Thursday, August 17, 2017

Got water?

Joyfully you’ll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation. ~ Isaiah 12:3 (MSG)

Jesus stood up and shouted, “If you are thirsty, come to me and drink! Have faith in me, and you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you, just as the Scriptures say.” ~ John 7:37-38 (CEV)

KEY IDEA:
Jesus quenches the deep thirst inside of us.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Jesus, for being the living water that satisfies my soul. I need to drink more of your health water. I need to stop drinking unhealthy things. I am trusting that as I drink from you that you will remove all the other less-healthy types of thirst. When something tastes as good as you, it is hard to accept anything less. Amen.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

God to the rescue

The good and godly person has to deal with a lot of problems, but the Lord is the problem solver who rescues his people each and every time. ~ Psalm 34:19 (ABP)

As you remember, we had been mistreated and insulted at Philippi. But God gave us the courage to tell you the good news about him, even though many people caused us trouble. ~ 1 Thessalonians 2:2 (CEV)

KEY IDEA:
Even though we experience problems because of our faith, we can count on the Lord to overcome the problems.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, I'm thankful for the way that you have rescued humanity from the grip of death and sin. I confess that I still sin -- even though you have saved me. I have failed to fully live according to your rescue plan. But because you share your goodness and godliness with us, you still count me as among your good and godly people. Help me to live into who you consider me to be. I want to deal with the problems that come my way in a good and godly way. Amen.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Justice and righteous living

I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. ~ Amos 5:24 (NLT)

The one who supplies seed for planting and bread for eating will supply and multiply your seed and will increase your crop, which is righteousness. ~ 2 Corinthians 9:10 (CEB)

KEY IDEA:
The Lord desires a huge crop of right-living -- of justice.
PRAYER:
Lord, you are the source of all that is right and just. If there is any hope for an endless flow of justice and righteous living I know that it will have to come from you. I know, though, that I try to make these things happen on my own. And then I take pride in all my feeble successes. Stop me from drifting that direction. I want to have a full crop and I need the righteousness of Christ Jesus to fertilize the crop. Amen.

Monday, August 14, 2017

God rescues

When you were in trouble, you called to me, and I saved you. ~ Psalm 81:7 (GNT)

A man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to Jesus, knelt down, and begged him for help. “If you want to,” he said, “you can make me clean.”

Jesus was filled with pity, and reached out and touched him. “I do want to,” he answered. “Be clean!” At once the disease left the man, and he was clean. ~ Mark 1:40-42 (GNT)

KEY IDEA:
God is in the business of saving people from desperate situations.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, thank you for rescuing me from the grip of death and sin. I confess, though, that I am prone to slide back into unhealthy and diseased habits. I don't understand why that is -- especially since I'm so grateful for the way that you have already rescued me. You can make me healthy and whole. You're the only one who can. So, I am still trusting in you and counting on you, in spite of my shortcomings. Amen.

DAILYTEXTS.ORG

*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)

EEB = EasyEnglish Bible (©2015, MissionAssist)

ERV = Easy-To-Read Version (©2006, World Bible Translation Center)

GNT = Good News Translation (©1992, American Bible Society)

MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)

NCB = New Catholic Bible (©2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp.)

NCV = New Century Version (©2005, Thomas Nelson Inc)

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)

NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (© 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)

NTE = New Testament for Everyone (©2011 Nicolas Thomas Wright.)

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