Upper Room International Prayer Ministries

10/24/2014

1 Peter 4:8 (WEB)
And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves,
for love covers a multitude of sins.

Promise #297: My love covers a multitude of sins.

I like how the NIV Bible translates this verse... Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (NIV) When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, they realized that they were naked and felt shame for the first time in their lives. It is terrible to feel uncovered and exposed. That is why so many of us try and cover our own spiritual nakedness with activities, accomplishments and possessions.

I love today's promise because it says that love actually covers us. Not only does it cover all our sin, but love covers every area in our life where we feel naked and ashamed. The best definition of love that I know of can be found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. It talks about how patient love is, how kind it is, how it doesn't get easily angered, how love believes all things, hopes in all things, and endures all things.

The love that we were created to receive will never fail. Ever. If you are struggling today with a feeling of being uncovered in some way, be encouraged to know that love will cover you completely, for that is what love does. It always protects.

My prayer for each one of us is that we would know more of our Father's love today than we did yesterday and tomorrow will be a new opportunity to know even more of His unending, amazing, eternal love!

09/16/2014

Deuteronomy 33:27 (WEB)
The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms.
He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’

Promise #259: You will find safety in My everlasting arms.

God is our eternal refuge. Just think of that for a moment. There will never be a time in all eternity where you will ever be unprotected. You can feel safe and secure knowing that your God and Father will carry you in His everlasting arms forever!

When our children were little, I absolutely loved holding them in my arms. It felt so good and I think my children enjoyed the safety and security of that feeling too. If as fathers, we were meant to be a foreshadow of the true Father, then I would imagine that God would feel the same sense of satisfaction and contentment when He is holding us in His big strong arms.

In Psalm 27:1, David declares ... The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? (NIV). The reason David wasn't afraid of his enemies was because he was completely aware that He was being protected by the everlasting arms of God Himself. May we all be encouraged today of this tangible reality. We will find safety in the everlasting arms of our Papa!

09/15/2014

2 Thessalonians 3:3 (WEB)
But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you,
and guard you from the evil one.

Promise #258: I will be faithful to give you My strength and protection.

God is faithful. He will never leave you or forsake you and He has promised to protect you from the evil one. In a world that is full of broken promises, this is something that we can know and rely on. The NIV Bible says 2 Thessalonians 3:3 this way... But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. (NIV)

You can rest in the fact that you are safe and secure in your heavenly Father's love. His Word is His bond and He is completely faithful to do all that He promises. May faith rise up in our hearts today to believe that God is who He says He is and that we are who He says we are... His beloved children (1 John 3:1).

We don't have to defend ourselves from the onslaughts of an orphan world system because He has promised to defend and protect us! ...After all, He is our Dad and that is what good fathers do!

09/14/2014

Psalm 18:34-35 (WEB)
34 He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation.
Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great.

Promise #257: I will train you for battle with My shield of salvation.

The Bible says that we are to fight the good fight of faith and to put on the full armor of God so that we can stand against the enemy. It also says that the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. There is no question that there is a battle going on in the spiritual realm and we are called to take our stand and resist the enemy.

In today's promise, King David paints an intimate picture of how God Himself trains him for battle. I really like the NIV Bible translation of Psalm 18:34-35...34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. (NIV)

What a picture of intimacy! Even in the midst of preparations for battle, David speaks of a God that gently trains him and sustains him and even stoops down from heaven to make him great. No matter what battle you are facing today, be comforted in knowing that it is God Himself that will equip you to fight the good fight, for the battle belongs to the Lord. He will stoop down beside you, give you His shield of victory and His gentleness will make you great!

09/13/2014

Isaiah 30:21 (WEB)
and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left,
your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.”

Promise #256: I will be the voice behind you, guiding you in the way you should go.

Have you ever come to a fork in a road and not sure which road to take? I know that often when I have gone hiking, there inevitably comes a time on the trail where it splits off to the right and then left and I am not always sure which path to take. Wouldn't it be nice if at that exact moment, you had a trail guide standing behind whispering in your ear what to do?

