June 2015 Prayers

2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15Brothers and sisters:As you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse,knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you,may you excel in this gracious act also.For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ,that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.Not that others should have relief while you are burdened,but that as a matter of equalityyour abundance at the present time should supply their needs,so that their abundance may also supply your needs,that there may be equality.As it is written:Whoever had much did not have more,and whoever had little did not have less.

Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24 God did not make death,nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.For he fashioned all things that they might have being;and the creatures of the world are wholesome,and there is not a destructive drug among themnor any domain of the netherworld on earth,for justice is undying.For God formed man to be imperishable;the image of his own nature he made him.But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,and they who belong to his company experience it.

Gn 16:1-12, 15-16 Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children.She had, however, an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.Sarai said to Abram: “The LORD has kept me from bearing children.Have intercourse, then, with my maid;perhaps I shall have sons through her.”Abram heeded Sarai’s request.Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan,his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian,and gave her to her husband Abram to be his concubine.He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant.When she became aware of her pregnancy,she looked on her mistress with disdain.So Sarai said to Abram:“You are responsible for this outrage against me.I myself gave my maid to your embrace;but ever since she became aware of her pregnancy,she has been looking on me with disdain.May the LORD decide between you and me!”Abram told Sarai: “Your maid is in your power.Do to her whatever you please.”Sarai then abused her so much that Hagar ran away from her.The LORD’s messenger found her by a spring in the wilderness,the spring on the road to Shur, and he asked,“Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come fromand where are you going?”She answered, “I am running away from my mistress, Sarai.”But the LORD’s messenger told her:“Go back to your mistress and submit to her abusive treatment.I will make your descendants so numerous,” added the LORD’s messenger,“that they will be too many to count.Besides,” the LORD’s messenger said to her:“You are now pregnant and shall bear a son;you shall name him Ishmael,For the LORD has heard you,God has answered you.This one shall be a wild ass of a man,his hand against everyone,and everyone’s hand against him;In opposition to all his kinshall he encamp.”Hagar bore Abram a son,and Abram named the son whom Hagar bore him Ishmael.Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Mt 6:24-34Jesus said to his disciples:“No one can serve two masters.He will either hate one and love the other,or be devoted to one and despise the other.You cannot serve God and mammon.“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,what you will eat or drink,or about your body, what you will wear.Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?Look at the birds in the sky;they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,yet your heavenly Father feeds them.Are not you more important than they?Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?Why are you anxious about clothes?Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.They do not work or spin.But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendorwas clothed like one of them.If God so clothes the grass of the field,which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’All these things the pagans seek.Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,and all these things will be given you besides.Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

2 Cor 11:18, 21-30 Brothers and sisters:Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.To my shame I say that we were too weak!But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness)I also dare.Are they Hebrews? So am I.Are they children of Israel? So am I.Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person).I am still more, with far greater labors,far more imprisonments, far worse beatings,and numerous brushes with death.Five times at the hands of the JewsI received forty lashes minus one.Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned,three times I was shipwrecked,I passed a night and a day on the deep;on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers,dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race,dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city,dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea,dangers among false brothers;in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights,through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings,through cold and exposure.And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon meof my anxiety for all the churches.Who is weak, and I am not weak?Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant?If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

2 Cor 11:1-11 Brothers and sisters:If only you would put up with a little foolishness from me!Please put up with me.For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God,since I betrothed you to one husbandto present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning,your thoughts may be corruptedfrom a sincere and pure commitment to Christ.For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached,or if you receive a different spirit from the one you receivedor a different gospel from the one you accepted,you put up with it well enough.For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these “superapostles.”Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge;in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.Did I make a mistake when I humbled myself so that you might be exalted,because I preached the Gospel of God to you without charge?I plundered other churches by accepting from themin order to minister to you.And when I was with you and in need, I did not burden anyone,for the brothers who came from Macedoniasupplied my needs.So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.By the truth of Christ in me,this boast of mine shall not be silencedin the regions of Achaia.And why? Because I do not love you?God knows I do!

Mt 5:38-42Jesus said to his disciples:“You have heard that it was said,An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.When someone strikes you on your right cheek,turn the other one to him as well.If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic,hand him your cloak as well.Should anyone press you into service for one mile,go with him for two miles.Give to the one who asks of you,and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”

2 Cor 5:14-21 Brothers and sisters:The love of Christ impels us,once we have come to the conviction that one died for all;therefore, all have died.He indeed died for all,so that those who live might no longer live for themselvesbut for him who for their sake died and was raised.Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh;even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh,yet now we know him so no longer.So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:the old things have passed away;behold, new things have come.And all this is from God,who has reconciled us to himself through Christand given us the ministry of reconciliation,namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,not counting their trespasses against themand entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.So we are ambassadors for Christ,as if God were appealing through us.We implore you on behalf of Christ,be reconciled to God.For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Jn 19:31-37Since it was preparation day,in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down.So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe.For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled:Not a bone of it will be broken.And again another passage says:They will look upon him whom they have pierced.

Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3 In those days a great number who believed turned to the Lord.The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem,and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch.When he arrived and saw the grace of God,he rejoiced and encouraged them allto remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart,for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.And a large number of people was added to the Lord.Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul,and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch.For a whole year they met with the Churchand taught a large number of people,and it was in Antioch that the discipleswere first called Christians.Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers:Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger,Lucius of Cyrene,Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saulfor the work to which I have called them.”Then, completing their fasting and prayer,they laid hands on them and sent them off.