Design: By Faith: Prayers and Poetry

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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.

Psalm 104:4, He makes the winds His messengers, Flaming fires His ministers.”

Reflection Questions: Word: By Faith: 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?

Word: By Faith: 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.”

Word

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.

Your thoughts,

Magnet: By Faith: Prayers and Poetry

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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.

Psalm 104:3, “He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind;”

Reflection Questions: Foundations: By Faith: Prayers and Poetry

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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?

Foundations: By Faith: Prayers and Poetry

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Hebrew 11: 2, “Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.”

Foundations

Looking beyond the impossible struggle, our geographic ancestors built countries. Planning for future generations they acted upon hope, upon faith, upon promises. They placed their trust on knowledge of land and crops and water to carve out valleys, lattice mountains, plant farms, and build cities.

Leaning on God’s promises our spiritual ancestors built a heritage of faith. Day by day sharing moral concepts. Week-by-week worshipping God. Month-by-month proclaiming scriptures. Year-by-year kneeling in atonement for their sin. Accepting God’s forgiveness.

Looking forward to a time beyond span when prophecy would reach completion. Not dependent on rulers, wealth, or power, but on God Himself: Creator, Lord. Relying on His resurrection words.

Leaning on You alone, Lord, is the only way to find Your path through this maze of life. Build in us, we pray, Your foundations to withstand the storms and droughts and earthquakes.

Your thoughts,

Unseen: By Faith: Prayers and Poetry

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Unseen

Behind the oxygen: air

Below the tree: seed

Beneath the earth: nutrients

Life given each new day

sustained by invisible

love

every moment replenished

with forward motion

living

tied together past,

present, future—eternity.

Behind the visible: light

Below the task: energy

Beneath the sorrow: dawn

Breath sustained hope.

Psalm 104: 1-2, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, Thou are very great; Thou art clothed with splendor and majesty, Covering Thyself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.”