And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:13 (NLT)
Give us this day our daily bread. ~ Matthew 6:11
KEY THOUGHT:
It's all a gift from God.
PRAYER:
Gracious God, thank you for providing for me. I have everything I need. Forgive me for forgetting that you are behind it all. I seem to live like I am responsible for making it all happen. Please give me what I need to carry on. I am going to live gratefully. Amen.
A deep reverence for the Lord leads to confident living... ~ Proverbs 14:26 (ABP)
I am still full of confidence, because I know whom I have trusted, and I am sure that he is able to keep safe until that Day what he has entrusted to me. ~ 2 Timothy 1:12b (GNT)
KEY THOUGHT:
A deep reverence for the Lord leads to confident living.
PRAYER:
Thank you, God, for your strong protection. You alone stand against sin and evil. But often my response to your grace is fear. I fear that you won't keep your gracious promises. I fear that I am not worthy of your grace. Give me the fear of the Lord, which is the strong confidence in your goodness. Amen. (Daily Texts, Mount Carmel Ministries edition)
The right! The right! Pursue only what’s right! It’s the only way you can really live and possess the land that God, your God, is giving you. ~ Deuteronomy 16:20 (MSG)
But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it. ~ Colossians 1:23 (NLT)
KEY THOUGHT:
It is easier than you think to lose focus,
resulting in drift from the good news.
PRAYER:
Lord, I easily lose focus and start to drift. But you are totally faithful and focused on your loving plan to make the world right. Keep reorienting me so that I can arrived at the desired destination. In Jesus' name, Amen!
I will give them hearts that recognize me as the Lord. ~ Jeremiah 24:7 (NLT)
And so God makes it possible for you and us to stand firmly together with Christ. God is also the one who chose us and put his Spirit in our hearts to show that we belong only to him. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (CEV)
KEY THOUGHT:
God turns our hearts toward him.
PRAYER:
Lord, you are busy in our lives drawing us closer to yourself. I can be a slow learner but you know that. Yet, you continue to work with me placing your Spirit in me. I pray that the Spirit would be successful in turning me completely your way. 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)
