Today’s Devotion:
Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Strength in Weakness" for Wednesday, 1 October 2014 - Read 2 Corinthians 12:6 If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I’d still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I’ll spare you. I don’t want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you’d encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.7-10 Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
[The Lord] said to [Paul], “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
“But it is better this way.”I was surprised to hear those words from my friend Abe, who had just been diagnosed with a disease that could be fatal. At first, he had been devastated to hear that diagnosis. But after he had struggled with it and put his life in God’s hands, he was able to say, “But it is better this way.”Though my friend was not glad for his illness, he was grateful to be reminded daily how fragile life is and that he is constantly in need of God’s grace and care.
In our reading for today, the apostle Paul expressed similar thoughts about his “thorn in the flesh.”Whatever the thorn was, he had considered it a hindrance to him in his work for the Lord and had prayed for God to remove it. But the Lord’s response was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Paul eventually came to realize that in some ways, “it is better this way.”God’s power is manifested more fully when we recognize our weakness and dependence.
It has been about 45 years since my friend Abe shared the sobering news about his illness. This year Abe turned 90, sustained all these years — physically and spiritually — by the grace and love of God.
The Author: Verner Friesen (Saskatchewan, Canada)
Thought for the Day: God’s grace and power shine in the darkness.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the many times when our human weakness has revealed your strength in our lives. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those suffering with life-threatening illnesses
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Today’s Devotion:
Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional ""Forgetting the Past for Thursday, 2 October 2014 - Read Philippians 3: To Know Him Personally1 And that’s about it, friends. Be glad in God!
I don’t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry—so here goes.
2-6 Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All they’re interested in is appearances—knife-happy circumcisers, I call them. The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ’s praise as we do it. We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.
7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
Focused on the Goal
12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
15-16 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.
The Lord says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”(Isaiah 43:18 (NIV))
As I grow older, I find that past failures sometimes dominate my memories, haunting me. How do I get past those moments when I made poor career decisions that affected my future or when I spoke without thinking and hurt other people?
Thoughts like these are paralyzing. They could have been for the apostle Paul, too. He certainly had much to want to forget. Thinking he was pleasing God, he murdered Christians. When he was finally on the side of Jesus, he was rejected, beaten, and stoned for his testimony. However, Paul’s God-inspired philosophy gave him renewed strength and drive for the mission that became his life:“Forgetting those things which are behind . . . I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (KJV).
That has become my motto now. When negative memories attack, I remember this verse. It is as if the Holy Spirit whispers to me, “Forget those things which are behind.”Then I am free to become productive once more.
Read more from the author, here.
Midnight Meditation
It’s midnight. A busy day is on its way, and I seriously need to be alert for it. But my chronic insomnia has kicked in again, and here I am wide awake.I’ve already tried the usual, count backwards from 100, mentally recite the books of the Bible, try (unsuccessfully) to blank out my mind. It’s a lost cause. The more I try, the more tense I become. All I can do now is pray for sleep to come.
Pray? That’s my daytime routine. Since I’m always awake by 5:00 a.m., I have the perfect quiet time before my husband wakes for the day. I use that time to read Scripture and devotionals, and then pray. There are so many requests, growing by the day: my large family’s needs, friends with serious health concerns, the church prayer chain reporting crises almost daily. What began many years ago as a personal list has expanded to global. With the world in chaos, how can I not ask the Lord for His guidance for our leaders, defeat of terrorists, and mercy on His people? There’s comfort in that. There’s resolution in that. And often, there are answers in that.
The first of each month I turn a page in my prayer diary, give thanks for those prayers God was gracious to resolve, and begin another page with continued and new needs. The list grows and grows. Seems like the more I pay attention, the more I become aware of how many people need the Lord’s touch.
After a lifetime of teaching Bible classes, singing in choirs, serving in churches, maybe this is my ministry now. I have time that none of my younger circle of family and friends have. How much I missed by always rushing around in my younger days! So I pray that those near and dear to me may get beyond survival mode and find a deeper relationship with the Lord.
