COLOSSIANS 3:23-24 I WORK FOR THE LORD NOT FOR MEN

Whatever YOU do, WORK at it with ALL YOUR HEART, ( THOUGHTS, EMOTIONS, ATTITUDES) as WORKING FOR THE LORD, not for MEN, since YOU KNOW that YOU will RECEIVE an INHERITANCE from the LORD as a REWARD. It is the LORD CHRIST YOU are SERVING. Anyone who does WRONG will be REPAID for HIS WRONG, and there is NO FAVORITISM.      AMEN!

COLOSSIANS 1:9-20 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S WILL COMES THROUGH SPIRITUAL WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING

For this reason, since the day WE heard about YOU, WE have not stopped PRAYING for YOU and asking GOD to fill YOU with the KNOWLEDGE of GOD'S WILL through ALL SPIRITUAL WISDOM (JESUS CHRIST) and SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING (HOLY SPIRIT). And WE PRAY this in order that YOU may LIVE A LIFE WORTHY OF THE LORD and may PLEASE GOD IN EVERY WAY: BEARING FRUIT in every GOOD WORK, GROWING in KNOWLEDGE of GOD, being STRENGTHENED with ALL POWER according to GOD'S GLORIOUS MIGHT so that YOU may have GREAT ENDURANCE and PATIENCE, and JOYFULLY giving THANKS to the FATHER, who has QUALIFIED YOU to SHARE in the INHERITANCE of the SAINTS in the KINGDOM OF LIGHT.(BELIEF) For GOD has RESCUED US from the DOMINION of DARKNESS (UNBELIEF) and brought US into the KINGDOM of the SON GOD LOVES (HEAVEN), in CHRIST WE have REDEMPTION, the FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST

CHRIST is the IMAGE of the INVISIBLE GOD, the FIRSTBORN OVER ALL CREATION. For BY CHRIST ALL THINGS WERE CREATED: THINGS IN HEAVEN and ON EARTH, VISIBLE and INVISIBLE, whether THRONES or POWERS or RULERS or AUTHORITIES; ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY CHRIST AND FOR CHRIST. CHRIST IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, and IN CHRIST ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER. And CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF THE BODY, THE CHURCH; CHRIST IS THE BEGINNING and THE FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD, SO THAT IN EVERYTHING CHRIST MIGHT HAVE THE SUPREMACY. For GOD was PLEASED to HAVE ALL GOD'S FULLNESS DWELL IN CHRIST, and to RECONCILE to HIMSELF ALL THINGS, whether THINGS ON EARTH or THINGS IN HEAVEN, by making PEACE THROUGH CHRIST'S BLOOD, SHED ON THE CROSS.    AMEN!

PHILIPPIANS 4:4-9 GOD'S PROMISE THAT HIS PEACE WILL BE WITH ME

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS. I will say it again: REJOICE! Let MY GENTLENESS be EVIDENT to all. The LORD is NEAR. Do not be ANXIOUS about ANYTHING, but in EVERYTHING, BY PRAYER and PETITION, WITH THANKGIVING, PRESENT MY REQUEST TO GOD. And the PEACE OF GOD, WHICH TRANSCENDS ALL UNDERSTANDING, WILL GAURD MY HEART (THOUGHTS, EMOTIONS, ATTITUDES) and MY MIND  (LOGIC and REASONING) IN CHRIST JESUS.

FINALLY, BROTHERS, WHATEVER IS TRUE, WHATEVER IS NOBLE, WHATEVER IS RIGHT, WHATEVER IS PURE, WHATEVER IS LOVELY, WHATEVER IS ADMIRABLE - IF ANYTHING IS EXCELLENT OR PRAISEWORTHY - MEDITATE ON SUCH THINGS. WHATEVER YOU HAVE LEARNED OR RECEIVED OR HEARD FROM ME, OR SEEN IN ME - PUT IT INTO PRACTICE. AND THE GOD OF PEACE WILL BE WITH YOU.    AMEN!


                                               WHAT A PROMISE!

PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11 IMITATING CHRIST'S HUMILITY

If YOU have any ENCOURAGMENT from being UNITED with CHRIST, if  any COMFORT from CHRIST'S LOVE, if any FELLOWSHIP with the SPIRIT, if any TENDERNESS and COMPASSION, then MAKE MY JOY COMPLETE by BEING LIKE MINDED, HAVING THE SAME LOVE, BEING ONE IN spirit and PURPOSE. Do NOTHING out of SELFISH AMBITION or VAIN CONCEIT, but in HUMILITY CONSIDER others BETTER than YOURSELVES. Each of YOU SHOULD LOOK not only to YOUR OWN INTREST, but also to the INTREST OF OTHERS.

MY ATTITUDE SHOULD BE THE SAME AS THAT OF CHRIST JESUS:
 
WHO, BEING IN VERY NATURE GOD, DID NOT CONSIDER EQUALITY WITH GOD SOMETHING TO BE GRASPED, but MADE HIMSELF NOTHING, TAKING THE VERY NATURE OF A SERVANT, BEING MADE IN HUMAN LIKENESS. AND BEING FOUND IN APPEARANCE AS A MAN, CHRIST HUMBLED HIMSELF AND BECAME OBEDIENT TO DEATH - EVEN DEATH ON A CROSS!

THEREFORE GOD EXALTED CHRIST TO THE HIGHEST PLACE AND GAVE CHRIST THE NAME THAT IS ABOVE EVERY NAME, THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, IN HEAVEN and ON EARTH and UNDER THE EARTH, and EVERY TOUNGE CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.                     AMEN!                   

EPHESIANS 6:10-18 PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD

Finally, BE STRONG in the LORD and in HIS MIGHTY POWER. Put on the FULL ARMOR of GOD so that I can take MY STAND against the DEVIL'S SCHEMES. For MY STRUGGLE is not against FLESH and BLOOD, but against the RULERS, against the AUTHORITIES, against the POWERS of this DARK WORLD and against the SPIRITUAL FORCES of EVIL in the HEAVENLY REALMS. THEREFORE put on the FULL ARMOR of GOD, so that when the DAY OF EVIL comes I may be ABLE to STAND MY GROUND, and after I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING, to STAND. STAND FIRM THEN, with the BELT OF TRUTH BUCKLED AROUND MY WAIST, with the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN PLACE, and with MY FEET FITTED WITH THE READINESS THAT FROM THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. In addition to all this, I TAKE UP THE SHIELD OF FAITH, with which I CAN EXTINGUISH ALL THE FLAMING ARROWS OF THE EVIL ONE. I Take THE HELMET OF SALVATION and THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD. I PRAY  IN THE SPIRIT ON ALL OCCASIONS WITH ALL KINDS OF PRAYERS and REQUEST. With this in MIND, MAY I BE ALERT and ALWAYS KEEP ON PRAYING FOR ALL THE SAINTS.    AMEN!

EPHESIANS 1:17-4:16 CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH

So do not be ASHAMED to TESTIFY about OUR LORD, or ASHAMED of ME HIS PRISONER. But join with ME in suffering for the GOSPEL, by the POWER OF GOD, WHO HAS SAVED US and CALLED US to a HOLY LIFE - not because of anything WE have done but because of GOD'S OWN PURPOSE and GRACE. This GRACE was given US IN CHRIST JESUS BEFORE the BEGINNING of TIME, but it has now been REVEALED through the APPEARING of OUR SAVIOR, CHRIST JESUS, WHO HAS DESTROYED DEATH and has brought LIFE and IMMORTALITY to LIGHT through the GOSPEL. And of this GOSPEL I was APPOINTED a HERALD and an APOSTLE and a TEACHER. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ASHAMED, because I KNOW whom I have BELIEVED, and am CONVINCED that GOD is able to guard what I have ENTRUSTED to HIM for that DAY.

What YOU heard from ME, keep as the PATTERN OF SOUND TEACHING, with FAITH and LOVE in CHRIST JESUS.

Guard the GOOD DEPOSIT that was ENTRUSTED to YOU - guard it with the help of the HOLY SPIRIT WHO LIVES IN US.

