"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
   I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal His sons. You have been raised to life with Christ. Set your hearts, then, on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on His throne at the right side of God.
   Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ, and when He appears, then you too will appear with Him and share His glory! In order to set us free from this present evil age Christ gave Himself for our sins, in obedience to the will of our God and Father.
   Freedom is what we have - Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free men, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again. But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. Forget about satisfying your sinful self. You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe.
   For there is one God, and also one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus, Himself man, Who sacrificed Himself to win freedom for all mankind, so providing, at the fitting time, proof of the divine purpose . . . He is Himself the remedy for the defilement of our sins, not our sins only but the sins of all the world.
   [Jesus said this about those who will trust in Him:] "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the man who comes to me I will never turn away. I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me.
   "It is His will that I should not lose even one of all that He has given Me, but raise them all up on the last day. For it is My Father's will that everyone who looks upon the Son and puts his faith in Him shall possess eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day."

Taken from Jer. 29, Rom. 8, Col. 3, Gal. 1, 5, Rom. 13, Col. 2, I Tim. 2, I Jn. 2, 1, Jn. 6,
The New International Version, Today's English Version, The Everyday Bible and
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