Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional “In Prayer” for Wednesday, 19 November 2014 - Scripture: Psalm 109:1-31

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional “In Prayer” for Wednesday, 19 November 2014 - Scripture: Psalm 109: A David Prayer
1-5 My God, don’t turn a deaf ear to my hallelujah prayer.
    Liars are pouring out invective on me;
Their lying tongues are like a pack of dogs out to get me,
    barking their hate, nipping my heels—and for no reason!
I loved them and now they slander me—yes, me!—
    and treat my prayer like a crime;
They return my good with evil,
    they return my love with hate.
6-20 Send the Evil One to accuse my accusing judge;
    dispatch Satan to prosecute him.
When he’s judged, let the verdict be “Guilty,”
    and when he prays, let his prayer turn to sin.
Give him a short life,
    and give his job to somebody else.
Make orphans of his children,
    dress his wife in widow’s weeds;
Turn his children into begging street urchins,
    evicted from their homes—homeless.
May the bank foreclose and wipe him out,
    and strangers, like vultures, pick him clean.
May there be no one around to help him out,
    no one willing to give his orphans a break.
Chop down his family tree
    so that nobody even remembers his name.
But erect a memorial to the sin of his father,
    and make sure his mother’s name is there, too—
Their sins recorded forever before God,
    but they themselves sunk in oblivion.
That’s all he deserves since he was never once kind,
    hounded the afflicted and heartbroken to their graves.
Since he loved cursing so much,
    let curses rain down;
Since he had no taste for blessing,
    let blessings flee far from him.
He dressed up in curses like a fine suit of clothes;
    he drank curses, took his baths in curses.
So give him a gift—a costume of curses;
    he can wear curses every day of the week!
That’s what they’ll get, those out to get me—
    an avalanche of just deserts from God.
21-25 Oh, God, my Lord, step in;
    work a miracle for me—you can do it!
Get me out of here—your love is so great!—
    I’m at the end of my rope, my life in ruins.
I’m fading away to nothing, passing away,
    my youth gone, old before my time.
I’m weak from hunger and can hardly stand up,
    my body a rack of skin and bones.
I’m a joke in poor taste to those who see me;
    they take one look and shake their heads.
26-29 Help me, oh help me, God, my God,
    save me through your wonderful love;
Then they’ll know that your hand is in this,
    that you, God, have been at work.
Let them curse all they want;
    you do the blessing.
Let them be jeered by the crowd when they stand up,
    followed by cheers for me, your servant.
Dress my accusers in clothes dirty with shame,
    discarded and humiliating old ragbag clothes.
30-31 My mouth’s full of great praise for God,
    I’m singing his hallelujahs surrounded by crowds,
For he’s always at hand to take the side of the needy,
    to rescue a life from the unjust judge.
The psalmist wrote, “But I am a man of prayer.”(Psalm 109:4 (NIV))
When I first stumbled upon this passage it was almost shocking to me. At the time I was very concerned about a friend’s situation. I was praying earnestly for my friend and to be honest, I found myself wondering just how effective prayer really was in situations like my friend’s. And then I read the psalmist’s words.
What makes today’s quoted verse so remarkable are the verses that precede it. Though David did not write all the psalms, he was likely the writer of this one. In the first few verses of this psalm he writes some awful and even scary things. He says wicked and deceitful men have told lies about him. They have surrounded him with words of hatred. They have fought against him without cause. In return for his friendship they have accused him. Then he writes, “But I am a man of prayer.”
David could have fought against these men. He was a mighty warrior. He could have judged them because he was the king. But what did he choose to do instead? He prayed. David, the soldier and king, considered prayer his best defense against these enemies. What a powerful model for us to live by!
The Author: Harriet Michael (Kentucky, USA)
Thought for the Day: When we are troubled, prayer is our best choice.
Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, thank you so much for the privilege of prayer. Regardless of our circumstances, help us to be people of prayer. ln your son’s name. Amen.
