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New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

"A Liturgy for Morning Prayer," Upper Room Worshipbook

Used by permission from the Book of Common Worship, © 2018 Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved. This prayer appears in “A Liturgy for Morning Prayer” in Upper Room Worshipbook.

Today’s Reflection

WE ENTER PRAYER with our whole being. When we talk to God we employ our thinking faculties. Good thinking may lead to good theology based on biblical study. As we listen to God, we give thought to what we hear. So, of course, we use our heads — and more. We love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, our whole being. We pray with head and heart, our whole selves in communion with our Maker.

Simeon, called the New Theologian, was a prolific writer and teacher of prayer around the year 1000. He founded a monastery and also spent years in silent retreat. He warned against prayer that is only in the head. Instead, he said that the mind should be in the heart. We pray from the depths of the heart, enjoying the love of Christ.

– J. David Muyskens
Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God

From page 82 of Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God: The Practice of Centering Prayer by J. David Muyskens. Copyright © 2006 by J. David Muyskens. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

When you read “we pray from the depths of the heart,” how do you interpret that? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

Psalms 25:1, NRSV

This Week: Pray for a holy lent. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section.

Did You Know?

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: Valentine (February 14).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2018 | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

11 Comments

  • Jill Posted February 13, 2018 3:20 am

    Of course God knows our deepest longings. But when we pour them out to Him in prayer – we invite relationship, we express our need of Him, Our Saviour. We request His assistance in proper heart-itude, alignment with His Sovereignty. My prayers include a plea for mindfulness, discernment, and the ability to self-analyze and recognize when I am leaning on my own understanding or trying to act in my own strength and with my own selfish intentions. Oh, yes, these come from deep within – and my heart can be so deceitful. Father – anchor me today, each moment to You. I bundle these frustrations and lay them at Your feet, again. God, You are at work. Assist me to allow You full reign.
    Grateful for friends who stand with me – who provide perspective and encouragement.
    A multitude of praises and requests are laid here each day, Father. Wrap them in Your Love…lead us to a deeper understanding of Your Sovereignty. Might we be found faithful.

  • robert moeller Posted February 13, 2018 5:20 am

    With our mind hopefully we use logic, common sense, but with our heart there is emotion, compassion, love. It is my heart that wants to do more than my mind says I can do. As a human my mind balances my heart. I think God can and does do whatever God wants without constraints on the heart or the mind. When I let God rule my actions, God can work through me and God’s plan is achieved,

    Thankful for good news at the dentist. Persistence has helped my situation and my condition has improved. After a cleaning yesterday, the next course of action is to glue the weak teeth together and support them with a wire from behind. An impression was made so that the wire fits my teeth exactly.

    Isis is benefitting from meds and TLC and is doing quite well, we are thankful.

    Prayers that transportation to the doctor wll be found for Anneliese. She has a cardiologist appointment in the 19th. Her palpitations and high blood pressure continue.

    The UR family remains in my prayers of thanks and prayers of concern.
    Blessings to you all.

  • Julie Posted February 13, 2018 8:00 am

    We pray about what weighs heavy on our hearts, such as the pain and suffering and problems related here. We pray because we hope with our hearts and our hearts have faith that is beyond the logic of the mind.
    Good news from Robert regarding his oral health. Prayer and diligence win again.
    Good news regarding Isis. It is amazing how alike God’s creatures are in that we all need TLC to feel we have a reason to rally during times of illness or when we lose our equalibrium.
    Blessings, prayers, and thanks to all the UR family

  • julie Posted February 13, 2018 8:02 am

    be – YOU – tiful!
    Lindsay (character from the book “Wonder”)

  • Connie Posted February 13, 2018 8:22 am

    I pray from the depths of my heart because God lives there and gave me my heartbeat and breath and my reason for living. Everything I have comes from Him.

  • Andrea Posted February 13, 2018 8:29 am

    Psalm 25:4 Make me to know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.

    Praying from the depths of the heart means, to me, making our prayers be unfiltered by pouring our hearts out to God; child-like, trusting, and mindful of God’s all-encompassing Love.

    Sometimes, I am aware of a marker on the path on which God leads me to walk. But most often, it seems God is standing by quietly, and I choose the next step. May I not be passive; may I walk boldly according to God’s instruction, according to sound theology.

    Thank you, Mary and UR prayer warriors for your prayers. Continued prayers for Mary’s and Jill’s fathers, for Anneliese, and for all UR friends and those you name.

    • Mary Ng Shwu Ling Posted February 13, 2018 6:07 pm

      Thanks so much Andrea!

      Blessings and happy valentine’s Day to all!

      • Mary Ng Shwu Ling Posted February 14, 2018 7:10 am

        Thank you for praying for my dad. His temperature is normql but he is so much weakened after the hip operation. Today, he even fell asleep while he was eating. Doc said he probably can only come home on the 22nd of Feb. If there is no complications or fever. Looks like this chinese new year is not much of a celebration with dad un the hospital. However, i am grateful for the staff at the hospital looking after dad and all other patients there.

        Blessings to all

        • robert moeller Posted February 14, 2018 7:27 am

          Mary, did your Dad have a second operation? What caused what seems to be a set back. No it won’t be the same without him home for Chinese New Year’s.

          I sent Korean New Year’s greetings to my Seoul Foreign School students and friends from long ago, ’74-’77. As a Christian my wife did not celebrate in the same way as many Koreans, but we enjoyed the traditional New Year foods.
          I miss them.

          I also sense that things have improved at school. Certainly hope so and pray so.

          Happy Valentine’s Day, a blessed, holy Lent, and a God filled New Year!

          • Mary Ng Shwu Ling Posted February 14, 2018 5:25 pm

            Thanks Robert

            Blessings

  • robert moeller Posted February 13, 2018 10:51 pm

    Thankful for your prayers and posts, and YES, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

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