Reflection: Astonished: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     What expectations or assumptions do you expect from a speaker?

2.     What expectations or assumptions do you expect of yourself if giving a talk?

3.     Does your attitude or approach differ between professional or personal? Why and how?

4.     Have you received or given a message unexpectedly by the Holy Spirit’s prompting?

Share: Who first told you about Jesus in a way that you understood?

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.”

Invitation: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

           Invitation

            A crowded marketplace

            a cacophony of voices,

            bewildered hearing native language

            bewildered so turn and see

            who speaks so personally

            who addresses heart’s hunger

            to everyone words of hope

            to everyone an offer of grace

            on a busy day

            on a crowded street

            each language

            each person

            still spoken to with love

            still receives invitation.

Reflection: Language: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     How do you hear and recognize the Lord’s voice in the cacophony of voices that mark our busy marketplace days?

2.     John chapter 10 describes the relationship of a Shepherd to his sheep. What parts of Jesus’ words speak to you today?

3.     What words are you hungry to hear from the Lord?

Share: When has a familiar voice called out to you in an unexpected place and given you relief?

Language: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Acts 2:6

“And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.”

In a foreign city, in a crowded area, someone calls to you in your own language.

So personal. So immediately attracting.

Stand up on tiptoe to see—to hear—to answer.

Illusion or invitation? Voices swirl.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.”

Language of words.

Language of heart.

Language of relationship.

Language of purpose.

Language of worship.

Lord, please prepare our hearts, our souls, our minds, and our bodies, to hear and receive Your words within us. May we recognize Your voice whenever You speak and follow immediately in trust and obedience. Give us courage to separate from the crowd to follow You.

Psalm of Worship: Genesis 1:6

“And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’”

Devout: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Devout

From every nation

under heaven

echoes from words

given to Abraham

before the Law to

a man with devout

heart ready to receive

words of new beginnings

seeds to spread

throughout all peoples

now here represented

each one in Jerusalem

on day of holy fire.

Reflection: Hearts: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     How do you define a devout heart?

2.     Have you ever felt God’s fire ignite your heart?

3.     Do you hunger for that experience? Do you think it looks the same for everyone? Why or why not?

4.     What obstacles do we set up in our religion that can create a barricade against a living, breathing, devout faith

Share: How did you define a devout heart?