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Design
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challenge
which
is real, which is image.
Advanced
technology mimics
world.
Grows environments,
multiple designs changing
by delete, undo,
begin again.
Almost
taste cornucopia
whetting
appetites.
Allow
sensory immersion’s
woven
spell. Given wide range
choice, time induced
entertainment almost
reality.
Accepted
credentials
with
admiration for competence.
Admire
each new invention
with
respect for creativity.
Why
then deny original
designer
who spoke
universe
into being.
Words
became substance
visible—flesh and blood,
but requires faith to
access
and no control.
Psalm 104:4, He makes the winds His messengers, Flaming
fires His ministers.”
Reflection Questions
1.
Why did we recognize the ‘realities’ that technology can produce yet struggle
to recognize God’s realities in our lives?
2.
Since often we do realize that human creations can be undone, do we apply that
concept to faith and allow doubt to wonder at God’s promises of new beginnings?
3.
How can we compare our ability to be creative with God’s spoken creation?
4.
How should we not?
Share: From invisible to visible. What words of hope has God
spoken into reality for you?
Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the worlds were
prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are
not visible.”
Word
Painters use canvas and colors. Writers use syllables and
sentences. Potters shape clay and musicians a symphony. All begin with
available materials, then imagine and dream and create things that are new,
things that can be touched—tasted—seen—sung, all visible.
God spoke the universe into being: atoms and molecules,
oxygen and carbon dioxide, veins and muscles, fish and fowl—humans. Scientists
investigate, categorize every substance they can detect or discover. We learn
what it is now but not always from where it came.
Planted within us scripture words take a new life under the
Spirit’s leading. Stone hearts pulse with love. Stagnant minds grow in
contemplation. Weak knees begin to pray. A cycle grows. As nature’s laws wheel
the seasons around God’s standards, so prayer words reach heaven’s altar to
receive cleansing and return in power.
God speaks new life into our emptiness. Shapes our chaos
into beauty. Showers our wounds with balm. Our barren deserts become gardens, a
welcome respite for fellow travelers. Not a mirage. An oasis made out of things
not visible.
Your thoughts,
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Magnet
To each a different
goal perhaps
not necessarily
understood either by
intellect or vocabulary.
Concepts beyond vision
pulled by invisible ray.
Heart’s magnet setting
recalibrating after
sabotage or error,
negligence, dismay,
glimpses of approval.
Longing enough
to sustain journey.
Psalm 104:3, “He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the
waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind;”
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Reflection Questions
1. Whose everyday approval do we
seek?
2. What attitudes and actions do
we pursue that daily conflict with our faith?
3. God’s expectations seem beyond
reach and yet He knows our very frame. How can that keep us from sabotage?
Share: How might
we see daily life through His love instead of our failures?
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Hebrew 11: 2, “Indeed, by faith our ancestors received
approval.”
Foundations
Looking beyond the impossible struggle, our geographic
ancestors built countries. Planning for future generations they acted upon
hope, upon faith, upon promises. They placed their trust on knowledge of land
and crops and water to carve out valleys, lattice mountains, plant farms, and
build cities.
Leaning on God’s promises our spiritual ancestors built a
heritage of faith. Day by day sharing moral concepts. Week-by-week worshipping
God. Month-by-month proclaiming scriptures. Year-by-year kneeling in atonement
for their sin. Accepting God’s forgiveness.
Looking forward to a time beyond span when prophecy would
reach completion. Not dependent on rulers, wealth, or power, but on God
Himself: Creator, Lord. Relying on His resurrection words.
Leaning on You alone, Lord, is the only way to find Your
path through this maze of life. Build in us, we pray, Your foundations to
withstand the storms and droughts and earthquakes.
Your thoughts,
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Unseen
Behind the oxygen: air
Below the tree: seed
Beneath the earth: nutrients
Life given each new day
sustained by invisible
love
every moment replenished
with forward motion
living
tied together past,
present, future—eternity.
Behind the visible: light
Below the task: energy
Beneath the sorrow: dawn
Breath sustained hope.
Psalm 104: 1-2, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God,
Thou are very great; Thou art clothed with splendor and majesty, Covering
Thyself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.”
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Reflection Questions
1. What is the difference between
a man-made conviction of assurance and a God-centered one?
2. How can circumstances make us
the most vulnerable to doubts?
3. When should we hesitate if
we’re not sure we hear God’s voice?
Share: What word
from the Lord has made it possible for you to take a greater step of faith
without sight?
