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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Holy Sharing

Passage

1 Corinthians 16:13-20

Prayer

Dear Father, In watchfulness, may I stand firm in faith, be courageous, and be strong. Let everything I do be done in love. Help me to subject myself to those in your church who have devoted themselves to serving all the saints and to refreshing the spirits of your servants. May I be a true fellow worker and sincere laborer in your vineyard, always extending joyous greetings and sincere blessings to brothers and sisters in Christ. Most of all, help me to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart and soul. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha! Lord Jesus, come. Come now in spiritual presence. Come finally in visible manifestation! Amen. May the love and the grace of the Lord Jesus, in whose name I pray, be with us for ever and ever. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

A God of Deliverance

Passage

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Prayer

Dear Father, great and gentle one, When I am utterly, unbearably crushed so that I despair of life itself, when I feel as if I have received the sentence of death, remind me that I am to rely not on myself but on you, the God who raises the dead. It is only you who can deliver from deadly peril. I have set my hope on you. You deliver me again and again and again. How faithful you are!I pray for my many brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world, that they will experience relief from suffering, deliverance from peril, and comfort after grief and despair. Grant bountiful blessings to your people, my God, in answer to many prayers. Please receive this one and make it count among the many others! Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Spirit. Jesus has taught to besiege you with constant prayer. Here we are again, coming in his name. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

Christ, Our Yes

Passage

2 Corinthians 1:12-20

Prayer

Amen! Yes! Abba, Dear Father, Let me find pride in this - that my conscience testifies that I live my life in this world with holiness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by your graciousness. Help me not to vacillate as I make my plans. Don't let me be like those who are worldly, ready to say "Yes" and "No" at the same time, talking out of both sides of their mouth. As surely as you, God, are faithful, let me act in good faith toward others. For your Son, Jesus Christ, in whom I believe by the preaching of the Good News, was not Yes and No, but was Yes! For all your promises find your Yes through him. So through him we utter the Yes, the Amen, at the close of our prayers - to your glory. In the name of Jesus I ask this and utter my Yes! my Amen! according to his will. Yes! Amen!

[nChrist]

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

Building Up Each Other

Passage

2 Corinthians 1:23-2:11

Prayer

Dear Father, giver of great joy, I hope that in my effort to get others to live for you that I will never lord it over their faith. Help me work with them for their joy. Let them stand firm in freedom in their faith. Help my contacts with them not cause pain, but let my joy be their joy, and let their joy be my joy! Help us to work together in a common goal in the Lord. Help us work for each other's upbuilding in holiness. In the name of Jesus and in full confidence of salvation through him I ask all these things. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

Christ, Our Seal of Approval

Passage

2 Corinthians 1:20-22

Prayer

Dear Father, Thank you, my God, that you utter Yes to me. You establish and affirm my very being through Christ, and not only me but all your elect people. Thank you for putting your seal of approval on me and giving me your Holy Spirit in my heart as your guarantee. Thank you for saying Yes to me! Yes in yourself, yes in Christ, yes through the Spirit! Thank you, Father, thank you. How I love you! How I praise your name on earth in hope that I may someday praise you for ever in heaven. In the name of Jesus I ask this and utter my Yes! my Amen! according to his will. Yes! Amen!

[nChrist]

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

Ready to Forgive

Passage

2 Corinthians 1:23-2:11

Prayer

Dear Father, God of forgiveness, Father, help me, when someone sins, to encourage him or her to repent, then to forgive and comfort that person in your love. Help all Christians to affirm such loving forgiveness and to comfort each other so that Satan will not gain the advantage over us, for we are not ignorant that his designs are that we should be unforgiving. In the name of Jesus and in full confidence of salvation through him I ask all these things. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

Christ's Love Letter

Passage

2 Corinthians 2:17-3:3

Prayer

Dear Father, Thank you, Father, that I am not just a peddler of your word, but that I am commissioned by you and that I speak in Christ. Let everyone who comes to a knowledge of your will through what I teach be a living letter of recommendation, written on that person's heart, to be known and read by everyone. Let that person be a letter from Christ to the world, delivered by me, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on the tablets of the human heart. In the name of Jesus I give thanks and make these requests. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

