Someday I will appoint
an honest king
from the family of David,
a king who will be wise
and rule with justice. ~ Jeremiah 23:5 (CEV)
In front of Jesus and behind him, people went along shouting,
“Hooray!
God bless the one
who comes
in the name of the Lord!
God bless the coming kingdom
of our ancestor David.
Hooray for God
in heaven above!” ~ Mark 11:9-10 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Jesus is the honest, wise, and just king from the family of David.
PRAYER:
Hooray for you, King Jesus! You are the one who has come to make things right. You have come to establish a whole new kind of kingdom. Hooray! Even though I'm not reliable enough, you have invited me to join your team. I know that I can be a good citizen of your kingdom because with your help I'm going to follow your lead. Amen.
Balaam answered Balak’s servants: “Even if Balak gave me his house stuffed with silver and gold, I wouldn’t be able to defy the orders of my God to do anything, whether big or little. ~ Numbers 22:18a (MSG)
Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. ~ Romans 12:21 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
We're able to defeat evil with good as we pay attention to God's orders.
PRAYER:
Lord,
THANKS: Thank you for the victory over evil that Christ Jesus established at the cross and through the resurrection. Thank you that I get to share in that victory.
REGRETS: Sometimes I don't do things the way that God wants me to. It's nothing big -- just little stuff. But even the little things are a big failure.
INTERCESSION: Help me to focus on orders and stay the course.
PURPOSE: I'm going to stick with the winning side.
Amen.
Joshua fell to his knees and bowed down to the ground. “I am your servant,” he said. “Tell me what to do.” ~ Joshua 5:14b (CEV)
The people who are really blessed are the ones who hear and obey God’s message! ~ Luke 11:28 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
The people who are really blessed are those who humble themselves enough to listen to and act on what the Lord says to do.
PRAYER:
Divine Commander, I stand ready to hear and act on your orders. I'm grateful that you are trusting me to be on your side -- especially since in spite of my good intentions, I don't always do things the way YOU want me to do them. I am inclined to take short-cuts. But I know that if you will continue to work with me that you are capable of keeping me on task. Thank you for your kindness and gracious understanding. Amen.
The Lord’s love never ends; his mercies never stop. ~ Lamentations 3:22a (CEV)
Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus. ~ 1 Timothy 1:14 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
Because he has an unimaginable amount of love, the Lord never stops pouring his faith, grace, and mercy into people.
PRAYER:
Lord, your kindness is without end. I'm such a mess that I definitely need your mercy and grace. Keep it coming and I'll be alright. It's all about your love. And I'm never going to forget that. 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 — 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)