YOU know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted ME, including Phygelus and Hermongenes. May the LORD show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed ME and was not ASHAMED of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for ME until he found ME. May the LORD grant that he will find mercy from the LORD on that DAY! YOU know very well in how many ways he helped ME in Ephesus.

YOU then, my SON, BE STRONG IN THE GRACE THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS. And the things YOU have heard ME say in the presence of many WITNESSES ENTRUST to RELIABLE MEN who will also be QUALIFIED to TEACH OTHERS. ENDURE HARDSHIP with US like a GOOD SOLDIER of CHRIST JESUS. No one SERVING as a SOLDIER gets INVOLVED in CIVILIAN AFFAIRS - HE wants to PLEASE HIS COMMANDING OFFICER. (GOD) SIMILARLY, if anyone COMPETES as a ATHLETE, HE does not RECEIEVE the VICTOR'S CROWN unless HE COMPETES ACCORDING to the RULES. The HARDWORKING FARMER should be the FIRST to RECIEVE A SHARE of the CROPS. REFLECT on what I am saying, for the LORD will give YOU INSIGHT into all this.

REMEMBER JESUS CHRIST, RAISED FROM THE DEAD, DESCENDED FROM DAVID. This is MY GOSPEL, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But GOD'S WORD is not chained. THEREFORE I ENDURE everything for the sake of the ELECT, that they too may OBTAIN the SALVATION that is in CHRIST JESUS, with ETERNAL GLORY. Here is a TRUSTWORTHY SAYING: If WE DIED WITH HIM (CHRIST), WE WILL ALSO LIVE HIM (CHRIST); IF WE ENDURE, WE WILL ALSO REIGN WITH HIM (CHRIST). IF WE DISOWN HIM (CHRIST), HE (CHRIST) WILL ALSO DISOWN US; IF WE ARE FAITHLESS, HE (CHRIST) WILL REMAIN FAITHFUL, FOR HE (CHRIST) CANNOT DISOWN HIMSELF.

A WORKMAN APPROVED BY GOD

Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before GOD against QUARRELING ABOUT WORDS; it is of no VALUE, and only RUINS those who LISTEN. Do your best to PRESENT YOURSELF TO GOD AS ONE APPROVED, A WORKMAN who does not need to be ASHAMED and who CORRECTLY HANDLES THE WORD OF TRUTH. AVOID GODLESS CHATTER, because those who INDULGE in it will become more and more UNGODLY. Their TEACHING will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have WANDERED away from the TRUTH. They say that the RESURRECTION has already taken place, and they DESTROY the FAITH of some. NEVERTHELESS, GOD'S SOLID FOUNDATION STANDS FIRM, SEALED WITH THIS INSCRIPTION: "THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS," and, "EVERYONE WHO CONFESSES THE NAME OF THE LORD MUST TURN AWAY FROM WICKEDNESS."

In a large house there are articles not only of GOLD and SILVER, but also of WOOD and CLAY; some are for NOBLE PURPOSE and some for IGNOBLE. If a MAN CLEANSES HIMSELF from the latter, HE will be an INSTRUMENT for NOBLE PURPOSES, MADE HOLY, USEFUL TO THE MASTER and PREPARED to do any GOOD WORK.

Flee the EVIL DESIRES of youth, and PURSE RIGHTEOUSNESS, FAITH, LOVE and PEACE, along with those who call on the LORD out of a PURE HEART. Don't have anything to do with FOOLISH and STUPID ARGUMENTS, because YOU know they produce QUARRELS. And the LORD'S SERVANT (ME) must not QUARREL; instead, HE must be KIND to everyone, ABLE TO TEACH, NOT RESENTFUL. Those who OPPOSE him HE must GENTLY INSTRUCT, in the HOPE that GOD will grant them REPENTANCE leading them to a KNOWLEDGE of the TRUTH, and that they will come to their senses and ESCAPE from the TRAP of the DEVIL, who has TAKEN them CAPTIVE to do his will.    AMEN!

