JANUARY 28, 2025 PORTALS OF PRAYER READINGS

 

Acts 20:28-35

²⁸ Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God,^[a] which he obtained with his own blood.^{[b] 29} I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; ³⁰ and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. ³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. ³⁵ In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Footnotes

1. Acts 20:28 Some manuscripts of the Lord
2. Acts 20:28 Or with the blood of his Own

Psalm 71:1-14

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

71 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame!
² In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
    incline your ear to me, and save me!
³ Be to me a rock of refuge,
    to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
    for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴ Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
⁵ For you, O Lord, are my hope,
    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
⁶ Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
    you are he who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

⁷ I have been as a portent to many,
    but you are my strong refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise,
    and with your glory all the day.
⁹ Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
    forsake me not when my strength is spent.
¹⁰ For my enemies speak concerning me;
    those who watch for my life consult together
¹¹ and say, “God has forsaken him;
    pursue and seize him,
    for there is none to deliver him.”

¹² O God, be not far from me;
    O my God, make haste to help me!
¹³ May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
    with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
    who seek my hurt.
¹⁴ But I will hope continually
    and will praise you yet more and more.

ESV® - The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Source for Bible text - www.biblegateway.com