top of page
Writer's pictureSober AA Member

Breathe - The Upper Room

Breathe

Alan Li Camarillo (Missouri, USA)


One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” - Luke 11:1 (NIV)


A few years ago, I studied acting. One of the classes taught techniques for breathing and movement. Just prior to the acting sessions, we would lie down on the floor and practice slow and deep breathing exercises. The purpose was to gain coordination as we incorporated the breathing and movement...


TODAY'S PRAYER God of creation, center our thoughts so we can be in complete communion with you. Thank you for teaching us to pray: “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation (Luke 11:2-4, NIV).” Amen.




Psalm 145:13-21


13 Your kingdom is a kingship that lasts forever; your rule endures for all generations. The LORD is trustworthy in all that he says, faithful in all that he does. 14 The LORD supports all who fall down, straightens up all who are bent low. 15 All eyes look to you, hoping, and you give them their food right on time, 16 opening your hand and satisfying the desire of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways, faithful in all his deeds. 18 The LORD is close to everyone who calls out to him, to all who call out to him sincerely. 19 God shows favor to those who honor him, listening to their cries for help and saving them. 20 The LORD protects all who love him, but he destroys every wicked person. 21 My mouth will proclaim the LORD’s praise, and every living thing will bless God’s holy name forever and always.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Prayer is an opportunity to breathe deeply.


PRAYER FOCUS Actors



Gottawanna find love and peace thank you God, thank you Al-Anon, thank you Alcoholics Anonymous


The Upper Room was the original devotional that early AA Members used and read.


they also used The Upper Room, a Methodist publication that provided a daily inspirational message, interdenominational in its approach.


Usually, the person who led the Wednesday meeting took something from The Upper Room [the Methodist periodical mentioned earlier] or some other literature as a subject. S


“Then there was that little nickel book The Upper Room,” she recalled. “They figured we could afford a nickel for spiritual reading. They impressed on us that we had to read that absolutely every morning. There wasn’t any well-equipped bathroom in A.A. that didn’t have a copy. And if you didn’t see it opened to the right day, you immediately began to suspect them.”



Bill Wilson remembered a time when four drunks, still shaking and not knowing what it was about, were staying with Wally and Annabelle. “They would start out in the morning reading from The Upper Room and say the prayers,” he recalled. “



Thank you for your love and prayers - thank you for reading this - thank you God bless you for the healing by being here you are blessing us.


The Books And Materials Early AAs Read

By Dick B.

Early AAs were readers. The Bible was the written word of God. The daily devotionals were written guides. Oxford Group people wrote. Sam Shoemaker wrote. Anne Smith wrote. And there were a great many books available for reading. Dr. Bob was an avid reader, and so was his colleague Henrietta Seiberling. Every pioneer A.A. meeting had tables set out in T. Henry’s house where literature was available. Dr. Bob recommended and circulated many books. He kept a journal which recorded the books loaned, and he quizzed the alcoholics on the Bible and on the written materials they had borrowed from him. Whatever their proclivity for reading, early AAs all attested to the presence of the Bible and The Upper Room. They mentioned The Runner’s Bible. They mentioned E. Stanley Jones books. They mentioned Henry Drummond’s The Greatest Thing in the World. They mentioned My Utmost for His Highest. They mentioned James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh. They mentioned the popular Glenn Clark books, Emmet Fox books, and Harry Emerson Fosdick books. There were religious books, and almost every one elaborated on some aspect of ideas AAs were borrowing from the Bible and the Oxford Group for their basic principles.

There was plenty of material on the Bible, prayer, healing, divine guidance, the Sermon on the Mount, 1 Corinthians 13, and the Book of James. There were Oxford Group/Shoemaker materials on finding God, changing lives, conversion, the guidance of God, fellowship, witness, and the teachings of Jesus. There has, perhaps, never been a fellowship with such diversity of subject matter at the immediate beck and call of its participants. Nor with such encouragement of its study by the “leadership.”





KDTAHGSDRSG


3 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page