GALATIANS 5:13-6:10 LIFE THROUGH THE SPIRIT GIVES FREEDOM FROM THE SINFUL NATURE

You, MY BROTHERS, were CALLED to be FREE. But do not use YOUR FREEDOM to INDULGE the SINFUL NATURE; rather serve one another in LOVE. The entire LAW is summed up in a single command: "LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." If YOU keep on BITING and DEVOURING each other, watch out or YOU will be DESTROYED by each other.

So I say, LIVE by the SPIRIT, and YOU will not GRATIFY the DESIRES of the SINFUL NATURE. For the SINFUL NATURE DESIRES what is CONTRARY to the SPIRIT, and the SPIRIT what is CONTRARY to the SINFUL NATURE. They are in CONFLICT with each other, so that YOU do not do what YOU want. But if YOU are led by the SPIRIT, YOU are not under LAW.

The acts of the SINFUL NATURE are OBVIOUS: SEXUAL IMMORALITY, IMPURITY and DEBAUCHERY; IDOLATRY and WITCHCRAFT; HATRED, DISCORD, JEALOUSY, FIT OF RAGE, SELFISH AMBITION, DISSENSIONS, FACTIONS and ENVEY; DRUNKENNESS, ORGIES and the like. I WARN YOU, as I did before, that those who LIVE like this will NOT INHERIT the KINGDOM of GOD.

But the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS and INNER SELF CONTROL. Against such things there is no LAW. Those who BELONG to CHRIST JESUS have CRUCIFIED the SINFUL NATURE with its PASSIONS and DESIRES. Since WE LIVE by the SPIRIT, let US keep in STEP with SPIRIT. Let US NOT BECOME CONCEITED, PROVOKING AND ENVYING EACH OTHER.

DOING GOOD TO ALL

BROTHERS, if SOMEONE is caught in a SIN, YOU who are SPIRITUAL should RESTORE HIM GENTLY. But WATCH YOURSELF, or YOU also may BE TEMPTED. Carry each other's BURDENS, and in this way YOU WILL FULFILL the LAW of CHRIST. If anyone THINKS HE is SOMETHING when HE is NOTHING, HE DECEIVES HIMSELF. Each ONE SHOULD TEST HIS OWN ACTIONS. Then HE CAN TAKE PRIDE in HIMSELF, without COMPARING HIMSELF to SOMEBODY ELSE, for each ONE SHOULD CARRY HIS OWN LOAD. Anyone who RECEIVES INSTRUCTION in the WORD MUST SHARE ALL GOOD THINGS WITH HIS INSTRUCTOR.

Do not be DECEIVED: GOD CANNOT BE MOCK. A MAN REAPS WHAT HE SOWS. THE ONE WHO SOWS TO PLEASE HIS SINFUL NATURE, FROM THAT NATURE WILL REAP DESTRUCTION; THE ONE WHO SOWS TO PLEASE THE SPIRIT, FROM THE SPIRIT WILL REAP ETERNAL LIFE. LET US NOT BECOME WEARY IN DOING GOOD, FOR AT THE PROPER TIME WE WILL REAP A HARVEST IF WE DO NOT GIVE UP. THEREFORE, AS WE HAVE OPPORTUNITY, LET US DO GOOD TO ALL PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO BELONG TO THE FAMILY OF BELIEVERS.          AMEN! 

2CORINTHIANS 10:3-5 WE DO NOT WAGE WAR AS THE WORLD DOES

For though WE LIVE in the WORLD, WE DO NOT WAGE WAR AS THE WORLD DOES. The WEAPONS WE FIGHT with are not the WEAPONS of the WORLD. On the CONTRARY, they have DIVINE POWER to DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS. We DEMOLISH ARUMENTS and every PRETENSION that set itself up against the KNOWLEDGE of GOD, and WE take CAPTIVE every thought to make it OBEDIENT to CHRIST. (WHEN WE OBEY AND PRAY THE WORD, THE ENEMY IS DEFEATED)           AMEN!

2CORINTHINS 9:8 GOD WILL SUPPORT ALL YOUR GOOD WORKS

And GOD is ABLE to make ALL GRACE ABOUND to YOU, so that in ALL THINGS at ALL TIMES, HAVING ALL THAT YOU NEED, YOU WILL ABOUND IN EVERY GOOD WORK.
AMEN!

