...Your days of grieving are over. ~ Isaiah 60:20b (MSG)
...God will wipe all tears from their eyes. ~ Revelation 7:17b (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
God will end sadness.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Lord, for the promise of a brighter future. I find it so easy to get swallowed by the sadness and desperation that comes with loss -- loss of friends, dreams, and innocence. Help me to trust you for a brighter future. I'm going to acknowledge the sadness without letting it swallow me. Amen.
There is no rock like our God. ~ 1 Samuel 2:2b
Jesus says: Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock. ~ Matthew 7:24 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
Building your life on Jesus is building on a solid foundation.
PRAYER:
Lord, you are solid. I don't understand why I flirt with other approaches to life. Give me the wisdom to build my life on you, and you alone. You are my solid foundation! Amen.
God is all strength for his people... ~ Psalm 28:8a (MSG)
But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:57 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
We can count on being victorious when we are on God's side.
PRAYER:
Almighty God, I'm thankful that I get to be on your side. Often, though, I take it on myself to be victorious. I say that I'm counting on you but then I go to battle like it is all up to me. Firm up my faith. I'm going to confidently face the problems in front of me because I know that you are powerful enough to defeat every enemy -- even death itself. Amen.
Tell the heavens
to send down justice
like showers of rain.
Prepare the earth
for my saving power
to sprout
and produce justice
that I, the Lord, create. ~ Isaiah 45:8 (CEV)
Look, now is the right time! Look, now is the day of salvation! ~ 2 Corinthians 6:2b (CEB)
KEY IDEA :
Line your life up with what God is doing!
PRAYER:
Lord, I know that you are going to fix creation. You are going to make everything right again. But it is so tempting to think of all that as distant future. Open my eyes so that I can see. Light a fire under me so that I get moving. I'm not only going to be ready but I'm going to tune into what you are doing now. I'm going to become your junior partner
in project 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 -- 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)