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Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Assurance
Sometimes we tend to look for assurance in the wrong places.
Or, maybe for the wrong reasons.
Assurance that we will be rewarded, loved, valued, because of things we
do. And when the people we most care about disappoint us by not responding our
attitude and hope decrease.
Except no one but You, Lord, can fill up the void within us.
You alone are our assurance.
However when we do not see You, or hear You, we tend to
misunderstand and let doubt creep in.
Yet we are convinced of so many things we cannot see: oxygen
and air, light behind dark clouds and invisible nutrients in our food. Nature
explodes with things not seen: microbes, neutrons, quarks and currents. Even
when we can’t describe them, or understand them, or even pronounce them
sometimes, we have no doubts or questions re their existence—their ongoing
presence.
Your invisible realm. Invisible to the human eye
geographically, yet wider and deeper and more potent than any earthly rule.
So why do we doubt the paths You set before us, or the value
of the journey for its own sake? Or the voice of Your Holy Spirit in soft
whispers?
Open our eyes, we pray Lord, to live in Your unseen reality
and to fully become a kingdom citizen. Help us to walk in Your light in this
shadow world.
Your thoughts,
Introduction Hebrews 11
In this season of Lent we take time to remember the love, faith, and
sacrifice of Jesus as He fulfilled God’s promise of redemption. In Hebrews
Chapter 11 we see a list of faithful believers in God’s word who, from the Old
Testament onward, lived into the often invisible realm of faith. Some have
several chapters written of their commitment to live by God’s word, and some
are nameless. What does a life of faith look like? How do we live in its hope?
What is God’s definition of hope and faith?
We often look for assurance every day of our lives,
assurance that we are wanted, loved, appreciated. We desire a confirmation of
our value, our work, and ourselves. Yet we are looking for assurance that can
be seen. We hope—yes—but for a concrete response.
Faith calls us deeper. To conviction. To trust. To care with,
or without, a smile in return. To labor without encouragement. To act in
conviction of our beliefs and our hearts. To act the same in whether in
solitude or company, in joy or despair. To act with expectation that the Holy
Spirit will interact within and through us.
Sometimes it seems our faith is strong. Sometimes we only
have faint glimpses of light. It takes time to take a firm root in us and we
usually want to see results quicker, when we really need to go slower.
So this forty week study unfolds as seeds to consider as we revisit the
experiences of those listed as living by
faith in Hebrews. Mondays we will reflect on a scripture passage.
Wednesdays consider meditative questions. Fridays respond with poetry.
Thank you for participating in our journey. Please share as you
discover your own questions and insights, prose, and prayers.
Forever
Whole valley,
All that has gone before.
Ashes now.
Protected by His mantle.
Permanent grace.
Never more plundered.
No more battle ground.
Wholeness only future.
Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house,
They
labor in vain who build it;
Unless
the Lord guards the city,
The
watchman stays awake in vain.
It
is vain for you to rise up early,
To
retire late,
To
eat the bread of painful labors;
For
He gives to His beloved even in his
sleep.
Thank you for participating in this devotional reflection through Jeremiah 31. May this next season of Lent bring you grace and joy as you continue to journey with scripture.
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Reflection Questions
1.
“For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.” Psalm 127:1 Why do
we, do you, find this promise difficult to absorb?
2.
What changes in words or action would help you
to live into hope this week, this year?
3.
Where do you want to build a new beginning?
4.
Write out a description of what that might look
like. Then offer it up as a prayer over the next several days with a listening
heart.
5.
Write down what God shows you as wholeness over
the next several days.
Jeremiah 31: 40 “And the whole valley of the dead bodies and
of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of
the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord; it shall not be
plucked up, or overthrown anymore forever.”
Whole valley,
Can we leave the past, with complete trust in the Lord’s
protection, so as to move forwards from our wilderness into new beginnings?
Are we ready and willing to entrust Him with all the pain
and the loss and give it into His shelter?
Otherwise we too can become trapped in the wilderness unable
to heal—unable to follow His light.
Yet the Lord continues to give us His grace to keep us
remembering the hope He provides. And as He has carried us through loss, He
will continue to carry us through new beginnings.
Lord, may we build only where You lead us to, and only by
Your Spirit’s insight and timing. May Your will be done in all our days in the
whole valley of our time.
Your thoughts,
Purpose
Measuring
line
will
go out further
than
we expect
will
climb a hill
then
take another turn
moving
straight ahead
with
directions
to
follow
worn
path
treading
through all obstacles
moving
with purpose.
Romans 8:39, “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created
thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
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