Dear friends, today I will take you on a spiritual journey that I took, realizing that in the physical world we live in, we have an ever-increasing need for the spiritual values of faith, hope and love!
During the journey we will take the seeds of these most important Christian virtues from their inexhaustible source - the Word, sow them carefully in our hearts and pray that there they will sprout, take deep roots, grow tall stems pointing to the heavens , to form large leaves and drawing on the energy of Light, to blossom and produce abundant fruits of true faith, living hope and endless love!
FAITH
"Faith is the conviction of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen...Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that there is God and that He rewards those who seek Him."
Hebrews 11:1, 6
"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."
The Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians 4:4-6
When the risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Thomas the Unfaithful, he said to him:
"Because you saw Me, Thomas, you believed. Blessed are those who, without seeing, believed."
The Holy Gospel of John 20:24-29
"Jesus Christ, whom you love without having seen Him, in whom, believing, without now seeing Him, you rejoice with unspeakable and glorious joy, receiving the consequence of your faith the salvation of your souls."
The First Epistle of the Apostle Peter 1:9
"For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart a person believes and is justified, and with the mouth he confesses and is saved."
The Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Romans 10:9-10
"A man is not justified by works of the law, but only by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, for by works of the law one shall not be justified no creation."
The letter of the apostle Paul to the Galatians 2:16
"And by His goodness they are justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God made propitiation by His blood through faith. This He did to show His righteousness in forgiving the sins committed before, when God was long-suffering , to show, I say, My righteousness at this time, that it may be known that He is righteous, and that He justifies the one who believes in Jesus."
The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 3:24-26
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 6:23
The Lord Jesus Christ promised:
"Truly, truly, I say to you: he who believes in Me has eternal life."
The Holy Gospel of John 6:47
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves - it is a gift from God."
The letter of the apostle Paul to the Ephesians 2:8
"Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we through faith have obtained access to this grace, in which we stand and rejoice because of the hope of the glory of God."
The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 5:1
HOPE
"It is good for one to hope and quietly wait for salvation from the Lord."
The Lamentation of Jeremiah 3:26
"For I know the thoughts that I think for you - says the Lord - I think for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and hope."
Jeremiah 29:11
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, according to His great mercy, regenerated us to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... Knowing that it is not with corruptible things - silver or gold - that you are redeemed from vanity life handed down to you by your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and pure, Who indeed was predestinated before the foundation of the world, but appeared at the end of the age for you, who through Him believed in God, Who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope may be in God."
The First Epistle of the Apostle Peter 1:3, 18-21
"Therefore, when I also heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of the love you have shown to all the saints, I thank God unceasingly for you, and mention you in my prayers. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give you spirit of wisdom and of revelation, that you may know Him, and enlighten the eyes of your heart, that you may know what is the hope to which He calls you, what is the riches among the saints of His glorious inheritance, and how exceedingly great is His power toward us believers - a power which is according to the working of His mighty power, by which He worked in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavens, far above all principality and authority, power and dominion, and every name by which they are called, not only in this world, but also in the world to come. And put all things under his feet, and made him head over all to the church, which is his body, filled with the fullness of him who fulfills all in all."
The Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians 1:15-23
"For God's saving grace has appeared for all men and teaches us to renounce wickedness and worldly passions and to live in understanding, righteousness and piety in the present world, awaiting the blessed hope, the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. "
The Apostle Paul's letter to Titus 2:11-13
"For by this hope we are saved, and hope, when it is seen fulfilled, is no longer hope, for who would hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, then we wait patiently for it ."
The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 8:24-25
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that through the power of the Holy Spirit your hope may abound."
The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 15:13
"Let us proceed with a sincere heart in full faith, with hearts cleansed from an evil conscience and with bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold fast the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful and let us care for one another , so that we may encourage one another to love and good works."
Hebrews 10:22-24
LOVE
"We know and have believed the love that God has for us. God is love. And he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
The First Epistle of John 4:16
"The Lord appeared to me a long time ago and said: 'I have truly loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued to show you mercy.'
Jeremiah 31:3
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
The Holy Gospel of John 3:16
"God commendeth his love unto us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 5:8
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."
Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians 2:4-5
The love of the Lord Jesus Christ:
"As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love...Greater love has no one than to give his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you."
The Holy Gospel from John 15:9-10,13-14
"One of them, a lawyer, to test Him, asked Him a question:
"Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?"
And He said to him:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind!" - this is the greatest and first commandment, and a second, similar to it, is this one: "You shall love your neighbor, like yourself!". On these two commandments rest all the law and the prophets."
The Holy Gospel from Matthew 22:35-40
"For this is the love of God: to keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous."
The First Epistle of John 5:3
"And he that keepeth his commandments abideth in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us."
The First Epistle of John 3:24
"Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, Who keeps to a thousand generations the covenant and mercy to those who love Him and keep His commandments."
Deuteronomy 7:9
"We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, who are the called according to his purpose."
The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 8:28
"As it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man, all these things God has prepared for those who love Him.'
The First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians 2:9
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. He who does not love has not known God, for God is love..... No one ever has seen God, but if we love one another, God abides in us, and the love of him is perfected in us... If anyone says, "I love God, but hate my brother," he is a liar, because he who does not love his brother he who has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must love his brother also."
The First Epistle of John 4:7, 12, 20-21
"I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name, to grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be firmly established by His Spirit in the inner man, through faith to let Christ dwell in your hearts, so rooted and established in love, that you may be strong to understand with all the saints what is the breadth and length, height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which no knowledge can encompass, to fulfill in all the fullness of God."
Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians 3:14-20
"Love is long-suffering and kind.
Love does not envy.
Love is not exalted,
not proud
don't be rude
don't look for your own
doesn't get irritated
takes no account of evil,
does not rejoice in injustice,
but rejoices together with the truth.
Everything is silent,
believe in everything
hopes for everything
everything endures...
... And so these three remain: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love."
The Apostle Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians 13:4-7, 13
How do you get here?
"Believing comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ."
The Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Romans 10:17
"For all things that were written before were written for our instruction, that through the firmness and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope."
The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 15:4
"And may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father, who loved us and by grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good deed and word."
The Second Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians 2:16-17
"If anyone keeps His word, his love for God is truly perfect. By this we know that we are in Him."
The First Epistle of John 2:5
"Because he has put his love in Me - says the Lord - therefore I will deliver him. I will place him in safety because he has known My name. He will call on Me and I will listen to him. I will be with him when he is in trouble. I will deliver him and glorify him. I will satisfy him with long life and show him the salvation that I am doing."
Psalm 91:14-16
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