Gratitude
The First Day of the Spring Semester at PIU
…About this same time, Hezekiah got sick and was almost dead. He prayed, and the Lord gave him a sign that he would recover. But Hezekiah was so proud that he refused to thank the Lord for everything he had done for him. ~ 2 Chronicles 32:24-25a CEV)
“Go home to your own people,” Jesus said (to the man he had healed), “and tell them what the Lord has done for you and how he has shown you mercy.” ~ Mark 5:19 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
We need to acknowledge the mercy that the Lord has extended to us.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Lord, for all the ways that you have shown mercy to my family and me. We have experienced undeserved healing and forgiveness. We have had many wonderful experiences. I can easily get caught up in enjoying the good things that have happened and forget to thank you. So, I am asking you to give me a thankful heart. My desire is to ooze genuine gratitude from my life. 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)
