And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. | And God is able to enrich you with an abundance of every grace, so that, with all of your needs provided for, you may be able to produce a surplus of good works. |
And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. | May the Lord cause your love to increase and overflow for one another and for everyone else, just as our love does for you. |
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Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? | What then shall we say? Should we persist in sin in order that grace may abound? Of course not! We have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? |
For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. | For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so too, through Christ, do we receive our consolation. |
I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. | I know how to live with little, and I know how to live with plenty. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. |
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. | May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may grow rich in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. |
The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. | The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. |
But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. | However, the gift is not like the transgression. For if the transgression of one man led to the death of the many, how much greater was the overflowing effect of the grace of God and the gift of the one man Jesus Christ that has abounded for the many. |
O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. | O Lord, you are kind and forgiving, filled with kindness for all who cry to you. |
So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. | Therefore, my beloved brethren, stand firm and immovable, devoting yourselves completely to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. |
“Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. | Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn back to the Lord, your God. For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and always prepared to relent from punishing. |
Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. | Brethren, we must always give thanks to God for you, and it is only right that we do so. For your faith grows ever more, and the love that all of you have for one another continues to increase. |
Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. | Fix your thoughts on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. |
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. | Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares about you. |
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. | Wait quietly for the Lord and be patient until he comes. Do not fret over the man who prospers because of his evil schemes. |
So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. | So then, faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. |
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. | Those who live according to the flesh fix their attention on the things of the flesh, while those who live according to the Spirit set their thoughts on spiritual things. |
But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. | But I will sing of your strength; when morning dawns, I will proclaim your kindness. For you have been my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. |
And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? | Why do you take note of the splinter in your brother’s eye but do not notice the wooden plank in your own eye? |
Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. | Call to me and I will answer you and reveal to you great and mysterious secrets about which you are unaware. |
What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? | What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? |
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? | What then can we say in response to all this? If God is for us, who can be against us? |
Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. | Those who accepted his message were baptized, and on that day about three thousand people were added to their number. |
So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. | So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own. |
Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. | Thus you could understand that the Lord, your God, was disciplining you, just like a father disciplines his son. |