The Fragrance of Christ

Passage

2 Corinthians 2:14-16

Prayer

Dear Father, Let the incense which is my life and my prayers arise as a sweet fragrance to you. Thanks be to you, my God, that you always lead me in triumph, and through me, spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere. Thank you that you have appointed Christians to be the aroma of Christ to yourself among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? Certainly not I! Your grace alone upholds me. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

My Life, God's Message

Passage

2 Corinthians 3:3-6

Prayer

Dear Father, all-sufficient God, Let me be a letter from Christ written to people who need to hear the Good News, written not on paper with ink but on hearts with my loving attitudes and actions. I claim no self-sufficiency, but I believe the sufficiency of your grace qualifies me to serve as a spokesman for your new covenant. I hope through Christ that you might use me this way. Grant me this sufficiency as I rely totally on you. Thank you that the covenant itself is not a written code that kills but a life-giving communication of the Spirit. In the name of Jesus, confident of his sufficiency, I make these requests. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

A Dispensation of Glory

Passage

2 Corinthians 3:7-16

Prayer

Dear Father, What a glorious splendor Christ's gospel has! It is a dispensation of glory! And why shouldn't the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor than that of the letter! How much more splendid than the temporary glory of Moses is the permanent, new covenant, the dispensation of righteousness through faith by your grace! I am so full of hope because of what you have done! I have such boldness! For in Christ the veil of secrecy and misunderstanding is taken away. What you were intending in the Old Covenant becomes clear, for your Holy Spirit reveals the Lord Jesus Christ as the hidden meaning in it all. Christ the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. In the name of Jesus and because it is his will, I pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

A Glorious Transformation

Passage

2 Corinthians 3:17-18

Prayer

Dear Father, transformer of my life, Lord God, I thank you for your Spirit, for the Lord, and for the freedom I have in them. Thank you that I, with unveiled face, can look freely and intently on the glory of the Lord, and be changed into his likeness, from one degree of glory to another. Help me remember that such transformation comes, not by my inherent wisdom or efforts, but only from the Lord who is the Spirit. Make me like Jesus! Help me want to share in his sufferings so that I can also share in his glory and his resurrection life! In the name of Jesus and because it is his will, I make these requests. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

God's Treasure Revealed

Passage

2 Corinthians 4:7-12

Prayer

Dear Father, powerful sustainer, Thank you for putting your treasure in a cracked clay pot like me so that it will be evident that the treasure is from you, the transcendent and powerful God, and not from me, the container. Thank you for upholding all who serve you. When I am afflicted in every way, I am not crushed; when perplexed, I am not driven to despair; when persecuted, I am not forsaken; when struck down, I am not destroyed. Reveal your immortality through my mortal body. May unbelievers see the glorious work you are doing in my life. I come as your humble servant, in the name of your only Son. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

Open Statement of Truth

Passage

2 Corinthians 4:1-6

Prayer

Dear Father, powerful sustainer, You have called me to minister your mercy to the world, so let me never lose heart or give up! May I renounce disgraceful, underhanded ways in all forms and refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with your word. Let me state truth plainly and thereby commend myself to every one's conscience in your sight. Even if the message of Good News is veiled to some, it is veiled only to those who are perishing! Open the eyes of those whom the god of this world has blinded. May they see the light of the Good News, the glory of Christ, your very likeness. May I not put forth myself, but Jesus Christ, for I am your servant, your slave, for Jesus' sake! For you have said, "Let light shine out of darkness." I invite you to shine out of my heart so that others will see the light of your glory, the face of Jesus Christ, in my life. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

Spirit of Faith

Passage

2 Corinthians 4:13-15

Prayer

Heavenly Father, giver of life and faith, Thank you for the spirit of grace which enables me to believe. May I have the same spirit of faith as he who wrote, "I believed, and so I spoke." I believe too, and so let me speak! I believe (I know!) that you, the God who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise me with Jesus and bring me into his presence. As your grace extends to more and more people may they pour out their thanksgiving - to your glory! In the name of Jesus, who intercedes for me, I praise you for such wonderful blessings. Amen.

[nChrist]

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

Weight of Glory

Passage

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:21

Prayer

Dear Father, invisible but absolutely real, Let me not lose heart. I know from your word that my light and momentary troubles are working for me an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. Help me fix my eyes not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Help me to live by faith and not by sight. I want to trust you completely. In the name of Jesus I praise and thank you for all your great mercies and your continuing and constant grace. Amen.