In today's Bible promise, God is saying that He is right behind us and He will tell us the way we should go. What a comforting thought to know that we are not left on our own to figure things out. God has committed to walk with us and to at times, carry us on our life's journey. Sometimes when I struggle to find my Father's direction, I wonder if it is because there are so many other thoughts swirling around in my brain that I just fail to hear His still small voice?

Experts say that we all have tens of thousands of thoughts chattering in our brain on an average day. Perhaps all that noise is drowning out the gentle, quiet whisper of our heavenly Dad who is standing behind us, willing to tell us where we should go if we will only quiet our mind to listen? This is why I think it says in Psalm 46:10 to 'be still and know that I am God'.

The next time you need to know what path to take, why not quiet yourself (to the best of your ability) from all the chattering and opinions that swirl in your thought life and listen for the still small voice behind you? God has promised to be there and He has promised to be the voice that will direct you in the way you should go

09/11/2014

Acts 17:27 (WEB)
that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him
and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Promise #254: Reach out and you will touch Me for I am not far from you.

The Apostle Paul was speaking to a bunch of philosphers on Mars Hill in Athens when he made this statement. This Bible verse is part of a discourse where Paul addresses a statue to an 'unknown god' and proceeds to tell all the listeners who God really is. I really like this verse and the next verse in Paul's proclamation of the gospel in the NIV Bible...

Acts 17:27-28
27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' (NIV)

Paul tells these dear pagan folks that God is so close to them that they can actually just reach out and they can touch Him for 'in Him we live and move and have our being'. The truth is that the universe does not contain God, God contains the universe! In Colossians 1, the Bible says that Jesus is the glue that holds everything together. Every proton, every electron, every atom... all held together by the very presence of Jesus.

As you ponder this promise today, may God give you the awareness of His nearness to you. He is not far off in some distant land, but He is closer than you could possibly imagine! So reach out today and encounter the love of your Father that is with you wherever you go.

09/10/2014

2 Corinthians 5:17 (WEB)
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

Promise #253: Your old life has ended and now everything is new in Christ.

Just think of this promise. Everything from your old life has ended and all things have become new. In this Bible passage, the Apostle Paul isn't talking about our natural life but our spiritual life. When we received the free gift of Jesus Christ into our lives, there was a transformation that happened on the inside of each one of us.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead gave new life to our spirit man when we were baptised into the body of Christ. At that very moment, our 'old nature' died, and a new life began. While this is a wonderful picture of our salvation, many of us still struggle with remnants of our old ways, seemingly still alive and well in our soul.

Old thought patterns, familiar false beliefs, etc. seem to dominate our minds. The truth is that while these struggles are real, in actual fact, they are just residue from our former life. The only power that they continue to hold over us, is the power that we give to them by agreeing with these thoughts. That is why we are called to not be conformed to this world any longer but transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:1-2).

May today be the day when our inner man, a new creation in Christ, rises up and declares the truth of who we truly are! May God give us the courage today to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and rise up and receive our destiny as a joint-heir of Jesus. The truth really is that our old life has ended and all things have become new in Jesus Christ our Lord!

09/09/2014

http://youtu.be/vepfV7JAlq0?list=RDM2Lk-15UEK4

What can be said about this lady but, "AMAZING"

09/09/2014

Hebrews 8:12 (WEB)
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness.
I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”

Promise #252: I will forgive your sins and then forget them.

God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient. He is all powerful, He is everywhere and He is all knowing. Yet the God who created the heavens and the earth with just the sound of His voice has decided to have a poor memory when it comes to our sin. In today's promise, God says that He will forgive all of our sins and then forget each of one of them.

The One who is limitless in every way, has chosen to intentionally forget every mistake, every failure, every time we have hurt Him because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I wonder if I actually live each day in the knowledge that God has forgiven me so completely that He can't even remember one time when I have sinned.

As Paul the Apostle said, "Do we keep on sinning that grace abound? God forbid!" However, if we allow the full weight of this promise to seep deep into our hearts, we won't be continually re-counting our sin over and over in our own minds (and perhaps in our prayers). Because of our Father's great mercy, He chooses to forgive and then forget. Let us embrace the words of Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 today and choose to forget the things that God forgets...

12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (WEB)

09/08/2014

http://youtu.be/S_VMs_6bZqk