The Upper Room Daily Devotional from The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Tuesday, 20 November 2018 "Always Connected" by Violet Nesdoly (British Columbia, Canada)

The Upper Room Daily Devotional from The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Tuesday, 20 November 2018 "Always Connected" by Violet Nesdoly (British Columbia, Canada)

(Image: Pixabay)

Paul wrote, “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” (Ephesians 1:15-16 (NIV))
When I found out that the car we had just bought had no CD player, I was disappointed. How would we listen to the music we loved on long road trips? Then I discovered it had Bluetooth — a technology that uses radio waves to wirelessly transmit sound from paired devices near each other. When I paired the car’s Bluetooth receiver with my tablet, I could play all the music I had on it. What amazed me was that the atmosphere around me was filled with waves that I could neither see, feel, taste, nor smell. I could sense nothing. Yet the two Bluetooth devices would emit, detect, pick up, and play these invisible waves back to me in words and melodies.
These invisible waves all around remind me of prayer. We have no idea who around us is praying for us or how many prayers are filling the atmosphere. But God does. Much as a Bluetooth receiver is tuned in to the device with which it is paired, God is tuned to our needs and always hears and receives our prayers.
TODAY'S PRAYER: Dear Father, help us to remember that we are always connected to you and that when we pray, you always hear us. Amen.

TODAY'S READING: Ephesians 1:15-23

Ephesians 1:15 Since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, this is the reason that 16 I don’t stop giving thanks to God for you when I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation that makes God known to you. 18I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, 19 and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers. This power is conferred by the energy of God’s powerful strength. 20 God’s power was at work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and sat him at God’s right side in the heavens,21 far above every ruler and authority and power and angelic power, any power that might be named not only now but in the future. 22 God put everything under Christ’s feet and made him head of everything in the church, 23 which is his body. His body, the church, is the fullness of Christ, who fills everything in every way. (Common English Bible)

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your trust in the Lord Yeshua and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you. In my prayers I keep asking 17 the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the glorious Father, to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you will have full knowledge of him. 18 I pray that he will give light to the eyes of your hearts, so that you will understand the hope to which he has called you, what rich glories there are in the inheritance he has promised his people, 19 and how surpassingly great is his power working in us who trust him. It works with the same mighty strength he used 20 when he worked in the Messiah to raise him from the dead and seat him at his right hand in heaven, 21 far above every ruler, authority, power, dominion or any other name that can be named either in the ‘olam hazeh or in the ‘olam haba. 22 Also, he has put all things under his feet[Ephesians 1:22 Psalm 8:7(6)] and made him head over everything for the Messianic Community, 23 which is his body, the full expression of him who fills all creation. (Complete Jewish Bible)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: God is as close as my prayers.

PRAYER FOCUS: Those whom we’ve promised to pray for

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