We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
New Testament
Daily Reading: 01Aug – The Apostles’ Teaching: The Most Excellent Way – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Daily Reading: 29 July – Paul to the Leaders: The Coming of the Lord – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
Gracious God: Thank you for choosing to save us through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. May we encourage each other today in faith and love and so be ready for his return in your good time. Amen.
Daily Reading: 28 July – Paul to the Leaders: All Scripture is God-Breathed – 2 Timothy 3:10-4:8
Holy God, it still amazes me that you chose to speak to us, your finite creatures, in our own words. May I never take for granted the great gift of being able to read your Word and learn your Truth. But Father, please give me the character and the courage to put it into practical use and let it train me to do your will. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Daily Reading: 27 July – Paul to the Leaders: Good Soldiers of Christ – 2 Timothy 2:1-26
Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Daily Reading: 26 July – Paul to the Leaders: The Love of Money – 1 Timothy 6:3-21
Teach us the great gain we experience by setting our heart’s affections not on this world’s changing and peril-stricken economy, but by storing up treasures in heaven’s economy where eternal riches never perish, spoil or fade. May that precious truth help us find contentment in a discontented society.
Daily Reading: 25 July – Paul to the Leaders: Elders and Deacons – 1 Timothy 3:1-16
O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into our hearts. Enlighten the dark corners of our neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.(St. Augustine)
Daily Reading: 22 July – Paul to the Churches: The Supremacy of Christ – Colossians 1:1-23
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
