How To Pray

1 Timothy 2 First of all, I ask you to pray for everyone. Ask God to help and bless them all, and tell God how thankful you are for each of them. ²Pray for kings and others in power, so that we may live quiet and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God. ³This kind of prayer is good, and it pleases God our Savior. ⁴God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth, which is,
⁵There is only one God,
and Christ Jesus is the only one
who can bring us to God.
Jesus was truly human,
and he gave himself to rescue all of us.
⁶God showed us this at the right time.
⁷This is why God chose me to be a preacher and an apostle of the good news. I am telling the truth. I am not lying. God sent me to teach the Gentiles about faith and truth.
⁸I want everyone everywhere to lift innocent hands toward heaven and pray, without being angry or arguing with each other.
⁹I would like for women to wear modest and sensible clothes. They should not have fancy hairdos, or wear expensive clothes, or put on jewelry made of gold or pearls. ¹⁰Women who claim to love God should do helpful things for others, ¹¹and they should learn by being quiet and paying attention. ¹²They should be silent and not be allowed to teach or to tell men what to do. ¹³After all, Adam was created before Eve, ¹⁴and the man Adam wasn't the one who was fooled. It was the woman Eve who was completely fooled and sinned. ¹⁵But women will be saved by having children, if they stay faithful, loving, holy, and modest.

The Nations Will Be Judged

Isaiah 34 Everyone of every nation, the entire earth,
and all of its creatures, come here and listen!
²The LORD is terribly angry with the nations;
he has condemned them to be slaughtered.
³Their dead bodies will be left to rot and stink;
their blood will flow down the mountains.
⁴Each star will disappear--
the sky will roll up like a scroll.
Everything in the sky will dry up and wilt
like leaves on a vine or fruit on a tree.

Trouble for Edom

⁵After the sword of the LORD has done what it wants
to the skies above,
it will come down on Edom, the nation that the LORD
has doomed for destruction.

⁶The sword of the LORD is covered with blood
from lambs and goats,
together with fat from kidneys of rams.
This is because the LORD will slaughter many people
and make a sacrifice of them in the city of Bozrah
and everywhere else in Edom.
⁷Edom's leaders are wild oxen. They are powerful bulls,
but they will die with the others.
Their country will be soaked with their blood,
and its soil made fertile with their fat.

⁸The LORD has chosen the year and the day,
when he will take revenge and come to Zion's defense.
⁹Edom's streams will turn into tar and its soil into sulfur--
then the whole country will go up in flames.
¹⁰It will burn night and day and never stop smoking.
Edom will be a desert, generation after generation;
no one will ever travel through that land.
¹¹Owls, hawks, and wild animals will make it their home.
God will leave it in ruins, merely a pile of rocks.

The End of Edom

¹²Edom will be called "Kingdom of Nothing."
Its rulers will also be nothing.
¹³Its palaces and fortresses will be covered with thorns;
only wolves and ostriches will make their home there.
¹⁴Wildcats and hyenas will hunt together,
demons will scream to demons,
and creatures of the night will live among the ruins.
¹⁵Owls will nest there to raise their young
among its shadows,
while families of buzzards circle around.

¹⁶In The Book of the LORD you can search
and find where it is written,
"The LORD brought together all of his creatures
by the power of his Spirit. Not one is missing."
¹⁷The LORD has decided where they each should live;
they will be there forever,
generation after generation.

God's Splendor Will Be Seen

Isaiah 35 Thirsty deserts will be glad;
barren lands will celebrate and blossom with flowers.
²Deserts will bloom everywhere and sing joyful songs.
They will be as majestic as Mount Lebanon,
as glorious as Mount Carmel or Sharon Valley.
Everyone will see the wonderful splendor
of the LORD our God.

God Changes Everything

^*3Here is a message for all who are weak,
trembling, and worried:
⁴"Cheer up! Don't be afraid.
Your God is coming to punish your enemies.
God will take revenge on them and rescue you."

⁵The blind will see, and the ears of the deaf will be healed.
⁶Those who were lame will leap around like deer;
tongues once silent will begin to shout.
Water will rush through the desert.
⁷Scorching sand will turn into a lake,
and thirsty ground will flow with fountains.
Grass will grow in wetlands, where packs of wild dogs
once made their home.

God's Sacred Highway

⁸A good road will be there,
and it will be named "God's Sacred Highway."
It will be for God's people; no one unfit to worship God
will walk on that road.
And no fools can travel on that highway.
⁹No lions or other wild animals will come near that road;
only those the LORD has saved will travel there.

¹⁰The people the LORD has rescued will come back singing
as they enter Zion.
Happiness will be a crown they will always wear.
They will celebrate and shout because all sorrows
and worries will be gone far away.

Psalm 119

⁶⁵I am your servant, LORD, and you have kept your promise
to treat me with kindness.
⁶⁶Give me wisdom and good sense. I trust your commands.
⁶⁷Once you corrected me for not obeying you,
but now I obey.
⁶⁸You are kindhearted, and you do good things,
so teach me your laws.
⁶⁹My reputation is being ruined by conceited liars,
but with all my heart I follow your teachings.
⁷⁰Those liars have no sense,
but I find happiness in your Law.
⁷¹When you corrected me, it did me good
because it taught me to study your laws.
⁷²I would rather obey you
than to have a thousand pieces of silver and gold.

⁷³You created me and put me together.
Make me wise enough to learn
what you have commanded.
⁷⁴Your worshipers will see me,
and they will be glad that I trust your word.
⁷⁵Your decisions are correct,
and you were right to punish me.
⁷⁶I serve you, LORD. Comfort me with your love,
just as you have promised.
⁷⁷I love to obey your Law! Have mercy and let me live.
⁷⁸Put down those proud people
who hurt me with their lies,
because I have chosen to study your teachings.
⁷⁹Let your worshipers come to me,
so they will learn to obey your rules.
⁸⁰Let me truly respect your laws, so I won't be ashamed.

⁸¹I long for you to rescue me!
Your word is my only hope.
⁸²I am worn out from waiting for you to keep your word.
When will you have mercy?
⁸³My life is wasting away like a dried-up wineskin,
but I have not forgotten your teachings.
⁸⁴I am your servant! How long must I suffer?
When will you punish those troublemakers?
⁸⁵Those proud people reject your teachings,
and they dig pits for me to fall in.
⁸⁶Your laws can be trusted! Protect me from cruel liars.
⁸⁷They have almost killed me,
but I have been faithful to your teachings.
⁸⁸Show that you love me and let me live,
so that I may obey all of your commands.

⁸⁹Our LORD, you are eternal!
Your word will last as long as the heavens.
⁹⁰You remain faithful in every generation,
and the earth you created will keep standing firm.
⁹¹All things are your servants,
and the laws you made are still in effect today.
⁹²If I had not found happiness in obeying your Law,
I would have died in misery.
⁹³I won't ever forget your teachings,
because you give me new life by following them.
⁹⁴I belong to you, and I have respected your laws,
so keep me safe.
⁹⁵Brutal enemies are waiting to ambush and destroy me,
but I obey your rules.
⁹⁶Nothing is completely perfect, except your teachings.