Book of Common Prayer
Praise God for Answering Prayers
For the director of music. A song of praise.
66 Everything on earth, shout with joy to God!
2 Sing about his glory!
Make his praise glorious!
3 Say to God, “Your works are amazing!
Your power is great.
Your enemies fall before you.
4 All the earth worships you.
They sing praises to you.
They sing praises to your name.” Selah
5 Come and see what God has done.
See what amazing things he has done for people.
6 He turned the sea into dry land.
The people crossed the river on foot.
So let us rejoice because of what he did.
7 He rules forever with his power.
He keeps his eye on the nations.
So people should not turn against him. Selah
8 You people, praise our God.
Loudly sing his praise.
9 He protects our lives
and does not let us be defeated.
10 God, you have tested us.
You have purified us like silver.
11 You let us be trapped.
You put a heavy load on us.
12 You let our enemies walk on our heads.
We went through fire and flood.
But you brought us to a place with good things.
13 I will come to your Temple with burnt offerings.
I will give you what I promised.
14 I promised to give you these things
when I was in trouble.
15 I will bring you offerings of fat animals.
And I will offer male sheep, bulls and goats. Selah
16 All of you who fear God, come and listen.
I will tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth.
I praised him with my tongue.
18 If I had known of any sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened to me.
19 But God has listened.
He has heard my prayer.
20 Praise God.
He did not ignore my prayer.
He did not hold back his love from me.
9 The Lord is trying to teach the people a lesson.
He is trying to make them understand his teachings.
But the people are like little babies.
They are like babies who just nursed at their mother’s breast.
10 So they make fun of the Lord’s prophet and say:
“A command here, a command there.
A rule here, a rule there.
A lesson here, a lesson there.”
11 So the Lord will use strange words and foreign languages
to speak to these people.
12 God said to them,
“Here is a place of rest.
Let the tired people come and rest.
This is the place of peace.”
But the people would not listen.
13 So the words of the Lord will be,
“A command here, a command there.
A rule here, a rule there.
A lesson here, a lesson there.”
They will fall back and will be defeated.
They will be trapped and captured.
14 You who brag should listen to the Lord’s message.
Pay attention, you leaders in Jerusalem.
15 You say, “We have made an agreement with death.
We have a contract with death.
When punishment passes by,
it won’t hurt us.
We will be safe with our lies.
We will hide behind our tricks.”
16 Because of these things, this is what the Lord God says:
“I will put a stone in the ground in Jerusalem.
This will be a tested stone.
Everything will be built on this important and precious rock.
Anyone who trusts in it will never be disappointed.
The Unity of the Body
4 I am in prison because I belong to the Lord. God chose you to be his people. I tell you now to live the way God’s people should live. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient and accept each other with love. 3 You are joined together with peace through the Spirit. Do all you can to continue together in this way. Let peace hold you together. 4 There is one body and one Spirit. And God called you to have one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. 6 There is one God and Father of everything. He rules everything. He is everywhere and in everything.
7 Christ gave each one of us a special gift. Each one received what Christ wanted to give him. 8 That is why it says in the Scriptures,
“When he went up to the heights,
he led a parade of captives.
And he gave gifts to people.” Psalm 68:18
9 When it says, “He went up,” what does it mean? It means that he first came down to the earth. 10 So Jesus came down, and he is the same One who went up. He went up above all the heavens. Christ did that to fill everything with himself. 11 And Christ gave gifts to men—he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God’s people. 12 Christ gave those gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving. He gave those gifts to make the body of Christ stronger. 13 This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge about the Son of God. We must become like a mature person—we must grow until we become like Christ and have all his perfection.
14 Then we will no longer be babies. We will not be tossed about like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced by every new teaching we hear from men who are trying to fool us. Those men make plans and try any kind of trick to fool people into following the wrong path. 15 No! We will speak the truth with love. We will grow up in every way to be like Christ, who is the head. 16 The whole body depends on Christ. And all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each part of the body does its own work. And this makes the whole body grow and be strong with love.
Thanksgiving for Escaping Death
116 I love the Lord because he listens
to my prayers for help.
2 He paid attention to me.
So I will call to him for help as long as I live.
3 The ropes of death bound me.
The fear of death took hold of me.
I was troubled and sad.
4 Then I called out the name of the Lord.
I said, “Please, Lord, save me!”
5 The Lord is kind and does what is right.
Our God is merciful.
6 The Lord watches over the foolish.
When I was helpless, he saved me.
7 I said to myself, “Relax,
because the Lord takes care of you.”
8 Lord, you have saved me from death.
You have stopped my eyes from crying.
You have kept me from being defeated.
9 So I will walk with the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I believed, so I said,
“I am completely ruined.”
11 In my distress I said,
“All people are liars.”
12 What can I give the Lord
for all the good things he has given to me?
13 I will give him a drink offering for saving me.
And I will pray to the Lord.
14 In front of all his people,
I will give the Lord what I promised.
15 The death of one that belongs to him
is precious to the Lord.
16 Lord, I am your servant.
I am your servant and the son of your female servant.
You have freed me from my chains.
17 I will give an offering to show thanks to you.
And I will worship the Lord.
18 In front of all his people,
I will give the Lord what I promised.
19 I will do this in the Temple courtyards
in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
A Hymn of Praise
117 All you nations, praise the Lord.
All you people, praise him.
2 The Lord loves us very much.
His truth is everlasting.
Praise the Lord!
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, you will do the things I command. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper.[a] He will give you this Helper to be with you forever. 17 The Helper is the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it does not see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you and he will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you all alone like orphans. I will come back to you. 19 In a little while the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live, too. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father. You will know that you are in me and I am in you. 21 He who knows my commands and obeys them is the one who loves me. And my Father will love him who loves me. I will love him and will show myself to him.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you plan to show yourself to us, but not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, then he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me does not obey my teaching. This teaching that you hear is not really mine. It is from my Father, who sent me.
25 “I have told you all these things while I am with you. 26 But the Helper will teach you everything. He will cause you to remember all the things I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.
27 “I leave you peace. My peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled. Don’t be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going, but I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you should be happy that I am going back to the Father because he is greater than I am. 29 I have told you this now, before it happens. Then when it happens, you will believe. 30 I will not talk with you much longer. The ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me. 31 But the world must know that I love the Father. So I do exactly what the Father told me to do.
“Come now, let us go.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.