Upper Room Daily Devotionals...

No Substitute

Saturday's Devotional

The psalmist wrote, "Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long."
-Psalm 119:97 (NRSV)

MY dentist's office is full of very expensive and sophisticated equipment. The high-tech gadgetry helps him to monitor possible problems with my teeth and treat whatever problems may arise with greater precision and less pain for me.

But there's one dental-health issue that all the fancy equipment can't address: the results of not flossing daily. Standing in the middle of all that equipment, my dentist told me, "There's no substitute for running that piece of floss between your teeth." It's hard to believe that an action so simple can have such great effect.

Sometimes in the pursuit of good spiritual health, we try to substitute complicated and advanced methods for the simple ones we have readily at hand. We may go to conferences or seminars to deepen our spirituality but neglect daily meditation and Bible study.

There's no substitute for flossing, and there's no substitute for praying and reading scripture daily.

Prayer for the Day...

Dear God, help us do the things that will bring us closer to you. Amen.

Thought for the Day...

Doing simple tasks prayerfully brings us closer to God.

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Pay Back or Pay Forward

Tuesday's Devotional

Jesus said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
-John 15:12 (NRSV)

I was at a memorial service. The pastor expressed that many would like to pay back the kind and helpful deeds of the person whose life we had gathered to honor. The pastor suggested that although we no longer could pay back our friend, we could pay forward his kindness by investing in the lives of others.

How many times have we wished we could find a way to pay back the good of parents, teachers, pastors, friends, and all the other people who invested their love and effort in us? We are separated from those saints by years, miles, and often death. Paying forward is the only direction we can go.

Jesus says to us, "Love one another as I have loved you."

Prayer for the Day...

Dear God, you came in Jesus to pay for our sin and to lead us in new directions. Send your Spirit, that we may be moved to give to others, as we pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."* Amen.

Thought for the Day...

Give to Christ by giving to others.

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Fully Ripe

Wednesday's Devotional

No one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
-Isaiah 64:4 (NIV)

EVERY year it happens. I wait and keep checking my blackberry vines to see the white flowers turn from green berries to red and then finally to a delicious black.

I'm so impatient that I usually pick that first blackberry too soon. It's never sweet enough. Eventually I remember the art of just gently touching the darkest one. If fully ripe, it will fall into my hand.

My blackberry vines remind me that God knows the right time for everything that will happen in my life. Recently I sensed this when I felt frustrated about my job. I was tempted to complain or quit. I wanted relief because I felt powerless. But waiting for God's timing meant learning patience with unreasonable coworkers. Waiting meant believing God could stretch my paychecks. And as I waited, I saw God use these frustrating circumstances to bring forth fruit in my life.

Trying to force things to be a certain way is like pulling fruit off the vine prematurely. Instead, if we patiently persevere, we can become less consumed with our wanting and more focused on the sweet fruit that will come in God's time.

Prayer for the Day...

Lord, teach us to be patient when things aren't going as we want them to. Help us to wait with faith in you. Amen.

Thought for the Day...

God's timing is perfect.

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Self-justification

Thursday's Devotional

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," while the log is in your own eye?
-Matthew 7:34 (NRSV)

"WHY do you always find fault with everything I do?" I yelled at Jane, my wife. "Am I not better than other husbands out there? How many of them can boast of what I have been doing in this marriage? Why can't you praise me once in a while?"

"But that's where you have it all wrong," Jane retorted. "Justifying your actions with comparisons like that are not helpful. We are each responsible for our own actions."

I left without uttering a word; but days later, Jane's statement still worked on me. As I struggled with the incident, I thought of the story Jesus told about the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). Instead of looking into myself and accepting my weaknesses, I had presumptuously judged another. Concentrating on the weaknesses of others was one of my weaknesses. I accepted that, asked God's forgiveness, and prayed that God would help me to change.

Prayer for the Day...

God, help us to acknowledge our weaknesses and to deal with them according to your word. Amen.

Thought for the Day...

Do my words offer judgment or encouragement?

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Never Alone

Friday's Devotional

Paul wrote, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
-Philippians 4:13 (NRSV)

AS a single mother raising two teenagers and one preteen, I find my life quite challenging. Every day seems to bring new drama and often a new crisis. I live away from my extended family and find it hard to make friends, so my support system is limited. I often feel overwhelmed, both financially and emotionally, by daily struggles.

At times feelings of being inadequate, weak, and all alone completely overwhelm me. All I can do is sit down and cry. I cry out to God in my hopelessness and fear. I plead for help and ask, "How can I do this alone?" "How do I handle this new problem?" "What do I do now?"

Always, God gently and lovingly reminds me that I am never alone. I am encouraged by God's love, forgiveness, and acceptance. I am filled with calm confidence, knowing that the strength and guidance I need are only as far away as prayer.

Prayer for the Day...

Dear God, help us to accept your offer of strength and love. When pain gets in our way, continue to hold us close until we feel you near. Amen.

Thought for the Day...

God will never leave us alone.

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Letters of Christ

Saturday's Devotional

You are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
-2 Corinthians 3:3 (NRSV)

SEVERAL years ago, my husband and I went to Haiti on a building mission from our local church. There were 13 of us on the team, and we lived in some rooms behind the church. We decided to ask each team member to lead a devotion for one morning after breakfast. In searching for something to use, I read from 2 Corinthians, "You are a letter from Christ." After reading several other verses, those six words kept coming back to me. I wondered if our friends in Haiti thought of us in that way. They were also letters from Christ to us as they extended hospitality to us by being so generous with what little they had.

