July 24th, 2008
Thursday’s Reflection
WE ARE NOT IN THE HABIT of reflecting on God’s will in the context of our daily lives. As a result, we think about it only occasionally — in church on Sundays, for example. It would be more valuable and instructive to ask ourselves, What is God’s will for me right now, when this homeless person is asking for help? or, What is God’s will when I am starting an argument with my spouse?
- Christopher Maricle
The Jesus Priorities: 8 Essential Habits
From p. 91 of The Jesus Priorities 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
Thank God! Pray to him by name! Tell everyone you meet what he has done! Sing him songs, belt out hymns, translate his wonders into music!
- Psalm 105:1-2, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Visit the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Praying with Eyes Open. Many of us were taught to close our eyes when we pray. Praying with icons is an ancient prayer practice that involves keeping our eyes wide open, taking into our heart what the image visually communicates. Try praying with icons.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember James the Great (July 25).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
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Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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July 23rd, 2008
Wednesday’s Reflection
SPIRITUALITY IS NOT NECESSARILY a comfort zone. Most of us, myself included, prefer a spiritual path that builds inner peace, self-esteem, confidence in times of trouble, and so on. We prefer not to embark upon a spiritual path that leads to painful inner change and difficult questions! … The spiritual path certainly leads to positive outcomes, but it can also lead us out of our familiar routine and demand significant changes in our thinking and patterns of living.
- Paul E. Stroble
You Gave Me a Wide Place: Holy Places in Our Lives
From p. 28 of You Gave Me a Wide Place by Paul E. Stroble. 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
Jacob worked seven years so that he could have Rachel, and the time seemed like only a few days to him, because he loved her.
- Genesis 29:20, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Visit the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Praying with Eyes Open. Many of us were taught to close our eyes when we pray. Praying with icons is an ancient prayer practice that involves keeping our eyes wide open, taking into our heart what the image visually communicates. Try praying with icons.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember James the Great (July 25).
- 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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July 22nd, 2008
Tuesday’s Reflection
LONG AGO the prophet Jeremiah asked, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” (8:22). He wrote his lament when his nation was suffering greatly. Jeremiah’s heart was broken, his face wet with tears. Of course, there was medicine in the land, and Israel had doctors. But the kind of care the nation needed went beyond the power of pills or persons. Likewise, we are never bereft of prayer, but we may need more than our customary views and practices of it. We may need to experience prayer in a new way — or more correctly, experience God in a new way. As one person said to me, “I want to know about the kind of prayer that will keep me praying when everything in me wants to quit.”
- Steve Harper
Talking in the Dark: Praying When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
From p. 17 of Talking in the Dark 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
If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. [God’s Spirit] does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.
- Romans 8:26, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Visit the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Praying with Eyes Open. Many of us were taught to close our eyes when we pray. Praying with icons is an ancient prayer practice that involves keeping our eyes wide open, taking into our heart what the image visually communicates. Try praying with icons.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember James the Great (July 25).
- 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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July 21st, 2008
Monday’s Reflection
JESUS CALLS US to enlarge our circle of companions, to expand compassion beyond the boundaries of our present awareness. Jesus ate meals with misfits and outcasts as well as with his friends. Jesus healed the daughter of a Gentile woman, even as he claimed that his main mission was to save the Jews. When I imagine Jesus staring into that woman’s insistent face, I believe his own heart was broken and his compassion enlarged by God’s boundless mercy. All of us, it seems, are candidates to be stretched Godward by compassion coaching.
- Don C. Richter
Mission Trips That Matter: Embodied Faith for the Sake of the World
From p. 44 of Mission Trips That Matter by Don C. Richter. Copyright © 2008 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
The Lord is our God, his commands are for all the world.
- Psalm 105:7, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for all who travel and all who provide hospitality. Visit the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Praying with Eyes Open. Many of us were taught to close our eyes when we pray. Praying with icons is an ancient prayer practice that involves keeping our eyes wide open, taking into our heart what the image visually communicates. Try praying with icons.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember James the Great (July 25).
