Praying With Paul

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
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Nothing between God and Me

Passage

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Prayer

Dear Father, Never let an idol stand between me and you. I am not stronger than you. I don't want to provoke you to jealousy. Help me to understand that while "all things are lawful," all things are not helpful. Let everything I do, whether working or resting, eating or drinking, be done for your glory. May I never worship myself, live for myself, or strive to please myself. I want to worship you, to live for you, to please you. In the name of Jesus and in reliance upon his example I ask this. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Giving No Offense

Passage

1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1

Prayer

Dear Father, Keep me from giving offense to people of any race, any class, any tradition, not seeking my own advantage, but let me please everybody - for their good - that they may be saved. Let me imitate your great apostles, but most of all let me imitate Jesus, who came to glorify your name, to serve instead of be served, and to seek and save those who were lost. In the name of Jesus and in reliance upon his example I ask this. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Balance

Passage

1 Corinthians 11:2-16

Prayer

Dear Father, God of the present and the future, but also of the past, Make me willing to consider and accept new things. But also help me to respect and maintain the traditions from the past. May I acknowledge that Christ is my head and submit myself to him, even as he acknowledges you as his head. May Christian wives acknowledge the headship of their own husbands, and may their husbands honor Christ as their head. Help husbands and wives live inter-dependently, realizing that they need each other for mutual support and procreation. May all the women in your holy church conduct themselves in a way that shows their devotion to your Word and to their own husbands, and may all husbands give their wives due honor and genuine love. Help each of us who follows Christ not to be contentious or self-willed. Let us adapt ourselves to the traditions of the past that promote good order. In the name of Jesus I submit to your authority, asking these things according to his will. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Waiting on Each Other

Passage

1 Corinthians 11:33-34

Prayer

Dear Father, giver of bread and wine, Give each of us perfect courtesy toward others, even more, perfect love. When we come together, may we wait on each other. May each of us satisfy our hunger at home rather than behave as gluttons in the assembly of your people! May we come together not to be condemned, but to build each other up, and to be nourished by that bread which is life indeed, Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus, who is the daily bread and wine of our lives, I ask. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

The Body of Christ

Passage

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Prayer

Dear Father, great, good and generous giver, Thank you for making me part of the body of Christ, his church. Thank you that there are no unimportant parts to the body. Thank you that all of us are interconnected and interdependent. We have a variety of gifts from you, but all have the same spirit. We have varieties of service, but all have the same Lord, Jesus Christ. We have various ways of working, but it is you, O God, who inspires all of it. Your spirit apportions your gifts as he wishes. Thank you for every manifestation of your power and goodness. And thank you for every graciousness shown to me personally. In the name of Jesus, the head of the body, I pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
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Members of His Body

Passage

1 Corinthians 12:12-30

Prayer

Dear Father, God of order, You have invested the inferior parts of the body with greater honor. You have given the weak parts of the body indispensable roles. You have given some who are unpresentable a greater modesty. Your ordering of people in the body of Christ is altogether wonderful. You have called all of us to be humble, loving, caring. You want us to prefer one another in honor and to count others better than ourselves. Help me to be this way in relating to other people. Thank you for making me a member of Christ's body, thus guaranteeing that I will live forever in him. O heavenly Father, let his life - his goodness and everlasting love - be lived fully in my life. Fill me with his presence and Spirit. In the name of Jesus, the head of the body, I ask. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

The Greatest Is Love

Passage

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Prayer

Dear Father, O God of love, If I could speak in all the languages of men and angels, and did not have love, I would be no more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had all prophetic powers, and could understand all mysteries and all kinds of knowledge, and had all faith, so as to remove mountains, and did not have love, I would be nothing. If I gave away all that I possessed, and delivered my body to be burned, and did not have love, it would profit me nothing. Dear Father, Loving God, give me love! In the name of Jesus, who gave himself for me, I ask. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
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The Qualities of Love

Passage

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Prayer

Dear Father, give me love! May I one day possess fully all the qualities of love, as did your son, Jesus, the Messiah! May I be patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, not arrogant or rude, not insisting on my own way, not ever irritable or resentful. May I rejoice always in what is right, never in anything that is wrong. Help me to bear all things and endure whatever I must, to trust in all circumstances, and to be hopeful in all trials. By Jesus's authority I come to you, asking. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
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Love Never Ends

