The Upper Room 26 January 2022 Devotional | Past, Present, and Future

The Upper Room 26 January 2022 Devotional | Monday Message

Read The Upper Room 26th January 2022 Daily Devotional Guide

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TODAY’S READING
Acts of the Apostles 12:6-17

Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” – Mark 11:24 (NIV)

When my wife was hospitalized after a stroke, a church group gave her a blanket embroidered with her name and Mark 11:24. When I looked up the verse, it gave me hope. Along with our friends and our church, I was fervently praying for my wife’s complete recovery.

When she died seven weeks later, I was grief-stricken. Not only did I lose my wife, but our prayers had not been granted. I felt like I had failed. Surely if I had been more faithful, God would have healed my wife.

For years I have wrestled with this verse. The mix of past and future tenses is puzzling. I believe prayer changes things, but this passage teaches me that our prayers are never just about the future. Praying conforms us to God’s will in the present. We are comforted in this transformation by looking to God’s faithfulness in the past. Further, like the disciples in Acts 12, sometimes we don’t immediately recognize the answer to our prayers.

I’m still mourning the loss of my wife, but slowly I am beginning to appreciate the profound ways God answers my prayers — ways so amazing that I don’t always understand them. I have come to accept that God doesn’t require my understanding, just my steadfast, faithful confidence in God’s love for me.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Lord, help us to see the ways you have guided us in the past, and grant us faith to trust our futures to you, no matter what is happening in the present. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
How has God acted in my past?

PRAYER FOCUS
Those who have lost loved ones

The Upper Room 26 January 2022 Devotional. The Upper Room is a daily devotional magazine published in more than 30 languages and 100 countries around the world. The daily meditations are written by readers of the magazine and others interested in sharing their faith experiences through writing—both laity and clergy, published authors and new writers. The meditations are stories of real people working to live faithfully with the Bible as their touchstone. Every day, readers of The Upper Room around the world read the same story in many different languages and pray the same prayer together. Read More