Joyful Praise
The 4th Sunday of Eastertide
My mouth is filled with your praise,
glorifying you all day long. ~ Psalm 71:8 (CEB)
Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (GNT)
KEY IDEA:
Because of our close connection with Christ Jesus we can't help but praise God -- no matter how bad or good things are.
PRAYER:
Lord, you are worthy of all praise -- even the praise I forget to let come out of my mouth.
Sometimes I'm better at complaining than I am at praising. This is because I let myself drift away from Jesus.
Pull me back close to you and let the praises start again. 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)
