Who has acted and who has done this,
calling upon generation after generation since the beginning?
I, the Lord, was first,
and I will be the last! ~ Isaiah 41:4 (CEB)
This is the message of peace he sent to the Israelites by proclaiming the good news through Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all! ~ Acts 10:36 (CEB)
KEY THOUGHT:
Jesus is over all!
PRAYER:
God, thank you for giving me a place in your creation. I confess that I am discouraged by the current political climate in creation. Help me to remember with each sound byte that ultimately you are over it all and that your agenda will be the only surviving movement. I'm going to be encouraged. Amen.
The 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany
You rule the roaring sea
and calm its waves. ~ Psalm 89:9 (CEV)
I pray that the Lord, who gives peace, will always bless you with peace. May the Lord be with all of you. ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:16 (CEV)
KEY THOUGHT:
God generates peace.
PRAYER:
God, thank you for calming the storm around me -- again. You always do that. Help me to trust that you always will because I often get so caught up in the storms that I doubt. I am going to receive your blessing of peace. Amen!
Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, inside and out. ~ Isaiah 40:28 (MSG)
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope! ~ Romans 15:13(MSG)
KEY THOUGHT:
Perk up! The Creator continues to create life in and around us.
PRAYER:
Creator God, thank you for your steady involvement in the world. At times I give in to despair and act as though you have forgotten us. Fill me with a fresh infusion of Hoy Spirit energy so that I am overflowing with hope. Amen.
People with a big head are headed for a fall,
pretentious egos brought down a peg.
It’s God alone at front-and-center
on the Day we’re talking about... ~ Isaiah 2:11 (MSG)
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. ~ Galatians 6:7 (MSG)
KEY THOUGHT:
Don't be so arrogant as to think that you can outmaneuver God and come out ahead.
PRAYER:
God you are the chief justice. No one is above you or smarter than you. Sometimes I live as though I'm going to get my way and push through my own agenda in life. Save me from my own ego so that I'm ready for the day of accounting. 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)
