“Thanksgiving and Encouragement”

Psalm 116:1-19

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. 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, deliver my soul!” ⁵  Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. ⁶  The Lord preserves 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. ⁸  For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; ⁹  I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. ¹⁰  I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”; ¹¹  I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.” ¹²  What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? ¹³  I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, ¹⁴  I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.¹⁵  Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. ¹⁶  O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. ¹⁷  I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. ¹⁸  I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, ¹⁹  in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

Philippians 1:3-11

³ I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸ For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.