Just as Abraham believed in God, and it was counted to him as righteousness now you know that those of faith, these are the children of Abraham. And Scripture having foreseen that God declared righteous the pagan nations by faith, preached ahead of time to Abraham: ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’ so that those of faith will be blessed together with Abraham.
Thank you, dear Jesus, for all you have given me, for all you have taken away from me, for all you have left me.
You brainless Galatians, who put a spell on you all, to whom, visibly , Jesus Christ has been displayed crucified?
I want only to find out this from you:
On the basis of the works of the Jewish law did you receive the Spirit –
or from believing on the basis of what you heard?
Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit now you finish with the flesh?
Did you experience so many things in vain?
If indeed it was in vain!?
Does the one who supplies you the Spirit and works powerfully among you do so on the basis of works or on the basis of what you heard?
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is discord, union; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy, For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen
If then, seeking to be declared righteous in Christ we have been found to be sinners then Christ is a servant of sin. Certainly not!
For if those things which I tore down I build up again, I prove myself a lawbreaker.
For I died through the Jewish Law with regard to the Jewish Law., so that I might live with regard to God.
I have been crucified with Christ.
I live but no longer I but Christ lives in me. But (the life) which I now live in the body, I live in the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
I am not rejecting the grace of God.
For if being righteous (comes) through the Jewish Law, then Christ died for nothing.
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.
But, – knowing that a person is not declared righteous by means of works of the Jewish Law but rather through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, we have also placed our trust in Christ Jesus, – so we will be declared righteous on the basis of the faithfulness of Christ and not on the basis of works of the Jewish Law, because on the basis of works of the Jewish Law “all flesh is not declared righteous.” (Ps 143:2)
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
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he had been ‘condemned’.
For until certain people came from James he was eating with the gentiles.
But when they came, he drew back and separated himself fearing the ‘circumcision’ and the other Jews play-acted with him. so that even Barnabas was led astray by their charade.
But when I saw that they were not being straight, with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all ‘If you, Jewish, live a gentile lifestyle and not the Jewish lifestyle, how do you force gentiles to adopt Jewishness?’
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.
And from those who appeared to be something… -whatever they once were made no difference to me in any way, God shows no partiality between people – for (they) added nothing to me. But these seeing that I had been trusted with the gospel for the uncircumcision as Peter for the circumcision, (for the one who empowered Peter for the circumcision also empowered me for the pagan nations. ) and knowing the grace which had been given to me Jacob (James) and Cephas, and John, the ones considered to be pillars gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, so that we (might go) to the pagan nations, and they to the circumcision.
Only that (we) continue to remember the poor., which – this very thing – I was also eager to do.
O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee, the life of the souls that love thee, and the strength of the wills that serve thee; help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee; so to love thee that we may fully serve thee, whom to serve is perfect freedom. Amen
Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem, with Barnabas taking along Titus also.
But I went in accordance with a revelation, and I set before them the gospel, which I preach to the pagan nations privately to the influential people lest somehow I am running (or I ran) in vain.
But not even, Titus, who was with me, being Greek, was compelled to be circumcised…
… but because of some false believers, who had been brought in un der false pretences, to spy on our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us…
… we did not give in to them for a moment in submission, in order that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
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.
Then after three years I went to Jerusalem, to visit Cephas, – I stayed with him for fifteen days, and I did not see another of the apostles except Jacob ( James) the brother of the Lord.
And in what I am writing to you, – look here – before God, I am not lying!
Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
I , was unknown, by sight, to the ‘congregations of the Judeans who are in Christ.’
But they were only hearing: ‘The one who once was persecuting us now preaches the Faith, which once he ravaged’, – and they were glorifying God because of me.
Lord God, your feed us with the living bread from heaven. You renew our faith increase our hope and strengthen our love. Teach us to hunger for Christ who is the true and living bread and live by every word that comes from your mouth, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
For you heard about our way of life, formerly in Jewishness that I was intensively persecuting the Church of God and I was ravaging it,
and I was advancing in Judaism, beyond many peers, among my people, more (than them) a zealot for my ancestral traditions.
When he (God) who having selected me from my mother’s womb, and called (me), through his grace, was pleased to unveil his son in me, in order that I might preach him amongst the pagan nations, immediately I did not consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem, to those who were apostles before me,
but I went into Arabia, and
I returned again to Damascus.
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.
For I making known to you all, brothers and sisters, the gospel which was preached by me, is not according to humans. For I neither received it from humans, nor have I been taught (it by humans) but through what Jesus Christ unveiled (to me).
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.
