Reflection: Weeping: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection

1. Do you have a heritage you feel entitled to receive? How has it affected your personal relationships?

2. In what ways have you hesitated to acknowledge or accept the inheritance God offers every person? For yourself or for others?

3. What assurance of grace has the Lord given you?

4. How does that affect your understanding of His entitlement?

Weeping: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

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Jeremiah 31:9, “With weeping they shall come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by streams of waters, On a straight path in which they shall not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My first-born.”

“With weeping they shall come.”

Tears of grief, tears of loss, tears of astonishment, tears of mercy, and tears of hope, are often all mixed up when we come to the Lord. Confused—disoriented—wary and yet clinging to His promises.

Especially when our paths become muddled.

Yet, He waits for each of us to accept His direction. He will carry us as a beloved child. He replaces our fears with trust, our failures with His faithfulness. We have the opportunity to look to new plans with curiosity and hope instead of fretting.

He gives us clarity on His straight road. He closes false routes. He leads with love.

Thank you Lord for Your ongoing multiple streams. Not just one flow that if we miss we are lost, but ongoing streams for every moment of our lives.

Please keep our hearts turned towards Your words and listening to Your Spirit’s guidance. Help us to be as willing to bring our weeping and failures as well as our joys and successes.

Your Thoughts,

Bring: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

                       Bring

                        Going to bring them

                        broken, blind, confused,

                        weary and weakened

                        gathered regardless of distance

                        brought together

                        wrapped in community

                        grace bound protection

                        bearing new life

                        woven in restoration.

Romans 8:8 “And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Reflection: New Life: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection:

1.     How far away do you feel you have wandered?

2.     In what ways are you experiencing blindness or deafness or immobility?

3.     What are you holding that is fragile?

4.     How has this fatigue worn you down both physically and emotionally?

New Life: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Jeremiah 31: 8 “See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.”

Going to bring. He will. From wherever each one is, and in every condition possible. None will be left behind. Especially not those in weakness.

Whether blind or lame: physically, emotionally, or spiritually. He already knows.

Lift up our hands. He is our strength and will lead us to the place of His choosing internally and externally despite the geography of our present soul. He leads us into new places.

He restores us to life.

Lord, please enable us to return to You from wherever we have wandered or become lost.

Your Thoughts,

Sing: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Sing

                        Sing aloud

                        with gladness

                        raise shouts

                        proclaim, give praise,

                        not an easy request

                        when a remnant

                        huddles in exhaustion

                        weakened by loss

                        rescue surrounds unseen

                        protected by grace

                        never leaves, continues to

                        save His people

                        with gladness.

                       

Romans 8:7 “For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot.”

Reflection: Claim: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection

1.     In what ways has the Lord’s song, cut into your despair or depression?

2.     How did the hope give you courage to keep going when it seemed nothing would change?

3.     Will this prepare you for another season of battle? How?

4.     What word of hope do you now give to another who is struggling?