Gifts
The bigger the harvest the Lord gives you, the bigger your gift should be. ~ Deuteronomy 16:17 (CEV)
Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well. ~ 1 Peter 4:10 (CEV)
Generous God,
THANKS: You have filled my life with many wonderful people and delightful things. You have gifted me so that I can serve others.
REGRETS: Like many people, though, I tend to focus on what I don't have. I'm afraid that I don't have enough of the gifts and talents needed to serve you and others. That means I am not trusting what you say. And I am stingy. I'm sorry.
INTERCESSION: Open my eyes to the many gifts. Help me to see how I might use them. I don't need to know all the details but enough so that I am encouraged. Please.
PURPOSE: I'm going to use my many gifts to serve.
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 — my own 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)
