[Membersandfriends] Sunday, October 24, 2004

Sat Oct 23 22:01:08 PDT 2004

The Upper Room Daily Devotional -- E-mail Edition
Brought to You by Upper Room Ministries
Sunday, October 24, 2004

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Prepare for the Free Advent '04 Study Guide

Coming Soon: Free Advent Study Guide based on The Upper Room. The web-based study guide will be available in early November '04. To order a copy of the magazine for each participant, call 1-800-972-0433 -- at least four weeks before the sessions begin. The first session will be during the week of November 22, 2004. Watch this link (http://www.upperroom.org/devotional/) for more information.
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DO NOT FEAR
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Romans 14:7-9 (NRSV)

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

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Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
- John 12:24 (NRSV)
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ON Sunday, August 1, 1999, amid rioting among people of different religions in the Moluccas islands, one of my cousins was murdered when he tried to go through the conflict area.  He had wanted to attend Sunday worship in a city on another island.  To be on time for the services, he boarded a boat operated by people from another religion.  He was brutally murdered on the boat and his body dumped into the river.

We might say that my cousin was not wise, that he should have postponed going to church until the situation was quieter.  However, he felt as did the psalmist who said, "Zeal for your house consumes me" (Ps. 69:9, NIV).  God is the owner of our bodies, souls, and spirits.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:28: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Even when our efforts to serve God seem to fail, we can still rely on the law of the "wheat seed."  Those who completely entrust themselves to God will live.

Prayer:  Lord, help us to love others, especially those who hate us.  Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to God.

-- Steef Sahetapy Engel (Jakarta, Indonesia)

PRAYER FOCUS: Countries torn by religious conflict

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RELATED READING ...

JESUS, OUR SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR is designed for personal reflection and small-group sharing. Church leaders and committed disciples will appreciate this invitation to a more profound relationship with Christ and with others on the journey of ministry in the world today. Using a groundbreaking narrative approach, Wendy Miller demonstrates the deep biblical roots of spiritual direction in the ministry of Jesus, his disciples, and Christians today.
http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/desc.asp?ep_id=30&item_id=170045

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The scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright (c) 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.