Reflection: 1 John: Protection: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

        1. Do you recognize the Lord's light is present every day? Why or why?

        2. What personal 'darkness' puts up a barrier to keep you in weakness instead of hope?

        3. What are some instinctive triggers that remind you to turn to His constant protection?

Share: What is a time you chose to see through His light and vision? How did the path open?

Protection: 1 John: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: 1st John 1:7: "but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."  

Protection

Thank-you, Lord, for Your constant protection in our heart and soul to keep us bound to You in all circumstances--every day--a gift of being with You.

Yet still we too often forget, or ignore, and then let our weaknesses take charge.

And bring darkness again.

Yet in Your grace You still keep each of us in Your light, no matter what.

Thank-you.

Please remind us to look at everything through the light and vision You give us daily. And please keep us walking Your path.

Your thoughts,

Protection: Prayers and Poetry

                Protection

                Daily He went before them                

                for forty years

                leading them each day

                from within a pillar of cloud.

                Every night

                Every step, every day

                He continued from

                a pillar of fire. Every year.

                Daily He stays with us too

                within our hearts, our souls,

                never leaving, still watching,

                with us--every moment.

Matthew 5:10: "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom oh heaven."

                

                

Choose: Purpose: Prayers and Poetry

                                               Choose

                                                So easy to give thanks

                                                when actions bring

                                                seen fruit.

                                                We sing for joy.

                                                So difficult to praise

                                                where darkness buries hope

                                                smothering with fear.

                                                Whispering despair.

                                                So choose to commit heart

                                                worship to His word

                                                soak truth as communion.

                                                Walk with Spirit’s protection.

Psalm 18:5,“The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.”

Reflection: Protection: Purpose: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1. How often do we react instinctively with worry when something negative happens?

2. How can we instead look immediately to the Lord for His perspective?

3. How can we grieve and hope at the same time?

Share: What defeat have you experienced that the Lord meant for a blessing?

Protection: Purpose: Prayers and Poetry

Philippians 1: 11-12, “..filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and promise of God. I want you to know brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.”

Protection

How often do we instinctively react from worry, focus on ourselves, cringe at negative struggles, that we forget, or delay, leaning on the Lord immediately?

Not only do we forget to lean into His grace and protection, but also forget that our actions in our circumstances will speak to others as well.

Too often we retreat in denial, or curl up into an attitude of anger or fear or defeat.

When instead we can ask to be enabled to serve You with an obedient and trust-filled heart in all circumstances. And stand on Your word—Your truth.

Lord, please remove our fears and keep our hearts trusting you. Keep our sight set on Your Presence. To react into Your promises with courage and not cower in denial.

Your thoughts,

Reflection: Protection: Listen: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Do you personally really understand and believe this promise?

2.     How then can we react/respond when it seems as if we are under attack, whether from ourselves, in a sense of failure, or from others harassing us?

3.     Can you visualize a protection barrier surrounding you? What might it look like?

4.     Write up a prayer of protection for yourself and your family, based on this verse, and pray it at every moment of conflict throughout the week ahead.

Share: Was there any one specific word that sustained you?

Protection: Listen: Prayers and Poetry

Protection: Listen: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Romans 8:31

“What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

No one can stand against us when we are in the Lord. Not even ourselves.

So how do we live into this promise when crisis hits? Or fears dissolve us. Or our selfishness resists any changes other than by our own will.

In trust.

“Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.”  1 John 5:10

In His word. In His life. In His death. In His resurrection. A living testimony.

Given to us as well. Written into our hearts as a lifeline. An ongoing heartbeat of trust that can sustain us beyond the capacity of our physical hearts pumping moment by moment breathes throughout our bodies.

So we can live with open hands and open faith in all circumstances.

Not even seasons of grief can separate us. He carries us. Always.

Thank you, Lord, that our lives are within Your boundaries and that nothing can transgress Your commands.

