You are in for trouble
if you go to Egypt for help,
or if you depend on
an army of chariots
or a powerful cavalry.
Instead, you should depend on
and trust
the holy Lord God
of Israel. ~ Isaiah 31:1 (CEV)
God gives us what it takes to do all that we do. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:5b (CEV)
KEY THOUGHT:
God provides. Trust him!
PRAYER:
God, I feel so overwhelmed at times -- overwhelmed by my circumstances and my inability to reign them in. Help me to trust your provision and to quit messing around with poor substitutes like power and control. If Jesus conquered death surely he is trustworthy. I'm going to relax and trust you. Thank you for being there. Amen.
I will heal their waywardness.
I will love them lavishly. ~ Hosea 14:4 (MSG)
Be merciful to those who doubt. ~ Jude 22 (NIV)
KEY THOUGHT:
God is kind and merciful even to flaky people.
PRAYER:
God, your lavish love is evident and I gladly embrace it. I don't pretend to understand it, though. I'm such a flake but you love even me. Transform my life through your grace so that I am less of a flake. I'm trusting you and the new life established by Christ Jesus for that. Amen.
Jacob said, "We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone." ~ Genesis 35:3 (NLT)
Always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ... ~ Ephesians 5:20 (CEB)
KEY THOUGHT:
Never miss an opportunity to thank God for his faithful presence and saving involvement in your life.
PRAYER:
Lord, you are the "portable altar" for your people. You grant access into your lovely presence -- I rejoice in you. You are with me whenever I go, right where I am planted in the daily challenges of life. Let me be your altar of spiritual communion so that I may offer your life, light, and love to the world. Amen. (Daily Texts, Mount Carmel Ministries edition)
I sought the Lord and he answered me.
He delivered me from all my fears. ~ Psalm 34:4 (CEB)
Jesus told the people another story:
What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Won’t she light a lamp, sweep the floor, and look carefully until she finds it? ~ Luke 15:8 (CEV)
KEY THOUGHT:
Seek the Lord, for he has been seeking you.
PRAYER:
Lovingly God, you invite us to seek you and your agenda. I confess that I seek too many of the wrong things. Remind me of the benefits of living as a God-seeker. I'm going to be free from the fears that haunt me because you will save 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)
