God’s name is a place of protection—
good people can run there and be safe. ~ Proverbs 18:10 (MSG)
The Master declares, “I’m A to Z. I’m The God Who Is, The God Who Was, and The God About to Arrive. I’m the Sovereign-Strong.” ~ Revelation 1:8 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
Lean on God because there is no safer place than his powerful presence.
PRAYER:
God, I'm calmed by the awareness of who you are. Too often I forget about you and let the insanity of world events stir anxiety in me. Refresh my memory so that I can once again function as a hopeful and confident follower of Christ. Amen.
Only God can save me,
and I calmly wait for him. ~ Psalm 62:1 (CEV)
Jesus says: I will be with you always, even until the end of the world. ~ Matthew 28:20 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
We can wait patiently for God to act because we know that he will stick with us.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for staying with me during both the good and bad times. I confess that I get impatient and begin to doubt that you are still with me. Let me see just enough of what you are up to and how you are staying with me that my doubts will disappear. I'm going to continue to trust you regardless of how long you take to act. Amen.
You must follow the Lord your God alone! Revere him! Follow his commandments! Obey his voice! Worship him! Cling to him—no other! ~ Deuteronomy 13:4 (CEB)
Jesus says this is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. ~ John 15:12 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
The basic commandment is to love God and, following Jesus' example, love each other.
PRAYER:
Lord God, you have instructed us to love like Jesus. What a joy it is to experience his love. But what a disappointment it is to fail at loving like he loves. I want to be more like him so please strengthen my connection to him and help me to severe connections to people, things, and habits which are contrary to Christ and his ways. I pray this in his name. Amen.
THE 13th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
I let them beat my back and pull out my beard. I didn’t turn aside when they insulted me and spit in my face. ~ Isaiah 50:6 (CEV)
Jesus himself suffered outside the city gate, so that his blood would make people holy. That’s why we should go outside the camp to Jesus and share in his disgrace. ~ Hebrews 13:12-13 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
We are called to share in Jesus' suffering and disgrace.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, thank you for suffering on our behalf so that we can experience your salvation. I'm sorry that I feel so uneasy with suffering and disgrace in my own life. I get caught up in trying to live a pain-free and successful life -- so much so that I brush off suffering as abnormal. Help me to enter into the suffering and shame which you have experienced. I am going to stop worrying when things don't go the way that I think they should and accept that you work it all out. 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)
