Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,
and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9-13
Accept other believers who are weak in faith,
and don’t argue with them
about what they think is right or wrong.
He is the God who made the world
and everything in it.
Since he is the Lord of heaven and earth,
he doesn’t live in manmade temples,
and human hands can’t serve his needs—
for he has no needs.
He himself gives life and breath to everything,
and he satisfies every need.
“From eternity to eternity I am God.
No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.
No one can undo what I have done.
I am the LORD, your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator and King.
I am the LORD, who opened a way
through the waters,
making a dry path through the sea.”
Then he said to his disciples,
“The time is coming when you will long to see the day
when the Son of Man returns,
but you won’t see it.
People will tell you,
‘Look, there is the son of Man,’
or
‘Here he is,’
but don’t go out and follow them.
For as the lightning flashes
and lights up the sky from one end to the other,
so it will be on the day
when the Son of Man comes.”
“No one can serve two masters.
For you will hate one and love the other;
you will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
The Pharisees,
who dearly loved their money,
heard all this and scoffed at him.
Then he said to them,
“You like to appear righteous in public,
but God knows your hearts.
What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.”
“So he returned home to his father.
And while he was still a long way off,
his father saw him coming.
Filled with love and compassion,
he ran to his son,
embraced him,
and kissed him.”
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.
Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house
and search carefully until she finds it?
And when she finds it,
she will call in her friends and neighbors and say,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’
In the same way,
there is joy in the presence of God’s angels
when even one sinner repents.”
