Study Desk

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

For, "All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

and, "A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority,

For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God's slaves.

For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.

But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.