Spiritual Formation in Christ in 10 Days

¹ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

² But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.

⁴ Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶ For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

¹ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

² After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

³ The tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴ But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple.

⁶ “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

⁸ Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

⁹ “All this I will give You,” he said, “if You will fall down and worship me.”

¹⁰ “Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus told him. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

¹¹ Then the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.

¹ “Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

⁵ And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

⁶ But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

⁷ And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.

⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

⁹ So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

¹⁰ Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.

¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

¹⁴ For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.

¹⁶ When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

¹⁷ But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

¹⁸ so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

¹ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.

² He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.

³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

⁴ Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.

⁵ I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.

⁶ If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.

⁷ If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

⁸ This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.

⁹ As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love.

¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

¹¹ I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I command you.

¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.

¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

¹⁷ This is My command to you: Love one another.

¹⁸ If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.

¹⁹ If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

²⁰ Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.

²¹ But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.

²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

²³ Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.

²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.

²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’

²⁶ When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.

²⁷ And you also must testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

¹ Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

³ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.

⁴ Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function,

⁵ so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.

⁶ We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith;

⁷ if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;

⁸ if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

⁹ Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.

¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.

¹¹ Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

¹³ Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.

¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited.

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.

¹⁸ If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.

¹⁹ Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

²⁰ On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

¹ It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.

² Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

³ Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

⁵ But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness.

⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.

⁷ You were running so well. Who has obstructed you from obeying the truth?

⁸ Such persuasion does not come from the One who calls you.

⁹ A little leaven works through the whole batch of dough.

¹⁰ I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be.

¹¹ Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

¹² As for those who are agitating you, I wish they would proceed to emasculate themselves!

¹³ For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

¹⁴ The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁵ But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

¹⁷ For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.

¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

²⁰ idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,

²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²³ gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit.

²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.

¹ As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:

² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

³ and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;

⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷ Now to each one of us grace has been given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

⁸ This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.”

⁹ What does “He ascended” mean, except that He also descended to the lower parts of the earth?

¹⁰ He who descended is the very One who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

¹¹ And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

¹² to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ,

¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.

¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.

¹⁶ From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

¹⁹ Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.

²⁰ But this is not the way you came to know Christ.

²¹ Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him—in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus—

²² to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

²³ to be renewed in the spirit of your minds;

²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

²⁶ “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,

²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

²⁸ He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing good with his own hands, that he may have something to share with the one in need.

²⁹ Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.

³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.

³² Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

¹ Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

⁵ Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.

⁷ When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.

⁸ But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,

¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

¹¹ Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.

¹² Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

¹³ Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.

¹⁶ Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

¹⁸ Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.

²¹ Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become discouraged.

²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only to please them while they are watching, but with sincerity of heart and fear of the Lord.

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, as for the Lord and not for men,

²⁴ because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

²⁵ Whoever does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.

² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

⁷ Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

⁸ If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

⁹ Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?

¹⁰ Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

¹¹ No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.

¹² Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.

¹³ Make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

¹⁴ Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

¹⁵ See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.

¹⁶ See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.

¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears.

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings.

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,

³ because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

⁴ Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

⁵ Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

⁶ But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

⁷ That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

⁸ He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹ The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.

¹⁰ But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.

¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

¹² Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.

¹⁴ But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.

¹⁵ Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

¹⁹ My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

²⁰ for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.

²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.

²² Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.

²³ For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror,

²⁴ and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶ If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.

²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.