Brown's Daily Word 5-7-08

Good Morning,
We are having a heat wave here in New York. It is going to be much like summer today. Praise the Lord for the glorious beauty of this day. Praise the Lord for the eyes He has given us so that we can gaze at the beauty, and truly know that, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever " -- John Keats. Praise the Lord that He has given us minds so that we may know Him and hearts with which we may love Him.
Whenever a Christian visits the Holy Land, one of the places he wants to visit is the Upper Room. There were so many significant things that occurred in the Upper Room. It was in the Upper Room that Jesus and the disciples celebrated the Passover together and Jesus gave to us the Lord’s Supper. It was in the Upper Room that Jesus spoke the words of John 14, "Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me." When the agony of Good Friday had passed and the glory of Easter had occurred, many believe it was through the locked door of the Upper Room that Jesus came and showed himself to the disciples. It has been traditionally held that it was to the Upper Room that the disciples retreated after the Ascension of Jesus, and that the Upper Room was the location when the Holy Spirit was poured out on a praying group of disciples on Pentecost. The Upper Room is significant to the Christian. We, as United Methodists, have a devotional guide we call the Upper Room. At the Board of Discipleship in Nashville, there is the Upper Room prayer chapel with a wood craving of the Last Supper. It is only logical that a Christian visiting the Holy Land would want to visit the Upper Room. Every time I have gone to the Holy Land, I have gone to the Upper Room. The Upper Room is a place for solitude, that place were we find our spirits, our minds, even our bodies renewed. It is that place were we receive the rest we need. For example there were times when Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, was alone with God and God would send birds to bring him something to eat. The Upper Room is a place where our spirits are renewed, the obstacles of life are brought into perspective, and we are able to go about life in a renewed way. In one of his books Charles Allen, a great pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Houston, with whom I was in conferences in the late seventies and the early eighties and who is gone to be with Jesus, told about a highway that was being built in England. In the way stood a very, very old building. The workmen tore it down and cleared off the ground on which it stood. After the ground had been exposed to the sunshine and rain for some months, a wonderful thing happened. Flowers began to spring up, and botanists and naturalists from all over England came to study them. Many of the flowers were identified as plants the Romans had brought to England almost 2,000 years before. Some of the plants that sprang up are completely unknown today. Hidden there in the ground, without air and light, the seeds seemed to have died. But they were not dead. As soon as the obstacles were cleared away, and the sunshine let in, they sprang into the fullness of their beauty.
This is very similar to what can happen in the confines of our Upper Room. What was ugly and hard is some how transformed into life. The Upper Room is a place of prayer. A lot of prayer took place in that original Upper Room. In fact the prayers offered by the disciples did not last for just a few hours. They stretched over a period of days. Did the prayers suddenly end on the day of Pentecost? Of course not! The disciples entered the Upper Room of prayer on a regular basis.The Upper Room is a place were we can study and reflect on the Scriptures. We each need an Upper Room were we can experience solitude, have our spirits renewed, pray and study the Scripture. Let’s face it. This is a lot of work. It takes time to do these things. Sometimes the search for the Upper Room is long and difficult, but the benefits, the rewards, are worth it. Think for a moment about what the disciples experienced because of time spent in the Upper Room. It was in the Upper Room that the disciples encountered Jesus. Isn’t that what we are longing for? It may take time but when we earnestly enter our Upper Room we will experience the Risen Lord. It sometimes requires patience and a lot of hard work. We may encounter Jesus in a dramatic way or in a still small voice, or simply in a peaceful quiet. It was in the Upper Room that the disciples received the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was a gift that Jesus had promised them and now in that Upper Room they experienced just a small taste of what the Holy Spirit could do in their lives. When the Holy Spirit was set free in their lives they received a new courage that allowed them to do and experience things they never dreamed possible. It was the Upper Room from which the disciples went out with renewed strength and power to face the world. In the Upper Room they encountered Jesus, which in turn allowed them to get on with the work of the kingdom. William Hinson, Sr., ( who also has gone to be with Jesus) who followed Charles Allen as the pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Houston, the largest church in American Methodism, told the story about a time when he was going to Columbia, South Carolina to preach in a revival. He had not slept well the night before and had gotten up that morning and preached in two Sunday morning services. He went immediately to the airport to leave for Columbia. He had looked forward to sleeping on the plane but it just so happened that the person next to was a talker so. . . so much for sleep. His plane arrived late so he was immediately picked up by a church member and whisked off to the church. He arrived at the church just a couple of minutes before the service was to begin and did not have the opportunity to freshen up at all. He felt yucky. As he preached he could feel his body swaying from fatigue. When the service was over he was led to the fellowship hall where a receiving line was set up to greet the visiting preacher. The line seemed to extend forever. Near the end of the line, a large man stepped aside and suddenly he saw his youngest daughter. His daughter was attending school in Augusta, Georgia, and when she heard her dad was going to be in Columbia she had borrowed her boyfriend's car and had driven for hours just to be with her dad and to talk with him about some things.They left the church and went to get some coffee and pie, and then went to the hotel and talked for several hours. When she finally left, he said he realized the most unusual thing. He was no longer tired. He had spent time with someone very special to him and found himself renewed. (The Power of Holy Habits, pg. 18-19) That’s what our Upper Room is all about. It is time we can spend with Jesus and find renewal. We may enter the Room feeling beaten up and discouraged, but we can come away revived.
Our Lord rescues. He restores. He refreshes. He renews. He revives.
Blessed be His Name.
In Him,
Brown
When was the last time you laughed for the sheer joy of your salvation? People are not attracted to somber doctrines. There is no persuasive power in a gloomy and morbid religion. Let the world see your joy and you won't be able to keep them away. To be filled with God is to be filled with joy. Anonymous
There's nothing more contradictory than an unenthusiastic Christian. The Bible tells us that God loves us so much, in fact, that God gave his only son so that all who believe in him will have everlasting life. Nothing not even death can separate us from God's love! If we really believe that, we can't help but overflow with joy! Ronald Newhouse
One of the great blessings of church, for all of its imperfections, is the gift of a genuine laughter - a laughter shared and bequeathed to us by our perfect Father. This is a laughter that we will share in even greater measure when all the sorrow is gone and every tear is wiped from our eyes. One day, like the captives many years ago said, we too will sing: We are like those who dream. Our mouths are filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. It is said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." Yes, the LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:2-3 Phillip WareHeartlight Magazine
A tongue filled with laughter and praise is a reflection of a heart filled to overflowing with the joy of the Lord. What a joy it is just to be with someone whose heart is full. A soothing tongue, a tongue that can say "I accept you where you are," or "I appreciate your questions" without offence or bitterness, is a secure place someone can go for help without fear of judgement, condemnation or censure Mike Hoskins
"The most valuable thing the Psalms do for me is to express the same delight in God which made David dance." Reflections on the Psalms(Clive Staples) C. S. LewisInto The Wardrobe