Turn away from evil! Do good!
Seek peace and go after it! ~ Psalm 34:14 (CEB)
Honor God by accepting each other, as Christ has accepted you. ~ Romans 15:7 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Make welcoming peace with each other, just as Christ has welcomed you into his kingdom of peace.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for accepting me into your presence. You're such a great peace-maker. But I'm so competitive that peace is always a second or third thought. Help me to make it primary. I want to accept and welcome others in the same way that Christ has accepted and welcomed me. It can happen -- by the grace of God. Amen.
I will make you even more prosperous than you were before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ~ Ezekiel 36:11 (NLT)
God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won’t he freely give us everything else? ~ Romans 8:32 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
God is generous.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Lord, for all that you have given to us. I am especially grateful for the gift of your Son whose sacrifice and resurrection have established a new life. I confess that my list of "wants" often keeps me from acknowledging your generosity. It is so easy to focus on the things I desire and think I need. Free me from desire.
I am going to live fully aware of your generosity. Amen.
Reformation Sunday
Amos said, "I am a shepherd, and I take care of fig trees. But the Lord told me to leave my herds and preach to the people of Israel." ~ Amos 7:14-15 (CEV)
Those who prophesy speak to people, building them up, and giving them encouragement and comfort. ~ 1 Corinthians 14:3 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
The Lord calls prophets to speak for him.
PRAYER:
Lord, I really appreciate the messengers that you have sent to share your word with people.
I resist being one of those people. That is a lot of responsibility -- more than I want to carry. But it's not about me.
Rather it is about being responsive to your call. Help me, and all men and women who follow you, to respond to the call to share your word within our own contexts. I want to be an encouragement and comfort with a word about Jesus.
Amen.
Report this with a loud shout, proclaim it;
broadcast it out to the end of the earth.
Say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!” ~ Isaiah 48:20 (CEB)
This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all the nations. Then the end will come. ~ Matthew 24:14 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
The good news of Jesus' kingdom needs to be delivered to every place on the planet.
PRAYER:
Lord, you have given us the good news of a new kingdom filled with justice and right living.
Thank you for enlisting us to share that news far and wide. Forgive us for not taking that assignment seriously.
Give me a vision for the unreached people and places of the planet. Whether you call me to go directly or support those who go I'm going to be a part of your broadcast to the end of the earth. 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 -- 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)
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)
