In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God.
I love the Lord, because He has heard My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. § The Spirit … helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. § Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
Phil. 4:6; Ps. 116:1–2; Matt. 6:7; Rom. 8:26; 1 Tim. 2:8; Eph. 6:18; Matt. 18:19
All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
and Your saints shall bless You.
Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. § I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. § Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.
Ps. 145:10; 103:1–2; 34:1; 145:2; 63:3–5; Luke 1:46–47; Rev. 4:11
You are a gracious and merciful God, slow
to anger and abundant in lovingkindness,
One who relents from doing harm.
I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, “The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.”
Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us! Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us … Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; and deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, for Your name’s sake! § O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against You. § We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.
If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.
Jonah 4:2; Num. 14:17–18; Ps. 79:8–9;
Jer. 14:7; 14:20; Ps. 130:3–4
Sanctification by the Spirit.
Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out.
Observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! § (The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth,) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
The Helper [is] the Holy Spirit. § The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.
In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
2 Thess. 2:13; Song 4:16; 2 Cor. 7:11; Eph. 5:9–10;
John 14:26; Rom. 5:5; Gal. 5:22; 2 Cor. 8:2; 1 Cor. 12:11
Why does God let things go from bad to worse for those He loves – those like me? Like Martha and Mary?
Yet, consider this: When Jesus expressed words of encouragement concerning Lazarus’ condition, Lazarus had already died! (John 11:4) Was Jesus lying? Was His promise some sort of empty “hope so”? Was He just toying with Martha and Mary’s feelings? NO! What Jesus said meant . . .
that Lazarus’ sickness did not have physical death as its ultimate purpose.
that God has a greater purpose than our immediate comfort.
that getting what we want, when we want it, is not always the best for us or glorifying to God.
Would you tell God now, in prayer, that you want what He wants more than what you want? Then trust Him!
You shall be to Me a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation.
You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God. § You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
You shall be named the priests of the Lord, they shall call you the servants of our God. § Priests of God and of Christ.
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. § By Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. § The temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
Ex. 19:6; Rev. 5:9–10; 1 Peter 2:9; Isa. 61:6;
Rev. 20:6; Heb. 3:1; 13:15; Eph. 2:10; 1 Cor. 3:17
We made our prayer to our God,
and … set a watch against them.
Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. § Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. § [Cast] all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith.
Why do you call Me “Lord, Lord,” and not do the things which I say? § But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Neh. 4:9; Matt. 26:41; Col. 4:2; 1 Peter 5:7–9;
Luke 6:46; James 1:22; Ex. 14:15; Phil. 4:6–7
God created you and me to live with Him in His heavenly home, enjoying fellowship with Him and glorifying Him forever! Death was not part of His plan. It was through Adam’s sin that death – temporal and eternal – entered humanity. And death entered creation as well.
Flowers fade. Grass withers. Birds sing in minor key. Trees lose their leaves because “creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom. 8:20-21, NIV). Because of man’s sin, creation has been in a cycle of death and decay. The greatest threat to our environment is not fluorocarbon or nuclear testing or the burning of tropical forests in the Amazon River region or toxic waste. The greatest threat to our environment has been and is sin! So . . . help to clean up the environment by repenting of your sin!
