The Lord defeats sorrow.
Lord, you saved me from death. You stopped my eyes from crying; you kept me from being defeated. ~ Psalm 116:8 (NCV)
In fact, he was so sick that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him—and not just on him but also on me, because his death would have caused me great sorrow. ~ Philippians 2:27 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
The Lord defeats sorrow.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for being present with me when things make me really sad. You have had mercy on me, too. Since you are here I need you to help me focus less on the sorrow in my life. I don't want to deny those sad things happen. But sometimes I let those things define my life -- consume all my energy. Hold my hand. Make me strong. Fill me with your divine energy and confidence so that I can stand up and move forward. All glory to Christ Jesus who defeats death and all its allies. 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)
