God, your God, will outdo himself in making things go well for you... ~ Deuteronomy 30:9a (MSG)
God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes. ~ Philippians 2:13 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
God is involved in our lives.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you being involved in our lives. You didn't just hand us a bunch of instructions and then walk away. Save me from the kind of doubt that tries to block you out of how I live. I really do want to live out your agenda for me and the world around me. Amen.
The 18th Sunday after Pentecost
"...I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!" God’s Decree. ~ Jeremiah 31:34b (MSG)
John writes: My children, I am writing this so that you won’t sin. But if you do sin, Jesus Christ always does the right thing, and he will speak to the Father for us. ~ 1 John 2:1 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
God's forgiveness is total.
PRAYER:
Gracious God, thank you for sending Christ into the world to sacrifice his life so that we can experience your forgiveness. It means a lot to me to have my slate washed clean -- over and over again. Even when I don't take my sin seriously enough you go way beyond what might be expected of a forgiving God. Help me to recognize what you are doing for me and to honor you in the right way. I'm going to live as a Jesus-forgiven person. Amen.
God can always be trusted
to bring justice. ~ Deuteronomy 32:4b (CEV)
Jesus told us that God is light and doesn’t have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you. ~ 1 John 1:5 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
God can be trusted to always do the right thing.
PRAYER:
Just and righteous God, I'm grateful that you can be trusted to be who you are. Although sometimes I feel that you aren't totally fair. You are way too kind to bad people. That bothers me. Help me to trust that your light will purify all that is bad and harmful. I want to be able to trust you and your grace. For you are totally trustworthy. Amen.
The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. ~ Genesis 2:15 (NLT)
God blesses those people
who are humble.
The earth will belong
to them! ~ Matthew 5:5 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
We're called to take charge and care for the earth that God created.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for putting us on such an awesome planet. But we have not been very good care takers of the earth that you have entrusted to us. And personally, looking out for the "garden" in which we live has not been much of a priority. There are so many other matters vying for my attention. I rarely think about the impact of my life on the planet. So please open my eyes to all the ways great and small that I can become a better caregiver. I'm going to live up to my God-given responsibility of watching out for the earth. 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)
