Daily Pause

Tuesday - Psalm 27:1, 7-14

The Lord is my light and my salvation—    whom shall I fear?The Lord is the stronghold of my life—    of whom shall I be afraid?7 Hear my voice when I call, Lord;    be merciful to me and answer me.8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”    Your face, Lord, I will seek.9 Do not hide your face from me,    do not turn your servant away in anger;    you have been my helper.  Do not reject me or forsake me,   God my Savior.10 Though my father and mother forsake me,  the Lord will receive me.11 Teach me your way, Lord;    lead me in a straight path    because of my oppressors.13 I remain confident of this:    I will see the goodness of the Lord    in the land of the living.14 Wait for the Lord;    be strong and take heart    and wait for the Lord.

Monday - Psalm 18:1-6,46

I love you, Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,    my shield[b] and the horn[c] of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,    and I have been saved from my enemies. 4 The cords of death entangled me;    the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;    the snares of death confronted me. 6 In my distress I called to the Lord;    I cried to my God for help.From his temple he heard my voice;    my cry came before him, into his ears.

Exodus 32:9-14

9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. 

Romans 8:31-34 and Hebrews 7:24-25

If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 
24 because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Habakkuk 3:1-2, 17-19

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet.
2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

17 Though the fig tree does not bud    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen    and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

Luke 11:5-9

5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Luke 11:5-9 

5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Ephesians 2:13, 17-22
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.  

Colossians 1:15-23
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God …. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. 

John 3:5-10,14-17
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 
 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.