Then there are the snatch moments throughout the day when I ask for personal guidance, or just offer praise for the wonderful moments in this gift of life, and for joy that lies deep within me, knowing that the final outcome is up to God.
But it’s midnight, I don’t have a list to refer to. I can only come before the Lord with my simple singular need and then, what? Just wait. I feel Him speak to me, and I am in awe, no longer needing words or lists or remembering. It’s just the Lord and me in communion.
It occurs to me that this is quite a good thing as I feel peace envelop me, calming my mind, relaxing my body. This is my answer. While I am reluctant to shut out this sweet communion, I know that at any moment now it will end as the Lord gives His beloved sleep.(Elizabeth Rosain)
The Author: Elizabeth Rosian (Pennsylvania)
Thought for the Day: Today I will let go of past mistakes and follow God’s leading.
Prayer: God of grace, cleanse our minds of past mistakes that could hinder our Christian walk and work. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those holding on to past mistakes
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Today’s Devotion:
Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Knowing God" for Friday, 3 October 2014 - Read Ephesians 5:18-20 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.[Speak] to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.(Ephesians 5:19 (NIV))
I wasn’t raised in the church and didn’t come to know Jesus as my savior until I was in my early twenties. But looking back, I see that I was not without religious instruction; it just wasn’t the kind other kids got at church.
God drew me near every Sunday morning as my siblings and I sat down to my mother’s big breakfast. Folksingers — like Peter, Paul and Mary — sang to me from the pulpit of our phonograph. The acoustic guitars strummed a steady beat as lively, harmonic voices sang with passion about righteous living, sinful deeds, and life after death.
I remember singing these songs with exuberance and joy between bites and sips at breakfast. With tapping toes and a big smile, I was praising and worshiping God — and I didn’t even know it!
But I have no doubt that through my love of music I came to know God. Often we learn about God through the things we enjoy. Whether we enjoy woodworking or baking, art or opera, butterfly or coin collections, we can look at the things we love to do in new ways and discover what God is showing us through the passions of our hearts.
The Author: Miyoko E. Hikiji (Iowa)
Thought for the Day: How do my interests draw me nearer to God?
Prayer: Loving God, give us wisdom and insight into how our natural passions reflect your design for knowing and serving you. Amen.
Prayer focus: Musicians, writers, and artists
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Today’s Devotion:
Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "A Committee of One" for Saturday, 4 October 2014 - Read Isaiah 6: Holy, Holy, Holy!1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other,
Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
His bright glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,
“Doom! It’s Doomsday!
I’m as good as dead!
Every word I’ve ever spoken is tainted—
blasphemous even!
And the people I live with talk the same way,
using words that corrupt and desecrate.
And here I’ve looked God in the face!
The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!”
Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said,
“Look. This coal has touched your lips.
Gone your guilt,
your sins wiped out.”
And then I heard the voice of the Master:
“Whom shall I send?
Who will go for us?”
I spoke up,
“I’ll go.
Send me!”
9-10 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Listen hard, but you aren’t going to get it;
look hard, but you won’t catch on.’
Make these people blockheads,
with fingers in their ears and blindfolds on their eyes,
So they won’t see a thing,
won’t hear a word,
So they won’t have a clue about what’s going on
and, yes, so they won’t turn around and be made whole.”
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”(Isaiah 6:8 (NRSV))
During the 75th anniversary celebrations of a Boys’ Brigade company, an interdenominational Christian youth organization, several members and ex-members expressed disappointment that a reunion dinner had not been arranged. Douglas, one of the serving officers, said nothing at the time; but early the following year, he approached me to say that just such an event had been organized. I was pleased and asked Douglas to pass on my thanks to the members of the organizing committee.
“Oh!”he said. “I am the committee. I felt that something should be done, so I did it.”
Too often when we become aware of a specific need we say, “Something should be done about it,” but we do nothing ourselves. Realizing that our service is needed is often God’s way of calling us to act in ways that will benefit others in Jesus’ name.
The Author: William Findlay (Glasgow, Scotland)
Thought for the Day:
How willing am I to take the lead in serving God today?
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for calling us to serve others. Help us to recognize your call and to respond, serving you in ways that benefit others. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those who work with youth
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