BEING FREE IN CHRIST RESPONSIBLY, 1 Corinthians 10

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CHRIST WAS THERE
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Israel was baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, AND THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST.
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LESSONS TO LEARN BY
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Nevertheless, God, You were not pleased with most of them, and they perished in the wilderness. These things occurred as examples and were written down as warnings for us to keep us from:
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_setting our hearts on evil things
_being idolaters (we should FLEE from it.)
_indulging in revelry
_committing sexual immorality (23,000 died in one day)
_testing CHRIST (they were killed by snakes)
_grumbling (they were killed by the destroying angel)
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May we be sensible, and receive Your warning. We cannot do these things and think we are standing firm, and we must heed these warnings, lest risk falling!
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We are tempted as they were tempted, but YOU ARE FAITHFUL, that no temptation has overtaken us except what is common to all, and You will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but will also provide a way out so that we can endure it. Thank You, LORD!
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HOLY COMMUNTION - THE BLOOD AND BODY OF CHRIST
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The cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks is a participation
in the blood of Christ.
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The bread that we break is a participation
in the body of Christ
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THE CHURCH
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There is one loaf. We who are many are one body. We all share the one loaf.
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SACRIFICES OF PAGANS
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The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons and not to You, LORD God. You don’t want for Your church to be participants with demons.
You don’t want to be provoked to jealousy
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FOOD THAT WAS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS
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Food that is sacrificed to idols isn’t anything, and an idol isn’t anything.
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You want for Your church to eat anything that is sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for it is written:
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“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
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SEEKING THE GOOD OF OTHERS
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LORD, help us to obey You to seek the good of others over our own. If an UNBELIEVER invites a believer to a meal and he wants to go, the believer should eat whatever is put on the table without raising questions of conscience.
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But if someone says, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” the believer should not eat it, FOR THE SAKE AND CONSCIENCE OF THE UNBELIEVER OR WEAK BROTHER.
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A believer should not be judged by an unbeliever’s or weak brother's conscience or be denounced for thanking You for eating meat that was said to be sacrificed to idols. If the believer eats meat and offends the conscience of the unbeliever or weak brother, this believer will not bring You glory. It is not to Your glory for a believer to be insensitive and cause anyone to stumble.
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FREE TO CHOOSE TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT
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LORD, You have given us freedom in Christ, but not everything is beneficial and constructive. Therefore, You expect a believer to try to please everyone in every way, not seeking his own good, but the good of many, SO THAT THEY MAY BE SAVED.
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BRINGING GOD GLORY IN EVERYTHING
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So whether Your church eats or drinks, or whatever is done, You want it all done for Your glory.
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PRAYING FOR OUR LOST LOVED ONES
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LORD, have mercy on our lost loved ones that are living in sin because their heart is not right with you, and the fruit of their lives reveals it. From this lesson, You warn to abstain from committing the things Israel did, failing to be a godly example to the world that did not know You. We do not live to ourselves, nor die to ourselves. Others are affected by the choices we make. We ought to regard the spiritual state of the lost and not prefer to please ourselves. We don’t want to strive or be pushy. We depend in the power of Your Spirit to save our lost loved ones when they hear the message of salvation. We pray the devil will not discourage them through a bad witness. Forgive us where we’ve failed you, and we pray this is not laid on their charge. Save our lost loved ones, we pray in Jesus name.

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(from 1 Corinthians 10)

WIN SOULS OVER SELF RIGHTS, 1 Corinthians 9

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RIGHTS OF A CHRISTIAN MINISTER
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Paul, a true apostle, having seen the Lord, and the Corinthians being the fruit of his labor, posed these questions:
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Was he not free?
Did he not have the right to food and drink?
Did he not have the right to take a believing wife as other apostles did?
Did he not have the right to not work for a living?
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Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?
Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes?
Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk?
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This is mere human authority, but also the Law of Moses says,
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“Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”
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Meaning, it was written for God’s ministers who have sown spiritual seed and should receive a material harvest. The Lord commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
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WAIVING RIGHTS
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Yet, the Apostle Paul did not use this right nor cleaved to his other rights. He said he was compelled to preach, AND WOE TO HIM IF HE PREACHED NOT THE GOSPEL! He would put up with anything rather than hinder the GOSPEL OF CHRIST. He preached voluntarily to receive a reward. And if not voluntarily, the trust committed to him would be discharged.
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Paul the Apostle preached the Gospel, free of charge, not making full use of his rights as a preacher of the gospel for the purpose of winning souls.
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He was free and belonged to no one.
But he waived that right and made himself a slave to everyone,
to win as many as possible.
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To the Jews, he became like a Jew, to win the Jews.
To those under the law, he became like one under the law
(though we are not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
To those not having the law, he became like one not having the law
(though we are free from God’s law but are under Christ’s law ),
so as to win those not having the law.
To the weak, he became weak, to win the weak
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Paul became all things to all people to win some.
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He did all this for the sake of the Gospel, to share in its blessings.
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DISCIPLINED TO WIN
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In a race all runners run, but only one gets the prize, and those that run do it in such a way to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training to get a crown that will not last. But God’s ministers do it to get a crown that will last forever.
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As an example, the Apostle Paul:
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Did not run aimlessly
Did not fight like a boxer beating the air
Made his body his slave
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So that after he preached to others, he would not be disqualified for the prize.
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PRAYING FOR OUR LOST LOVED ONES
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Father God, all we hear in this chapter of the Bible is to preach the Gospel at all costs, denying self to win souls.
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A common complaint of people not wanting to go to church is, “hypocrites go there,” and “all they want is money.”
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They couldn’t say that of someone like the Apostle Paul who was not self-serving. Lord You commanded that those that preach should receive their living from the gospel. Then we see someone “who goes beyond his line of duty” like the Apostle Paul and waives this right, and many other rights, because he has his eyes on the prize, winning souls.
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LORD of the Harvest, churches and ministers have the right to be supported, as well as other rights. Our prayer is that our lost loved ones will hear the Gospel as the MAIN THEME, and that the laborers of Your field not be selfish, but willing to put the salvation of souls first before themselves and their rights, and we are praying the same for us. In Jesus name. Amen.
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(From 1 Corinthians 9)
　

EXERCISE LOVE OVER RIGHTS, 1 Corinthians 8

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Find 1 Corinthians 7
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http://prayerhouseoftwoorthree.blogspot.com/2012/03/to-single-and-married-prayfully.html
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“TO THE SINGLE AND THE MARRIED - PRAYFULLY MEDITATING 1 CORINTHIANS 7”
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KNOWLEDGE AND LOVE
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LORD, you said that the knowledge we all possess “puffs up,” while love builds up.
Whoever loves You is known by You.
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IDOLS
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An idol is nothing at all in the world. There are many so-called “gods” and “lords.”
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ONE GOD
But we know there is no God but one.
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There is one God, the Father,
from whom all things came,
and for whom we live;
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And
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There is but one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom all things came,
and through whom we live
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But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols.
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FOOD “SACRIFICED TO IDOLS”
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When some people eat sacrificial food, they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god. Since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
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FOOD AND GOD
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Food does not bring us near to You. We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
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DON’T BECOME A STUMBLING BLOCK
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We have knowledge from You concerning the right to eat meat, but You want us to be careful that the exercise of our rights does not become a stumbling block to someone with a weak conscience. Therefore, this is how we ought to know, that we should not wound their weak conscience. Becoming a stumbling block for them to fall is sinning against Christ.
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PRAYING FOR OUR LOST LOVED ONES
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LORD, we think the spiritual lesson You are teaching us is to be gentle and considerate of others that still don’t understand our freedom in Christ. You don’t want for us to be proud and forward and wound another’s spirit. But rather, You want for us to condescend to those that are weak and vulnerable. You want for us to exercise love over exercising our rights, esteeming the spiritual welfare of others over our self indulgence.
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Help us Counselor, to exercise love and fulfill the royal law. May we become all things to all people that we may win some to Christ. We pray that we be soul winners of our own personal Jerusalem, our lost loved ones. For Your kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Thank You, LORD, we pray in Jesus name.
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(From 1 Corinthians 8)
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WIVES FROM THE DAUGHTERS OF CANAAN

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"If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?" 1 Peter 4:18
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Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals." - 1 Corinthians 15:33
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HOSANNA! Son of David save our lost loved ones. Save them from getting entangled with the godless. If the righteous scarcely be saved, what will happen to our lost loved ones?
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Esau, Jacob’s twin brother took his wives from the daughters of Canaan, which strictly was forbidden by You. He no doubt was swept away by their physical beauty, provoked by their sensuality, and taken by their charm. Being a lover of godless women, he fell in his own trap. He didn’t choose a virtuous woman with a gentle and quiet spirit--which is priceless in Your sight. Esau did not follow his father Isaac’s example of obeying Abraham to find a proper wife to marry.
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Esau‘s wives “made life bitter for Isaac and Rebecca.” Spare us, Father God. On the other hand, Jacob waited and worked 14 years to marry the love of his life, Rachel!
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LORD, You command believers to marry only in the Lord. When our loved ones are lost themselves and their heart is in defiance against You, their vision is short and superficial. Deliver them from becoming one flesh through fornication or adultery. Deliver them from an ungodly marriage against Your will.
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In view of eternity, Esau would have made choices that were right with You. His descendants excelled as “chiefs,” and “kings” in Edom. In comparison, his twin brother Jacob’s sons were shepherds for generations, and were in bondage in Egypt for 400 years! But through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s lineage came our Savior Jesus. Now the promises made to Abraham have also been inherited by Your church--the spiritual kings and priests of the earth--Your servants that will reign with Your Son, the Lord Jesus!
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“If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;”
2 Timothy 2:12
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LORD, You said that through faith and patience Your church shall inherit the promises. The world mocks, “Where is Your God?!” Today Edom’s prestigious fame has disappeared from the face of the earth, but everyone has heard of Israel, still making headlines today.
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Without You reigning in the heart, there is the need for instant gratification.
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“See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears” Hebrews 12:15-17
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Esau wanted to kill Jacob for deceiving their father Isaac and taking Esau‘s birthright and blessing. But LORD, there was still hope for Esau! He and his brother Jacob “made up” after a 20-yr. separation. Together they buried their father, Isaac.
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LORD, the choices we make, big or small, will become our personal history, it is a legacy that we will leave our descendants. What legacy Esau left--an example and warning for others not to follow. And what legacy Jacob left --though he himself had his flaws, he deceived and then he was deceived himself by his wife Rebecca‘s father--but then Jacob had an encounter with You! O LORD, we pray our lost loved ones also have an encounter with You that will change their lives and turn the course of a path of destruction to paths of righteousness!
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LORD, You said to set our eyes on the eternal, not the temporal. Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of soup! Those gorgeous girls he married, if they got to old age, saw their better days of vanity, and Esau was left with the “real” wives of Canaan, beneath skin deep.
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HOSANNA, Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on our lost loved ones and on us. Save them, Father God, we pray in Jesus name, amen.
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THE SEXUALLY IMMORAL, 1 Corinthians 6

