| I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. | That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. |
| For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. | For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. |
| Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. | Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. |
| One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” | Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” |
| My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. | I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. |
| I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. | For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. |
| In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. | And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. |
| For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. | For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. |
| Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. | Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! |
| I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death. | That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. |
| But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. | But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. |
| Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. | For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. |
| Yes, God will bless us, and people all over the world will fear him. | God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him! |
| I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? | My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? |
| Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. | How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. |
| So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. | Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. |
| Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. | Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! |
| But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. | So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. |
| Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. | Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. |
| And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. | By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. |
| And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. | And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. |
| They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” | And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” |
| “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence. | And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. |
| For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. | For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. |
| There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. | Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. |
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