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Advent in The Upper Room Chapel
As we journey through this Advent season, Rev. Beth A. Richardson leads us in a moment Read More
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Jan Johnson | Read Psalm 139:11-12, 23-24
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Sign Up TodayIf someone comes to our house with a search warrant, we may feel guarded. Can we trust this person to be fair? What if they’ve fabricated evidence? Certainly we don’t trust the person to be kind.
Think of how much the psalmist must trust God to invite God to search...
Prayer Suggestion: Invite God to search you and know you, to sift your motives and thoughts. If that’s too scary, ask God to help you trust God enough to be willing to allow God to search your heart in the future.
As God promised land and descendants to Abraham, in the reading from Genesis God confirms these same promises to Abraham’s grandson Jacob. The psalmist meditates on and takes comfort in the fact that God knows everything and is everywhere. He asks God to search his heart and reveal if there are sins away from which he needs to turn. The Romans passage continues Paul’s reflection on the life in the Spirit. Because we are children of God, we cry out with confidence that God will hear and answer. Jesus tells a parable in Matthew concerning the final judgment. He says that the wicked will be taken first, then the righteous will be gathered together.
Read Genesis 28:10-19a. When has God quietly been at work in your life? How do these experiences help you recognize God’s presence with you in ordinary days?
Read Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24. God already knows us completely. What is holding you back from inviting God to search your heart?
Read Romans 8:12-25. Consider the ways you already resemble God. In what ways to you need or wish to be transformed to resemble God more fully?
Read Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. Reflect on a time when you were frustrated by God’s inaction in the face of injustice. In hindsight, how was God at work?
Respond by posting a prayer.
I could not have found The Upper Room Moments of Prayer (on Facebook Live) sooner. For it is during these moments of centering spiritual practices, meditating on the words of scripture, praying with and for the world, that I find moments of transcendence, hear whispers of peace and hope, see glimpses of truth and justice, behold visions of love and beauty amid all the stark realities that are around me.”
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