spiritual breakthrough

¹³Temptation should not take hold of you, except what is human. For God is faithful, and he will not permit you to be tempted beyond your ability. Instead, he will effect his Providence, even during temptation, so that you may be able to bear it.

¹Rise up to be illuminated, O Jerusalem! For your light has arrived, and the glory of the Lord has risen over you. ²For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness will cover the peoples. Then the Lord will rise above you, and his glory will be seen in you. ³And the nations will walk in your light, and the kings will walk by the splendor of your rising. ⁴Lift up your eyes all around and see! All these have been gathered together; they have arrived before you. Your sons will arrive from far away, and your daughters will rise up from your side. ⁵Then you will see, and you will overflow, and your heart will be amazed and expanded. When the multitude of the sea will have been converted to you, the strength of the nations will approach you. ⁶A multitude of camels will inundate you: the dromedaries from Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba will arrive, carrying gold and frankincense, and announcing praise to the Lord.

¹⁷No object which has been formed to use against you will succeed. And every tongue that resists you in judgment, you shall judge. This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and this is their justice with me, says the Lord.

²⁵Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids precede your steps. ²⁶Direct the path of your feet, and all your ways shall be secure. ²⁷Turn aside, neither to the right, nor to the left; yet turn your foot away from evil. For the Lord knows the ways that are on the right, and truly, those that are on the left are perverse. But he himself will make your courses straight. Then your journey will advance in peace.

¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the directors of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places.

³²And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

⁸Then, hearing that David had been anointed as king over all of Israel, all the Philistines ascended so that they might seek him. But when David had heard of it, he went out to meet them. ⁹Now the Philistines, arriving, spread out in the Valley of the Rephaim. ¹⁰And so David consulted the Lord, saying, “Shall I ascend to the Philistines, and will you deliver them into my hand?” And the Lord said to him, “Ascend, and I will deliver them into your hand.” ¹¹And when they had ascended to Baal-perazim, David struck them there, and he said: “God has divided my enemies by my hand, just as waters are divided.” And therefore the name of that place was called Baal-perazim. ¹²And they left behind their gods in that place, and so David ordered them to be burned. ¹³And then, at another time, the Philistines invaded, and they spread out in the valley.

¹⁹Behold, I am accomplishing new things. And presently, they will spring forth. With certainty, you will know them. I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in an impassible place.

⁸But you shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit, passing over you, and you shall be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

¹⁰For am I now persuading men, or God? Or, am I seeking to please men? If I still were pleasing men, then I would not be a servant of Christ.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do all things, more abundantly than we could ever ask or understand, by means of the virtue which is at work in us:

¹“Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!” says your God. ²Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her! For her malice has reached its end. Her iniquity has been forgiven. She has received double for all her sins from the hand of the Lord. ³The voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight the paths of our God, in a solitary place. ⁴Every valley will be exalted, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. And the crooked will be straightened, and the uneven will become level ways. ⁵And the glory of the Lord will be revealed. And all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” ⁶The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” And I said, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, in Christ,

¹⁸Through every kind of prayer and supplication, pray at all times in spirit, and so be vigilant with every kind of earnest supplication, for all the saints,

¹And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind. ²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect. ³For I say, through the grace that has been given to me, to all who are among you: Taste no more than it is necessary to taste, but taste unto sobriety and just as God has distributed a share of the faith to each one. ⁴For just as, within one body, we have many parts, though all the parts do not have the same role, ⁵so also we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one is a part, the one of the other. ⁶And we each have different gifts, according to the grace that has been given to us: whether prophecy, in agreement with the reasonableness of faith;

¹Cry out! Cease not! Exalt your voice like a trumpet, and announce to my people their wicked acts, and to the house of Jacob their sins. ²For they also seek me, from day to day, and they are willing to know my ways, like a nation which has done justice and has not abandoned the judgment of their God. They petition me for judgments of justice. They are willing to draw near to God. ³“Why have we fasted, and you have not taken notice? Why have we humbled our souls, and you have not acknowledged it?” Behold, in the day of your fasting, your own will is found, and you petition for payment from all your debtors. ⁴Behold, you fast with strife and contention, and you strike with the fist impiously. Do not choose to fast as you have done even to this day. Then your outcry will be heard on high. ⁵Is this a fast such as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day, to contort his head in a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? Should you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord? ⁶Is not this, instead, the kind of fast that I have chosen? Release the constraints of impiety; relieve the burdens that oppress; freely forgive those who are broken; and break apart every burden.

³For he has freed me from the snare of those who go hunting, and from the harsh word. ⁴He will overshadow you with his shoulders, and you will hope under his wings.

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.