Joy and Peace
Lent
You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands! ~ Isaiah 55:12 (NLT)
So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. ~ Hebrews 2:1 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
God offers lives of joy and peace to those who will stick with him.
PRAYER:
Kind God, you offer lives of joy and peace to those who will stick with you. I want to participate in what you offer. But I am not a good listener. I am easily distracted by other voices and influenced by things that are not true. So, again, I ask you to help me tune out the other voices so that I can listen carefully to you. I'm looking forward to the song I hear -- that of trees of the field clapping their hands. Amen.
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)
