Thursday, January 29, 2015

Praying

Daniel always prayed to God three times every day. Three times every day, he bowed down on his knees to pray and praise God. ~ Daniel 6:10 (ERV)

Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time. ~ Romans 12:12 (ERV)

Lord, how come I'm so lousy at praying? I think it is important to talk with you. I tell other people how important it is to pray. But I don't have enough focus to pray three times a day, let alone "all the time." I'm pathetic. But that doesn't change your opinion of me. You still want to hear from me -- no matter how many times a day I check in. That's a relief. And it actually makes me want to pray as much as I can. Amen.

Challenging Words

  • Lousy -- bad, worthless
  • Pathetic -- troubling, something or someone to be pitied, poor, very bad, very weak
  • Check in -- As used here, this is an idiom for a personal communication event. If you check in with someone you call them on the phone, chat on the computer, or talk with them face-to-face.
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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.)

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