Immigrants
I’m an immigrant in the land. ~ Psalm 119:19a (CEB)
Our citizenship is in heaven. We look forward to a savior that comes from there—the Lord Jesus Christ. ~ Philippians 3:20 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
We live like outsiders in the world system because we are citizens of the heavenly system --
the system built around the administration of our Lord Jesus Christ.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for providing a true home island for me -- heaven. I have to live as an immigrant in the world. And that is frustrating because they currently do things differently in the world than Jesus does. Save me from discouragement. Help me to remember that I am not a citizen of the world empire and that I need to look to heaven for instructions on how to live. Sometimes I get caught up in the world's ways but I am trusting you to keep me free from all that.
Amen.
*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS
The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2011 I started posting these Bible verses for my spiritual formation students at Pacific Islands University. In the process of responding to the verses, I found the rhythm of looking for a common thread and writing a prayer based on that key idea to be helpful for my own soul. The prayers are more or less modeled on the TRIP method, which is what I ask my students to do in their journaling. ~ Brad Boydston
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase -- a freestyle biblical adaptation -- somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
