The Spirit of the Lord will be with him to give him understanding, wisdom, and insight. He will be powerful, and he will know and honor the Lord. ~ Isaiah 11:2 (CEV)
Everyone was trying to touch Jesus, because power was going out from him and healing them all. ~ Luke 6:19 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
As God's chosen person his power flows through Jesus.
PRAYER:
Powerful God, thank you for Jesus. Your power rests in him because he is you. No one can match him. Yet, we, including me, are slow to tap into his power. Why do I dilly dally about and never get around to touching him. Is it because I'm afraid of his power? Or is it because I don't really want to be healed? Pull me closer so that I experience your power in a fresh and healing way. Amen.
Isaiah said: Then I cried out, “I’m doomed! Everything I say is sinful, and so are the words of everyone around me...” ~ Isaiah 6:5a (CEV)
We are part of the same body. Stop lying and start telling each other the truth. ~ Ephesians 4:25a (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Tell the truth.
PRAYER:
Lord, we live in a world where it is really difficult to seperate the truth from lies. Our leaders lie to us without shame. Our neighbors stretch the truth to convince us that they are more important than they are. At least, Lord, you tell the truth -- always. Save me from being influnced by those who are casual about truth. I admit that sometimes words just slip out of my mouth before I realize that they are not completely true or accurate. I want to become a fanatic about truth telling. Amen.
The world of the generous gets larger and larger;
the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. ~ Proverbs 11:24 (MSG)
Be sure to welcome people whom you don't know into your life -- even if they are not like you. ~ Hebrews 13:2a (ABP)
KEY IDEA:
The life defined by Jesus is a life of generosity and hospitality.
PRAYER:
Lord God, I'm so thankful that you welcome strangers into your life. I'm definitely strange -- especially compared to you. I'm slow to welcome others and suspicious of all who are different. Free me from my paranoia and the desire to hold tightly onto everything I own. Transform me into a gracious and generous follower of Jesus. I'm going to draw on the abundant life that you provide to live generously. Amen.
The LORD loves justice. ~ Psalm 37:28a (CEB)
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. ~ Ephesians 5:1 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
Watch how God looks out for the marginalized and mistreated people. Then do what he does.
PRAYER:
God, thank you for caring for mistreated people. I wish that I was not so indifferent to the needs of such people. Please change me so that I become eager to stand up for the people who are pushed out of the way and mistreated. I want to imitate your just ways so that people will honor you for your justice. 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)
