Be encouraged
The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Our God has said: "Encourage my people!
Give them comfort." ~ Isaiah 40:1 (CEV)
The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost. ~ Luke 19:10 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Be encouraged because Jesus is looking out for you!
PRAYER:
Lord, I've heard so much bad preaching that I'm afraid of Jesus a lot of the time. I'm afraid that I'm going to offend him. I'm afraid that he is like a traffic cop looking for any way that I might be violating your laws. I need to repent of that way of thinking. Help me to see Jesus as the one who is seeking to help me and care for me. I know that you love me. Help me to let the knowledge of your love define the way that I live. 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)
