JEREMIAH 31:3 (CEB)
I have loved you with a love that lasts forever.
And so with unfailing love,
I have drawn you to myself.
1 JOHN 4:16 (NRSV)
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
Embrace the reality of God's love -- and never let go.
PRAYER
Glorious God, you never fail to love. It drives everything you do -- who you are -- and who you've called us to become. We confess, though, that we're not very good at receiving love -- let alone giving it. Help us -- help me -- to embrace your love -- to receive it as I receive you. I'm going to live in your love as it is poured out through Christ Jesus. Amen.
MICAH 7:8 (MSG)
I’m sitting in the dark right now,
but GOD is my light.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:5 (CEB)
All of you are children of light and children of the day. We don’t belong to night or darkness.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
God is all the light we need when we're facing dark times.
PRAYER
Merciful God, you flood our lives with your light when we most need it. I am prone to doubt when things become dark. Shine your light onto my doubts so that I can relax in you -- even though darkness is all around me. Amen
2 CHRONICLES 14:11 (NRSV)
O LORD, you are our God; let no mortal prevail against you.
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9 (CEB)
So I’ll gladly spend my time bragging about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power can rest on me.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
Align yourself with the all-powerful God.
PRAYER
God, you are unstoppable. I struggle to step forward even a little -- immobilized by fear and anxiety. Release your power into me. Even though I'm a weak individual I choose to align myself with you. Amen.
The Third Sunday in Lent
JEREMIAH 1:17 (MSG)
Stand up and say your piece. Say exactly what I tell you to say.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:5 (CEV)
We are not preaching about ourselves. Our message is that Jesus Christ is Lord.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
Our goal is that ultimately everything we say and do is about Jesus.
PRAYER
God, throughout the ages you have called people to share your messages with the world. Forgive me for the slow way in which I respond to this call in my setting. I worry that I might get it wrong or offend someone or that it will take over my life. Help me to proclaim that Jesus is Lord through all my words and actions. I'm going to look for you to lead me so that I can speak up. 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)
