August 31st, 2009
Monday’s Reflection
JESUS MAY BE God Incarnate, Lord of all creation, Emmanuel, Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Coming Messiah, Light of life, and so on, but the Master himself deliberately engaged his public ministry here on earth by surrounding himself with a small covenant group of other men who knew and loved God. How much more should we place ourselves in the company of fellow believers?
- Derek Maul
Get Real: A Spiritual Journey for Men
From p. 73 of Get Real: A Spiritual Journey for Men by Derek Maul. 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
Who is your “community of fellow believers”? Share your reflections.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Mountains encircle Jerusalem, and God encircles his people–always has and always will.
- Psalm 125:2, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for all who labor under heavy burdens. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Struggling with Pain? Learning to live with disease or distress can be a challenge. Read Meditation for Distress, Disease, or Pain.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Aidan of Lindisfarne (August 31).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
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Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 4 Comments »
August 30th, 2009
Sunday’s Reflection
IF BELIEVING IN GOD
is what you’re interested in,
I feel obligated to tell you
that it’s hardly comfortable.
In fact, it’s dangerous and exhilarating,
exciting and threatening,
crazy and logical,
because it’s far better
than anything I could cook up on my own.
- Jo Kadlecek
Woman Overboard: How Passion Saved My Life
From p. 37 of Woman Overboard by Jo Kadlecek. Copyright © 2009 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
Today’s author has found that believing in God is not always a comfortable experience. Share your own experience.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air.
- James 1:26, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers and school officials. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius urged that all be taught the examen, a daily examination of our deepest feelings and desires. Try a daily Examen.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 6 Comments »
August 29th, 2009
Saturday’s Reflection
THINK OF some situation ahead of you in which you may be in a difficult encounter with another. Ask the living Christ to go ahead of you to prepare that place for you, so that when you get there, in time you will feel the welcome and the special strength God gives. Think of yourself or envision yourself surrounded with God’s light, breathing God’s breath, giving yourself a space for listening, reflecting, then acting out of that center of inner strength. …
Give thanks to God that a deep change already is working within you. God’s gentle, radical power is re-creating you.
- Flora Slosson Wuellner
Forgiveness, the Passionate Journey
From p. 62 of Forgiveness, the Passionate Journey by Flora Slosson Wuellner. Copyright © 2001 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
Try today’s exercise. Share your thoughts as you feel comfortable.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!
- James 1:22, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers and school officials. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius urged that all be taught the examen, a daily examination of our deepest feelings and desires. Try a daily Examen.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 3 Comments »
August 28th, 2009
Friday’s Reflection
THERE ARE FEW who will believe in and accept the forgiveness of God so completely as to let God bury their sins in God’s forgiving mercy; or who, having once accepted that forgiveness, will leave their sin with God forever. They are always reopening the vault where they have deposited their sin, and are forever asking to have it back in order to fondle it; reconstruct, query, or worry over it; wear it inwardly. Thus their sin ties them to the past and finally dooms their lives in both the present and the future. … Forgiveness … can only be received by those who will accept its conditions.
To be cleansed and to accept the cleansing, then to move on into the present and the future as a forgiven and restored one, is the gift of the deepest prayer.
- Douglas V. Steere
Dimensions of Prayer
From pp. 45-46 of Dimensions of Prayer: Cultivating a Relationship with God, by Douglas V. Steere. Copyright © 1997 by Dorothy Steere. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Are you able to accept God’s forgiveness and then let go? Share your experiences.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Jesus said, “There is nothing that goes into you from the outside which can make you ritually unclean. Rather, it is what comes out of you that makes you unclean.”
- Mark 7:15, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers and school officials. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius urged that all be taught the examen, a daily examination of our deepest feelings and desires. Try a daily Examen.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 12 Comments »
August 27th, 2009
Thursday’s Reflection
YOU’D BE AMAZED at the pleasant conversations you can make with total strangers when you’re all in the same predicament. Normally, though, most of us isolate and insulate ourselves while attending to our business in public places. We become harried and selfish. That slow driver? That elderly lady who holds up the express lane of the grocery? They’re just trying to aggravate me! So is the traffic light that turned red when I was in a hurry: it saw me coming! I’m being humorous, but you know what I mean. When I’m out in public, sometimes I fall into an “it’s-all-about-me” attitude.
