible. We are grateful for the school and youth groups visiting our Bible center in Vienna, for good collaboration with all churches and for the active involvement of our board members.

Belgium

Please pray for our Gospel of Mark project, which includes a modern magazine that we hope to distribute to as many schools as possible. Pray for a positive response from teachers of religion. Our dream is to reach many teenagers with Mark's Gospel.

Pray also for our Bible campaign centered around the Book of Psalms. An illustrated Psalms brochure will be distributed through churches and hospital and prison chaplains. A website provides a commentary on a selection of Psalms.

France

We are working with Catholic and Protestant prison chaplains to develop a tool for allowing prisoners to discover the Bible. Pray that this will bring prisoners new hope.

Germany

Please pray that we will be able to touch the hearts of our supporters and friends with our fundraising appeals in 2013 and that their desire to support the local projects of Bible Societies all over the world will grow. Ask that the translation of the BasisBibel Old Testament will make good progress and that God will bless the translators, giving them wisdom and inspiration. May he also bless and strengthen those eagerly waiting to read the full BasisBibel Bible.

Portugal

Pray for us as we continue to face significant financial challenges. Give thanks that the opportunities are enormous, both for Bible distribution and for Bible advocacy and engagement initiatives, mainly through our exhibitions “eKlogia – the Church, the Word, Ecology” and “The Feast of the Bible,” which involves all the churches and other religious and nonreligious entities.

The Netherlands

We, the Netherlands Bible Society, thank God that we are able to begin the final stage of the translation of the Bible in Plain Dutch (to be published in 2014). Please ask for God's blessing on the New Generation Fund, which aims to reach out to the younger generation. We also invite prayers for the recruitment of new volunteers. May our staff and volunteers be blessed with creativity as they seek to make the Bible heard.

Switzerland

We thank God for all the opportunities we have in our secular country to make the Bible known. We are grateful for success with our projects to make the Bible accessible to prisoners and foreign residents in a language they can understand. Pray for wisdom and strength as we develop new methods to increase our financial support for worldwide Bible work.