I trust in God; I won’t be afraid.
What can anyone do to me? ~ Psalm 56:11 (CEB)
Christ gives me the strength to face anything. ~ Phillipians 4:13 (CEV)
KEY THOUGHT:
Trust Christ because he will give you the strength to face anyone or anything.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Christ Jesus, for sharing with us. You give me some of your strength so that I can face any challenge. Forgive me for living as though I have to come up with the personal resources to deal with the problems and challenges which come my way. Encourage me so that I can grow in my trust. I am going to avoid fear by trusting in you. Amen.
You have kept record
of my days of wandering.
You have stored my tears
in your bottle
and counted each of them. ~ Psalm 56:8 (CEV)
Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! The Father is a merciful God, who always gives us comfort. He comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share that same comfort with others in trouble. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (CEV)
KEY THOUHT:
God is empathetic.
PRAYER:
Merciful God, you know when I am having a rough time. You understand. Forgive me for acting like my problems are too big for you to understand. Have mercy on me and comfort me so that I can in turn comfort others. Amen.
The 16th Sunday after Pentecost
No king succeeds with a big army alone,
no warrior wins by brute strength.
Horsepower is not the answer;
no one gets by on muscle alone. ~ Psalm 33:16-17 (MSG)
After King Herod died, an angel from the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph while he was still in Egypt. The angel said, "Get up and take the child and his mother back to Israel. The people who wanted to kill him are now dead." ~ Matthew 2:19-20 (CEV)
KEY THOUGHT:
The Lord's power alone will trump any advantage that an adversary appears to have.
PRAYER:
Lord, you are powerful. You have already broken the back of death through the resurrection. Yet, I still struggle to trust you to deal with the problem-people who are in power. They are ruining our world! Help me to trust that you will turn things around and pull the rug out from underneath the powerful. I'm going to live in anticipation of your justice and salvation. Amen.
Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—
he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out. ~ Psalm 55:22 (MSG)
So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! ~ Hebrews 10:35 (NLT)
KEY THOUGHT:
It will be worth it if you keeping trusting in God.
PRAYER:
Thank you, God, that you are reliable. Thank you that you are so willing to shoulder my troubles. Forgive me for holding onto my problems -- thinking that I can solve them. Show me how to do what I should do and to trust you at the same time. I'm going to relax and trust that you'll guide me into the future. 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)
