Hidden: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Lamentations 3: 40-42: " let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the Lord. We lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven."

Hidden

Lord, we need Your guidance to remember that all Your words have purpose and not to take them for granted. That just as they are Your special words to us, we are to share Your truth as a priviledge and not as a chore.

Only in Your Spirit can Your truth be spoken and shared from within to share with others. If our hearts are not tuned into You then we can only speak words that will dissolve. And keep Your insight hidden behind our barriers.

Please keep showing us how to pause and check in with Your voice every time. In everything. Revealed by Your light.

Your thoughts, 

Penitence: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

                Penitence

                Grief-stained

                city stood now

                in penitence

                accepted judgement

                given by God alone

                calm under deserved

                impotence, stripped

                authority its just penalty

                given by grace only

                chance of restoration

                impossible unless under

                almighty hands.

Psalm 37:22: "for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off."

                

Reflection: Halt: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions: 

                1. Are you carrying a grudge or complaint against someone? Against God?

                2. Why do we think ourselves justified?

                3. What to you is true penitence?

Share: The psalmist says that God daily carries our burdens for us. (Psalm 68:19) What stands in your way today from accepting His salvation?

Halt: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Lamentations 3: 37-39: "... Unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill will go forth? Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his sins?"

Halt

We each need Your forgiveness Lord for all our ongoing grumbling and negative reactions when situations do not go the way we want. And then the worry that follows coming upon us as an attack. Within or without our thoughts and actions.

Instead please teach us, remind us, to pause and pray.

So that we will instead connect to Your purpose, and see the situations through Your sight, before we react with our next steps.

Please teach us to learn Your language from Your heart and truth. And then be on Your time frame only.

Thoughts,

Prisoners: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

                 Prisoners

                There is no heart cry

                left unheard

                no innocent victim

                left unseen

                human rights buried

                still recorded

                laws subverted

                still on tablets

                no cover-up

                hidden from truth

                justice all prevails

                in heaven's courtroom.

Psalm 37:21: "'The wicked borrow, and do not pay back, but the righteous are generous and keep giving.'"

Reflection: Worthy: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

 Reflection Questions:

                1. To crush, to deprive, to defraud--how often do we do these within our thoughts if not within our actions?

                2.When have you felt deprived from the presence of the Lord when seeking justice?

                3. According to these verses what does God desire? How does He view justice versus oppression?

Share: What attitude do you need to give to Him in prayer today in heaven's courtroom?

Worthy: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Lamentations 3:34-36: "....To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High...of these things the Lord does not approve."

Worthy

It is a bit frightening to recognize how much our instinctive reaction to anything we consider an affront, or attack, or even the minor irritations we feel, should be returned as if we were in a battle.

And yet the Lord shows us His mercy over and over again. He gives His compassion in our failures and forgives our false versions of self-centeredness. In His heart He considers each of us as worthy.

Lord, please teach us how to act in mercy instead, and forgive situations whether small or large. Interlock our hearts to Your heart so that we can grow up into Your kindness, regardless of any conditions.

Keep our souls away from any desires of retaliation of any kind.

Your thoughts,

Compassion: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

                 

                Compassion

                Still she waits

                at peace in knowledge

                compassion will return

                not cruelty in suffering

                she alone responsible

                judgement necessary

                conducted by love's

                winnowing hope to

                prepare promises

                beyond comprehension.

Psalm 37:20: "But the wicked perish, and the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish--like smoke they vanish away."

Reflection: Winnow: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions:

                1. Is that a new thought that the Lord does not inflict willingly?

                2. Why do you think He allows pain and sorrow when His abundant loving kindness has no boundaries?

                3. Do you think that being willing to be winnowed could become a gift?

Share: What would it take for you to trust God with what you value in the most tender areas of your heart and life?

Winnow: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

 Reading: Lamentations 3:31-33: "For the Lord will not reject forever, For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does not inflict willingly, Or grieve the sons of men."

Winnow

Too often we complain over things we have caused ourselves. Instead of seeking the Lord's forgiveness and mercy and asking Him how to move forward.

Yet He has endless compassion.

He watches over each of us, no matter how far we stray away. And He especially will guide us back when we ask. Sometimes even when we don't ask, and yet He keeps us from harm.

Thank you, Lord, for daily showing us and reminding us to walk into Your purpose, Your way. In Your approval. Please show us how to change our complaints into trustful winnowing.

Your thoughts, 

Releases: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

                Releases 

                Heedless of jeers

                scoffing voices

                she releases pride

                accepts her justice

                prostrates in dust

                silent prayer

                hoping in promise.

Psalm 37:19: "they are not put to shame in evil times, in the days of famine they have abundance."

                

                

Reflection: Within: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

 Reflection Questions:

                1. How difficult is it to acknowledge the attitudes within our selves that are prideful?

                2. In what situations do you find yourself resisting coming to the Lord in silence to listen?

                3. What aspects of your current circumstances feel unbearable to you? Are you resisting the trial, submitting yourself to it, or trusting in the Lord to carry you?

Share: How might your heart change if you choose to accept the difficulty rather than fight?

Within: Lamentations: Prayers and Poetry

 Reading: Lamentations 3: 28-30: "Let him sit alone and be silent. Since he has laid it on him."

Within

Lord, please quiet our thoughts and emotions and possibilities from swirling within us. Especially when they scatter our hearts and thoughts and actions away from You. And let our response put up barriers towards You.

Please keep us walking firmly on the plans and paths as You choose.

When the anxiety and fears whirl around us and within us please remind each of us to pause and pray and listen for Your words only. As You guide.

Moment by moment.

Your thoughts,