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Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

For a New Day

Penitential Prayer

My Lord God, creator of all that is, king of all who live, mighty in power and abundant in love beyond human imagination; I enter your presence in the sorrow of my sins against you, confessing all that I have done against your holy Word. I have offended you; I have harmed my neighbor; I have harmed myself. My attempts to hide my sin from others and to rationalize it to myself are futile: For you know all things.

I admit the sin I have tried to hide. And where I still cannot admit it, I ask your Holy Spirit to show it to me. I confess and deeply repent the heartbreak, worry, and sorrow I have caused to you, to others, to myself.

Forgive me for all of my sin, merciful God, through the mystery of salvation, by your grace that came through your only Son, Jesus Christ. From the bottom of my heart, I swear my love for Him. He is my Lord and my Savior, and I cast myself utterly upon your mercy in His name.

Mason Barge 8/22/2015

Parting Prayer

O  good shepherd, seek me out, and bring me home to your fold again. Deal favourably with me according to your good pleasure, until I may dwell in your house all the days of my life, and praise you forever and ever with them that are there.

from a prayer of St. Jerome, 408 A.D.

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

True Blindness

Galatians 5:22-23 (Daily Prayer Bible)

Fruits of the Spirit - Self-Control (Galatians #83)

22-23 The Spirit, on the other hand, produces fruit: . . . self-control . . . . In this, the Law and the Spirit agree, because the Law does not forbid such things.

DP Parallel Bible (3-Column) - Galatians 5

About the Daily Prayer BibleThe “Daily Prayer Bible” is a paraphrase translation. This means accuracy to the original text has been sacrificed, to make it more readable and readily understood. This is especially useful in the Epistles of Paul. Verses are often out of order and often explanatory matter is included in the actual translation.

It is part of a larger work, DP 3-Column Bible, a Bible translation with 3 different levels of literal accuracy, which you can access by clicking the link at the bottom of the Scripture section. We call the most readable and least accurate translation the “Daily Prayer Bible”. The middle translation (“The American Bible”) is what is called a “literal” translation, accurate to the original text but using English grammar and idioms.

The third translation is a unique transliterative text, called “Verbatim Bible”, that has an unparalleled degree of accuracy but is not readable except with difficulty. It gives the non-Greek-reading user the ability to see the inaccuracies and ambiguities that become invisible in even the best so-called “literal” translations, such as the NASB or our own American Bible..

Notes on the Scripture

The last of the attributes listed by Paul as fruits of the spirit is “self-control.” Unlike some of the other terms we have studied, most translators agree that the English word “self-control” perfectly describes Paul’s meaning. A fair minority of Bibles, most notably the King James Version, translates the work “temperance,” and one or two, “chastity.”

“Temperance,” in the general sense, is not a bad translation of the term, but in more modern times (and especially in the 20th century), termperance came to refer, specifically, to alcohol. The powerful Women's Christian Temperance Union dedicated itself to elimination all drinking of alcohol and even suceeded it making it illegal in the United States for 13 years. And chastity clearly refers to sexual conduct; in Modern English it connotes total abstinence.

ut while alcohol abuse and sex are two stars in the world of persistent temptation, and often intransigent due to their addictive nature, we can see the beneficial effects of self-control and moderation in innumerable areas of human behavior. The tem generally applies more to normal parts of life. Unlike murder, theft, or adultery, sex and alcohol are not evil in and of themselves. Christ blessed wine, for his apostles to drink, at the last supper, and of course He made six vats of wine for the wedding party at Cana. Eating good food, spending or saving money, feeling satisfaction at one’s work: these are normal human activities that we enjoy without guilt or sin.

In this realm, it is not the activity that transgresses God’s will, but our attitude toward it. We might look at the external conduct, and say that hording and spending absurd amounts of money, buying excessively expensive or unnecessary luxuries, becoming full of pride at a promotion at work, or wolfing down giant helpings of chile fries or chocolate, is where we cross from blessed behavior to sin. But one of Christ’s great messages was the intention of our heart, as the wellspring of our conduct.

When the Spirit is allowed to give us self-control, it changes our heart to a point that we no longer want sinful excess. He empowers us to control our drives and channel them in the range God intended us to use them. Sometimes, transmitting the desire — say, the desire of an alcoholic not to abuse alcohol — can inolve an extensive program of spritual growth. We might need others’ help. But lacking self-control in any of the myriad areas, where some people seem to lack a self-governing mechanism by nature, is a trial.

The loose woman, the grossly obese man, the avaricious banker: these are not Satanic sinners. They are people to whom God has given a special trial. They are afflicted, and like all of us, they are given a tribulation to help them find God. They are taught that they must have the Holy Spirit, for in most cases, such afflictions often cannot be overcome by human power.

Stained Glass by Clayton Bell

Daily Inspiration

“ Hope for Healing ”

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