- Paul E. Stroble
You Gave Me a Wide Place: Holy Places in Our Lives
From p. 82 of You Gave Me a Wide Place: Holy Places in Our Lives by Paul E. Stroble. Copyright © 2006 by the author. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Tell us about your presence “out in public.” Where are your successes? Challenges? Share your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Human anger does not achieve God’s righteous purpose.
- James 1:20, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers and school officials. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius urged that all be taught the examen, a daily examination of our deepest feelings and desires. Try a daily Examen.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 5 Comments »
August 26th, 2009
Wednesday’s Reflection
THE TASKS TO WHICH GOD may call us often seem impossible. Certainly this was true for Moses. Imagine how he felt when God called him to demand the release of the Israelite slaves from one of the great powers of the ancient world. Totally inadequate! No wonder he made excuses. Indeed, Moses’ story reminds us that one of the clearest marks of God’s call is that it leaves us feeling totally inadequate.
What matters, however, is how we choose to deal with our inadequacy. Several options face us. We can allow it to paralyze us. Our excuses then end up having the last word. Or we can let our inadequacy lead us into a greater dependence on God. This is what Moses chose to do. He took seriously God’s promise to be with him and began to follow God’s call, one step at a time. Let us resolve to do the same.
- Trevor Hudson
Questions God Asks Us
From pp. 43-44 of Questions God Asks Us by Trevor Hudson. 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
How are you choosing to deal with inadequacy in your life? Share your reflections.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Jesus answered [the Pharisees], “How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! … ‘These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.’”
- Mark 7:6, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers and school officials. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius urged that all be taught the examen, a daily examination of our deepest feelings and desires. Try a daily Examen.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 10 Comments »
August 25th, 2009
Tuesday’s Reflection
WHERE DID I GET THE IDEA that worship must always be restrained, quiet, and dignified?
Throughout my long life, you have showered me with blessing upon blessing.
Today I will not withhold the praise you deserve.
Awaken the passion that I’ve kept tucked away for a rainy day.
It’s all about you, Lord. Not me — but you.
Before I get out of this chair, I will lift my hands and say aloud the Lord’s Prayer.
Today I will consider what all those words mean.
I will sing a hymn of praise while I comb my hair and put on my socks.
I will not wait for another day.
I will make a joyful noise!
- Missy Buchanan
Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body
From pp. 19-20 of Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body by Missy Buchanan. 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
Tell us — how will you worship the Creator today? Share your ideas.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity; you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
- Psalm 45:6-7, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers and school officials. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius urged that all be taught the examen, a daily examination of our deepest feelings and desires. Try a daily Examen.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 10 Comments »
August 24th, 2009
Monday’s Reflection
SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP
is leadership content to ponder,
to listen, to wait,
to resist the temptation to know, assert,
and assuage every human anxiety and desire for certainty.
- Daniel Wolpert
Leading a Life with God: The Practice of Spiritual Leadership
From p. 52 of Leading a Life with God by Daniel Wolpert. 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
Share your challenges and your gifts in the area of listening. Join us in reflection.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Remember this, my dear friends! Everyone must be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to become angry.
- James 1:19, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers and school officials. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius urged that all be taught the examen, a daily examination of our deepest feelings and desires. Try a daily Examen.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 4 Comments »
August 23rd, 2009
Sunday’s Reflection
WE ARE LOVED before we can even utter the desire to be worthy. We do not earn the cloak of beauty that is wrapped around our souls or the wreath of love that God gives each of us.
- Stephanie Ford
Kindred Souls: Connecting through Spiritual Friendship
From p. 30 of Kindred Souls: Connecting through Spiritual Friendship by Stephanie Ford. 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
Tell us about “the cloak of beauty wrapped around your soul.” Share your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture Reading
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
- Psalm 84:1, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for life-giving water. 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 Bernard of Clairvaux (August 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 3 Comments »
August 22nd, 2009
Saturday’s Reflection
IN THE EXILE of my grief, I have been able to take comfort knowing that I can walk through this “valley of the shadow of death” one step at a time. I can find ways to embrace life in exile. … When you are in exile, there is a way to live. We must choose life.
- Steve West
“The Exile of Grief”
Alive Now
From p. 22 of Alive Now, September/October 2004. Copyright © 2004 by The Upper Room. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this magazine.
Today’s Question
Do you know someone who is feeling in exile today? What words of comfort would you share? Visit the comments area.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.
- John 6:68-69, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for life-giving water. 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 Bernard of Clairvaux (August 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 2 Comments »
