The Upper Room Daily Reflections: daily words of wisdom and faith in Nashville,Tennessee, United States from Monday, 19 June 2017 through Sunday, 25 June 2017 - Genesis 21:8-21; Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17; Romans 6:1b-11; and Matthew 10:24-39
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"Praying for Others" for Monday, 19 June 2017
Today’s Reflection:
I have found the process of coloring the intercessory prayer mandala to be an especially helpful way to hold myself accountable to praying intentionally for others. Contemplative coloring provides much needed focus for my frequently scattered heart and mind. The intercessory prayer mandala includes small interior circles in which I can write the names of those for whom I’m praying. As I color, I hold each person in my heart and mind. In this way, I offer my undivided, prayerful attention as a gift to those I hold in prayer. [Sharon Seyfarth Garner, Praying with Mandalas]
From pages 48-49 of Praying with Mandalas: A Colorful, Contemplative Practice by Sharon Seyfarth Garner. Copyright © 2016 by Sharon Seyfarth Garner. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
What helps you focus when you pray for others?Today’s Scripture:
God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. [Genesis 21:20, NRSV]This Week: pray for compassion.
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"Choosing to Be Bold" for Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Today’s Reflection:
Would fate just have me lose?
Although I feel the weight of doubt,
still I can choose
to be bold.
Sometimes I discount my own strength.
Do I have what it takes?
Yet even when I’m not convinced,
a choice I still can make
to be bold.
Speech could falter, knees might shake,
and courage all rebel.
But stumbling over genuine words
does not mean I have failed
to be bold.
I might feel gripped and choked by fear,
afraid to lift my voice.
But timidity does not have power
to rob me of my choice
to be bold. [Misty Butler, Bowling Green, Kentucky, devozine]
From page 55 of devozine: the devotional lifestyle magazine for teens, March/April 2017. Copyright © 2017 by The Upper Room. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
When have has God called you to be bold? How did that feel?Today’s Scripture:
Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. [Psalm 86:1, NRSV]This Week: pray for compassion.
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"The Nature of Salvation" for Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Today’s Reflection:
Unfortunately, Christians also seem to make the mistake of confusing the beginning of something with its end. There is an abbreviated form of Christianity that has become popular in recent years. It can be expressed in a simple statement: “I got saved.” When I hear someone say this, I cringe.
The main reason this statement is inadequate is that it suggests that all that really matters in people’s spiritual lives is one significant experience. They need to “get saved.” Nothing they do before or after that moment is very important.
When the church adopts this approach to Christianity, there is a lot of effort put into simply asking people if they have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If the answer is “yes,” then we can check that person off our list. If they say “no,” then all of our effort is focused on trying to get those persons to come to a place where they will pray one prayer, often called the sinner’s prayer. [Kevin M. Watson, A Blueprint for Discipleship]
From pages 27-28 of A Blueprint for Discipleship: Wesley’s General Rules as a Guide for Christian Living by Kevin M. Watson. Copyright © 2009 by Discipleship Resources. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Discipleship Resources. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
What does salvation mean to you? How do you describe it?Today’s Scripture:
Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me. [Psalm 86:17, NRSV]This Week: pray for compassion.
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"Faith Before Feelings" for Thursday, 22 June 2017
Today’s Reflection:
In my first appointment as a pastor, I was sent to two small, rural churches in the mountains of western North Carolina. I was twenty-five years old and single, and most of my congregants were of retirement age. It was one of the loneliest times of my life. There was no office. No staff. I worked out of my study at home. I bought a dog to keep me company and to give me a reason to get out of bed at a decent hour every morning. I remembered wondering whether I really wanted to be a pastor. …
One day I went to see Dr. George Thompson, a pastor who served the largest church in the area. … I poured out my struggles, the self-doubt about my call to ministry, and how I was wondering whether I had made the wrong decision.
He explained that he viewed his own call to ministry much like he viewed his feelings about marriage. “Some days,” he told me, “I wake up and don’t feel like being married that day, but my marriage is based on a commitment that’s greater than my feelings day to day. My ministry is much like that. I have many days, and sometimes longer periods of my life, when I don’t feel like being a minister, but I continue on, because my call is based on God’s covenant. It’s bigger than feelings.”
Moravian missionary Peter Böhler once said to John Wesley, “Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.”
Being able to place ourselves in God’s hands even as we doubt God requires putting faith before feelings. [Rob Fuquay, Take the Flag]
From pages 96-97 of Take the Flag: Following God’s Signals in the Race of Your Life by Rob Fuquay. Copyright © 2016 by Rob Fuquay. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
What do you do when you lack faith?.Today’s Scripture:
Therefore 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 the newness of life. [Romans 6:4, RSV]This Week: pray for compassion.
