October 31st, 2008
Friday’s Reflection
OUR THIRST FOR GOD will be satisfied. Once we have become aware of this yearning, once this passionate need and longing has opened up within us, we can hear a stream off in the distance gurgling toward us. We bend every effort to find that stream. However strong or persistent our efforts, though, they are insignificant compared with the mighty rush of water coming to meet us. Though we may try to slake our thirst elsewhere, the Living Water will find our parched mouths. It will not be our small dippers that finally bring the water to our tongues. Rather, it will be the desire of the Water itself to meet our need, the love of the One whom we have struggled to learn to love, that will overcome our last resistance and pour delicious satisfaction on our aching lips.
- David Rensberger
“Thirsty for God”
Weavings Journal
From p. 25 of Weavings Journal, July/August 2000. Copyright © 2000 by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this journal.
Today’s Scripture Reading
[The Lord] satisfies those who are thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
- Psalm 107:9, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for saints and martyrs. Leave your prayer at 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 Donald M. Baillie (October 31).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
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Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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October 30th, 2008
Thursday’s Reflection
LEARN TO MAKE CONNECTIONS to God spontaneously, like children. Praise God for the sunrise, the new day, those who prepared your food, and those who serve. Make your praise simple. Sing, shout for joy, and clap!
- Christopher Maricle
The Jesus Priorities: 8 Essential Habits
From p. 105 of The Jesus Priorities: 8 Essential Habits by Christopher Maricle. 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
Jesus said, “The … Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it.”
- Matthew 23:2-3, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for saints and martyrs. Leave your prayer at 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 Donald M. Baillie (October 31).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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October 29th, 2008
Wednesday’s Reflection
I AM OFTEN TEMPTED to dismiss the value of the story of my day-to-day life. It seems too mundane to have any spiritual value. But because God is present in every moment of my life, my everyday life of mothering, writing, being a wife, eating, running, resting, and washing dishes becomes the very ground in which the seed of God grows. God planted the seed there. God nurtures and tends the seed and keeps calling me back to its care. As I pay attention to the ordinary details of my life, I encounter God at work. Thus, reflecting on my story daily becomes an opportunity to bring together life and prayer, my inner journey and my outward journey.
- Kim Barker
Birthed in Prayer: Pregnancy as a Spiritual Journey
From p. 43 of Birthed in Prayer by Kim Barker, Linda de Meillon, Leigh Harrison. Copyright © 2008 by the authors. 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
Paul wrote: We encouraged you, we comforted you, and we kept urging you to live the kind of life that pleases God.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:12, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for saints and martyrs. Leave your prayer at 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 Donald M. Baillie (October 31).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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October 28th, 2008
Tuesday’s Reflection
WE’VE ALL “GOT IT” in some way or another. Money, status, and social clout are only a few means to becoming “great ones.” Some individuals offer great people skills, others offer humor, still others offer insight, while yet others excel in patience and endurance. In the light of Jesus’ call for the “greatest” to be the “servants of all,” the question is how that greatness will be used and to what ends.
- Robert Corin Morris
Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life
From p. 162 of Wrestling with Grace by Robert Corin Morris. Copyright © 2003 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, “The greatest among you will be your servant.”
- Matthew 23:11, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for saints and martyrs. Leave your prayer at 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 Donald M. Baillie (October 31).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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October 27th, 2008
Monday’s Reflection
HOLY GOD, help us to see your holiness and to yearn to be better than we are. May our gratitude for your great love transform us from the inside out. Amen.
- Mary Lou Redding
The Upper Room Disciplines 2007
From p. 231 of 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 next year’s Disciplines.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Oh, thank God–he’s so good! His love never runs out. All of you set free by God, tell the world!
- Psalm 107:1-2, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for saints and martyrs. Leave your prayer at 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 Donald M. Baillie (October 31).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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October 26th, 2008
Sunday’s Reflection
JESUS CALLED ESTRANGED GROUPS into one spiritual neighborhood and family, teaching each group to look beyond the surface of difference among people to the human essence of a person.
- Robert Corin Morris
Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words
From p. 97 of Provocative Grace by Robert Corin Morris. 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
Jesus said, “The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
- Matthew 22:40, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for bountiful harvests everywhere. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Looking for clarity? Learn the Quaker way of the Clearness Committee to help with making tough decisions. Try it out.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Anne Sullivan (October 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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October 25th, 2008
Saturday’s Reflection
OUR TIMES CRY OUT for a mass movement of compassion. This urgent need coincides with the goal of the Christ-following life, for unless our faith makes us compassionate, it can hardly be called Christian. Following Jesus means moving out of our privatized, isolated, and self-enclosed worlds into a compassionate engagement with our suffering neighbor. As we open ourselves to the pilgrimage experience, … we journey from self-centeredness to compassion. May you and I become everyday pilgrims whom God can use to bring healing to our broken world.
- Trevor Hudson
A Mile in My Shoes
From p. 112 of A Mile in My Shoes: Cultivating Compassion by Trevor Hudson. Copyright © 2005 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 spoke a second commandment: “‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Matthew 22:39, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for bountiful harvests everywhere. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Looking for clarity? Learn the Quaker way of the Clearness Committee to help with making tough decisions. Try it out.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Anne Sullivan (October 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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October 24th, 2008
Friday’s Reflection
TRUE SHEPHERD OF OUR SOULS, who calls his own by name, help us this hour to hear and to heed your voice. We know no other voice, and no other voice will we follow. Amen.
- Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck
A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People
From p. 165 of A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck. Copyright © 1990 by the authors. 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, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment.”
- Matthew 22:37-38, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for bountiful harvests everywhere. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Looking for clarity? Learn the Quaker way of the Clearness Committee to help with making tough decisions. Try it out.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Anne Sullivan (October 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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October 23rd, 2008
Thursday’s Reflection
IF WE COME TO CHRIST
hungry, thirsty,
starving for the friendship of the divine,
we shall be filled
in God’s sacred silence.
- Linda Douty
Rhythm & Fire: Experiencing the Holy in Community and Solitude
From p. 73 of Rhythm & Fire edited by Jerry P. Haas and Cynthia Langston Kirk. Copyright © 2008 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
Paul wrote: Because of our love for you we were ready to share with you not only the Good News from God but even our own lives.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:8, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for bountiful harvests everywhere. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Looking for clarity? Learn the Quaker way of the Clearness Committee to help with making tough decisions. Try it out.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Anne Sullivan (October 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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October 22nd, 2008
Wednesday’s Reflection
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE is not about political ideology, or about condemnation, or about trumping someone else’s experience. It is about Jesus, about being his disciple, about falling in love with God, and about having the courage to let that kind of devotion actually change your life.
- Derek Maul
Get Real: A Spiritual Journey for Men
From p. 15 of Get Real by Derek Maul. 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
Paul wrote: Even though there was much opposition, our God gave us courage to tell you the Good News that comes from him.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:2, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for bountiful harvests everywhere. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Looking for clarity? Learn the Quaker way of the Clearness Committee to help with making tough decisions. Try it out.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Anne Sullivan (October 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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