Monday, December 22, 2014

Serve him

Commit yourselves to the Lord. Serve him only. ~ 1 Samuel 7:3 (NIRV)

(Zechariah said,) “God has come to help his people and has given them freedom... so that we could serve him without fear in a way that is holy and right for as long as we live." ~ Luke 1:68,74b,75 (ERV)

Lord God,
you are worthy of our service.
You have given us more freedom than we can possibly understand.
Because I am free I want to serve you --
you alone --
for as long as I live.
I admit, though, that the "you alone" part is difficult for me.
I have too many competing interests and masters --
and so I usually end up serving myself --
doing that which makes me feel good and satisfied.
In that way I am pretty shallow.
I am, however, expecting that you will continue to transform me.
That is what happens when we are united with Christ Jesus.
Change me some more today so that I am serving you alone.
Amen.
Posted by at

DAILYTEXTS.ORG

*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS

The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2015 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)

EEB = EasyEnglish Bible (©2015, MissionAssist)

ERV = Easy-To-Read Version (©2006, World Bible Translation Center)

GNT = Good News Translation (©1992, American Bible Society)

MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)

NCB = New Catholic Bible (©2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp.)

NCV = New Century Version (©2005, Thomas Nelson Inc)

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.)

Blog Archive