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LAWSUITS AMONG BELIEVERS
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LORD, disputes among believers is a bad testimony before the world. Give Your people the spirit of wisdom in these and all matters. The Apostle Paul by inspiration of Your Spirit used the word “dare” to take these disputes before the ungodly for judgment, instead of before godly counsel.
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You’ve given Your people wisdom liberally to judge all things with the mind of Christ, and even “to judge the world.” and angels! Your church ought to be competent and wise to judge from the trivial cases and the things of this life.
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Disputes among believers is shameful to be ruled by those whose way of life is scorned in the church, brother taking lawsuits against another to court--and this in front of unbelievers. This is of itself a defeat. Your wisdom says it is preferable to be wronged and cheated. And this should not happen between the brethren because wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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DO NOT BE DECEIVED
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LORD, Your Word warns no one be deceived, for neither shall the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
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THE SANCTIFIED
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Your redeemed were such as the above, but now are washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Your Spirit, our God.
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RIGHTS
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Your church has rights, but not everything is beneficial and it should not be mastered by anything. The things of this world will be destroyed.
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SEXUAL IMMORALITY
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Your body, the church, however, is not meant for sexual immorality, but for You, Lord, and You for the body. By Your power You raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and He will raise us also. The bodies of Your church are members of Christ Himself and they should never be united to a prostitute, for the one that unites with a prostitute is one with their body. For it is written:
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“The two will become one flesh.”
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But whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.
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LORD, You want for Your people to flee sexual immorality. You said, all things a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. The bodies of Your people are temples of the Holy Spirit, Who lives within each believer, Whom Your church received from You. We do not belong to ourselves, we were bought with a price, therefore we will honor You LORD with our bodies.
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PRAYING FOR LOST LOVED ONES
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LORD, we do not want to confuse nor be a bad testimony before our lost loved ones that we want to see saved. We want to heed Your counsel not to display disputes among Your church before unbelievers, especially, not to be ruled by an ungodly judge, and these matters ought to be resolved within Your church.
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LORD, we also want them to see the difference Christ has made in our lives. We ought to live sanctified lives.
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LORD we want for our lost loved ones to be one with Christ too and for Your Spirit to live within them. As new creatures in Christ, Your Spirit will give them the power to be children of light and no longer to live a life mastered by sin, depriving them to inherit Your kingdom. Save them, LORD, we pray in Jesus name.
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(FROM 1 Corinthians 6)

THE LORD WILL LOOSE THOSE WHO ARE APPOINTED TO DEATH

"For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold the earth, to hear the sighing and groaning of the prisoner, to loose those who are appointed to death."
-Psalm 102:19-20
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LORD, we pray for our lost loved ones that have been cast into prison for having broken Your laws. They have been tried and found guilty and are appointed to die by Your judgment.
You hear their sighs and groans in their murky and dismal cells.
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LORD, we know Jesus Christ already paid for their sins by receiving the punishment for them if they believe and receive him as their personal Savior. They can be redeemed and set free. Only He can loose their shackles of sin and give them liberty. His obedience will make them righteous.
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LORD, send Your servants prepared with blessed feet to take to our lost loved ones the Good News, the powerful gospel news, that mean salvation to them. The gates of hell will not prevail against them. Our lost loved ones will not perish, but have everlasting life. This is our prayer for them, in Jesus name. Thank You, LORD.

SAVE THEM AND THEY SHALL BE SAVED

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“O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now” (Jeremiah 17:13-15).
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LORD GOD, hope of Israel, hope of all sinners, we pray for our lost loved ones that have forsaken and rejected the Lord, the fountain of living waters.
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We pray they are not “written off” as outcasts and left out of Your kingdom forever. We want for their names to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
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We hope with all our heart that they will awaken and be conscious of their need to be saved and throw themselves on the mercy seat of Christ for pardon of their sins. We pray Your Holy Spirit will fully convince them of Your power to heal them and that they be well assured.
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Save our lost loved ones from the corruption of the world and from the weapons of the enemy aimed to destroy them. We stand in their gap under our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, that no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper. Save them for Your glory.
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We pray they cry out to You, “Lord, save me!” We know You will immediately stretch forth Your hand to catch them. You will not let them sink in sin.
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Heal them, O Lord, and they shall be healed. Save them, and they shall be saved. There are none saved but whom the Lord saves. They are helpless without You. You are their only cure for their sin disease. May they experience Your forgiveness. Those whom You saved are saved for Your purpose. We desire for You to rejoice before Your holy angels when You hear them say, “You are my praise,” when they experience salvation in Christ.
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Father God, we pray Your grace upon us that love them. Help us in all our trials, and may we all rejoice together for their salvation, for You are our praise!
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LORD, we also pray for bodily healing for all that need it. We know there is healing for all that come to You, just as there is salvation.
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We pray in Jesus name, amen.
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