Tuesday’s Reflection

IN OUR SEARCH for identity Christ meets us right where we are. In his humanity Jesus also needed to know who he was. But he didn’t look inward, nor did he let others tell him who he was, nor did he look to his achievements to find his sense of identity. Instead, in order to know who he was, Jesus listened to the voice of his Heavenly Parent, trusted that voice, and claimed its truth for his life.

- Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant
The Way of Transforming Discipleship

From page 21 The Way of Transforming Discipleship by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005 by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Scripture Reading

God said, “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, … I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.”

- Hosea 11:3-4, NRSV

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for peacemakers everywhere. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Why Saints? Observing saints more closely reveals that they were ordinary people just like us. What set them apart was their life purpose. More than anything else, they wanted to know God. So despite their faults and frailties, they have much to teach us. Learn from Saints.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Basil the Blessed (August 2).

Lectionary Readings:

• Hosea 11:1-11
• Psalm 107:1-9, 43
• Colossians 3:1-11
• Luke 12:13-21

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Monday’s Reflection

ALL-LOVING GOD,
we thank you for your love without limits.
Forgive our bent to turn away from you.
Give us courage to hear your call
and respond to your love.
We ask this in your Son’s name.
Amen.

- MarLu Primero Scott
The Upper Room Disciplines 2007

From page 223 The Upper Room Disciplines 2007. Copyright © 2006 by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Scripture Reading

God said, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me.”

- Hosea 11:1-2, NRSV

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for peacemakers everywhere. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Why Saints? Observing saints more closely reveals that they were ordinary people just like us. What set them apart was their life purpose. More than anything else, they wanted to know God. So despite their faults and frailties, they have much to teach us. Learn from Saints.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Basil the Blessed (August 2).

Lectionary Readings:

• Hosea 11:1-11
• Psalm 107:1-9, 43
• Colossians 3:1-11
• Luke 12:13-21

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Sunday’s Reflection

IN OUR CROWDED and distracted days, one of the ancient paths to deepening communion with God is attentiveness. … This vital attentiveness is nourished … by love. It is reflected in the attention a young mother and father lavish upon their newborn infant, the finely honed appreciation shared by longtime friends, the alert care of an adult child at the bedside of a frail parent. Love pierces the fog of suspended animation that often surrounds us, and brings us to greater consciousness of God’s presence in what we are seeing and hearing.

- John S. Mogabgab
Weavings Journal

From “Editor’s Introduction” in Weavings Journal, July/August 2002. Copyright © 2002 by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this magazine.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him. Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith.

- Colossians 2:6-7, GNT

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Got Daily Devotions? If you’re not quite sure how to get started or enhance your daily meditation time, this article’s for you. Read How to Have a Daily Devotional Time.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas á Kempis (July 24).

Lectionary Readings:

• Hosea 1:2-10
• Psalm 85
• Colossians 2:6-19
• Luke 11:1-13

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Saturday’s Reflection

PEACEMAKING IS ACTIVE. It is not enough to pray for peace or to try to live peaceably. We must also work for justice, investing ourselves in our communities for the good of all. Even though we are not permanent residents of this world, we have a role to play while we are here. God’s plan is not pie in the sky, on high, by and by when we die. We are meant to make a difference here and now.

- Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart

From page 96 of The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Life Lessons from the Beatitudes by Mary Lou Redding. Copyright © 2006 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

- Psalm 85:8, NRSV

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Got Daily Devotions? If you’re not quite sure how to get started or enhance your daily meditation time, this article’s for you. Read How to Have a Daily Devotional Time.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas á Kempis (July 24).

Lectionary Readings:

• Hosea 1:2-10
• Psalm 85
• Colossians 2:6-19
• Luke 11:1-13

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Friday’s Reflection

JESUS’ TEACHING SHOWS that the purpose of our praying is not to provide information to God, as though God were not paying attention to our situation. Nor is prayer our way of giving advice so that God might make the world a better place. Prayer’s ultimate purpose is to deepen our intimacy with a God who wants to be in a personal relationship — one that’s akin to the healthiest, most life-giving affection between parents and children.

- Terry A. DeYoung
The Upper Room Disciplines 2007

From page 220 of The Upper Room Disciplines 2007 by Steve Harper. Copyright © 2006 by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Jesus said, “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. … Don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”

- Luke 11:10, 13, THE MESSAGE

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Got Daily Devotions? If you’re not quite sure how to get started or enhance your daily meditation time, this article’s for you. Read How to Have a Daily Devotional Time.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas á Kempis (July 24).

Lectionary Readings:

• Hosea 1:2-10
• Psalm 85
• Colossians 2:6-19
• Luke 11:1-13

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Thursday’s Reflection

KEEP PRAYING WHEN LIFE DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. Keep praying in the face of insufficient evidence that prayer “works.” I appeal to you to base your beliefs about prayer on revelation, not speculation; on the long haul, not the short run; on heaven and earth combined, not earth alone. If you continue to talk in the dark and pray when life doesn’t make sense, you will be no farther behind in the life of prayer than the greatest saint. Those women and men who prayed before us left footprints that go through the deepest valleys as well as the mountaintops.

