Mar 2
1 Corinthians 13
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Ephesians 1:4-6
4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he[a] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Ephesians 5:
25Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her
26to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word,
27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed
down, shaken together and running over, will be poured
into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured
to you."
Lift up your eyes to the
heavens, look at the earth beneath; the
heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear but like a
garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation
will
last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
-- Isaiah 51:6
2 Cor 12
9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
John 16
33"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Isaiah 53
1
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been
revealed?
2
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us
to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should
desire him.
3
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with
suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was
upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is
silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8
By oppression [a]
and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the
living;
for the transgression of my people he was
stricken. [b]
9
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10
Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and
cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes
[c]
his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his
days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in
his hand.
John 13
4 April
Psalm 21
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength.How great is his joy in the victories you give!
2
You have granted him the desire of
his heart
and have not withheld the
request of his lips.
Selah
3
You welcomed him with rich blessings
and placed a crown of pure
gold on his head.
4
He asked you for life, and you gave
it to him—
length of days, for ever and
ever.
5
Through the victories you gave, his
glory is great;
you have bestowed on him
splendor and majesty.
6
Surely you have granted him eternal
blessings
and made him glad with the
joy of your presence.
7
For the king trusts in the LORD;
through the unfailing love of
the Most High
he will not be shaken.
8
Your hand will lay hold on all your
enemies;
your right hand will seize
your foes.
9
At the time of your appearing
you will make them like a
fiery furnace.
In his wrath the LORD will
swallow them up,
and his fire will consume
them.
10
You will destroy their descendants
from the earth,
their posterity from mankind.
11
Though they plot evil against you
and devise wicked schemes,
they cannot succeed;
12
for you will make them turn their
backs
when you aim at them with
drawn bow.
13
Be exalted, O LORD, in your
strength;
we will sing and praise your
might.