Tuesday’s Reflection

I FIND THAT FOR ME, the most direct way to healing, transformation, and guidance is to give explicitly to God’s heart each bodily pain, each wave of anger or fear, each embarrassment, each perplexity, each inner confusion, each person for whom I pray. I know God’s heart will take what is offered, hold it, heal it, and transform it into the creative energy it is meant to be.

I am learning to release past hurtful memories, as well as challenging future events, to God’s heart. I am learning to send to that heart my experiences right now: driving, cleaning, phoning, writing, taking a walk, entering a plane, welcoming my family at the door.

- Flora Slosson Wuellner
Miracle: When Christ Touches Our Deepest Need

From pp. 93-94 of Miracle by Flora Slosson Wuellner. Copyright © 2008 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

What have you learned about how you best heal? Share your reflections.

Today’s Scripture Reading

For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

- 2 Corinthians 12:10, NIV

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for responsible expressions of freedom. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Walking the Labyrinth is an ancient Christian prayer method in which the person praying walks meditatively through a patterned area. Read The Labyrinth: Praying Psalm 139.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Peter (June 29).

Lectionary Readings:

• 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
• Psalm 48
• 2 Corinthians 12:2-10
• Mark 6:1-13

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Monday’s Reflection

SO EARNESTLY BUSY with anxious, fevered efforts for the Kingdom of God have we been, that we failed to hear the knock upon the door, and to know that our chief task is to open that door and be entered by the Divine Life.

- Thomas Kelly
The Sanctuary of the Soul

From p. 27 of The Sanctuary of the Soul: Selected Writings of Thomas Kelly, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 1997 by Upper Room Books. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Are you hearing God’s knock on the door? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family.

- Mark 6:4, GNT

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for responsible expressions of freedom. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Walking the Labyrinth is an ancient Christian prayer method in which the person praying walks meditatively through a patterned area. Read The Labyrinth: Praying Psalm 139.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Peter (June 29).

Lectionary Readings:

• 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
• Psalm 48
• 2 Corinthians 12:2-10
• Mark 6:1-13

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Sunday’s Reflection

JEWS AND CHRISTIANS have a practice that provides “therapy” when the storm clouds roll in and we’re grieving loss beyond repair. This practice is called “lament.” To lament means to “express sorrow or to mourn out loud.” The practice of lament gives you time and permission to vent your pent-up anger, your deep sadness, and your self-blame. You allow yourself to grieve in a way that leads to healing and renewal.

As you pour out your grief, loss, pain, and anger in the presence of God, you discover that God hears your cries of anguish and comforts you. While you can’t remove the storms, quiet the thunder, or stop the lightning from striking, you can trust your tears to be the raindrops that release the clouds, allowing rays of sunlight to shine through. Before catching a glimpse of the rainbow, though, you have to brace yourself for the raging storm within.

- Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan with Tatiana Wilson
“Grieving”
Way to Live: Christian Practices for Teens

From p. 251 of Way to Live: Christian Practices for Teens, edited by Dorothy C. Bass and Don C. Richter. Copyright © 2002 by the authors. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

What’s your experience with lamenting? Is there something for which you need to lament right now? Share your lament.

Today’s Scripture Reading

David sang this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan. … “On the hills of Israel our leaders are dead! The bravest of our soldiers have fallen!”

- 2 Samuel 1:17, 19, GNT

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for vacation Bible schools and summer camps. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Centering Prayer is a type of prayer that goes deeper than verbal communication. Try a Centering Prayer exercise.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas More (June 22).

Lectionary Readings:

• 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
• Psalm 130
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
• Mark 5:21-43

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Saturday’s Reflection

TO VIEW REALITY from a slightly different perspective often yields a view of things totally unlike what they appeared to be. If we take just a couple of steps in another direction, what we view as reality is often profoundly changed.

- Norman Shawchuck
A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God

From p. 59 of A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job. Copyright © 2003 by the authors. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Can you think of a situation that needs to be viewed in a different perspective? What would happen if you took a few steps to the side and looked again? Share what you see.

Today’s Scripture Reading

O Israel, wait and watch for God–with God’s arrival comes love, with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.

- Psalm 130:7, THE MESSAGE

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for vacation Bible schools and summer camps. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Centering Prayer is a type of prayer that goes deeper than verbal communication. Try a Centering Prayer exercise.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas More (June 22).

Lectionary Readings:

• 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
• Psalm 130
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
• Mark 5:21-43

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Friday’s Reflection

GOD IS THE ONE who, as Deuteronomy 8:18 says, gives us “power to get wealth.” Anything we posses is ours because God has graciously allowed us to have it. This flies in the face of our culture’s prattling about personal power and self-development, where we make ourselves into what we want to be. … None of us can claim to be self-made; every good gift in our lives comes from God’s grace flowing toward us.

- Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Life Lessons from the Beatitudes

From p. 20 of The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Life Lessons from the Beatitudes by Mary Lou Redding. Copyright © 2006 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

How does God speak to you through the voice of today’s author? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us–in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.

- 2 Corinthians 8:9, THE MESSAGE

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for vacation Bible schools and summer camps. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Centering Prayer is a type of prayer that goes deeper than verbal communication. Try a Centering Prayer exercise.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas More (June 22).

