On this day in 1415, Jan Hus was martyred in Constance.
God gave us ears and eyes!
Can’t he hear and see? ~ Psalm 94:9 (CEV)
The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
and his ears are open to their prayers. ~ 1 Peter 3:12 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
God is fully aware of everything that is going on, so it is worth talking to him.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Lord, for paying attention to us. We don't really deserve your attention but you love and care for us anyway. Help me to take your attention seriously and to more freely share what's on my mind. Yes, I know that you are already fully aware of what I'm thinking. But it's good for me that I turn to you. Amen.
I’ll say whatever the living Lord my God tells me to say. ~ 2 Chronicles 18:13 (CEV)
Preach God’s message. Do it willingly, even if it isn’t the popular thing to do. ~ 1 Timothy 4:2 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Our assignment is to give God's message to people -- even when they seem uninterested.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for entrusting your serious work to me. I feel honored. Although, I am slow to speak up. I am afraid of making mistakes or unnecessarily offending someone. Grant me courage and wisdom to "preach your message" to the people in the world around me. I'm going to say whatever you want me to say. Amen.
Let my whole being bless the Lord! Let everything inside me bless his holy name! ~ Psalm 103:1 (CEB)
The whole crowd of disciples burst into enthusiastic praise over all the mighty works they had witnessed... ~ Luke 19:37 (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
Our purpose in life is to join the choir of those praising God.
PRAYER:
Glorious God, thank you for giving me a significant purpose in life. Even though I like the idea of my purpose I am slow to let loose and burst into enthusiastic praise. Please give me a fresh glimpse of the incredilbe things that you are doing so that I can fully join the praise choir. I'm going to praise you with my soul -- the entirety of my being. Amen.
What can I give back to the Lord
for all the good things he has done for me? ~ Psalm 116:12 (CEB)
But Jesus wouldn’t allow it. “Go home to your own people,” Jesus said, “and tell them what the Lord has done for you and how he has shown you mercy.” ~ Mark 5:19 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
How to honor the Lord? Go and tell.
PRAYER:
Lord, I am grateful for all the kindness that you have shown to me. I am especially thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus which secured new unending life for all who embrace it. The gifts from you continue on and on. But I am not very good at acknowledging those gifts in a natural and ordinary way. I get all nervous and I don't know why. So please help me to be able to tell people about what you have done for me. I want to see other people accept your mercy because they have heard about it from me. Amen.
*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS
The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2011 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)
