Speak out on behalf of the voiceless,
and for the rights of all who are vulnerable. ~ Proverbs 31:8 (CEB)
Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place. ~ Hebrews 13:3 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
God is calling us to speak up for the people who are mistreated.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Lord, that you care about the vulnerable people. I'm sorry that I don't really notice those people so much. I'm busy with all the things going on in my life. Please show me how to really see and care for those who are mistreated. I want to care as you care. Amen.
The Third Sunday in Advent
I’ll bring home the homeless.
In the very countries where they were hated
they will be venerated. ~ Zephaniah 3:9b (MSG)
When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. ~ Mark 6:34 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
God has compassion on the homeless wanderers.
PRAYER:
Gracious Lord, I, like so many, am prone to wander. I've been among the spiritually homeless -- which is actually harder than being literally homeless. Yet you care about us. I can't understand why. No one else really cares. But you do. I'm so grateful. I'm going to live near you because you take good care of us. Amen.
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.
*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)
