Psalm 63:1-4

[1]   O God, you are my God, I seek you,  

          my soul thirsts for you;  

     my flesh faints for you,  

          as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  

[2]   So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,  

          beholding your power and glory.  

[3]   Because your steadfast love is better than life,  

          my lips will praise you.  

[4]   So I will bless you as long as I live;  

          I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

Psalm 84

[1] How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
[2] My soul longs, indeed it faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

[3] Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
[4] Happy are those who live in your house,
ever singing your praise. Selah

[5] Happy are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
[6] As they go through the valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
[7] They go from strength to strength;
the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

[8] O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
[9] Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed.

[10] For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than live in the tents of wickedness.
[11] For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
he bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does the LORD withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
[12] O LORD of hosts,
happy is everyone who trusts in you.

Psalm 116:1-7

[1]   I love the LORD, because he has heard  

          my voice and my supplications.  

[2]   Because he inclined his ear to me,  

          therefore I will call on him as long as I live.  

[3]   The snares of death encompassed me;  

          the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;  

          I suffered distress and anguish.  

[4]   Then I called on the name of the LORD:  

          "O LORD, I pray, save my life!"

[5]   Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;  

          our God is merciful.  

[6]   The LORD protects the simple;  

          when I was brought low, he saved me.  

[7]   Return, O my soul, to your rest,  

          for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

Romans 8:31-39

[31]What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? [32]He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? [33]Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. [34]Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. [35]Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36]As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." [37]No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38]For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39]nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 62

[1]   For God alone my soul waits in silence;  

          from him comes my salvation.  

[2]   He alone is my rock and my salvation,  

          my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

[3]   How long will you assail a person,  

          will you batter your victim, all of you,  

          as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?  

[4]   Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.  

          They take pleasure in falsehood;  

     they bless with their mouths,  

          but inwardly they curse.                                           

Selah

[5]   For God alone my soul waits in silence,  

          for my hope is from him.  

[6]   He alone is my rock and my salvation,  

          my fortress; I shall not be shaken.  

[7]   On God rests my deliverance and my honor;  

          my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

[8]   Trust in him at all times, O people;  

          pour out your heart before him;  

          God is a refuge for us.                                             

      Selah

[9]   Those of low estate are but a breath,  

          those of high estate are a delusion;  

     in the balances they go up;  

          they are together lighter than a breath.  

[10]  Put no confidence in extortion,  

          and set no vain hopes on robbery;  

          if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

[11]  Once God has spoken;  

          twice have I heard this:  

     that power belongs to God,  

[12]       and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.  

     For you repay to all  

          according to their work.

Romans 6:5-11

[5]For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. [6]We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. [7]For whoever has died is freed from sin. [8]But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. [9]We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. [10]The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. [11]So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 130

[1] Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
[2] Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!

[3] If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
[4] But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.

[5] I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
[6] my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.

[7] O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
[8] It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.