Fear
Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged! I am the Lord your God, and I will be there to help you wherever you go. ~ Joshua 1:9b (CEV)
God gave us his Spirit. And the Spirit doesn’t make us weak and fearful. Instead, the Spirit gives us power and love. He helps us control ourselves. ~ 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIRV)
Lord, God,
THANKS: You have given us your Spirit and filled us with power and love. You are never far from us. And that is reassuring.
REGRETS: But I'm not good at self-control. Perhaps that is why I'm afraid. I don't know how I will respond to problems -- to challenges -- to people who bother me.
INTERCESSION: Stick with me. Continue to empower me. Break the fear that controls too much of me.
PURPOSE: I'm going to let your love -- the love you have given to us -- overcome the fear.
Amen.
*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)
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)
