…(in their destruction will be destroyed with them [the evil angels].) when they suffer harm that is the reward of wrongdoing: considering it pleasurable to be self-indulgent in the day(light). (they are) spots and blemishes indulging in their lusts eating together with you.
having eyes full of an adulteress insatiable sin enticing unsteady souls having hearts trained in greed, – children of cursing.
leaving behind the straight way they have gone astray, following the way of Balaam (son) of Bosor who loved the reward of wrongdoing A rebuke he had regarding his transgression, – a mute donkey, speaking with a human voice restrained the madness of the prophet.
Eternal God and Fatther, you create us by your power, and redeem us by your love, guide and strengthen us by your Spirit, that we may give ourselves in love and service to one another and to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Judah1, a slave of Jesus Christ, a brother of Jacob2, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ;
Mercy to you all, and peace and may love be multiplied!
Beloved, making all speed to write to you all about our common salvation I had need to write to you encouraging you to continue to struggle for the faith which was passed onto the saints once-and-for-all
For certain people have slipped in, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation -godless who are changing the grace of our God, into immorality and denying our only master and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to your quiet harbour, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict. Show me the course I should take. Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go. And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in your name we shall find comfort and peace. Amen
Therefore having thrown off all evil and all deceit1 and hypocrisies and envies and all ‘running down’ as newborn babies long for the spiritual, pure2, milk so that by it you might grow toward salvation- if you have tasted that the Lord is kind3.
God be in head and in my understanding; God be in my eyes and in my looking; God be in my mouth and in my speaking; God be in my heart and in my thinking; God be at my end and at my departing.
And if you call on the one who judges impartially according to each person’s work, as Father conduct yourselves in fear for the time of your exile, for you know that not with transitory things (even) silver and gold, you have been ransomed from your worthless conduct handed down from your ancestors, but by the precious blood – as from a lamb, without blemish and without defect – Christ’s, (him) having been foreknown – before the foundation of the world having been made known – in these last times, for your sake, who because of him, are believing in God who raised him from the dead ones, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that thou art – Thou my best thought, by day or by night; Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
Why do the nations rebel? Why are the countries devising plots that will fail? 2 The kings of the earth form a united front; the rulers collaborate against the Lord and his anointed king. 3 They say, “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us. Let’s free ourselves from their ropes.”
4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust; the Lord taunts them. 5 Then he angrily speaks to them and terrifies them in his rage, saying, 6 “I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 The king says, “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ‘You are my son. This very day I have become your father. 8 Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your personal property. 9 You will break them with an iron scepter; you will smash them like a potter’s jar.’”
10 So now, you kings, do what is wise; you rulers of the earth, submit to correction. 11 Serve the Lord in fear. Repent in terror. 12 Give sincere homage. Otherwise he will be angry, and you will die because of your behaviour, when his anger quickly ignites. How blessed are all who take shelter in him!
Take from us, O God, all pride and vanity, all boasting and self-assertion, and give us the true courage that shows itself in gentleness, the true wisdom that shows itself in simplicity, and the true power that shows itself in modesty.
…being submissive to one another in the fear of Christ: the wives to their husbands as to the Lord, because a husband (is) the head of (his) wife as Christ is also the head of the Church, he is the saviour of the Body but as the church submits to Christ so wives also to husbands (with reference) to all things.
Husbands, love (your) wives as also Christ loved the church and handed over himself for her, so that he might make her holy by the washing with water by the word so that he might present the church glorious to himself not having a spot or wrinkle or anything similar but is holy and without blemish In the same way husbands must love their wives as their own bodies He who loves his wife, loves himself.
For nobody ever hates his own body but feeds and takes care of it. so also Christ and the Church. because we are members of his body.
Because of this a man leaves his mother and father and is united with his wife and the two will be one flesh.
This mystery is great. I am speaking about Christ and the Church.
But each one of you too: let each of you love his wife as himself And let the wife respect (her) husband.
Teach us, good Lord, to serve thee as thou deservest; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labour and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do thy will, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
For he himself is our peace, who made both (groups) one (group) and broke down the dividing wall, that is the ‘fence’; in his flesh having abolished the hostility the law, that is the commandments (consisting) in decrees so that he might create (from) the two (groups) in himself one new human so making peace and to reconcile them both into one body to God through the cross thereby killing the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you – who are far away and peace to those who are near, for through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
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O Lord Jesus Christ, stay beside me to defend me, within me to guide me, before me to lead me, and above me to bless me, that with you and in you, I may live, and move and have my being, for ever and ever. Amen.
(I pray) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, might give to you (the) Spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowledge of him (since) the eyes of your hearts have been enlightened s o that you might know what is the hope of his calling what is the richness of his glorious inheritance among the holy ones and what is the surpassing great power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty strength…
Lord, you have given me so much, I ask for one more thing – a grateful heart.
Therefore having enough boldness in Christ to command you to do the right thing, because of love, I would rather beseech you, – such as I am, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner for Christ Jesus- I beseech you concerning my child, whom I have begotten during (my) imprisonment: Onesimus, (Useful) who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful to you and me, whom I have sent back to you, and he is my very heart. whom I wanted to keep with me, so that he might serve me, in my imprisonment for the Gospel, in your place. For I wanted to do nothing, without your consent so that your good (deed) might not be from compulsion but from free will. For perhaps he was separated from you, for this reason, for a while – that you might have him back – for good! No longer as a slave, but more than a slave – a beloved brother, -especially to me, – and how much more to you both ‘humanly’ and in the Lord.
So if consider me as a partner welcome him as me. And if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, write (this), with my own hand: I will repay it. – not to mention to you, that you owe more – yourself – to me. Yes, brother, let me have some benefit from you, in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ!
Having been convinced of your ‘compliance’, I have written to you, knowing that you will do more than I ask. One thing more, prepare the guest-room for me. For I hope that through your prayers, I will be restored to you all.
Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner, greets you. in Christ. and Mark, Aristarchus. Demas, Luke, my fellow-workers. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with with your spirit.
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be compared to a wise man, who builds his house on bedrock. and rain fell and the rivers came and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it had foundations on bedrock.
And whoever hears these words of mine, and does not do them will be compared to a foolish man, who builds his house on the sand. And rain fell and rivers came, and the winds blew and beat on that house,
and it fell and the fall of it was great.
And it happened that when Jesus finished these words the crowd were amazed because of his teaching. For he was teaching them as having authority and not as their scholars.
Thank you, dear Jesus, for all you have given me, for all you have taken away from me, for all you have left me.