2CORINTHIANS 2:14-3:18 MINISTERS OF THE NEW COVENANT

But thanks be to GOD, who ALWAYS LEADS us in TRIUMPHAL procession in CHRIST and through us SPREADS EVERYWHERE the FRAGRANCE of the KNOWLEDGE of GOD. For WE are to GOD the AROMA of CHRIST among those who are being SAVED and those who are PERISHING. To the ONE WE are the SMELL of  DEATH; to the OTHER, the FRAGRANCE of LIFE. And who is EQUAL to such a task? Unlike so many, WE do not PEDDLE the WORD of GOD for PROFIT. On the CONTRARY, IN CHRIST WE SPEAK BEFORE GOD WITH SINCERITY, LIKE MEN SENT FROM GOD.

Are WE beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do WE need, like some people, letters of recommendation to YOU or from YOU?  YOU yourselves are OUR letter, WRITTEN on OUR HEARTS, known and read by EVERBODY. YOU SHOW that YOU are a letter from CHRIST, the RESULT of OUR MINISTRY, WRITTEN not with ink but with the SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD, not on tablets of STONE but on tablets of HUMAN HEARTS.

Such CONFIDENCE as this is OURS through CHRIST before GOD. Not that WE are COMPETENT in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but OUR COMPETENCE come from GOD. HE has made US COMPETENT as MINISTERS of a NEW COVENANT- not of the letter but of the SPIRIT; for the letter KILLS, but the SPIRIT GIVES LIFE.

THE GLORY OF THE NEW COVENANT

Now if the MINISTRY that brought DEATH, which was ENGRAVED in letters on STONE, came with GLORY, so that the ISRAELITES could not look steadily at the face of MOSES because of its GLORY, fading through it was, will not the MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT be even more GLORIOUS? If the MINISTRY that CONDEMNS MEN (THE OLD COVENANT) is GLORIOUS, how much more GLORIOUS is the MINISTRY that brings RIGHTEOUSNESS! (THE NEW COVENANT) For what was GLORIOUS has no GLORY now in COMPARISON with the SURPASSING GLORY.(THE NEW COVENANT) And if what was FADING away came with GLORY, how much GREATER is the GLORY of that which LAST! (THE NEW COVENANT)

THEREFORE, since WE have such a HOPE, WE are VERY BOLD. We are not like MOSES, who would put a VEIL over his face to keep the ISRAELITES from gazing at it while the RADIANCE was FADING away. But their MINDS were made DULL, for to this day the same VEIL remains when the OLD COVENANT is read. It has not been removed, because ONLY IN CHRIST IS IT TAKEN AWAY. Even to this day when MOSES is read, a VEIL covers their HEARTS. (INNER MAN) But whenever anyone turns to the LORD, the VEIL is taken away. Now the LORD is the SPIRIT, and where the SPIRIT of the LORD is, there is FREEDOM. And WE, who with UNVEILED FACES all REFLECT the LORD,S GLORY, are being TRANSFORMED into the LORD,S  LIKENESS with EVER-INCREASING GLORY, which comes from the LORD, WHO IS THE SPIRIT.         AMEN!     

2 CORINTHIANS 1:18-22 GOD IS FAITHFUL

But as surely as GOD IS FAITHFUL, our MESSAGE to you is NOT "YES" and "NO". For the SON of GOD, JESUS CHRIST, who was PREACHED among you by me (PAUL) and SILAS and TIMOTHY, was not "YES" and "NO", but in CHRIST it has ALWAYS been "YES". For no matter how many PROMISES GOD has made they are "YES" in CHRIST. And so THROUGH CHRIST the "AMEN" is SPOKEN by us to the GLORY of GOD. NOW IT IS GOD WHO MAKES BOTH US AND YOU STAND FIRM IN CHRIST. GOD ANOINTED US, SET HIS SEAL OF OWERNERSHIP ON US, and put HIS SPIRIT in our HEARTS (INNER MAN) as a DEPOSIT, GUARANTEEING WHAT IS TO COME (CHRIST).