Praying With Paul

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge
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Everything to Everyone

Passage

1 Corinthians 15:27-28

Prayer

Dear Father, my everything,May I learn from Christ's subjection to you, for when all things are subjected to him, your Son himself will also be subject to you, the God who put all things under the Son, that you may be everything to everyone! Our Father, increase my love for you until you become everything to me! It is almost too awesome to ask - I am afraid of so much change: May I love you like Jesus loves you! In his name. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge
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Look to the End

Passage

1 Corinthians 15:26

Prayer

Dear Father, destroyer of every enemy,Help me to look to the outcome, to the end of things, when Christ will deliver the kingdom to you after destroying every ruler, every authority, and every power.Enable me to keep my eyes on his victory, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.Motivate me to focus on the time when even the last enemy, Death itself, will be destroyed by our Lord.In his name I pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge
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Disciplined Giving

Passage

1 Corinthians 16:1-12

Prayer

Dear Father, Give me the discipline to set something aside from my earnings every week to subsidize your work around the world. May I then administer this money wisely and honorably. Open wide the doors for effective work for your kingdom. May I willingly give to help your worthy servants. Let me give hospitality and support to those who travel. May your love and the grace of the Lord Jesus be with them and us for ever and ever. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge
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Nothing Will Be Lost

Passage

1 Corinthians 15:58

Prayer

Dear Father, Thank you for the assurance that my work for you will never be lost. The Lord Jesus promised that even a cup of cold water given in his name will not lose its reward. May I be zealous, steadfast, and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord and utterly counting on you. I trust you, Lord, because I believe that my efforts for you are not in vain. May I always give myself fully to your work, knowing that anything else I might accomplish in this life will have no value in eternity. In the name of your son, my Savior and Lord, I pray. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge
____________________

The Mystery Disclosed

Passage

1 Corinthians 15:51-57

Prayer

Dear Father, keeper of every promise, Thank you for disclosing to us the mystery of what is to come! Keep us looking forward to that moment when we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. Thank you that some of us will not even have to die but will rise to meet the Savior in the air. Praise be to you, Almighty Father. By your will the last trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised imperishable. We shall all be changed. You will make our perishable nature imperishable, our mortal nature immortal. Then you will bring to pass what is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory."  "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" Thanks be to you, gracious Father, for making us more than conquerors now and for guaranteeing us final victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! In the name of Jesus I lift my voice to you on high. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge
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Anticipation of Victory

Passage

1 Corinthians 15:47-50

Prayer

Dear Father, keeper of every promise, Thank you for making the first man, Adam, a living soul. Thank you even more that by your power the last man, Jesus Christ, has become for us a life-giving spirit. May I anticipate with hope the fact that, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. Give me patience as I reside in a body of flesh and blood, knowing that flesh and blood does not inherit the kingdom of heaven, nor the perishable the imperishable, but the physical has to precede the spiritual. In the name of Jesus I lift my voice to you on high. Amen.

[nChrist]

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Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge
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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
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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
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A God of Comfort

Passage

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Prayer

Dear Father, great and gentle one, Blessed are you, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. You comfort us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort others who are in affliction with the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by you. You enable us to know that as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we shall share abundantly in comfort too. Thank you that our suffering is not meaningless, but is for the comfort and salvation of others. Thank you for a hope that cannot be shaken. 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
____________________

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
____________________

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
____________________

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
____________________

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]

____________________
Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge
____________________

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]

____________________
Praying With Paul
by Eldon Degge
____________________

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.