Reflection: Hallowed: Prayers and Poetry

 Reflection Questions

        1. When you realized the Lord's offered gift of a personal relationship with Him how did you react emotionally?

        2. How does that wonder turn your heart and mind upside down?

        3. When, or why, does that sense of wonder become ordinary?

Share: What word or thought do you think could help us t remember to include a hallowed respect when we talk and pray with the Lord?

Questions: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Questions

            Honest questions

            are not ignored

            better to stop

            that plunge into

            ignorance. Standing on

            Holy ground

            time to pause,

            listen, pray,

            submit to answers

            in faith.

Reflection: Perplexed: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Do you have a tendency to bring your questions to the Lord first or last? Why?

2.     How difficult is it for us to wait personally, or as a fellowship, for a long-term answer?

3.     How can we shift our waiting time into Holy ground instead of worried anxiety?

4.     How does the question, “What does this mean?” apply to a situation in your life right now?

Share: Read Isaiah 55. What word in this passage amazes and perplexes you? Which gives you hope?

Perplexed: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Acts 2:12

“All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?’”

A recent article on FB noted that young children ask an average of close to three hundred questions per day, and other research says four year olds often ask over 400.

Curiosity is hardwired into us—especially if we have a desire to learn and connect.

My two year old grandson repeatedly asks, “what is it”, these days as he adds to his vocabulary. He often repeats his new word a few times and nods happily. But not so much to his sometimes follow up questions of “why”, when either I don’t know the answer, or don’t have a vocabulary that he can reason through. His frown and disappointment in me is tangible.

“A mystery, in the biblical sense, is simply a truth that has not yet been revealed. The only way to understand it rightly is through the interpretation of the Spirit of God.” Oswald Chambers

How often do we bring our spiritual questions to each other, or try to figure them out ourselves, and forget that our human replies are limited. Too often we settle for surface explanations, correct or not, and miss a depth invitation waiting to grow closer to the Lord.

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8 NAS

Lord, thank you for Your open invitation to come and ask and seek and listen. Help us to remember to look past the surface and search for Your light in our lives and Your path through our confusion.

Psalm of Worship: Genesis 1:12

“The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good.”

Possibilities: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Possibilities

Questions lure the

reader into unfamiliar

territory:  will she succeed,

where did he go;

whether down to earth

reality or mind stretching

mystery we follow,

heartbeating romance

fantastic worlds

all pulse with

anticipation while

we forget we live

the most astonishing

story ever told

as daily faith.

Kingdom Manna

Yoke

Mark 12:34, When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Wisdom. The world honors wisdom and within each culture, poor or rich, a standard is marked which denotes who is considered wise. Some are honored for knowledge-academic, ground-breaking, accumulation. Some for insight—insight, discernment, soothsaying. For yet others it is business sense and economic opportunities.

“Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age you should become fools so that you may become wise.”

When Jesus heard the scribe’s response, He commended him for setting love of God and neighbor above offerings and sacrifices. Seeking after a heart relationship before a successful reputation. And the wise Sadducees and Pharisees, paragons of religious knowledge and correct worship, became silent.

Decade by decade mankind’s knowledge grows sometimes at dizzying speeds. How often do we confuse it with wisdom? How often do I blur the differences? Your wisdom never changes Lord, because You never change. Your love endures forever to every age. Your love is the foundation of Your kingdom. Direct me to Your counsel. May I be willing to become foolish in my own generation to become wise in You.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 107:43

Let those who are wise give heed to these things,

and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.