Thursday, September 02, 2010 |  Celebrate with The Upper Room Celebrate with us on Sunday, November 7! In 2010 The Upper Room daily devotional guide observes two milestones: 1 billion copies printed and 75 years of dynamic ministry. We invite your church to celebrate with us on November 7. Please visit our 75th anniversary web site to learn more. Igniting Our Faith Suggested Bible Reading When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him." Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." -Matthew 17:14-20 (NRSV)
| Today's Scripture
Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." -Matthew 17:20 (NRSV)
| EARLY one afternoon my nine-year-old son asked me to cook hamburgers for dinner. I told him we could have charcoal-grilled hamburgers, and he was happy because he wanted to help light the charcoal. After 30 minutes, he was frustrated. He said, "Mom, I guess we won't be eating soon, and I'm hungry." I told him, "Don't worry. All we need is to light a small piece of charcoal to get it going. It won't take long after that." Lighting that small piece of charcoal reminded me of a spiritual retreat I had attended. I reflected on all the problems I'd been experiencing that had pulled me away from God, tested my faith, and stamped out the hope in my heart. The retreat was the spark I needed to ignite my faith and to confront the difficulties in my life. As a charcoal fire gets its start from a small piece of charcoal, our faith can be ignited by a small dose of love and the confidence that God will not abandon us. Gabriela Marquez Gomez (Distrito Federal, Mexico) Prayer Faithful God, grant that in our love for you we will find the spark that ignites our faith. As Jesus taught us, we pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."* Amen. | Thought for the Day
Grill hamburgers and invite your neighbours for a meal. | Prayer Focus
Those who have lost their faith in God
*Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV). The scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved. PLEASE SHARE THIS MINISTRY with a friend. Invite them to sign up for the free E-Mail Devotional by visiting: http://www.upperroom.org/devotional/email/Copyright © 2010 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher. http://www.upperroom.org | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment