Faith Under Fire

Daily Devotionals from The Salvation Army

The Way of the Cross

The Big 5

Raising the Next Generation: Trusting God’s Plan for Single Mothers

Allowing Our Children to Grow and Go: A 3-Day Parenting Plan

Bible Study 2: Naomi's Journey - Finding Strength in Mentorship

Kong Hee: God's Vision For You

11 1/2 Questions To Help You Date Without Regrets

The Benefit of Doubt: How Confronting Your Deepest Questions Can Lead to a Richer Faith

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkHEB">
      <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="HEB.11">
         <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">Faith in Action</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="HEB.11.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="HEB.11.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">This is what the ancients were commended for.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="HEB.11.2"></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="HEB.11.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God&#8217;s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="HEB.11.3"></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="HEB.11.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="HEB.11.4"></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="HEB.11.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: &#8220;He could not be found, because God had taken him away.&#8221;</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">11:5 </span><span class="ft"><span class="ref" usfm="GEN.5.24">Gen. 5:24</span></span></span></span><span class="content"> For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. </span></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="HEB.11.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="HEB.11.6"></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="HEB.11.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="HEB.11.7"></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="HEB.11.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. </span></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="HEB.11.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="HEB.11.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. </span></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="HEB.11.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">11:11 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="fqa">By faith Abraham, even though he was too old to have children&#8212;and Sarah herself was not able to conceive&#8212;was enabled to become a father because he</span></span></span><span class="content"> considered him faithful who had made the promise. </span></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="HEB.11.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="HEB.11.12"></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="HEB.11.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="HEB.11.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. </span></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="HEB.11.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="HEB.11.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">Instead, they were longing for a better country&#8212;a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="HEB.11.16"></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="HEB.11.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, </span></span><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="HEB.11.18"><span class="label">18</span><span class="content">even though God had said to him, &#8220;It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.&#8221;</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">11:18 </span><span class="ft"><span class="ref" usfm="GEN.21.12">Gen. 21:12</span></span></span></span><span class="content"> </span></span><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="HEB.11.19"><span class="label">19</span><span class="content">Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="HEB.11.19"></span><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="HEB.11.20"><span class="label">20</span><span class="content">By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="HEB.11.20"></span><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="HEB.11.21"><span class="label">21</span><span class="content">By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph&#8217;s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="HEB.11.21"></span><span class="verse v22" data-usfm="HEB.11.22"><span class="label">22</span><span class="content">By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v22" data-usfm="HEB.11.22"></span><span class="verse v23" data-usfm="HEB.11.23"><span class="label">23</span><span class="content">By faith Moses&#8217; parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king&#8217;s edict.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v23" data-usfm="HEB.11.23"></span><span class="verse v24" data-usfm="HEB.11.24"><span class="label">24</span><span class="content">By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh&#8217;s daughter. </span></span><span class="verse v25" data-usfm="HEB.11.25"><span class="label">25</span><span class="content">He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. </span></span><span class="verse v26" data-usfm="HEB.11.26"><span class="label">26</span><span class="content">He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. </span></span><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="HEB.11.27"><span class="label">27</span><span class="content">By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king&#8217;s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. </span></span><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="HEB.11.28"><span class="label">28</span><span class="content">By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="HEB.11.28"></span><span class="verse v29" data-usfm="HEB.11.29"><span class="label">29</span><span class="content">By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v29" data-usfm="HEB.11.29"></span><span class="verse v30" data-usfm="HEB.11.30"><span class="label">30</span><span class="content">By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v30" data-usfm="HEB.11.30"></span><span class="verse v31" data-usfm="HEB.11.31"><span class="label">31</span><span class="content">By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">11:31 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="fqa">unbelieving</span></span></span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v31" data-usfm="HEB.11.31"></span><span class="verse v32" data-usfm="HEB.11.32"><span class="label">32</span><span class="content">And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, </span></span><span class="verse v33" data-usfm="HEB.11.33"><span class="label">33</span><span class="content">who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, </span></span><span class="verse v34" data-usfm="HEB.11.34"><span class="label">34</span><span class="content">quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. </span></span><span class="verse v35" data-usfm="HEB.11.35"><span class="label">35</span><span class="content">Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. </span></span><span class="verse v36" data-usfm="HEB.11.36"><span class="label">36</span><span class="content">Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. </span></span><span class="verse v37" data-usfm="HEB.11.37"><span class="label">37</span><span class="content">They were put to death by stoning;</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">11:37 </span><span class="ft">Some early manuscripts </span><span class="fqa">stoning; they were put to the test;</span></span></span><span class="content"> they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated&#8212; </span></span><span class="verse v38" data-usfm="HEB.11.38"><span class="label">38</span><span class="content">the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v38" data-usfm="HEB.11.38"></span><span class="verse v39" data-usfm="HEB.11.39"><span class="label">39</span><span class="content">These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, </span></span><span class="verse v40" data-usfm="HEB.11.40"><span class="label">40</span><span class="content">since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.</span></span></div>
