Sunday, March 29, 2015

Helpful God

So look down from heaven, your holy home. Bless your people Israel... ~ Deuteronomy 26:15a (NCV)

Let us praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to help his people and has given them freedom. ~ Luke 1:68 (NCV)
Lord, I am not embarrassed to admit that I need lots of help. I need help with my health. I need help figuring out the right thing to do. I need help to enable me to do the right thing. I need help dealing with difficult people. I need help paying the rent. The list could go on. 
Fortunately, there is no end to your helpfulness. When you latch onto people you're always there to help them. I confess, though, that I am not always good at receiving the help I need and for which I ask. Sometimes I ignore you or push you away when you are helping. Often your help comes in ways that I am not expecting or in ways that force me to do things differently. I don't like that. So, I need help in changing my attitude and pattern. And that change comes as we honor you for your helpfulness. When we praise you, we are transformed into the kind of people who can receive the needed help. Praise you, Lord, for being a helper. Amen.
Challenging Words
  • latch onto -- to become a close companion, to stay near, to become like bubblegum -- sticking to a person or idea
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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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