God doesn’t lose his temper.
He’s powerful, but it’s a patient power.
Still, no one gets by with anything. ~ Nahum 1:3 (MSG)
Interpret our Master’s patient restraint for what it is: salvation. ~ 2 Peter 3:15a (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
God is patient with us.
PRAYER:
Lord God, I am grateful for your patience with me. Often I feel that the world is trying to push and rush me. Yet, you confidently wait. Given your patience, I would hope that it would rub off on me and that I would become more patient with others. Yet, that is not the case. Fill me with your patience so that I can help others experience it, too. Amen.
The Lord our God has been right in every move he’s made... ~ Daniel 9:14 (CEB)
Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father, the creator of the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all. ~ James 1:17 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
God is consistently good and right.
PRAYER:
Lord God, I am thankful that you are so reliable. I don't have to worry that you might let me down. Yet, I still struggle to step out in faith and to trust you to take care of some of the concerns in my life. Please help me move what I know about you in my head all the way into my heart. I am going to trust you for who you are. Amen.
But against all illusion and fantasy and empty talk
There’s always this rock foundation: Fear God! ~ Ecclesiastes 5:7 (MSG)
If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won’t correct you for asking. ~ James 1:5 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Those who respect God are given access to his insights.
PRAYER:
No one, God, has more wisdom and insight than you. But I lack the patience needed to receive what you offer. I gravitate toward whatever is quick and simple. God, grant me the patience to wait for your wisdom. I want to become a person of divine insight. Amen.
The Lord your God is testing you to see if you love the Lord your God with all your mind and all your being. ~ Deuteronomy 13:3b (CEB)
But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. ~ Romans 5:3-4 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
In God's scheme of things, even the trying times have good outcomes.
PRAYER:
God, I am grateful because I know that you are working things out so that I am experiencing the best of what is possible. Forgive me for trying to circumvent things which are hard. It is so tempting to believe that your best should be simple and easy. Help me to trust in your goodness and power. I know that life is hard but because you make yourself known to me I am going to expect good outcomes. 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)
