Joy 2
The Lord had made them joyful. ~ Ezra 6: 22 (CEB)(part)
Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. ~ Acts 2:46 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
There is joy in serving the Lord.
PRAYER:
Lord God, the source of true and lasting happiness, thank you for hanging out with us people. When you are around our happy meter goes ways up -- even while you are revealing our sin and weaknesses. That is so ironic. I admit that I try to make my own happiness. That is a part of my own sin and weakness. But I know deep inside that you are the source of true and lasting joy. I want to serve you. 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)
NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (© 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.) NTE = New Testament for Everyone (©2011 Nicolas Thomas Wright.)