Hazael king of Aram badgered and bedeviled Israel all through the reign of Jehoahaz. But God was gracious and showed mercy to them. He stuck with them out of respect for his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He never gave up on them, never even considered discarding them, even to this day. ~ 2 Kings 13:23 (MSG)
God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded. ~ Romans 11:29 (MSG)
KEY THOUGHT:
We should embrace God's promises and his calling because they will never be rescinded.
PRAYER:
Dear God, thank you for your totally true and trustworthy promises. Thank you for including me in them even when I fail to live my life in light of them. I've got my own agenda that tries to create an alternative reality. Use your promises to transform me and the direction of my life. I'm going to be about your business. Amen.
All the creatures look expectantly to you
to give them their meals on time.
You come, and they gather around;
you open your hand and they eat from it. ~ Psalm 104:27-28 (MSG)
You have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. ~ 1 Peter 2:3 (NLT)
KEY THOUGHT:
God is feeding us in so many wonderful ways.
PRAYER:
Thank you, God, for feeding me. I take it all for granted too much of the time. Awaken me to your gifts as I receive them so I can learn to celebrate your kindness. Amen.
By your teachings, Lord,
I am warned;
by obeying them,
I am greatly rewarded. ~ Psalm 19:11 (CEV)
Train yourself to be godly. ~ 1 Timothy 4:7 (NLT)
KEY THOUGHT:
Consider yourself to be in training -- constantly developing new skills in godly living.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for coaching me through your Word. I'm still a bit of a whimp. I am an on and off again person when it comes to training. So I would ask that you would help me build consistency in my workouts. Give me joy in them and encouragement so that I can become a Christ-like person. Amen.
I call out to High God,
the God who holds me together. ~ Psalm 57:2 (MSG)
Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved. ~ Mark 13:13b (MSG)
KEY THOUGHT:
It pays to stay with God.
PRAYER:
Most High God, thank you for keeping my life from falling a part. I confess to indulging in discouragement. It's so disheartening to see evil thriving -- to see bad people in power -- to see vulnerable people hurt. Hold me together so that I can turn from sorriness to joyful salvation. I pray in the name of our Savior Jesus. 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)
