Sufficient: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Sufficient

covered in hope

descending with

salvation like

manna in the

desert new

each day’s provision

sufficient.

Reflection Armor: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Do you see every day as requiring God’s protection or only in times of crisis?

2.     What attitude or heart change do we need to make to turn from self-sufficiency to God dependence?

3.     Which piece of armor do you need the most to hope right now? See more armor in Ephesians 6: 10-18.

Share: How do you prepare each day to be covered in the Lord’s armor?

Armor: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

1Thessalonians 5:8, “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”

Hope as our helmet covering us. Coming downward upon us from above. First part to shower down soaking into our being.

Salvation alone comes through Jesus. His poured out life flowing out of Him and into us.

Protected now by His faith and love—His breastplate.

He is both priest and warrior shielding us.

All the protection from Him.  All the attending from us.

How diligent are we to keep watch—keep listening—in sober attention to His whispers and shouts.

Lord, please open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our hearts to obey—You alone.

Keep us in Your daylight and barricade the darkness from entrance. Thank you for Your protective armor that cannot be removed once You gift it to us by grace.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 111: 4-6

“He has made His wonders to be remembered;

The Lord is gracious and compassionate.

He has given food to those who fear Him;

He will remember His covenant forever.

He has made known to His people the power of His works,

In giving them the heritage of the nations.”

Inheritance: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Inheritance

To see beyond

blackened terrain

bone statue trees

bearing new seeds

buried deep within.

To see heart

brings hope’s vision.

Reflection Riches: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Riches: Reflection Questions

1.     Do you see hope as present now in the face of great disappointment, or only as later in time? Why?

2.     What do you consider to be our present day riches that cannot be taken away?

3.     Do you tend to react to situations from your mind or heart first? How do you put them in balance?

4.     Why do you think “seeing” with our heart needs to come first?

Share: What is one way you have found to see with your heart?

Riches: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Ephesians 1:18, “so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints.”

When devastation of any kind hits we tend to shut down. Acute stress response according to medical experts can be reactions such as fight, flee, fix, freeze, or faint. And stress can happen on a daily level within relationships. All of these reactions touch our emotional core and usually the next step in a pro-active choice is to fix it or repair or make a plan to re-build. Not emotional—logical.

We look with our eyes at the damage both short term and long term and initiate plans with determination and will power. And often skip over the heart because the immediate pain may be too difficult to face.

Yet that is exactly where the Lord wants us to begin—with the eyes of our heart. To first recognize that His love and mercy never end and are just as present today as yesterday and will be there again tomorrow.

Then to first choose love and mercy in healing before building new foundations that could still harbor anger and bitterness and hardheartedness within the core.

Nehemiah is well known for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and confronting severe opposition from enemies, including those within his own countrymen. Yet before he even began the vision he spent long months in prayer seeking God’s word first. Seeking God Himself. Trying to see through his own heart so as to match with the Lord’s version of inheritance.

A few months ago I heard a speaker give a church family of faith the same version of reactions to stress as the medical field did, but he added the most important other option: FAITH.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 94:14

“For the Lord will not abandon His people,

Nor will He forsake His inheritance.”

Righteousness: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Righteousness

measure

judge

adjust

strive

compare

disparage

seeking righteousness

good standing.

instead fill heart

with love—faith

then hope will sustain.