Fruit
I am the Lord. I watch over my vineyard.
I water it all the time.
I guard it day and night.
I do it so no one can harm it. ~ Isaiah 27:3 (NIRV)
Jesus said, "You are my true disciples when you produce a lot of fruit. Bearing much fruit brings much glory to God my Father." ~ John 15:8 (ABP)
Lord, it is your vineyard. And we are the branches growing on your vine. Thank you for putting me in such an interesting garden. Sometimes I ditz around and don't really get to the business of producing fruit. I've got so many other things that I'm trying to do with my life. So help me to focus on what is really important -- bearing fruit for you. I know that you are going to watch over and care for your branches. I'm going to live as a true fruit-bearing disciple. 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)