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"Everyone Is a Storyteller" for Friday, 23 June 2017
Today’s Reflection:
 Human beings live in story like fish live in water. We literally experience our lives as narrative—not as a series of random events but as a sequence of connected occasions and experiences stitched together in narrative form. … We learn to understand the world, other people, and God through a narrative lens. We also live surrounded by God like the very air we breathe, often invisible to us but absolutely necessary for life. … For this reason, when we speak of our experiences of God, we most often tell stories. Telling stories is not only a way of framing our understanding of the world and the people around us but also the means by which we speak of our divine encounters. [Michael E. Williams, Spoken into Being] From pages 13-14 of Spoken into Being: Divine Encounters Through Story by Michael E. Williams. Copyright © 2017 by Michael E. Williams. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom. Today’s Question: Share a story of a divine encounter with a friend.Today’s Scripture:The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. [Romans 6:10, NRSV]This Week: pray for compassion. |
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"A Life of Love" Sunday, 25 JUNE 2017
Today’s Reflection:
THERE IS ONE TASK ONLY: the task of love. We are called by God to live this life with love for everyone. All that we do can be an expression of God’s love. However mundane the task, perform it with a generous spirit and grateful heart. The most insignificant task performed with love is tribute to God, and every act of charity or service done for self-gain or with hate—or worse, indifference —is a hollow offering to God. [Christopher Maricle, The Jesus Priorities: 8 Essential Habits]
From page 93 of The Jesus Priorities: 8 Essential Habits by Christopher Maricle. Copyright © 2007 by Christopher Maricle. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
What daily activities can you describe as expressions of God’s love??
Today’s Scripture:
Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. [Matthew 10:39, NRSV]
This Week: pray for compassion.
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers. Call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
This week we remember: Thomas More (June 22).Thomas More
June 22
Thomas More was born in 1478 and died in 1535. He was an English lawyer, philosopher, and author. After meeting Erasmus, More entered the humanist movement, which championed the equality of classes and castigated rulers who worked for selfish interests rather than the good of the people.
More's seminal work Utopia presents an ideal society where equality of work and wealth provides abundance for all. More promotes this spirit of democratic rule while attacking the evils of British society. The adversaries of his ideal are greed, poverty, violence, and self-service. More summarizes these as pride that will come between the human soul and its true destiny in both this life and the next. In 1529 Henry VIII appointed More Lord Chancellor. Asked to sanction the Act of Supremacy supporting Henry's right to break from the Roman Catholic Church, attain an annulment, and marry Anne Boleyn, More refused and was executed for treason on July 6, 1535. Pope Pius XI canonized him in 1935. More's story is told in the play and film A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt.
If Thomas More had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Prophet. We remember Thomas More on June 22. [Excerpted with permission from the entry on Thomas More by Sandi Nesbit, from The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 2003 by Upper Room Books®. All rights reserved.]
Image is of Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger (1498–1543). Lectionary Readings for Sunday, 25 June 2017
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Genesis 21:8-21More's seminal work Utopia presents an ideal society where equality of work and wealth provides abundance for all. More promotes this spirit of democratic rule while attacking the evils of British society. The adversaries of his ideal are greed, poverty, violence, and self-service. More summarizes these as pride that will come between the human soul and its true destiny in both this life and the next. In 1529 Henry VIII appointed More Lord Chancellor. Asked to sanction the Act of Supremacy supporting Henry's right to break from the Roman Catholic Church, attain an annulment, and marry Anne Boleyn, More refused and was executed for treason on July 6, 1535. Pope Pius XI canonized him in 1935. More's story is told in the play and film A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt.
If Thomas More had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Prophet. We remember Thomas More on June 22. [Excerpted with permission from the entry on Thomas More by Sandi Nesbit, from The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 2003 by Upper Room Books®. All rights reserved.]
Image is of Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger (1498–1543). Lectionary Readings for Sunday, 25 June 2017
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
Romans 6:1b-11
Matthew 10:24-39
Romans 6:1b-11
Matthew 10:24-39
11 Avraham became very distressed over this matter of his son. 12 But God said to Avraham, “Don’t be distressed because of the boy and your slave-girl. Listen to everything Sarah says to you, because it is your descendants through Yitz’chak who will be counted. 13 But I will also make a nation from the son of the slave-girl, since he is descended from you.”
14 Avraham got up early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child; then he sent her away. After leaving, she wandered in the desert around Be’er-Sheva. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she left the child under a bush, 16 and went and sat down, looking the other way, about a bow-shot’s distance from him; because she said, “I can’t bear to watch my child die.” So she sat there, looking the other way, crying out and weeping. 17 God heard the boy’s voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong with you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, because God has heard the voice of the boy in his present situation. 18 Get up, lift the boy up, and hold him tightly in your hand, because I am going to make him a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went, filled the skin with water and gave the boy water to drink.
