The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands. Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act. Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding. Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke? For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen. Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. Know also that wisdom is like honey for you:
If you find it, there is a future hope for you,
and your hope will not be cut off. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”
For it is not wise to ask such questions. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope. So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.” Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.