Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     How difficult is it for us to accept that the One who created all also wants to speak with each of us one-to-one?

2.     What do we lose when we resist His ‘ownership’?

3.     Why do we often build up our own defined worlds instead? Out of arrogance? Or fear? Or…..?

Share: How does God speak life and hope and vision through His creation to you?

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Hebrews 1:2, “but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.”

  

“Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” Prophecy and promises. Beginning and middle and end continue in the call to shout out the good news—the gospel.

Jesus Christ has risen.

Saviour of the ages. Prophet’s Messiah now present among the people. Emmanuel among us. God here walking and talking and healing and forgiving sins.”

Jesus Christ has risen.

Spoken word. Shout it from the rooftops. Declare it far and wide and high and deep. Spread it through all the generations. The heir has come. “Let the earth rejoice.” Hope and faith welded together.

Jesus Christ has risen!

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 71:23

“My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to Thee;

And my soul, which Thou hast redeemed.”

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Spoken

old sayings once

fresh now dismissed

as irrelevant, obsolete.

an excuse to ignore

truths claiming confession

through obscurity.

at least when prophets

spoke of old listeners

knew the source

and could not cloak

dis-regard for ignorance,

took responsibility for disdain.

overt, subtle, various

ways still speak

ancestors’ message today.

audience: one to one.

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     When the prophets spoke there was no confusion that the words were from God—whether or not the listeners chose to obey. Why do we manage to confuse ourselves and argue the legitimacy of His words to us personally today?

2.     Or if we do acknowledge the authenticity, we tangle ourselves up in application.

3.     We have no difficulty accepting our personal memories. Why can we not recognize God’s truth as truth?

Share: What timeless precept helps you remember to walk with God in faith?

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.”

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Magnet

To each a different

goal perhaps

not necessarily

understood either by

intellect or vocabulary.

Concepts beyond vision

pulled by invisible ray.

Heart’s magnet setting

recalibrating after

sabotage or error,

negligence, dismay,

glimpses of approval.

Longing enough

to sustain journey.

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Whose everyday approval do we seek?

2.     What attitudes and actions do we pursue that daily conflict with our faith?

3.     God’s expectations seem beyond reach and yet He knows our very frame. How can that keep us from sabotage?

Share: How might we see daily life through His love instead of our failures?