April 20, 2024 PORTALS OF PRAYER READINGS

 

1 John 3:16-24

¹⁶ By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷ But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

¹⁹ By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰ for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; ²² and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. ²⁴ Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God,^[a] and God^[b] in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Footnotes

1. 1 John 3:24 Greek him
2. 1 John 3:24 Greek he

Psalm 116:1-7

I Love the Lord

116 I love the Lord, because he has heard
    my voice and my pleas for mercy.
² Because he inclined his ear to me,
    therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
³ The snares of death encompassed me;
    the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
    I suffered distress and anguish.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the Lord:
    “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

⁵ Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
    our God is merciful.
⁶ The Lord preserves the simple;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.
⁷ Return, O my soul, to your rest;
    for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Source for Bible text - www.biblegateway.com