“(Israel), You are my servant; I chose you and didn’t reject you.” ~ Isaiah 41:9b (CEB)
God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded. ~ Romans 11:29 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
God never cancels his invitation to live as his blessed people.
PRAYER:
Lord, I am so grateful for your invitation to become a part of your people through faith in Christ Jesus. Thank you for not changing your mind even when I mess up. I still want to be a part of your group. And I am totally relying on your faithfulness. Help me to trust you even more. I want to use the gifts that you have given to me and the call that you have extended to me to serve you. Amen.
Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it. ~ Proverbs 3:27 (GNT)
If we have what we need and see one of our own people in need, we should help that person. If we don't help we cannot honestly say that we love God. ~ 1 John 3:17 (ABP)
KEY IDEA:
Helping the needy is an important part of our relationship with God.
PRAYER:
Lord, I am so grateful that you help the needy. I'm a beneficiary of your help. I admit, though,
that I have been slow to keep the momentum going. There are just so many demands on my time and energy. Albeit some of them are demands that I have created by my own ambition and desires. I could use your help in sorting this stuff out. I want to be a part of your care force. Amen.
Help us, Lord! There is not a good person left; honest people can no longer be found. ~ Psalm 12:1 (GNT)
Be sure to pray that God will make a way for us to spread his message and explain the mystery about Christ, even though I am in jail for doing this. ~ Colossians 4:3 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
The message of Christ needs to be spread regardless of the cost.
PRAYER:
Thank you, God, for the good news about Jesus. He and his mission were the secret weapons that you were planning to use to turn the world back to you. I want to be a messenger of that secret. I want to make it known.
Pardon me when I am shy and timid about sharing it. I worry too much about how things will work out and I'm not fond of suffering -- or even of people disrespecting me. But the good news packed into that secret is that I don't have to worry and that I am pardoned. It's all good. Amen.
As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable. ~ 1 Samuel 3:19 (NLT)
For not only did the message about the Lord go out from you throughout Macedonia and Achaia, but the news about your faith in God has gone everywhere. There is nothing, then, that we need to say. ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:8 (GNT)
KEY IDEA:
Your words make a difference.
PRAYER:
Your powerful word, Holy Lord, created the heavens and the earth. It is your word that gives power to my words. Help me to be aware of how I use words. Help me to speak in ways that build up and don't tear down. Empower my words to help others come to know you more deeply and love you more sweetly. Amen. (Daily Texts, Mount Carmel Ministries edition)
*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)