Psalm of Worship: Proverbs 8:30

“Then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight rejoicing before him always.”

Protection: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Joshua 20

“These were the cities designated for all the Israelites and for the aliens residing among them…until there was a trial before the congregation.” Joshua 20: 9

Long before they settled the land, Moses had appointed cities of refuge according to the Lord’s directions. Now the time had come to implement the protection that would be necessary to uphold justice for both Israelites and aliens in their midst.

Refuge—not pardon.

Sins of error—not sins of deliberate intent.

Real justice—not revenge.

Time for adrenaline, and fury, and searing emotional pain, to subside from a roaring firestorm into a focused trial. To examine all the circumstances and separate out the innocent from the guilty before more death occurred.

Time for mercy to be examined both for the accused and the bereaved.

Time before time existed, before the foundation of the world, the Lord prepared a refuge for us in Jesus to give hope instead of death in the face of all sins. As a costly gift from God.

“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scouring we are healed.” Isaiah 53: 5

Thank you, Lord, for the protection You offer us in all circumstances. Thank you for Your gifts of justice, and mercy, and faithfulness, when we do not deserve it and can never earn it. Thank you for Your deliverance from ourselves, both the enemies within and without. Thank you for

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 140: 7, 12

“O Lord, my Lord, my strong deliverer, you have covered my head in the day of battle.”

“I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the needy, and executes justice for the poor.”

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?

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     What army with swords drawn is surrounding you this week? Write down their threats against you.

2.     Next to their threats, write down God’s words of promise and protection.

3.     As each threat draws nearer claim your word of promise and see the Lord standing with you.

Share: What word has the Lord given you this week to escape the edge of the sword?

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

2 Kings 6: 16-17, “He replied, ‘Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them…So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

As Elisha’s servant woke to find an army circling the city, swords at hand, he naturally became concerned. All he could consider was the situation immediately before him and could not see any solution.

How often do we also face the day only considering the swords drawn against us: at work, at home, with extended family. Medical, physical, emotional, relational and spiritual battles can wear us down with such fatigue that we too are blind to any alternatives other than attack or defend.

But Elisha stood within another reality and shared it with his servant.

How would we react to ongoing threats, daily burdens, and sudden danger if we also saw God’s fire surrounding us? In Ephesians six we are given the details of the armor He provides: truth, righteousness, preparation of the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, “and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

As the world’s demands circle us with enticement and pressure and false choices we are not left defenseless. Yet not to fight back with similar weapons. Instead we ask the Lord to open our eyes to see His solution.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 68:19-20

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,

The God who is our salvation.

God is to us a God of deliverances;

And to God the Lord belong escapes from death.

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Hebrews 11:28, “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.”

Moses trusted God. He had heard His voice and seen the unbelievable. Moses saw God work through tangible things—a burning bush, a shepherd’s staff, the river Nile. Even when Pharaoh’s sorcerers mimicked him, Moses could identify God’s power.

Now, in the face of the plagues, he was called to enact a ritual with no understanding of why or what or how.

Still he obeyed—knowing the one who spoke the words—even when they didn’t make any sense. Knowing only the Lord had the power to free them forever.

Neither Moses nor Israel knew this Passover would also become a sustaining ritual for their people. An ongoing picture book of hope and grace and redemption and restoration. A ritual so complex that theologians have wrestled with its meaning for centuries and still one that a young child could grasp its truth.

How often do we face a crisis, seek help through prayer, and receive an answer that seems to make no sense? Then think we misunderstood and find a different solution. Instead of embracing the unfathomable we accept only the measurable and concrete. And lose the opportunity to experience a rescue with story power. A story of meeting God that will last us our whole lives. A story that will sustain our faith throughout all the crises yet to come.

Lord, please give us eyes to see Your refuge and courage to trust in You alone.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 141:8-9

“For my eyes are toward Thee, O God, the Lord;

In Thee I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless.

Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me,

And from the snares of those who do iniquity.”

