Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration
Now and forevermore be Thine!
Beautiful Savior by Joseph A. Seiss, Moravian hymn, 1873; Images: jackson-david-8qudl9pDZJ0-unsplash.jpg; zac-durant-_6HzPU9Hyfg-unsplash.jpg
Dear Heavenly Father, Creator of the universe and all good things,
We are so very grateful for Your hand on this nation, The United States. From its inception Your hand of direction and blessing was on it. You led our founders in righteous direction and gave them Your way to set government in three branches: The Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our King; He will save us. We want that bedrock. We plead for that firm foundation – You – above all others.
As we move forward now with Donald John Trump as our President, we ask three things.
We ask for protection on the gatherings this weekend and going forward. We ask You will put a dome over those gathered for his swearing in and that any nefarious plans of harm above, on or under the earth will be revealed and foiled. We pray every effort for delay, hurt, or destruction will fail in plan and form; that they will trip and fall and be unable to rise. We ask that You and You alone will direct the weather. We ask for spiritual protection: that attacks of any and every type will boomerang back on those sending and intending them. We ask You to rebuke and cast out lesser gods who bring evil to each state, city, and town as well as over our nation. Cast them all out, we pray, never to show their filthy heads again. Replace them in Your righteousness.
We implore protection for righteous leaders and servants in this government, for them and their families and loved ones. We ask that the craft of plans to trip them or entrap them will come to nothing.
We pray that any person, regulation, or rule that is there in an effort to weaken, wound, or impoverish this administration will be revealed and ousted, losing all authority, control, and influence.
We ask for wisdom. You know all the things necessary for righteousness in a nation and we ask for those to be implemented. You know all that is not only unnecessary, but even destructive for a righteous nation and we ask they will be destroyed. Along with wisdom, we pray for insight, discernment, and knowledge. We pray that You will shine Your light on knowledge that has been hidden or interwoven with deceit so that we will know truth and be freed from the slavery that has been the result of those lies. You know all that’s going on in this world of ours, so we ask You to reveal what will help and what will move this nation to what You intended for it to be. We ask for Your strong hand in this matter.
We ask for Your Holy Spirit and Jesus to be present in every corner of government; and also in every part of our families, churches, education, business, media, and entertainment. We pray that Jesus will be lifted above all else. We ask forgiveness for the awful things this nation has taken part in, done from the least to the greatest. We all implore Your forgiveness. We pray for the sifting necessary to purify us completely. And we ask for mercy in this process. We pray You will give Your people pockets of Goshen and that You will deliver us from the evil one and every form of evil. And we thank You for what You are doing and how you are moving. We will watch You while You are watching us. You are not tame and You are beyond our idea of mighty and we love that about You. And we love You.
In Jesus’ blessed Name,
Amen
References: Isaiah 33:22; Celebration Hymnal C. 1997 by Word/Integrity.
Thanksgiving. A time set aside – set aside – for giving thanks to our Creator for the many benefits He gives to us with an open hand. As lovely as Christmas is, it isn’t a time for Christmas yet. Rather, Thanksgiving is a special, precious time of thinking, therefore seeing, our blessings.
The first time our nation celebrated this special day was in 1621, when people in Massachusetts celebrated with a feast of thanks in the New World. George Washington recalled their gratitude by issuing a proclamation of Thanksgiving in 1789. John Adams and James Madison followed suit. Then came the Civil War. There doesn’t seem to be much of anything to be grateful for in a war. Yet Abraham Lincoln designated thanksgiving to be given in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. Thanksgiving has been celebrated in the United States ever since. Or has it?
We have a day we call Thanksgiving. Many people look forward to a feast and football game. But Thanksgiving without true thanks is pretty thin, don’t you agree? With the challenges our nation has faced for a good decade – okay – a century or more, we would do well to read about the struggles and triumphs of real people, the sacrifices and treasures discovered in the midst of those sacrifices, and the amazing mercy and provision of God through it all. We might even go waaay back and consider what Israel faced during the days of Jeremiah. In fact, to borrow his prayer:
I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but only with justice – not in Your anger, lest You reduce me to nothing.
