The 6th Sunday after Pentecost
Lord, you are in the right; but as you see, our faces are covered with shame. ~ Daniel 9:7 (NLT)
Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. ~ Ephesians 2:8 (MSG)
SUMMARY SENTENCE
Fortunately, God has set his mind to saving us, for we can't do it ourselves.
PRAYER
God, I am so grateful for the gift of salvation. I confess that I sometimes get stuck on the shame I feel over my failures. Help me to look past the shame and guilt, and to rely soley on what Christ Jesus has done on our behalf. I'm going to live in that freedom. Amen.
God makes his people strong.
God gives his people peace.
~ Psalm 29:11 (MSG)
The confidence with which Peter and John spoke caught the Ruling Council by surprise. They had assumed that they were uneducated and inexperienced. But they came to realize that they had been apprenticed by Jesus. ~ Acts 4:13 (ABP)
SUMMARY SENTENCE
God equips his people to carry out the assignments he gives them.
PRAYER
Thank you, God, for empowering me to share your message with others. I wish that I was as confident as the apostles. I can get too caught up in the moment and lose track of you and how you work. Grant me consistent confidence so that I can stand in front of unbelievers and boldly explain the good news of Jesus and his kingdom. Amen.
Generation after generation stands in awe of your work;
each one tells stories of your mighty acts. ~ Psalm 145:4 (MSG)
All of this has been done for you, so that more and more people will know how kind God is and will praise and honor him. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:15 (CEV)
SUMMARY SENTENCE The story of God's kindness goes on and on with infinite impact.
PRAYER Powerful God, thank you for investing in me. I don't really feel worthy of your attention but you are kind to me. I have a tendency to keep all of this inside me -- even though I know that this is the type of thing that needs to be shared. Help me to figure out appropriate times and places to share the stories of your kindness. I'm going to join with the storytellers from all generations who declare how awesome you are. In Jesus' name, 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)
