Thursday, March 31, 2016

Hard times

I give you all the credit, God— you got me out of that mess... ~ Psalm 30:1a (MSG)

We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:5 (MSG)
Lord,

THANKS: I am very grateful for the way that you rescue your people -- especially me. I was in a difficult spot. It was a hard time. But then I experienced your kindess. I was broken but through Jesus you healed me and made things right again.

REGRETS: Sometimes I try to take credit for the things that YOU have done in my life. I desperately want other people to think highly of me. Forgive me.

INTERCESSION: Help me to more fully appreciate all that you have done for me. Save me from blaming you when things are bad and for taking credit when things are good.

PURPOSE: I'm going to use both the hard times and the good times to honor you. You deserve all the credit!

Amen.
CHALLENGING WORDS
  • Hard times -- a period of time when things are difficult or hard. If you experience a lot of difficulty you can say, "These are hard times."
  • Messiah -- Hebrew word for "anointed one." The Greek word for "anointed one" is Christ. Christ and Messiah are the same thing. Jesus is the Messiah.

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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