- Steve Harper
Talking in the Dark

From page 115 of Talking in the Dark: Praying When Life Doesn’t Make Sense by Steve Harper. Copyright © 2007 by the author. Published by Upper Room books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Show us your constant love, O LORD, and give us your saving help.

- Psalm 85:7, GNT

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Got Daily Devotions? If you’re not quite sure how to get started or enhance your daily meditation time, this article’s for you. Read How to Have a Daily Devotional Time.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas á Kempis (July 24).

Lectionary Readings:

• Hosea 1:2-10
• Psalm 85
• Colossians 2:6-19
• Luke 11:1-13

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Wednesday’s Reflection

WE DO NOT NEED to beg God to have mercy on us, because we have already been told that God is love. From before the beginning of time, God has had mercy on us and longed for our response. These forms of prayer are, indeed, ancient liturgical phrases, still widely used in our liturgies as well as in our personal prayers. The problem with them, however, is that they imply that it is God who will change when we pray. This implication can arouse a deep inner fear that a God who has asked to hear us or to have mercy might, after all, be sometimes deaf or merciless. The more we repeat these prayers, the deeper our fear might go.

We do not need to search for God, because it is God who forever searches for us. It is God who says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in” (Rev. 3:20).

- Flora Slosson Wuellner
Prayer and Our Bodies

From pages 52-53 of Prayer and Our Bodies by Flora Slosson Wuellner. Copyright © 1987 by the author. Published by Upper Room books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Jesus said, “Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.”

- Luke 11:9, GNT

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Got Daily Devotions? If you’re not quite sure how to get started or enhance your daily meditation time, this article’s for you. Read How to Have a Daily Devotional Time.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas á Kempis (July 24).

Lectionary Readings:

• Hosea 1:2-10
• Psalm 85
• Colossians 2:6-19
• Luke 11:1-13

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Tuesday’s Reflection

O LIGHT ETERNAL, surpassing all created brightness, flash forth the lightning from above and enlighten the inmost recesses of my heart. Cleanse, cheer, enlighten, and enliven my spirit with all its powers, that it may cling to you in ecstasies of joy. Oh when will that happy and wished-for hour come, when you will fill me with your presence and become all in all to me? So long as this is not given me, my joy will not be complete.

- Thomas á Kempis
A Pattern for Life

From pages 52-53 of A Pattern for Life: Selected Writings of Thomas á Kempis, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 1998 by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Scripture Reading

The number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered.

- Hosea 1:10, NRSV

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Got Daily Devotions? If you’re not quite sure how to get started or enhance your daily meditation time, this article’s for you. Read How to Have a Daily Devotional Time.

Saints, Inc.:

Today we remember Thomas á Kempis (July 24).

Lectionary Readings:

• Hosea 1:2-10
• Psalm 85
• Colossians 2:6-19
• Luke 11:1-13

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Monday’s Reflection

IN MUTED WHISPERS we articulate our hope;
Restore us again, O God of our salvation.
With mounting anticipation we prepare for your coming;
Revive us again, that we may rejoice in you.
Amidst rising hopes we turn to you, O God,
Show us your steadfast love.
Lord, let us hear now your words to us;
Speak peace to your people.
Faithful One, prepare our hearts to receive your joy;
The joyful kiss of righteousness and peace.

- Bill Treadway
Alive Now

From page 33 of Alive Now, November/December 1999. Copyright © 1999 by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this magazine.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Restore us again, O God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us. Will you be angry with us forever?

- Psalm 85:4-5, NIV

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Got Daily Devotions? If you’re not quite sure how to get started or enhance your daily meditation time, this article’s for you. Read How to Have a Daily Devotional Time.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas á Kempis (July 24).

Lectionary Readings:

• Hosea 1:2-10
• Psalm 85
• Colossians 2:6-19
• Luke 11:1-13

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Sunday’s Reflection

FEED THOSE WHO ARE HUNGRY. Shelter the stranger. Visit the sick. Minister to the prisoners. Bury the dead. Convert sinners. Instruct the ignorant. Counsel the doubtful. Comfort the sorrowing. Bear wrongs patiently. Forgive injuries. Pray for others.

It is not necessary to sense the presence of angels or to feel the encircling energy of the communion of saints to live into the reality that someone is watching over us. We can become presence for one another. We can be the arms, the legs, the feet, the heart of Christ in the world.

- Wendy M. Wright
The Time Between

From page 181-182 of The Time Between: Cycles and Rhythms in Ordinary Time by Wendy M. Wright. Copyright © 1999 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Scripture Reading

God said, “Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor … saying, ‘When will … the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?’ — skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.”

- Amos 8:4-6, NIV

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for farmers, migrant workers, truckers, and grocers. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Create Your Sacred Space. Create your own Sacred Space where you can read a daily devotion, create a private online journal, save some pics that inspire you, and most importantly, simply be for a while away from the chaos of everyday life. Create a Sacred Space.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Dorothea Dix (July 18).

Lectionary Readings:

• Amos 8:1-12
• Psalm 52
• Colossians 1:15-28
• Luke 10:38-42

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA