Astonished: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Acts 2:7

“Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?’”

How many times do we tend to put up boundaries against God’s spoken word whether knowingly or not?

Can only hear it spoken here.

Only by this or that person with these credentials.

Cannot at this time—maybe later.

How often do we lock others out, or keep ourselves from giving the unexpected words of hope, because of busyness, or hardness of heart, or fear of ridicule?

Yet God speaks anytime and anywhere through any persons. Through joy and sadness, birth and death, riches and poverty, ready hearts and stone hearts, through creation, and at least once through a donkey. No limits on His words going out or coming in, except from our very ordinary selves.

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4: 12

Lord, please give us hearts and souls ready and willing to listen—to notice—to receive—to obey—to share as You direct. And when we are astonished, may we remember to give thanks to You alone.

Psalm of Worship: Genesis 1:7

“So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.”

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Design

Advertisements 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.

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

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?

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

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.”

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.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 100

“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture…..”

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Hebrews 1:1, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets.”

Various voices echo in our minds when we embrace memories: parents, teachers, friends, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles or grandparents. We either choose an occasion to remember and let the memory reel play out vividly as the sights and sounds flow over us, or a present incident suddenly jettisons us into instant recall. The smell of Christmas cookies, spring’s first rain, swimming at the ocean, raking fall leaves. Ordinary days, repeating seasons catch us up with sudden pause.

Some shoot jagged edges of pain into our hearts. Some bring a peace blanket of comfort. Together they form the foundation of who we are today. Why we tend to accept certain concepts and reject others. Why we try to change our past to preserve a future. Stop addictions or abuse. Shore up love, forgiveness and compassion.

Vision given through the prophets, the Law, the tabernacle to God’s people. The Lord spoke His message in various ways to establish our foundation in Him. An inheritance that is both remembered and anticipated. A declaration of who we are that ignites our memory of Him. Expands our hearing, softens our touch, clears our sight, sweetens our taste, and freshens our lives with fragrance.

Lord, please weave all of our memories into You—into Your vision.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 139

“My frame was not hidden in Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”