Passage

1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Prayer

Dear Father, O God of love! Let me possess love, for love never ends. I know that prophecy, tongues, and knowledge will pass away, for they are all incomplete and unfinished. When the complete and perfect comes, everything incomplete and unfinished will be gone. Enable me to put away the things of childhood - the way I reasoned, the way I spoke - and help me become mature. Now I see through a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall understand, even as I have been fully understood. Faith, hope, and love are the truly enduring qualities, but you proclaim love the greatest. Fill me with love! In the name of the loving Jesus and by his authority I come to you, asking these things according to his will. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Order Out of Confusion

Passage

1 Corinthians 14:1-12

Prayer

Dear Father, God of intelligibility and peace, Thank you for reversing the curse of Babel when you poured out your Holy Spirit on believers in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. Even in the confusion of many tongues you proclaimed your Good News to every tribe and nation under heaven, with every person hearing it in his or her own language. Thank you too for the gift of prophecy in the common language, believers speaking to one another for their mutual encouragement and consolation, a gift greater than tongues (unless the unknown language is interpreted), because understandable speech builds up your church. Help us to manifest your Spirit in all things. Help us to strive zealously for whatever builds up the church. In submission to you and in Jesus' name, I ask. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Speaking Truth

Passage

1 Corinthians 14:13-25

Prayer

Dear Father, God of intelligibility and peace, Let our praying, singing, and preaching be aimed at informing the minds and spirits of others, that they may be built up and respond, "Amen." Give us the attitude of Paul, who said, "I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue." Let us be babies when it comes to evil, but not in our thinking. In our thinking, may we be mature, and may we speak your message in such a way that those who hear will be called to account, will have the secrets of the heart disclosed, will fall on their faces to worship you, and will declare that you are really among us. Submitting to your commands of peace and order, I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

All Things in Order

Passage

1 Corinthians 14:26-33

Prayer

Dear Father, God of intelligibility and peace, When we come together and each of us has something to contribute, may everything be done to build up the body. Let us do things one by one, or by pairs or triplets at most, so that all may learn and be encouraged. For you, our God, are not like the pagan gods, a god of confusion and hysteria, but are a god of peace. Let us honor you by doing things decently and in order. Submitting to your commands of peace and order, I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

The Good News

Passage

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Prayer

Dear Father, God of the living, Thank you for the Good News that Jesus Christ, your Son, is risen from the dead. Thank you that by it I am saved and in it I stand, if I hold it fast - unless I believed in vain - which I did not. Thank you for the important message we received - that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, - thank you, Lord! - that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance to the Scriptures, - thank you, Lord! - and that he appeared to many, many eyewitnesses - thank you, Lord! Praise your name! In the name of Jesus I thank you for your resurrection power and ask that I may live so as to always have hope of sharing in it. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Eyewitnesses

Passage

1 Corinthians 15:5-10

Prayer

Dear Father, God of real history, Thank you for the testimony of eyewitnesses who saw Christ alive after his crucifixion: Cephas, the twelve, more than five hundred brethren, and James. Thank you for the testimony of the apostles and for Paul. I am grateful that I am not following cleverly devised myths, but the reality of history! I believe their testimony! And yours!In the name of Jesus I come, thanking you for your resurrection power and asking that I may live so as always to have hope of sharing in it. Amen.

[nChrist]

________________________________
Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge, Heartlight Magazine
Free By RSS News From Heartlight
________________________________

Christ in My Heart

Passage

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Prayer

Dear Father, God of the living, Thank you that Christ's revelation of himself within my soul as Lord of my life and as the living Spirit of truth and holiness testifies that he is not dead but alive forevermore. Thank you that he lives in my heart. By your grace, and by my faith in what you did, I am what I am. The resurrection is preached and I believe it. Thank you, Father! Thank you that I don't have to believe that death ends it all either for Jesus or for me! In the name of Jesus I come, thanking you for your resurrection power and asking that I may live so as to always have hope of sharing in it. Amen.