"Meditation – 60 Days of Prayer" for Saturday, 28 May 2016 from The Upper Room in Nashville, Tennessee, United States

"Meditation – 60 Days of Prayer" for Saturday, 28 May 2016 from The Upper Room in Nashville, Tennessee, United States

SATURDAY, MAY 28
READ 1 THESSALONIANS 5:12-28
1 THESSALONIANS 5:12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who are working hard among you, those who are guiding you in the Lord and confronting you in order to help you change. 13 Treat them with the highest regard and love because of the work they are doing. Live at peace among yourselves; 14 but we urge you, brothers, to confront those who are lazy, your aim being to help them change, to encourage the timid, to assist the weak, and to be patient with everyone.

15 See that no one repays evil for evil; on the contrary, always try to do good to each other, indeed, to everyone.

16 Always be joyful. 17 Pray regularly. 18 In everything give thanks, for this is what God wants from you who are united with the Messiah Yeshua.

19 Don’t quench the Spirit, 20 don’t despise inspired messages. 21 But do test everything — hold onto what is good, 22 but keep away from every form of evil.

23 May the God of shalom make you completely holy — may your entire spirit, soul and body be kept blameless for the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 24 The one calling you is faithful, and he will do it.

25 Brothers, keep praying for us.

26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

27 I charge you in the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

28 The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you.

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Pray without ceasing. It’s a tall order. But we at The Upper Room place Paul’s admonition at the head of all we do. Considering ourselves as hosts of the place where the world meets to pray, we facilitate a global wave of prayer that travels the world each day just as surely as the sun. And now that the sixty days of prayer for The United Methodist Church and its 2016 General Conference draws to a close, it is my great privilege to invite you to continue praying with Christians around the world as we all go on toward perfection.
What does it mean to pray without ceasing? The particular forms will look different for each of us since each person bears the divine imprint in a unique way. But the intent behind our prayers makes us one. We pray in order to yoke our hearts and minds together, striving to see through the temporal to the everlasting. We pray to join ourselves in the divine trend toward righteousness, justice, and peace. We pray to participate in the intimate relationship of the Trinity, to love more fully as God loves.
At The Upper Room we believe that prayer infuses the rhythms of each day. We strive not to remove ourselves from the world in order to pray but to weave our prayers into the fabric of our fleeting lives. We stand at the intersection of being and doing, bidding inner lives outward and outer lives inward. As you return to your homes around the world, we invite you to join us each day where the world meets to pray. Tell us the tales of those who labor among you. Breathe peace in your community where chaos swirls. Help the weak. Pray with us and know that the world is praying with you.
Gracious God, we join our voices in ceaseless praise and prayer. Amen.[Shawn Bakker]

Our mailing address is:
The Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007

Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
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