20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 He lived in the Pa’ran Desert, and his mother chose a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Psalm 86:1 (0) A prayer of David:
(1) Listen, Adonai, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful;
save your servant,
who puts his trust in you
because you are my God.
3 Take pity on me, Adonai,
for I cry to you all day.
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful;
save your servant,
who puts his trust in you
because you are my God.
3 Take pity on me, Adonai,
for I cry to you all day.
4 Fill your servant’s heart with joy,
for to you, Adonai, I lift my heart.
5 Adonai, you are kind and forgiving,
full of grace toward all who call on you.
6 Listen, Adonai, to my prayer;
pay attention to my pleading cry.
7 On the day of my trouble I am calling on you,
for you will answer me.
for to you, Adonai, I lift my heart.
5 Adonai, you are kind and forgiving,
full of grace toward all who call on you.
6 Listen, Adonai, to my prayer;
pay attention to my pleading cry.
7 On the day of my trouble I am calling on you,
for you will answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, Adonai;
no deeds compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
will come and bow before you, Adonai;
they will honor your name.
10 For you are great, and you do wonders;
you alone are God.
no deeds compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
will come and bow before you, Adonai;
they will honor your name.
10 For you are great, and you do wonders;
you alone are God.
16 Turn to me, and show me your favor;
strengthen your servant, save your slave-girl’s son. 17 Give me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me will see it and be ashamed, because you, Adonai, have helped and comforted me. |
Matthew 10:24 “A talmid is not greater than his rabbi, a slave is not greater than his master. 25 It is enough for a talmid that he become like his rabbi, and a slave like his master. Now if people have called the head of the house Ba‘al-Zibbul, how much more will they malign the members of his household! 26 So do not fear them; for there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops.
28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are powerless to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gei-Hinnom. 29 Aren’t sparrows sold for next to nothing, two for an assarion? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s consent. 30 As for you, every hair on your head has been counted. 31 So do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.
32 “Whoever acknowledges me in the presence of others I will also acknowledge in the presence of my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 “Don’t suppose that I have come to bring peace to the Land. It is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword! 35 For I have come to set
36 a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
so that a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.[Matthew 10:36 Micah 7:6]
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
so that a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.[Matthew 10:36 Micah 7:6]
37 Whoever loves his father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than he loves me is not worthy of me. 38 And anyone who does not take up his execution-stake and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his own life will lose it, but the person who loses his life for my sake will find it.
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary: Genesis 21:8-21Chapter 21
In this chapter we have,Verses:
- Isaac, the child of promise, born into Abraham's family, ver. 1 - 8.
- Ishmael, the son of the bond - woman, cast out of it, ver. 9 - 21.
- Abraham's league with Abimelech, ver. 22 - 32.
- His devotion to God, ver. 33, 34.
| 21:9 | Sarah saw the son of the Egyptian mocking - Mocking Isaac no doubt, for it is sad, with reference to this, Galatians 4:29 , that he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the spirit. Ishmael is here called the son of the Egyptian, because (as some think) the four hundred years affliction of the seed of Abrahamby the Egyptians began now, and was to be dated from hence. |
| 21:10 | Cast out the bond - woman - This was a type of the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, who, though they were the seed of Abraham, yet, because they submitted not to the gospel - covenant, were unchurched and disfranchised. And that, which above any thing provoked God to cast them off, was, their mocking and persecuting the gospel - church, God's Isaac, in his infancy. |
| 21:11 | The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight - it grieved him that Ishmael had given such provocation. And still more that Sarah insisted upon such a punishment. |
| 21:13 | The casting out of Ishmael was not his ruin. He shall be a nation because he is thy seed - We are not sure that it was his eternal ruin. It is presumption to say, that all these who are left out of the external dispensation of God's covenant are excluded from all his mercies.Those may be saved who are not thus honoured. |
| 21:14 | And Abraham rose up early in the morning - We may suppose immediately after he had in the night - visions received orders to do this. |
| 21:17 | God heard the voice of the lad - We read not of a word be said; but his sighs and groans, cried loud in the ears of the God of mercy. An angel was sent to comfort Hagar, who assures her, God has heard the voice of the lad where he is - Though he be in the wilderness; for wherever we are, there is a way open heavenwards; therefore lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand - God's readiness to help us when we are in trouble must not slacken, but quicken our endeavours to help ourselves. He repeats the promise concerning her son, that he should be a great nation, as a reason why she should bestir herself to help him. |
Chapter 86
David prays for the favour and blessing of God, ver. 1 - 6.Verses:
Expresses confidence in him, by praise mingled with prayer, ver. 7 - 17.
