The 10th Day of Christmas
Help us, Lord our God, because we rely on you... ~ 2 Chronicles 14:11 (CEB)
Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. ~ Matthew 7:8 (CEV)
KEY THOUGHT:
God will respond to your requests.
PRAYER:
Thank you, God, for listening. Sometimes I am reluctant to ask you for things. I feel that my requests are insignificant or that they're off base. Both are probably true. Help me to tune into you so that I'm asking for all the right stuff. And help me to trust in your wisdom and mercy so that I'm no longer fretting over the possibility of offending you. I'm going to trust that you genuinely want to hear from me even when I don't know what I'm talking about. Amen.
The 9th Day of Christmas
The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. ~ Isaiah 25:8
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. ~ Romans 12:12 (NRSV)
KEY THOUGHT:
Carry on because God will work things out.
PRAYER:
Lord God, I feel discouraged because I don't see quick solutions to the problems we are all facing. Help me to focus on the hope that Christ gives so that I major in patience and perseverance. I'm trusting that those qualities -- hope, patience, and perseverance -- will characterize my life. Amen.
The 8th Day of Christmas
But you, God, have tested us — you’ve refined us like silver... ~ Psalm 66:10 (CEB)
We know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. ~ Romans 5:3-5 (CEB)
KEY THOUGHT:
God uses the problems we face to mature us as healthy people.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for your ongoing involvement in our lives -- even when there are problems. You don't let the troubles go to waste but you use them to form me as the person you want me to become. I confess that I have a hard time seeing this when I'm in the midst of it all. I get impatient and snippy. Please continue to lovingly sand of my rough edges. I'm going to joyfully serve you no matter what comes my way in 2020. Amen.
The 7th Day of Christmas
Stay away from making a false charge. ~ Exodus 23:7 (CEB)
From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. ~ Philippians 4:8 (CEB)
KEY THOUGHTS:
Focus on integrity.
PRAYER:
Lord, you are worthy of praise. I am not -- for sometimes when no one is looking, I cut corners. Help me to focus on the excellence of Christ, realigning my life, so that I become a person of complete integrity and truth. That is my goal. 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)
