In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

“I am the good shepherd I know my sheep and my sheep know me—

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

    where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

“Enter through the narrow gate.(A) For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.