True family
Father of orphans,
champion of widows,
is God in his holy house.
God makes homes for the homeless,
leads prisoners to freedom... ~ Psalm 68:5-6a (MSG)
Jesus says: “Anything you did for one of the least important of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” ~ Matthew 25:40b (NIRV)
Father,
THANKS: Thank you for making a way for me to be included in your family. Apart from your intervention I don't have a chance.
REGRETS: I'm sorry that I have not caught your enthusiasm for the "least" of people. Now that my place in the family is secure, I've become lazy about welcoming others of less status. I'm too worried that having them around will affect my reputation.
INTERCESSION: Speak into my life until I start to think like you. Give me enthusiasm for serving orphans, widows, the homeless, and prisoners. These people are as dear to you as my mother is to me.
PURPOSE: There is no way to serve you without serving them. That's my goal.
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)
