Reflection Confirm: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Do you think the Lord gives signs today as He did then? Why or why not?

2.     What might be a sign to today’s culture that would have meant nothing in the past?

3.     How can we identify and confirm His signs as individuals and as worship communities?

Share: Have you ever experienced a sign that could not be mistaken?

Display: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Acts 2:20

“The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.”

Signs that the Lord alone can bring about.

Regardless of our advanced sciences or technology. Far beyond the capacity of special effects. Impossible for our most ingenious imaginations to conceive.

Impossible to be manufactured by man or imposters. His display alone. His power.

Centuries earlier God unveiled the weakness of the Egyptian gods revered and feared by multiple cultures of that era. “One by one, the Lord turned their idols of worship into symbols of disease, destruction and loathing. Plague by plague He challenged each Egyptian god. He stretched forth His hand and proved their gods false and powerless before Him, the Creator, the true source of life-giving waters.”

Scripture reminds us that our world will again be called to choose, “For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.”

2 Tim 4:3

Keep us, O Lord, from the allure and intimidation of false power. Open our eyes to see Your wonders every day and trust only in You.

Psalm of Worship: Genesis 1:20

“And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’”

Reflections: Signs: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Think of a personal situation that caught you completely off guard but when you began to process you began to see a pattern. What would have helped you to prepare ahead of time had you the ability to perceive or receive warnings.

2.     Even in situations when a warning could not have been given ahead, how did the Lord’s words carry you through because of previous challenges you had faced with Him?

Share: What word of hope would you give to someone who has been given a difficult “sign”?

Signs: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Acts 2:19

“And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.”

How often do we look up: literally and figuratively?

How often do we pause to recalibrate with family, friends, work, God?

How often do we ask the Spirit to search out our heart motives and winnow out any false attitudes or goals that have crept in?

How often are we caught by surprise when caught in a personal upheaval?

Scientists have learned to track hurricanes, measure earthquakes, monitor volcanoes. They give as much warning as humanly possible when danger lurks, and yet, still, too often we ignore warnings. We become so confident over the storms that fizzle out that we stop watching and listening.

The Lord does not come unannounced.

We may be too absorbed to look and listen and watch and pray; but His signs for change will be spoken, whether words of warning or words of preparation. He will speak into our lives through our bodies, our souls, and our minds.

In nature His creation speaks. We watch sunrises and sunsets, cloud formations, wind and rain, to gauge our external environment and sometimes we listen. Sometimes His word is a quiet personal one to one message, as when He sent Ananias to heal Saul’s vision. Sometimes His word is worldwide as in the flood.

The Lord does not come unannounced.

Lord, please give us eyes to see, words to share, and hearts to trust and obey.

Psalm of Worship: Genesis 1:19

“And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day.”