Don’t stay far away, Lord!
My strength comes from you,
so hurry and help. ~ Psalm 22:19 (CEV)
God has helped me up to this very day. Therefore, I stand here and bear witness to the lowly and the great. ~ Acts 26:22 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
No matter who you are, God is the one who keeps you going. So, stay within earshot of him.
PRAYER:
Great and powerful God, you are so incredibly responsive. Yet, I am inclined to look elsewhere for answers to my problems. I know this doesn't make sense. But I need your gentle attention so that I can get in step close to you. I'm going to notice how near you are and live accordingly. Amen.
“But oh! God is in his holy Temple!
Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!” ~ Habakkuk 2:20 (MSG)
Are you listening to me? Really listening? ~ Matthew 11:15 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
You can't hear what God is saying unless you first shut up and listen.
PRAYER:
Holy God, your message to us, including me, is holy. It is distinctively you. But I allow too many other unholy voices into my life. And then I try to compete with them in volume and quantity of words. Help me to remember to just shut up most of the time. I need to hear you so that I can act on what you are saying. Amen.
I truly believe
I will live to see the Lord’s goodness. ~ Psalm 27:13 (NCV)
I will give free water from the spring of the water of life to anyone who is thirsty. ~ Revelation 21:6b (NCV)
KEY IDEA:
Seek the Lord's goodness and you will not be disappointed by his generosity.
PRAYER:
Gracious God, you are generous beyond comprehension. Yet I am tempted to get so wrapped up in the needs of the moment that I relegate your generosity to some theoretical realm of divine future. Help me to grow in my awareness of how much you provide for me even now so that I can drink deeply of your generosity. I am asking this in Jesus' name. Amen.
I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. ~ 1 Samuel 1:27 (NLT)
Jesus said: Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ~ Matthew 7:7 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
Keep on asking.
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, you are a generous God. I need help in being persistent in my asking. I too quickly lose focus and move on to the next thing. If it is something I should be asking for I need to stick with it. Help me to stay focused so that I can again point out how generous and responsive you are. 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)