Then I realized that no matter where we are, we are letters from Christ to our families, friends, and neighbors in the communities where we live. We can be letters of encouragement and letters of love whether we are at home or in some other part of the world. Perhaps we may at some time in our lives be "letters of introduction" about Christ for someone who doesn't know him.

Prayer for the Day...

Dear God, help us to remember that we are letters from Christ to a world that desperately needs your love. Amen.

Thought for the Day...

Who needs me to be a letter of Christ today?

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Experience God's Deliverance

Sunday's Devotional

Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today . . . . you have only to keep still."
-Exodus 14:1314 (NRSV)

IN my daily life I do not face an army whose mission it is to destroy me. As an intensive-care physician and as a husband and father, I do encounter life - anxieties about the future, remorse and anger over the past, and inability to control the present. The battle I face is in relinquishing control of the uncontrollable to God.

God knows that I can become enslaved to my thoughts and blinded to God's power and desire to be in communion with me. Each of life's challenges, from the nuisances of my daily personal life to the dark valleys that the death of a patient brings, can overwhelm my faith. And yet they present an opportunity to experience God's healing, loving grace.

I may not walk on dry land amidst the ocean or see bread fall from heaven, for the manifestations of God's grace are varied beyond my comprehension. But I can experience peace in the midst of turmoil and joy in spite of my fears when I stand quietly and, in the stillness of our quiet communion, allow God to deliver me.

Prayer for the Day...

Dear Lord, help me to quiet my thoughts so that your deliverance can be mine each day. Amen.

Thought for the Day...

Find time for being still with God and you will find deliverance.

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Our Own Path

Monday's Devotional

Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.
-Psalm 34:3 (NIV)

I grew up in the mountains of Colorado. Near my home, a canyon road begins as a single highway and then splits into two roads that appear to go in different directions. However, the roads actually encircle a mountain and then re-join in a state park. Although they end in the same place, the routes are unique in beauty, terrain, and history.

In a similar way, early believers in Corinth were divided. They were quarreling over whom they should follow. Some said, "I follow Paul," while others said, "I follow Apollos." However, Paul stressed that he and Apollos were only servants, saying, "Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who gives the growth" (1 Cor. 3:7, nrsv).

A common temptation among believers is to talk more about a particular church or leader than about Christ. Perhaps we think our journey in faith is the best way to Christ. The two routes to the state park remind me that although we journey with other believers to a common destination, we are individually unique creations of God with our own stories and our own path to walk. Some day our paths will converge and we will discover that we were each on the right path.

Prayer for the Day...

Lord, help us to trust your guidance in our lives and in the lives of those we love. Amen.

Thought for the Day...

We walk different roads, but Christ brings us all to God.

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A Root of Bitterness

Tuesday's Devotional

Pursue peace with everyone. . . . See to it . . . that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble.
-Hebrews 12:1415 (NRSV)

THE company I have worked for over the last 21 years recently reorganized. When the dust settled, I found myself in a new position. A younger engineer with much less experience was given the job that I loved. The injustice I felt created bitterness within me.

Today's scripture reading tells of "a root of bitterness" that sprouts within Esau after Jacob steals his birthright and blessing. The bitterness grows into such hatred that Esau plans to kill Jacob, his own flesh and blood. Bitterness can work that way - consuming us as a briar consumes a garden. Left unchecked, it grows stronger and stronger and chokes out the fruit in our lives. And like a briar, its root must be removed entirely or it will sprout up again.

I discovered this painful truth: Bitterness hurts the one who harbors it more than the one to whom it is directed. I came to realize that my bitterness was stealing my joy, breaking my fellowship with God, and contradicting God's will. But when we discover briars of bitterness, God can help us to forgive and so uproot them.

Prayer for the Day...

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me" (Ps. 51:10). Help us to forgive those who we feel have hurt us and to let go of bitterness. Amen.

Thought for the Day...

With God's help, we can remove roots of bitterness to make room for joy.

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What We Need

Wednesday's Devotional

[The Lord] put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
-Psalm 40:3 (NIV)

WHEN I was diagnosed with a rare type of ovarian cancer, I spent hours researching my diagnosis on the Internet before I met with my oncologist. At our meeting I scribbled copious notes about the cancer, the chemotherapy, the chances of recurrence. But that information gave me no peace. While I feared chemotherapy, the possibility of recurrence paralyzed me. Sadness began to invade even the happiest occasions of my life.

Answering my prayers for healing, God sent me a host of angels: Cancer patients much sicker than I witnessed to their faith through joyful living. Friends and family prayed for me. Books written by Christians with cancer addressed my fears. The psalmists comforted me, and Bible heroes -- Daniel, Peter, Stephen, Paul -- inspired me. I began to experience Christ, the greatest hero of all, walking with empathy beside me, healing me.

My treatment is finished, and today I feel wonderfully alive. I prayed for my deepest desire: a sure physical cure. Instead, Christ healed my spirit, replacing doubt and fear with trust and peace.

Prayer for the Day...

Dearest Lord, thank you for bringing us wholeness and, sometimes, physical healing. Thank you for your faithful angels who witness to the possibility of joy in life's most difficult times. Amen.

Thought for the Day...

"Whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord" (Rom. 14:8 ).

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