A prayer of David.
| 86:2 | Holy - Sincerely devoted to thy service. |
| 86:11 | Truth - In the way of thy precepts, which are true and right in all things. My heart - Knit my whole heart to thyself. |
| 86:13 | Hell - From extreme dangers and miseries. |
Chapter 6
| 6:1 | The apostle here sets himself more fully to vindicate his doctrine from the consequence above suggested, Romans 3:7 ,8.He had then only in strong terms denied and renounced it: here he removes the very foundation thereof. |
| 6:2 | Dead to sin - Freed both from the guilt and from the power of it. |
| 6:3 | As many as have been baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into his death - In baptism we, through faith, are ingrafted into Christ; and we draw new spiritual life from this new root, through his Spirit, who fashions us like unto him, and particularly with regard to his death and resurrection. |
| 6:4 | We are buried with him - Alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion. That as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory - Glorious power. Of the Father, so we also, by the same power, should rise again; and as he lives a new life in heaven, so we should walk in newness of life. This, says the apostle, our very baptism represents to us. |
| 6:5 | For - Surely these two must go together; so that if we are indeed made conformable to his death, we shall also know the power of his resurrection. |
| 6:6 | Our old man - Coeval with our being, and as old as the fall; our evil nature; a strong and beautiful expression for that entire depravity and corruption which by nature spreads itself over the whole man, leaving no part uninfected. This in a believer is crucified with Christ, mortified, gradually killed, by virtue of our union with him.That the body of sin - All evil tempers, words, and actions, which are the "members" of the "old man," Colossians 3:5 , might be destroyed. |
| 6:7 | For he that is dead - With Christ. Is freed from the guilt of past, and from the power of present, sin, as dead men from the commands of their former masters. |
| 6:8 | Dead with Christ - Conformed to his death, by dying to sin. |
| 6:10 | He died to sin - To atone for and abolish it. He liveth unto God - A glorious eternal life, such as we shall live also. |
The Book of Matthew
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
| 10:24 | 6:30 ; John 15:20. |
| 10:25 | How much more - This cannot refer to the quantity of reproach and persecution: (for in this the servant cannot be above his lord:) but only to the certainty of it. Matthew 12:24 . |
| 10:26 | Therefore fear them not - For ye have only the same usage with your Lord. There is nothing covered - So that however they may slander you now, your innocence will at length appear. 4:22 ; Luke 8:17; 12:2. |
| 10:27 | Even what I now tell you secretly is not to be kept secret long, but declared publicly. Therefore, What ye hear in the ear, publish on the house - top - Two customs of the Jews seem to be alluded to here. Their doctors used to whisper in the ear of their disciples what they were to pronounce aloud to others.And as their houses were low and flat roofed, they sometimes preached to the people from thence. 12:3 . |
| 10:28 | And be not afraid - of any thing which ye may suffer for proclaiming it. Be afraid of him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell - It is remarkable, that our Lord commands those who love God, still to fear him, even on this account, under this notion. |
| 10:29 | The particular providence of God is another reason for your not fearing man. For this extends to the very smallest things. And if he has such care over the most inconsiderable creatures, how much more will he take care of you, (provided you confess him before men, before powerful enemies of the truth,) and that not only in this life, but in the other also? |
| 10:30 | See note ... "Mt 10:29" 12:7 . |
| 10:32 | Whosoever shall confess me - Publicly acknowledge me for the promised Messiah. But this confession implies the receiving his whole doctrine, 8:38 , and obeying all his commandments. 9:26 . |
| 10:33 | Whosoever shall deny me before men - To which ye will be strongly tempted. For Think not that I am come - That is, think not that universal peace will be the immediate consequence of my coming. Just the contrary. Both public and private divisions will follow, wheresoever my Gospel comes with power. Ye - this is not the design, though it be the event of his coming, through the opposition of devils and men. |
| 10:34 | See note ... "Mt 10:33". 12:51 . |
| 10:36 | And the foes of a man - That loves and follows me. 7:6 . |
| 10:37 | He that loveth father or mother more than me - He that is not ready to give up all these, when they stand in competition with his duty. |
| 10:38 | He that taketh not his cross - That is, whatever pain or inconvenience cannot be avoided, but by doing some evil, or omitting some good. Matthew 16:24 ; Luke 14:27. |
| 10:39 | He that findeth his life shall lose it - He that saves his life by denying me, shall lose it eternally; and he that loseth his life by confessing me, shall save it eternally. And as you shall be thus rewarded, so in proportion shall they who entertain you for my sake. Matthew 16:25 ; John 12:25. |
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