Unstoppable happiness
Won’t you give us fresh life
and let your people be glad
because of you? ~ Psalm 85:6 (CEV)
Jesus said: You are now very sad. But later I will see you, and you will be so happy that no one will be able to change the way you feel. ~ John 16:22 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
The new life that God generates is the source of unstoppable happiness.
PRAYER:
Creator God, starting with the resurrection of Jesus, you are in the process of refreshing all of creation. That makes me happy like nothing else. Please forgive me when I allow the discouragement and negativity of this current world system to get me down. Start the refresh with me. I am going to live now the kind of happy life that characterizes the new creation. 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.)