LENT
Serve the Lord with all your heart. Don’t turn aside to follow useless idols that can’t help you or save you. They’re absolutely useless! ~ 1 Samuel 12:20b-21 (CEB)
Don’t be stupid. Instead, find out what the Lord wants you to do. ~ Ephesians 5:17 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Do what the Lord wants -- only him.
PRAYER:
Lord, the fake gods are useless but you are able to help us. I want to serve you. But I grow impatient and am distracted when I have to wait for directions from you. Again, help me to stay focused on you and to be able to receive the instructions that you give through your Word. Amen.
LENT
How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me ~ Psalm 139:17 (TLB)
For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. ~ 1 John 3:20 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
God is greater than me and he is watching over me.
PRAYER:
Lord, it is good to realize that I am on your radar. I wish that I could remember that when I am stressed out. Keep me calm so that I can remember that you are in control and that whatever the outcome is, because of you, it will be the best it could possibly be. You care that much. Amen.
LENT
We and our ancestors
have sinned terribly. ~ Psalm 106:6 (CEV)
Rescue us from the evil one. ~ Matthew 6:13b (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
Since we have gotten too close to the devil we are in need of divine rescue.
PRAYER:
Lord, I am thankful that I have a Savior. I mess up a lot and am in need. So please continue doing what you do. I am counting on you to rescue me and am grateful for the way that your salvation is changing me so that I have less and less in common with the devil. Amen.
THE 2nd SUNDAY IN LENT
Your kingdom is founded on righteousness and justice;
love and faithfulness are shown in all you do. ~ Psalm 89:14 (GNT)
You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. ~ Matthew 5:10 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
God's kingdom is built on righteousness and justice; so when we're persecuted for doing the right thing that only strengthens our position in his kingdom.
PRAYER:
Lord, your righteousness and justice are glorious. I get all excited when I see people treated well. But I get discouraged when I see the advocates for your kingdom values treated poorly. Maybe I'm looking at the issue wrong, so I pray that you would clear up in my thinking how I should respond to pushback. I'm grateful for the way that Jesus modeled a response and I want to be like him more than I want to be like anyone or anything else. 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)