Prayer focus: My enemies
"Whose Way?" for Thursday, 20 November 2014 - Scripture: Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek God while he’s here to be found,
    pray to him while he’s close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
    and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
    come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
8-11 “I don’t think the way you think.
    The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
        God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
    so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
    and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
    and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
    producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
    not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
    they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
Jesus said, “This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you.”(John 15:12 (CEB))
Twice I dreamed that I was driving on a two-lane road and a car appeared in my lane, coming from the opposite direction. I glanced at the other lane and saw another car moving in the same direction as I was. I was driving in the wrong lane.
When I awoke, I thought about my dreams. I recalled that when I drove in Jordan for the first time, even though I knew cars drive on the right side of the road, I failed to do so. When I drove up a slope to a traffic light, I faced many cars in front of me waiting for the traffic light to change and heading in the opposite direction. I was stunned, and I quickly turned around.
Finally, I understood my dreams. Reading Isaiah 55:6-11, that day’s Bible reading in The Upper Room, I thought about my recent struggles in faith. God’s way is different from mine. I wish to follow the commandment in John 15:12, but I easily slip back into old familiar ways. Nevertheless, God helps me return to the right way. The more I struggle to get closer to God, the more I focus on the words of scripture. The word of God is holy promise: “Love each other, just as I have loved you” (John 15:12) and “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).
The Author: Kazumi Munehiro (Fukuoka, Japan)
Thought for the Day: Focusing on scripture draws us closer to God.
Prayer: Loving God, thank you for your care and guidance. Keep us open to your promises and obedient to your commandments. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Prayer focus: International travelers
"A Better Future" for Friday, 21 November 2014 - Scripture: Isaiah 43: You Didn’t Even Do the Minimum
14-15 God, your Redeemer,
    The Holy of Israel, says:
“Just for you, I will march on Babylon.
    I’ll turn the tables on the Babylonians.
Instead of whooping it up,
    they’ll be wailing.
I am God, your Holy One,
    Creator of Israel, your King.”
16-21 This is what God says,
    the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
    who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
    they lie down and then can’t get up;
    they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
    don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
    rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
    —the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
    rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
    the people I made especially for myself,
    a people custom-made to praise me.
The Lord says, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”(Isaiah 43:18-19 (NRSV))
While on a cruise on the Yangtze river in China, we were instructed to look for old shoes floating by. Our guide explained that when people suffer illness, unemployment, or divorce they let go of the past and its painful memories by putting their old shoes in the river. With new shoes they hope to walk into a better future.
In Isaiah 43:18, the Lord encouraged a sad and exiled people to let go of the grief of the past and instead to trust the Lord’s leadership to enter a new place. With God’s help, we too can be refreshed. When I struggled with painful feelings of rejection after my divorce, I didn’t understand how the Lord could bring anything good out of it. But this verse gave me courage to believe that God would lead me to a better life. As I did my best to trust and obey, our Lord brought me fresh joy and new purpose. God asks us to learn from our failures and mistakes but not to live in our past pain.
In Romans 6:4 Paul wrote, “We have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” We take steps toward newness of life as we daily turn from the temptation of despair and put our hope in God.
Read more from the author, here.
"The Little Things"
The value of doing little things to draw near to God is found also in service activities. Here is a picture of me with two grand daughters and a close friend holding up our harvest of picking blueberries. I am the tall guy with the white floppy hat.
We pick each summer at a special farm dedicated to helping with water development projects around the world. The “Blue Berry Patch” has 2,000 plants on 4 acres near Seymour, Missouri.
Of course we enjoyed taking the delicious berries home! We like blueberries on ice cream, in pancakes, in muffins, and on cereal. The picture shows us with our 30 pounds we just picked.
This unique farm gives 100% of their profits after production expenses to Catholic Outreach and Cross International ministry for people who need sustainable clean water. From 2008 to 2010 they gave $43,814 to the Dominican Republic to provide safe water instead of from contaminated creeks. From 2010 to 2012 they gave $25,874 to Kenya for wells in drought-vulnerable tribal areas.
