Category: Prayers

“Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed.” —Wisdom 3:5 There is both a quantity and quality of fruit that God expects us to produce in our earthly life (see Mt 21:33ff; Lk 13:6-9; Jn 15:1ff; 15:16). Our fruit of personal holiness and “good works” (Rv 14:13) “must endure” (Jn 15:16). God is much more than “the Man upstairs” Who is our Friend. He is also our Judge, Who “will test the quality of each man’s” good works and holiness (see 1 Cor 3:13). Some of the dead who die in the Lord will not have lived a life as...

“Dearly beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall later be has not yet come to light. We know that when it comes to light we shall be like Him.” —1 John 3:2 God is holy. He “is a consuming Fire” (Heb 12:29), and He wants us to be consumed with the desire to be holy as He is holy (1 Pt 1:16). Nevertheless, even baptized people often have a weak desire for holiness. On this holy day celebrating all the saints, the Lord especially tries to increase our desire for holiness. Today, focus on the saint you know...

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” —Romans 8:31 St. Paul asks: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Trial, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?” (Rm 8:35) This was no mere rhetorical question for Paul. He had experienced first-hand all of these dangers and more (see 2 Cor 11:23ff). He knew for “certain” that nothing could separate him from the love of God (Rm 8:38, 39). This certain knowledge of God’s personal love for him gave Paul the courage to be more than a conqueror (Rm 8:37)....