Be joyful in hope,patient in affliction,faithful in prayer. When we look at a vegetable plant, take for instance a tomato plant, there are typically three phases of growth. Phase one is underground. The seed, once planted, germinates and starts to sprout. This growth is unseen, though a gardener must trust it is happening. This is […]
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how […]
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Honeybees are a very interesting insect. They pollenate the flowers around them and produce honey. Now they work hard and have a mission, but one thing overrides their daily honey-making and pollinating — even at the risk of their own life — […]
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. We have some pretty great examples around us of “devotion” that brings forth life. Take a baby: a man and a woman come together and the wife becomes pregnant. Sometimes, this first step can take lots of effort and be full of trials. […]
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is […]
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. --Parallel verses:Revelation 21:1-5aThen I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven […]
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. --Parallel verses:Philippians 3:1-4aFurther, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It […]
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings […]
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. --Parallel verses:Romans 7:18-19, 21-25 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my […]
