The Lord gives me strength. ~ Habakkuk 3:19 (CEV)
My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
The Lord is the source of all the strength you need. He even turns weaknesses into strength.
PRAYER:
Powerful Lord, I am a weak person but you are so generous that you turn weaknesses into strengths. I confess that I get frustrated by my mistakes and weaknesses. Help me to trust you to provide the strength that I need to get through every ordeal -- even the ordeals that display my faults. Transform these weaknesses into strengths so that people will see me and honor you. Amen.
The people went to Moses and said, “We’ve sinned, for we spoke against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord so that he will send the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ~ Numbers 21:7 (CEV)
So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through. ~ John 8:36 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
When Jesus frees us from sin that's when we can start to live truly free lives.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for freedom! I admit that I am prone to redefining freedom to mean getting to do what I want to do -- to say what I want to say. Help me to grow in my understanding of all that freedom truly means. I'm going to live as a truly free person because I am trusting in what Christ Jesus has done and is doing to make people free. Amen!
God says, "Because you are devoted to me,
I’ll rescue you." ~ Psalm 91:14a (CEB)
Jesus says: I have loved you, just as my Father has loved me. So remain faithful to my love for you. ~ John 15:9 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
God's love and devotion freely extended to us provides the basis of our love and devotion extended to him.
PRAYER:
Lord, it really is ALL about you and what you do for us. You faithfully love us even when we are very unloveable. I'm not so good at loving you or others. I want to see immediate results in every relationship or I lose interest. Still, you are faithful. Help me to live into that love. I know that this has to happen through my connection with Jesus. So keep me focused on him. Amen.
THE 2nd SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
They will be so kind and merciful and good, that they will be a light in the dark for others who do the right thing. ~ Psalm 112:4 (CEV)
I pray that you will be grateful to God for letting you have part in what he has promised his people in the kingdom of light. ~ Colossians 1:12 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Jesus' followers have a major stake in the kingdom of light.
PRAYER:
Thank you, God, for shining your light into the darkness that drags me down. I confess that I take the light for granted. Help me to live a life of gratitude and through that gratitude shine the light of Christ even further into the darkest of places. 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)
