Upper Room Daily Devotionals...

Moments of Loneliness

Tuesday’s Reflection

CONTEMPORARY LIFE provides precious little space for discernment, given the overriding burden of time. We hurry from one task to another, expressing thoughts and emotions on the fly but rarely sitting down to discern what they may be saying to us. Even accomplished multitaskers know moments of loneliness. In a quiet, predawn moment or while daydreaming between gulps of coffee at a traffic light, an ache may surface. We yearn to share the ordinary ups and downs of our lives with someone, the unspoken prayers we don’t feel comfortable uttering at a church meeting, and experiences like the moment when we realized God had healed our heart after years of grieving a loss.

- Stephanie Ford
Kindred Souls: Connecting through Spiritual Friendship

Today’s Scripture Reading

The man whom Jesus healed said, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
- John 9:25, NRSV

Special Need:
This Week: Pray for leaders of nations. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
Click here: http://www.upperroom.org/methodx/thelife/prayermethods/prayerwall.asp

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.

Make Me Merciful

Wednesday’s Reflection

HOLY JESUS, your forgiving love saves and disturbs me.
Without it, I am lost,
Yet, if I receive it, I must practice it.
By your mercy, make me merciful;
By your forgiveness, help me to forgive as I have been forgiven.
Amen.

- Peter Storey
Listening at Golgotha: Jesus’ Words from the Cross

Today’s Scripture Reading

The Lord says, “I do not judge as people judge. They look at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart.”

- 1 Samuel 16:7, GNT

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.

Learning by Heart

Thursday’s Reflection

[ONE] ASPECT OF LEARNING is learning by heart. It may seem unnecessary now, when everyone has access to books, but stocking your mind with words from God can be a marvelous way of following Paul’s injunction in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Memorizing favorite Bible verses, prayers, hymns, and poetry gives you a stock of “pure, pleasing, commendable” words to draw on anywhere at any time — while driving, standing in line, or sitting in a waiting room.

- Helen Julian CSF
The Road to Emmaus: Companions for the Journey through Lent

Today’s Scripture Reading

Try to learn what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the worthless things that people do, things that belong to the darkness. Instead, bring them out to the light.

- Ephesians 5:10-11, GNT

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.

Trusting in God’s Presence

Friday’s Reflection

AS OUR PRAYER LIFE brings God out of the shadows of our consciousness and into the full light of our lives, we begin to trust in God’s immanence. This trust emboldens members of the community to step out into the world as spiritual leaders in a way they never considered possible before. They are willing to give new things a try, willing to say yes when asked to do something. They find new faith to overcome obstacles.

- Daniel Wolpert
Leading a Life with God: The Practice of Spiritual Leadership

Today’s Scripture Reading

Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

- John 9:5, NRSV

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.

Living Closely with the Divine

Saturday’s Reflection

IF WE PICTURE all the obstructions between us and God as a wilderness, Lent presents us with time to clear and cultivate a part of that wilderness, to create an open space in it. In this newly opened space, we may live more freely and commune more closely with the divine. We can transform this wilderness and make it our home, our garden, a place that invites God in and asks God to stay.

- Sarah Parsons
A Clearing Season: Reflections for Lent

Today’s Scripture Reading

Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, Lord, for you are with me.

- Psalm 23:4, GNT

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

Sunday’s Reflection

ONE dark night, fired with love’s urgent longings — ah, the sheer grace — I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled. … On that glad night, in secret, for no one saw me, nor did I look at anything, with no other light or guide than the one that burned in my heart. This guided me more surely than the light of noon to where he was awaiting me — him I knew so well — there in a place where no one appeared.

- John of the Cross
Loving God Through the Darkness

Today’s Scripture Reading

Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light.

- Ephesians 5:8, NRSV

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.

God’s Beloved

Monday’s Reflection

IF YOU ARE UNSURE about your belovedness, I invite you to listen deeply to the Spirit of God. Listen to the Spirit whisper in your own depths that you are God’s beloved. And as you claim your own belovedness, begin to see others also as God’s beloved, so that we can participate in our belovedness together.

- Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant
The Way of Transforming Discipleship

Today’s Scripture Reading

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

- Psalm 130:1-2, NIV

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.

Love Will Not Fail

Tuesday’s Reflection

EVERYTHING I HAVE IS A GIFT from God. If God nudges me to give those gifts to another, I can trust there is a good reason even if I never understand what it is. We cannot control how people will respond to our love and compassion; we can only believe that our love will not fail.

- Koni Pfeiffer Atencio
Alive Now

Today’s Scripture Reading

Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

- John 11:25, NRSV

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.

Companion of My Soul

Wednesday’s Reflection

JESUS, FRIEND AND SAVIOR, make me day by day more truly your friend. Be yourself the companion of my soul, from whom I hide nothing, from whom I fear nothing, so that I may come to be one heart and one soul with you. Amen.

- Helen Julian CSF
The Road to Emmaus: Companions for the Journey through Lent

Today’s Scripture Reading

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.

- Psalm 130:5-6, NRSV

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.

Grace

Thursday’s Reflection

GRACE is as available as the air we breathe.

- Robert Corin Morris
Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life

Today’s Scripture Reading

The Lord said to Ezekiel, “Tell these dry bones to listen to the word of the Lord. Tell them that … I am going to put breath into you and bring you back to life.”

- Ezekiel 37:4-5, GNT

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide.