Today please be in prayer for
Lincoln New Hope UMC
Prairie Home, NE UMC
Blue River District
Lincoln New Hope UMC
Prairie Home, NE UMC
Blue River District
Lincoln New Visions Community - Calvary
Lincoln New Visions UMC - Southminster
Blue River District
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This Week's Lectionary:
11th Sunday after Pentecost in Kingdomtide-Green
- 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13
- Psalm 51:1-12
- Ephesians 4:1-16
- John 6:24-35
The Upper Room Daily Devotional from The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Sunday, 5 August 2018 "Back on Our Feet" by Judy Ann Eichstedt (Oklahoma) MARK 4:35-41
(Image: Pixabay)
Jesus said, “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39 (NRSV))My family and I had finally escaped homelessness and were fighting to start over. We had nothing — no furniture for the small apartment we rented, not even beds. We sat and slept on the floor. We had no dishes or pans for cooking. Everything we once owned had been sold long before to try to avoid becoming homeless. Now we struggled to find jobs and buy food. I was fearful that we would fail and be back to living in a car. I was overwhelmed, and the more I focused on my problems, the bigger they seemed.
One day, as I was washing my children’s clothes in the bathtub, feeling I had lost my way and lost my peace, I stopped and prayed for God’s help. After hanging the clothes to dry on the fence outside, I went up to my room, sat on the floor, and started to read my Bible. When I came to Mark 4, where Jesus calmed a storm with the words, “Peace! Be still!” I said the words over and over, “Peace! Be still!” I realized that the problems I faced were not bigger than God.
I held on strongly to the peace of God, and in time we got back on our feet. Our trust in God grants us the peace we need to face life’s problems.
TODAY'S PRAYER: Loving God, grant us the peace that only you can give us. Amen.
TODAY'S READING: Mark 4:35 That day, when evening had come, Yeshua said to them, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So, leaving the crowd behind, they took him just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. 37 A furious windstorm arose, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was close to being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern on a cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, “Rabbi, doesn’t it matter to you that we’re about to be killed?” 39 He awoke, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind subsided, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no trust even now?” 41 But they were terrified and asked each other, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the waves obey him?” (Complete Jewish Bible).
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: I can have the peace of God that passes all understanding. (See Philippians 4:7.)
PRAYER FOCUS: Those who are homeless
Contact Information:
Great Plains Conference Office
1207 Southwest Executive Drive
Topeka Kansas 66615, United States
(785)272-9111
(877)972-9111
info@greatplainsumc.org
Today's Devotional: Mark 4:35 That day, when evening had come, Yeshua said to them, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So, leaving the crowd behind, they took him just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. 37 A furious windstorm arose, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was close to being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern on a cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, “Rabbi, doesn’t it matter to you that we’re about to be killed?” 39 He awoke, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind subsided, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no trust even now?” 41 But they were terrified and asked each other, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the waves obey him?” (Complete Jewish Bible).
Great Churches. Great Leaders. Great Disciples. Transformed World.
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