…You will grieve,
but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.
It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor.
When her child is born,
her anguish gives way to joy
because she has brought a new baby into the world.
So you have sorrow now,
but I will see you again;
then you will rejoice,
and no one can rob you of that joy.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.
I will be filled with joy because of you.
I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.
…you and your children and grandchildren
must fear the LORD your God as long as you live…
Listen closely…be careful to obey…
…The LORD is our God,
the LORD alone.
…you must love the LORD your God with all your heart,
all your soul,
and all your strength.
And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly
to these commands that I am giving you today.
Repeat them again and again to your children.
Talk about them when you are at home
and when you are on the road,
when you are going to bed
and when you are getting up.
“‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
…”You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,
but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty,
the God of the armies of Israel…
Today…
All those gathered here will know
that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves;
for the battle is the LORD’s…
For this is how God loved the world:
He gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life.
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world,
but to save the world through him.
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
O LORD, hear me as I pray;
pay attention to my groaning.
Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,
for I pray to no one but you.
Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD.
Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.