Kingdom Manna

Intercede

Mark 3:27, But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

Scenes flash across the news broadcast. Bold headlines slash the newspaper. Injury, mayhem, war, murder. Mankind grasping more, stealing from one another. “Survival of the fittest”.

Left behind in the wake lie innocent, poor, helpless. Silent sufferers. Casualties of the battle. “Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.”

Strong, ruthless but subject to one still stronger. Jesus. The name that stops Satan cold. The name from which his demons flee. The name that upholds all boundaries.

Lord, it has taken me a long time to recognize I have no protection from lies and envy and greed except by Your strength. They may not be of the stature that reaches recognition by others but can be as deadly. Deliver me I pray, from insidious desires. From worldly fare that ignores Your love. From the power of darkness that breeds in concealed corners.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 91:3

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence;

Kingdom Manna

Key

Matthew 13:26, “So when the plants came up and bore grain then the weeds appeared as well.”

Unexpected the weeds came. Product of an enemy in the middle of the night. Purpose to disrupt, corrupt the crop. Create a blight, cause despair.

How many times have we experienced serious setbacks, debilitating blows to good intentions, worthwhile goals, gracious gifts? Time, money, talents, health attacked just as we begin to see buds of hope.

Unfair, we cry!

Hear Jesus’ counsel. “If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as it’s own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world-therefore the world hates you.” And Satan roams the world looking for a chance to devour. Whatever the cause there can be a sense of calm in the midst of my trouble.

Unity with the Lord means I can expect trouble. And if prepared, then I can stand my ground knowing the privilege of participating in the battle, as a kingdom member. Side by side with fellow believers, sustained in the Lord’s presence. Side by side with opportunity to witness Jesus’ protection.

Hold me in Your refuge Lord in times of trouble when I feel overwhelmed. Help me to stay on Your ground.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 37:39

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

he is their refuge in the time of trouble.

Leaving Egypt Behind

Scripture: Exodus 13:22, He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

Israel walked through the wilderness in sight of God. Day and night His Presence led them. They had no recourse to doubt or to discern. They followed a living signal.

Before them, behind them, above them, over them, God led Israel into situations and circumstances always providing His Presence, His protection, His provision.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

We cannot see Him as Israel did. We are called to walk by steps of faith and inner vision. Often our vision becomes blurred and we are confused. We lack confidence. We lack direction.

I need to focus my vision on Jesus. Not to run ahead of Him or lag behind Him. He will lead me in the right direction at the right time.

Forgive me, Lord, for fearful paralysis. Forgive me for refusing to walk by faith. Open my eyes to see You. Open my mind to follow only Your path.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 44:18

Our heart has not turned back,

And our steps have not deviated from Thy way,

Leaving Egypt Behind

Scripture: Exodus 13:7, Now it came about when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war, and they return to Egypt.”

Our family once had a dark blue station wagon that was prone to overheating. This condition was not caused by length of trip, elevation, windy roads, or even warm weather. It just happened, and we simply never knew if we would reach our destinations on time, or if we would find ourselves on a roadside, waiting for the steam shooting from under the hood to subside from its billowy tantrum. Often we were pressed to pass the time creatively.

Waiting is frustrating. Detours are aggravating. We are set to go from point A to point B in minimum time. Why delay? Waiting seems such a waste, so purposeless.

Israel had a direct, clear route to Canaan, the Promised Land. A flush of freedom, of escape, propelled them forward. Anticipation tasted sweet. And God led them by a side passage, a longer less satisfying route: to protect them, to preserve them, to prepare them throughout the journey.

“A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.”

God knew a people fresh from slavery could handle only certain circumstances. They would require strength before facing war and dangers. The simple route hid deadly snares.

Thank you Lord for setting me on the roadside to sit a spell until it’s safe to travel again. Help me remember that when You direct the detour, or the delay, You are protecting me.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 103: 14

For He Himself knows our frame;

he is mindful that we are but dust.