ISAIAH 29:15 (CEV)
You are in for trouble,
if you try to hide your plans
from the LORD!
Or if you think what you do
in the dark can’t be seen.
EPHESIANS 5:13 (NTE)
Everything becomes visible when it’s exposed to the light...
SUMMARY SENTENCE
You can't hide anything from God; so why try?
PRAYER
Lord of light, from you nothing is hidden and nothing is kept secret. You know us inside and out, even understanding what we have yet to discover about ourselves. Lord, forgive us for trying to hide from you. Call us out of our darkness and draw us to the light of your grace. Amen. (Daily Texts, Ground Up Grace edition)
The 14th Sunday after Pentecost
JEREMIAH 15:19 (CEB)
Therefore, the LORD proclaims:
If you return to me, I will take you back...
JOHN 14:23 (ABP)
"Those who love me," Jesus replied, "will live according to my teaching. In doing so they will experience the love of my father and we'll come and live with them."
SUMMARY SENTENCE
Invite God into your life by living according to his word.
PRAYER
Loving God, you welcome wayward people into your presence. You even come to live with them. That is such an honor. I confess that my response to your hospitality isn't always stellar. My turning to you is slow, sporadic, and partial. Show me again what I need to change so that I'm fully experiencing your love and presence. With your help, I'm going to make the necessary changes. Amen.
EZEKIEL 11:19 (MSG)
I’ll give you a new heart. I’ll put a new spirit in you.
ACTS 2:39 (MSG)
The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
God is inviting you to receive a change of heart -- a new way of living.
PRAYER
Generous God, you're full of gifts -- including the gift of transformation. Thank you. Forgive us for allowing our new hearts to become hard and cold to the needs of our neighbors. Flood our lives anew with your love so that the world may come to accept the invitation you're extending. Might Christ Jesus be honored through us. Amen.
PSALM 19:7 (ABP)
God's edicts are so on target that they transform the clueless into pillars of wisdom.
2 TIMOTHY 3:16 (MSG)
Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
God has given us the direction we need to live his way.
PRAYER
Lord who speaks, I am thankful that your word through the scripture is as reliable and constant as you. Many times, I stray and rely on my own understanding of a situation, which ultimately fails. Help me give myself to reading, studying, and applying your words in my life so I may truly know you. Amen. (Daily Texts, Ground Up Grace edition)
*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)