- 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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July 20th, 2008
Sunday’s Reflection
IT IS ENOUGH to affirm Jesus’ living presence at work in our lives, to call on the power of the Risen One, to pray in Jesus’ name, to ask the living Jesus to enfold our lives with his transcendent life. It is enough to picture or to think of Jesus looking directly at us and speaking our name as those who are personally loved and loved forever. It is enough to grow in the trust that enables us to tell “him the whole truth.”
- Flora Slosson Wuellner
Feed My Shepherds: Spiritual Healing and Renewal for Those in Christian Leadership
From Feed My Shepherds by Flora Slosson Wuellner. Copyright © 1998 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
Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place–and I did not know it!”
- Genesis 28:16, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for farmers, migrant workers, truckers and grocers. Visit 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 Dorothea Dix (July 18).
- 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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July 19th, 2008
Saturday’s Reflection
WISDOM VIEWS the rising sun and the majestic silences of nature as daily messages from God. God is patient; God waits for us to get it right — or continues to work with us, despite our every error and lapse of conscience, in the sinews of every prayer and doctrinal attempt, every compassionate act, every encounter with stone and wind, every effort to read scripture and remember the Creator.
- Ray Waddle
Against the Grain: Unconventional Wisdom from Ecclesiastes
From p. 147 of Against the Grain by Ray Waddle. 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
If you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live.
- Romans 8:13, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for farmers, migrant workers, truckers and grocers. Visit 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 Dorothea Dix (July 18).
- 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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July 18th, 2008
Friday’s Reflection
MANY PEOPLE carry negative pictures of God with them. They see God as someone who is always out to get them. They believe that God is vengeful, vindictive, and punishing. Perhaps you do too. Now if this is your picture of God, you will probably want to keep God at a distance. Fortunately, … Step Two gives us an important clue about the nature of this Higher Power. It is a wonderful bit of good news. God wants only the best for us. God is genuinely interested in restoring us to being the way we were meant to be.
- Trevor Hudson
One Day at a Time: Discovering the Freedom of 12-Step Spirituality
From pp. 18-19 of One Day at a Time by Trevor Hudson. 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
Where could I go to escape from you? … If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west, you would be there
to lead me.
- Psalm 139:7, 9-10, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for farmers, migrant workers, truckers and grocers. Visit 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 Dorothea Dix (July 18).
- 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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July 17th, 2008
Thursday’s Reflection
ALMIGHTY GOD, Psalm 139 says we are all wonderfully made by you. You created us with a core humanity that apparently survives, even in the midst of horrible violence. Let us celebrate this natural instinct to preserve life, and deeply ponder it, especially at those times when war seems so attractive, or inevitable. Amen.
- Jim Melchiorre
Novena in Time of War: Soul-Searching Prayers and Meditations
From p. 49 of Novena in Time of War by Jim Melchiorre. 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
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
- Psalm 139:1-2, NIV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for farmers, migrant workers, truckers and grocers. Visit 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 Dorothea Dix (July 18).
- 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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July 16th, 2008
Wednesday’s Reflection
TAKING UP THE CROSS calls us to embrace rather than ignore the suffering of this world. Taking up the cross awakens a compassion and a healing power in us that in turn kindles desire to bring the kingdom into our midst.
- Daniel Wolpert
Leading a Life with God: The Practice of Spiritual Leadership
From p. 107 of Leading a Life with God by Daniel Wolpert. 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
Paul wrote: I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
- Romans 8:18, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for farmers, migrant workers, truckers and grocers. Visit 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 Dorothea Dix (July 18).
- 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
Posted in Daily Reflection | No Comments »
July 15th, 2008
Tuesday’s Reflection
ALL HUMANITY was created with a longing to be connected to God, to be children of the light. I want to walk as a child of the light, to drink deeply from God’s living water, to allow God’s light to illuminate all the shadows inside me.
- Beth A. Richardson
Child of the Light
From p. 38 of Child of the Light by Beth A. Richardson. 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
All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
- Romans 8:14, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for farmers, migrant workers, truckers and grocers. Visit 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 Dorothea Dix (July 18).
- 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
Posted in Daily Reflection | No Comments »