      </div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkECC">
      <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="ECC.9">
         <div class="label">9</div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">A Common Destiny for All</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="ECC.9.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God&#8217;s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="ECC.9.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">All share a common destiny&#8212;the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">9:2 </span><span class="ft">Septuagint (Aquila), Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew does not have </span><span class="fq">and the bad</span><span class="fqa">.</span></span></span><span class="content"> the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="ECC.9.2"><span class="content">As it is with the good,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="ECC.9.2"><span class="content">so with the sinful;</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="ECC.9.2"><span class="content">as it is with those who take oaths,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="ECC.9.2"><span class="content">so with those who are afraid to take them.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="ECC.9.2"></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="ECC.9.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. </span></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="ECC.9.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">Anyone who is among the living has hope</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">9:4 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="fqa">What then is to be chosen? With all who live, there is hope</span></span></span><span class="content">&#8212;even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="ECC.9.4"></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="ECC.9.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">For the living know that they will die,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="ECC.9.5"><span class="content">but the dead know nothing;</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="ECC.9.5"><span class="content">they have no further reward,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="ECC.9.5"><span class="content">and even their name is forgotten.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="ECC.9.5"></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="ECC.9.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">Their love, their hate</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="ECC.9.6"><span class="content">and their jealousy have long since vanished;</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="ECC.9.6"><span class="content">never again will they have a part</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="ECC.9.6"><span class="content">in anything that happens under the sun.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="ECC.9.6"></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="ECC.9.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. </span></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="ECC.9.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. </span></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="ECC.9.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun&#8212;all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="ECC.9.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="ECC.9.10"></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ECC.9.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">I have seen something else under the sun:</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ECC.9.11"><span class="content">The race is not to the swift</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ECC.9.11"><span class="content">or the battle to the strong,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ECC.9.11"><span class="content">nor does food come to the wise</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ECC.9.11"><span class="content">or wealth to the brilliant</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ECC.9.11"><span class="content">or favor to the learned;</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ECC.9.11"><span class="content">but time and chance happen to them all.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ECC.9.11"></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="ECC.9.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="ECC.9.12"><span class="content">As fish are caught in a cruel net,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="ECC.9.12"><span class="content">or birds are taken in a snare,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="ECC.9.12"><span class="content">so people are trapped by evil times</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="ECC.9.12"><span class="content">that fall unexpectedly upon them.</span></span></div><div class="s1"><span class="heading">Wisdom Better Than Folly</span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="ECC.9.12"></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="ECC.9.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="ECC.9.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. </span></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="ECC.9.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="ECC.9.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">So I said, &#8220;Wisdom is better than strength.&#8221; But the poor man&#8217;s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="ECC.9.16"></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ECC.9.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ECC.9.17"><span class="content">than the shouts of a ruler of fools.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ECC.9.17"></span><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ECC.9.18"><span class="label">18</span><span class="content">Wisdom is better than weapons of war,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ECC.9.18"><span class="content">but one sinner destroys much good.</span></span></div><div class="b"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ECC.9.18"></span></div>
      </div>
   </div>
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New International Version

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkPHP">
      <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="PHP.4.19">
         <div class="p"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="PHP.4.19"><span class="label">19</span><span class="content">And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="PHP.4.19"></span></div>
      </div>
   </div>
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