Thursday in Lent

1Verse 1. So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev— he and his wife and all his possessions— and Lot was with him. 2Verse 2. And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold. 3Verse 3. From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched, 4Verse 4. to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD. 5Verse 5. Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6Verse 6. But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist. 7Verse 7. And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land. 14Verse 14. After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west, 15Verse 15. for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16Verse 16. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. 17Verse 17. Get up and walk around the land, through its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.” 18Verse 18. So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

2Verse 2. Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh! 3Verse 3. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh — 4Verse 4. though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5Verse 5. circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6Verse 6. as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless. 7Verse 7. But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. 8Verse 8. More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9Verse 9. and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. 10Verse 10. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, 11Verse 11. and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Verse 12. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.