Strong Followers
David answered:
You’ve come out to fight me with a sword and a spear and a dagger. But I’ve come out to fight you in the name of the Lord All-Powerful. He is the God of Israel’s army, and you have insulted him too! ~ 1 Samuel 17:45 (CEV)
God is wonderful and glorious. I pray that his Spirit will make you become strong followers... ~ Ephesians 2:6 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
God is all-powerful and can empower us so that we, his followers, share in his strength.
PRAYER:
All-powerful God, thank you for strengthening me. I can point to so many times when your strength has carried me through difficulty. But there are times when I have neglected to seek your strength. No good excuse. I'm just not so smart. But I'm hoping to put all of that behind me. I don't want to dwell on past failures but to focus on facing the current giants with the strength you provide. It's a new day, a new battle, and I'm asking your Holy Spirit to transform me into one of your strong followers. 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)
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.)