In our world there is a great need for clean water to drink and for agriculture, and it can be overwhelming to ponder how to help. I know that my little efforts will not solve this problem. But I rejoice that in a small way our blueberry picking at a world wide ministry farm will make a difference for people in distress.
The power of small acts of kindness and service is a witness we make that God's Kingdom is at work to bring hope to the destitute. We are just a few people among hundreds each summer who contribute their picking to see a cumulative positive difference.
It brings me joy to do this annual picking with friends and family. This little activity on an early summer morning brings us closer together. I find great meaning in finding ways we can do the Lord's work of mercy with small actions of service.
The prophet Zechariah and his people faced big problems to rebuild the ruins of their worship building, the temple. He encouraged them to remember the joy and value of each man doing his part. They were faithful with the vision of his words in 4:10, “Who despises the day of small things?”. I pray to be faithful with the small things I am able to give for this time and place. Taking our little gifts together the Lord does great work to relieve suffering and hopelessness.(Cliff Rawley)
The Author: Clifford B. Rawley (Missouri, USA)
Thought for the Day: Jesus can make all things new. (See Rev. 21:5.)
Prayer: Dear Lord, in the light of your forgiveness and leadership, may we follow you into a future of hope. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those struggling through a divorce
"Spiritual Growth" fpr Saturday, 22 November 2014 - Scripture: Hebrews 5:7-10 While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God’s Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him.
Re-Crucifying Jesus
11-14 I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.
Paul wrote, “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready.”(1 Corinthians 3:2 (NRSV))
In my student days I was addressed as “Didi” (which means “elder sister”) by the children and teens in the neighborhood. Several years later I became known as “Aunty,” which means an older person, like a mother. I did not like being addressed that way because it reminded me that I was aging. Still a few years later, I moved to another state where I was even called “Granny” by a few children. Soon I discovered that in that part of the state girls were given in marriage in their teens and became grandparents in their early forties. So I accepted the new name gracefully — though it took time. My image in the eyes of others changed with the passage of time — neither of which took any extra effort on my part.
But achieving spiritual maturity requires our effort and intention. Born into God’s family, we begin to grow spiritually when we hunger for God’s word, meditate on it regularly, and apply it in our lives. The pure milk and then the solid food of the word of God help us to grow from infancy to childhood, then on to adulthood, and finally into mature Christians. In each step of the way we can become more and more like Jesus.
Read more from the author, here.
"The Next Chapter"
At the time of writing this meditation, I had started praying that God would give me an appetite for the Word, and that I would grow in my faith. All glory to God for granting the desire of my heart! I started reading the Bible wanting to learn what God was trying to teach me through the scriptures. I can honestly say that I have better understanding of the Word than I had two years ago. This has not been limited to my mind, but it has also touched my heart to respond to God’s love unreservedly. I am still in the process of yielding myself to God’s will.
Growing in the Lord enabled me to move to a rural community last month after my retirement. I had been used to a spacious house with most of the modern facilities. But in this new place electricity is only available for a limited number of hours, internet access is not easy, and the house is small so that I can keep only what is needed for daily living. Moreover this is an area with problems of poverty, lack of awareness on health issues, lack of education, political unrest, insurgency etc.
I was surprised that all these things did not cause bitterness or resentment in my heart. Instead I feel grateful that God is giving me grace to accept the situation gladly and giving me the opportunity to work in such a place where the good news of love and peace is needed. I have not always been someone who accepts inconveniences easily, but glory to God for the transformation which has taken place in me by reading the Bible and applying it to my life in faith.(Pramila Barkataki)
The Author: Pramila Barkataki (Uttar Pradesh, India)
Thought for the Day: How is my spiritual growth evident to those around me?
Prayer: O God, we want to grow in our faith and in the likeness of Jesus. Help us, we pray. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those who haven’t heard God’s word
____________________________