Weekly Guide：Week 51
January 13, 2019
Forward
This week, we are going to read the first and second book of John.
The first book of John was written in year 90 AD when apostle John was in his old age. It was a letter written to those spiritual children, young men, and fathers. It is full of encouragements from a spiritual elder.
Roman emperor Domitian was reign at the time. It was a time the Roman citizens were being ordered to worship the emperor during the peak of Christian persecution by the Roman government throughout the entire Roman territory. Apostle John wrote this letter wanting the readers to hold fast in the righteous way, to turn away from false teaching, and to have hope when facing persecution.
God is love. As we unite in the Lord, we shall also love each other.
May you all be renewed in God’s word each day!
Question
What does the fact that God is light mean to our life?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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God has the eternal life which appeared to us through Lord Jesus Christ. It was seen and heard by the apostles themselves. Therefore, our joy ought to be complete.
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God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we have fellowship with Him, then we walk in the light, we should confess our sins, and ask for forgiveness.
Meditation: My Story
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Identity - We are given eternal life, therefore, we should hold fast the truth, instead of pursuing the worldly temporary things. Am I able to turn away from a life in pursue of fame and money which are worldly and temporary?
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Integrity - As we fellowship with God and since God is light, we must walk in the light and stop sinning. Reflect on my sins, confess and repent in prayers, and ask God for forgiveness.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
What is God’s new commandment?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Anyone who obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in Him.
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Darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.
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For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Meditation: My Story
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Identity - Anyone who knows God must do what His commands and loves God. They do not love the world and anything in the world. How much do I know God? Am I willing to love Him even more?
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Community - Abstain from the lust of flesh, the lust of eyes, and the pride of life. These are from the world and are temporary. In these tricks of the devil, which temps me the most?
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Integrity - Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness, walks around in the darkness and do not know where they are going. Do I have any hatred toward any brother or sister? Let me pray and ask the Lord for forgiveness.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
What kind of life should the children of God live?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
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And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
Meditation: My Story
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Identity - We are children of God and we know that when the Lord appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. How am I living a life as children of God and be more like Jesus every day?
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Integrity - We shall not continue to sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. How am I doing what is right and not being led astray?
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Community - We should love one another with actions and in truth because this is what God has commanded. How am I loving my Christian brothers and sisters even more?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
Why if we love one another then God lives in us?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
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This is love: God sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
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God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
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We love because He first loved us.
Meditation: My Story
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Identity - We are of God and have won over every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus, because the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. What difficulties am I facing? Let the one who is in me be my only reliance and true help so that by Him I’d be able to celebrate in victory.
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Community - We love one another, for love comes from God. We love because He first loved us. Let me understand and experience God’s love, then try to love someone who is unlovable with God’s love.
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Integrity - Love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. What faith and hope does this give me?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
How do we overcome the world?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.
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The Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Meditation: My Story
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Identity - The One gives us victory over the world is our faith. Do I have the faith to overcome the world today?
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Identity - We have eternal life when we have the Son of God; we have no eternal life without the Son of God. Let me thank and praise Jesus with my prayer in the knowledge that He has already given me eternal life!
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Fidelity - If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. How am I praying for those who are sinning?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
What is the relationship between love and truth?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Love and truth must go together as love is for truth.
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To love God is to walk in obedience of His commands and to love one another.
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To walk in the truth is the prerequisite of loving one another. Do not welcome those who do not follow Jesus’ teaching.
Meditation: My Story
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Walking with God - The common interpretation of love of this world is not God’s love. God’s love does not go against His truth. Let me contemplate on what God’s truth is, what His love is. Have I seen, heard, or experienced a kind of love being raised up high, even among Christians, but muddles the truth? When I face this kind of improper love, how may I speak the truth in love?
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Identity - Jesus gave us the command to love between the limbs, to one another. This is to love by following His example instead of human’s examples. So, the real love shall not cause conflicts. At the time of John, all ministers were travelling ministers, and they stayed in loving believers’ households and being supplied by them. This signified the accepting household’s acknowledgment of their ministry. Today, how shall I welcome them and acknowledge their ministry? What does John remind me of when he said do not welcome those deceivers?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Scripture Reading
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
Why is Jesus' one sacrifice the sacrifice for all sins forever?
{% include BibleLinks2020.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ The sacrifices done in the first covenant weren't perfect. Jesus' sacrifice with his own blood is the eternal redemption.
+ Only by the perfect redemption from Jesus, we may be set free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
+ God's plan of salvation was already written in the scriptures and can only be accomplished by His own will.
+ Christ's perfect offering for our sins replaces and surpasses the offerings in the first covenant.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - By Jesus Christ's sin offering, God no longer remembers the wickedness and sins of all Christians. Am I being grateful to God's grace? Am I living a life like Christ's which is free from the bondage of the law?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What kind of life does Jesus bring to us by His one sacrifice?
{% include BibleLinks2020.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Jesus' sacrifice removed the curtain to the Most Holy Place so that we may come near God at any time.
+ Our faith grows to win over the confusion and doubt through Jesus Christ; We are capable of encouraging each other through Jesus Christ; We are able to worship together through Jesus Christ.
+ Do not stop meeting together; even when being persecuted and suffering.
+ God will judge those who refuse His grace.
+ Do not throw away our confidence; we will be richly rewarded.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Community** - The Bible says, "to spur one another on toward love and good deeds." How shall I apply this teaching in my small group?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
Where does faith come from?
{% include BibleLinks2020.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
+ It is impossible to please God without faith because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
+ The universe was formed at God's command and His word shall make us fear Him.
+ All these people of faith were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Integrity** - Do I keep faith in God when facing difficulties? What have I learned from these people of faith?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What should our attitude toward God's discipline be?
{% include BibleLinks2020.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ God disciplines all His children.
+ Our human fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.
+ Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
+ Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Community** - God wants us to make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy. Am I able to live in peace with others so that God is glorified?
+ **Integrity** - Have I ever been disciplined by God? What was my response to His discipline?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How to love one another?
{% include BibleLinks2020.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Christians ought to keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers. Keep our lives free from the love of money.
+ We ought to help and take care willingly those who are in prison.
+ We shall entrust ourselves to God with faith because He will not leave us and will never forsake us.
+ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
+ God redeems us, equips us with everything good for doing His will, and He works in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Community** - Bible teaches us to love one another as brothers and sisters. Am I filled with love in my life with my Christian brothers and sisters? Am I helping them to bear the sufferings that they might have?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How did Hannah find peace from her prayer?
{% include BibleLinks2020.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Hannah was provoked and irritated by her husband's other wife, Peninnah, due to her infertility. Peninnah would provoke Hannah even more each year during the family's annual sacrifice in Shiloh.
+ Hannah prayed in front of the Lord, for a son to give to the Lord.
+ Eli the priest told Hannah to go in peace and her face was no longer downcast. Through her prayer, the Lord remembered Hannah and gave her a son named Samuel. When he had weaned, Hannah brought Samuel to Eli to dedicate him to the Lord as she had promised in her prayer. Hannah gave thanks and praised the Lord.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - Hannah was no longer downcast and ate right after she had prayed. What relieved Hannah of the sorrow that got piled up after all those years? Am I being sorrowful? Is it because I never let go of my sorrow even after I have prayed to God? What did Hannah really ask for in her prayer? What does it remind me about my prayer?
+ **Walking with God** - What did Hannah do after God had answered her prayer? What did I do after God had answered my prayer? Hannah gave her son away not long after she gave birth to him, but she happily thanked and praised the Lord. What caused her for doing so? What should the focus of my prayer be?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
{% include BibleLinks2020.html %}
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
Why is Jesus' one sacrifice the sacrifice for all sins forever?
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ The sacrifices done in the first covenant weren't perfect. Jesus' sacrifice with his own blood is the eternal redemption.
+ Only by the perfect redemption from Jesus, we may be set free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
+ God's plan of salvation was already written in the scriptures and can only be accomplished by His own will.
+ Christ's perfect offering for our sins replaces and surpasses the offerings in the first covenant.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - By Jesus Christ's sin offering, God no longer remembers the wickedness and sins of all Christians. Am I being grateful to God's grace? Am I living a life like Christ's which is free from the bondage of the law?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What kind of life does Jesus bring to us by His one sacrifice?
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Jesus' sacrifice removed the curtain to the Most Holy Place so that we may come near God at any time.
+ Our faith grows to win over the confusion and doubt through Jesus Christ; We are capable of encouraging each other through Jesus Christ; We are able to worship together through Jesus Christ.
+ Do not stop meeting together; even when being persecuted and suffering.
+ God will judge those who refuse His grace.
+ Do not throw away our confidence; we will be richly rewarded.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Community** - The Bible says, "to spur one another on toward love and good deeds." How shall I apply this teaching in my small group?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
Where does faith come from?
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
+ It is impossible to please God without faith because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
+ The universe was formed at God's command and His word shall make us fear Him.
+ All these people of faith were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Integrity** - Do I keep faith in God when facing difficulties? What have I learned from these people of faith?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What should our attitude toward God's discipline be?
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ God disciplines all His children.
+ Our human fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.
+ Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
+ Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Community** - God wants us to make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy. Am I able to live in peace with others so that God is glorified?
+ **Integrity** - Have I ever been disciplined by God? What was my response to His discipline?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How to love one another?
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Christians ought to keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers. Keep our lives free from the love of money.
+ We ought to help and take care willingly those who are in prison.
+ We shall entrust ourselves to God with faith because He will not leave us and will never forsake us.
+ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
+ God redeems us, equips us with everything good for doing His will, and He works in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Community** - Bible teaches us to love one another as brothers and sisters. Am I filled with love in my life with my Christian brothers and sisters? Am I helping them to bear the sufferings that they might have?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How does the Lord call His people to repent and return to Him?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Rebuke all those who take oaths in the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel-but not in truth or righteousness.
+ Rebuke all those who are treacherous and were rebellious from birth.
+ The Lord for His name's sake delays His wrath; for the sake of His praise He holds it back from them.
+ Calling all to listen to the Lord, Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, "The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob."
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - We benefit from the Lord's teaching and from His leading us to walk on the His way. If we obey, we'd be blessed because fearing God is the beginning of wisdom. Do I fear Him in how I act and am willing to seek His will? Or, do I just go my own way by my own will? Why is it that I sometimes don't listen to Him?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What are the attributes of the Lord's servant?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Before I was born the Lord called me. I have labored in vain. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God.
+ The Lord who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and my God has been my strength.
+ The Lord wants His servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and will also make him a light for the Gentiles, that His salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
+ He will keep him and will make him to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land.
+ Can a mother forget the baby at her breast? The Lord have engraved His people on the palms of His hands.
+ The Lord's servant would be persecuted, but the Lord would help him so that he would not be disgraced and put to shame.
+ Trust in the name of the Lord and rely on our God.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - God never forgets us and never forsakes us: "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me." Let me remember His promise and be strengthened through His word.
+ **Fidelity** - When the servant of the Lord is being looked down upon, he knows the Lord will help him, so he is not disgraced nor ashamed. Have I ever been looked down upon in my service to the Lord? Let me receive strength and glory from Him.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What is it like when salvation comes to Jerusalem?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ You who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord, think about His calling and blessing.
+ The Lord will surely comfort Zion. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
+ Listen, people. Instruction will go out from Him. His arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to Him and wait in hope for His arm.
+ Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; sorrow and sighing will flee away.
+ Jerusalem shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive.
+ Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. My righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations." & goto :_no_skip
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - God wants us: "Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults." Am I afraid of the "mere mortals" in my heart? Or, do I have hatred when others hurt me? Let me hand off my grievances to God and let Him bring justice and righteousness.
+ **Fidelity** - How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation. Am I a true ambassador of the Gospel? Who else may I share the good news with and testify for His glory?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How does the Lord's servant suffer for us for our sins?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ The appearance of the Lord's servant was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness. But, he will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
+ The Lord's servant had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
+ He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, familiar with pain, and we held him in low esteem.
+ Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
+ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.
+ Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin. The will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
+ After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - The Lord's servant had no beauty or majesty to attract us. His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness. But he will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Our true value is not determined through our outward appearance. Do I value how others see me more than how God sees me?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What salvation did God promise the Israelites?
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### Question
What salvation did God promise the Israelites?
{% include BibleLinks.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Enlarge the place of your tent, your descendants will dispossess nations.
+ Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
+ In a surge of anger, God hid His face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness He will have compassion on you.
+ In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear.
+ Give ear and come to God; listen, that you may live. He will make an everlasting covenant with you.
+ Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways, for He will freely pardon.
+ God's ways are higher than your ways and His thoughts than your thoughts.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - In the surge of His anger, God has everlasting kindness and compassion on us. The peace in Him cannot be denied by the worldly suffering and dread. Think about His everlasting kindness and compassion. Make that my comfort and strength.
+ **Integrity** - Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. Ask God to purify our hearts. Let me ask Him to forgive my sins and all things I have done to displease Him.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How shall we face the high and exalted one?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it and keeps hands from doing any evil.
+ For my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.
+ Rebukes the Judah for being rebellious and treacherous, but whoever takes refuge in Him will inherit the land.
+ The Lord lives in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Integrity** - The wicked are like the tossing sea, "There is no peace, for the wicked." Am I still full of guilt and sin and unable to let go? Please ask the Holy Spirit to help me, to forsake the sins that has being bonding me to receive peace from God's grace.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
Prayer
Notes and Responses