The Upper Room Daily Devotional || 16 January 2022 || Sunday Message
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January 16, 2022 The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Prompting
Andrew Michael Ardoin (Louisiana, USA)
TODAY’S READING
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Today I will look for God’s promptings in my conversations with others.
PRAYER FOCUS
Those seeking a church home
KEY VERSE:
Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. – Haggai 1:13 (NIV)
The Upper Room Daily Devotional || 16 January 2022 || MESSAGE
I had no reason to dislike this person — I called him “that Christian” in my head — but we also didn’t have anything in common. I was 20 years older. He was a student. I was a maintenance worker. I’d seen thousands of university students come and go. Very few ever spoke to me. But he did, several times. He even remembered my name. He told me about Jesus and encouraged me to return to church.
“I need to get my life right before I go back to church,” I told him. “I’ll do it later.” I don’t know if he believed me. I didn’t believe myself.
He must have graduated because I eventually stopped seeing him around campus. That was 30 years ago, but I never forgot his encouragement. In time, I did return to church, and I’m glad I did. But I continued to wonder, What blessings did I miss because my faith was a low priority?
I remind myself that religion is not a transaction. Even when we ignore God’s presence, God loves us regardless. But a relationship with God does require our response. When the Israelites answered, God affirmed, “I am with you.” Now, through Christ, God is always with us.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Lord, thank you for your unconditional love. Empower us to respond by growing in relationship with you. Amen.
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
