PSALM 94:9 (CEV)
God gave us ears and eyes!
Can’t he hear and see?
MATTHEW 6:8 (NLT)
Your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!
SUMMARY SENTENCE
Don't underestimate God's understanding of the situation.
PRAYER
Great God, you are creator, redeemer, and sustainer. I confess that my understanding of your involvement in the problems we face is limited to my own capacity. Wipe that nonsense from my brain. Free me to believe that you are bigger and your capacity greater than I imagine. No matter what is happening I'm going to trust that you are at work in the midst of the situation. Amen.
HOSEA 14:3 (CEV)
Our LORD, you show mercy to orphans.
EPHESIANS 2:19 (CEV)
You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
The Lord welcomes all -- even the most disenfranchised.
PRAYER
God of all, you call everyone a member of your family -- even me. Soften our hard edges; fill us with humility and love in order to welcome strangers and aliens among us. Let our prayer of thanksgiving today not be for our own prosperity, but for the honor of caring for all your children. Amen. (Daily Texts, Ground Up Grace edition)
DEUTERONOMY 29:18 (ABP)
Don't allow poisonous weeds to get established in your garden.
1 THESSALONIANS 3:12 (CEV)
May the Lord make your love for each other and for everyone else grow by leaps and bounds. That’s how our love for you has grown.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
Grow love.
PRAYER
Thank you, God, for cultivating your love in my life through the many people you've sent my way over the years. Forgive me for allowing my dogmatism and political opinions to choke out the love that you've planted. Give me a heart for others -- especially for those with whom I have differences. I'm going to allow the love of Christ to dominate my life. Amen.
ZEPHANIAH 3:16-17 (CEV)
Don’t be discouraged
or grow weak from fear!
The LORD your God
wins victory after victory
and is always with you.
JOHN 21:3-4 (ABP)
Jesus' apprentices went out in their boat to fish. But their nets came up empty all night long. As the sun rose they could see Jesus standing on the shore, although they didn't realize who he was.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
Even when we can't see him God is standing with us.
PRAYER
God of glorious sunrises, I thank you for standing watch over me throughout the night. Sometimes I let the darkness confuse me into believing that I'm alone. Show me your saving presence in the moments when I most need to see it. I'm not going to let the darkness get to me. Amen.
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)