Lectionary Readings:

• 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
• Psalm 130
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
• Mark 5:21-43

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Thursday’s Reflection

ABBA, help me to be a source of your mercy.
Teach me to forgive others
before I seek forgiveness for my own actions.
Grant me the courage
to extend your love
to the stranger and the needy.
Amen.

- Christopher Maricle
The Jesus Priorities: 8 Essential Habits

From p. 48 of The Jesus Priorities by Christopher Maricle. Copyright © 2007 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Where do you need to forgive? to be forgiven? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped.

- Psalm 130:3-4, THE MESSAGE

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for vacation Bible schools and summer camps. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Centering Prayer is a type of prayer that goes deeper than verbal communication. Try a Centering Prayer exercise.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas More (June 22).

Lectionary Readings:

• 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
• Psalm 130
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
• Mark 5:21-43

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Wednesday’s Reflection

HEALING HANDS OF JESUS, touch our lives and touch our world. Move within every cell and every soul. Transform us that we might radiate your wholeness and healing as your companions in healing the world. Let healing abound; let every act and every word bring joy and wholeness to all creation. In the name of the Healer Jesus. Amen.

- Bruce G. Epperly
Holy Adventurer: 41 Days of Audacious Living

From p. 127 of Holy Adventurer: 41 Days of Audacious Living by Bruce G. Epperly. Copyright © 2008 by the author. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Share your prayer for healing — of yourself, a situation, the world. Visit the comments area.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

- Mark 5:30, NIV

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for vacation Bible schools and summer camps. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Centering Prayer is a type of prayer that goes deeper than verbal communication. Try a Centering Prayer exercise.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas More (June 22).

Lectionary Readings:

• 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
• Psalm 130
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
• Mark 5:21-43

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Tuesday’s Reflection

PLAN TO WATCH a report of world and national news at least once this week. List the main stories as the program moves through them, and when the program is over, retreat to a quiet place. Look over the list of stories. How can deepened anticipation for God’s desired outcome play a role in these situations?

Sit prayerfully with these stories and consider how the practice of faithful anticipation might bring healing to a waiting world. How could anticipation move into action?

- Pamela C. Hawkins
Simply Wait

From p. 33 of Simply Wait: Cultivating Stillness in the Season of Advent by Pamela C. Hawkins. Copyright © 2007 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

What are your thoughts about today’s reflection? Share your hopes and reflections.

Today’s Scripture Reading

If you are eager to give, God will accept your gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you don’t have.

- 2 Corinthians 8:12, GNT

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for vacation Bible schools and summer camps. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Centering Prayer is a type of prayer that goes deeper than verbal communication. Try a Centering Prayer exercise.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas More (June 22).

Lectionary Readings:

• 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
• Psalm 130
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
• Mark 5:21-43

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Monday’s Reflection

ALL OF US have sustained wounds; all of us have inflicted wounds. Life consists in large measure of a journey through grief and loss. Wounded, we cry out to God. We seek a balm to heal our wounds. We long for release from the discouragement that saps our energy and blinds us to all that is good and true in our lives. We yearn for wholeness and healing.

At a moment of deep despair, the Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah to God’s people: “I will restore health to you and your wounds I will heal.”

- Paul Wesley Chilcote
A Life-Shaping Prayer: 52 Meditations in the Wesleyan Spirit

From pp. 94-95 of A Life-Shaping Prayer: 52 Meditations in the Wesleyan Spirit by Paul Wesley Chilcote. Copyright © 2008 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

What is the psalm or scripture that speaks your heart today? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

From the depths of my despair I call to you, Lord. Hear my cry, O Lord; listen to my call for help!

- Psalm 130:1-2, GNT

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for vacation Bible schools and summer camps. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Centering Prayer is a type of prayer that goes deeper than verbal communication. Try a Centering Prayer exercise.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Thomas More (June 22).

Lectionary Readings:

• 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
• Psalm 130
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
• Mark 5:21-43

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Sunday’s Reflection

MOST OF US OPERATE on an oral agreement with God. We listen to scripture and think about God. We attend worship and express our devotion and love in prayer and song. Take the time to write out your end of a firm agreement, as the Israelites did [Nehemiah 9:38]. List those things you commit to (such as, I will honor you as my God; I will always tell the truth; I promise to share your love), then carefully rewrite or type your agreement on an elegant piece of stationery or paper. Date and sign it, and place it in your Bible.

- Meeting God in Scripture: Entering the Old Testament

From p. 41 of Meeting God in Scripture: Entering the Old Testament , Participant’s workbook. Copyright © 2007 by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Consider trying today’s exercise. If you feel comfortable, share what you learned. Visit the comments.

Today’s Scripture Reading

David said to Goliath, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty.”

- 1 Samuel 17:45, GNT

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for fathers and other men of nurture. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Many Ways to Pray. Think of the Ignatian Method — named after Ignatius of Loyola — as a sort of virtual experience of the scripture where you read the scripture and then create in your mind a short film about what you read. Try the Ignatian Method.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Ephrem (June 18).

Lectionary Readings:

• 1 Samuel 17:32-49
• Psalm 9:9-20
• 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
• Mark 4:35-41

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

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA