Water
The Second Sunday in Advent
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry. ~ Isaiah 58:11 (MSG)
Jesus said in a loud voice, ‘Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.’ ~ John 7:38 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
When we trust Jesus our lives become like well-watered gardens.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for the abundance of life-giving water. Forgive me for living like there is some kind of drought. I act like I need to hoard water and make excuses for the sorry state of the veggies that grow in my life. Help me to tap into the water that you have already sent my way and to dismantle all that is obstructing the fee-flow of your life-giving abundance. I'm going to step out and turn on the hose. 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)