And then, yes then, we might consider our own lives – the days we breathe in and out from day 1 until now – and consider the near misses, lessons learned, and certainly the blessings over them all. And only then we might begin to understand the mercy of God is beyond description. And our carelessness of thought and appreciation could be wearing a bit thin for Him. And upon reflection, repentance clears a beautiful path to giving thanks.
Sources: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/thanksgiving-proclamation-1863; Jeremiah 10:23-24; Image: pexels-rdne-5847888-scaled.jpg
Allow one thing to penetrate my thoughts;
One pleasing memory, One blessed time;
Whose simplicity a lesson taught
God’s splendid presence by design.
Allow one merit to inquire of me:
Courage, kindness, energy of youth;
Trust that heaven’s endless glory be
Shown in light of love and light of truth.
Allow in life and trouble and through time
Questions asked and later asked again
With answers changed and changing, yet all mine
Hide and seek, yet found in heaven’s name.
Images: unsplash-andrew-neel-a_K7R1kugUE-unsplash.jpg; pexels-photo-314807.jpeg; zac-durant-_6HzPU9Hyfg-unsplash.jpg
That secret space;
The place I go alone to seek His face;
A quiet, questioning encounter in His safe embrace;
Silent, still, and list’ning there I go.
Music there;
Notes unknown and known play sweet and pure;
They float and fly above imagination without care;
Then rest and speak a language no one knows.
I linger long;
To understand wisdom that I thought gone;
His tender voice carries a message needed, soft and strong;
A molecule and mountain always there.
Original poetry by Connie Pease; Images: pexels-valiphotos-589816.jpg; lake-at-sunset-pexels-photo-248800.jpeg; bird-s-eye-photography-of-mountain-1624496.jpg
Underneath the rubble of a tempest through the night;
Downed, a giant tree that stood through many a windy day;
Tangled branches on one side, roots loosed its former height;
Tell passersby a story of a heavy price to pay.
It stood, the tree, for centuries a sentry and a friend;
And greeted friend and foe alike with equal, measured pace;
And those who passed received the shade its branches would extend;
And felt, somehow, of something more of beauty, love, and grace.
But storms must take what they demand: a messy sort of wage;
Yet what is seen is only half the picture – more a sheath;
For that unseen is buried deep beneath the stormy stage;
Life undeterred, a treasure, is the glory underneath.
Original poem: myfiresidechat.com; *https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pace: “The Latin word pace is a form of pax, meaning “peace” or “permission,” and when used sincerely the word does indeed suggest a desire for both.”; Images: pexels-jplenio-1118869.jpg; pexels-lindsey-k-846449-1731457.jpg; Acer_tataricum_twig-wikimedia-commons.jpg
An old hymn, more of a prayer, really, popped into my mind this morning as I was making coffee. I have not heard or sung this tune in nearly sixty years – maybe longer. I sang it this morning over and over before a weekly prayer call I have with a friend.
Then I paged through some of my old hymnals, failing to find it. I looked in another location and found it, but only the last line since the first had been torn out; no doubt to facilitate a quick transition for some long-ago church service. On a whim, with little hope and much doubt, I perused my latest hymnal. There it was!
It’s simple request is one we need to make to God in heaven right now. Join me?
Image: Hear Our Prayer, O Lord taken from Psalm 143:1 by George Whelpton, The Celebration Hymnal, copyright 1997 by Word/Integrity
Dear Heavenly Father, Holy, Just, Merciful, Good,
We think back to the first Thanksgiving and imagine that times were uncertain and scarcity was not uncommon. We understand that relationships – both long-standing and new – were sometimes fragile due to differing perspectives and a feeling of living worlds apart. We know that good lives had been lost and were missed by those remaining. How familiar it seems.
And not just then, but through the history of this nation who, a rarity among nations, marks a special day of thanks to their Creator, we have paused amid the clamor of the amazing and common, hopeless and miraculous, and terrible and precious to give thanks.
So on this day spent around a common table, we thank You for food. As we think of cold months arriving, we thank you for shelter; for shelter from nature’s storms and life’s storms both. We thank you for Your comfort in distress and sadness. We thank you for celebrations. We thank you for saving us from the horror of sin, both our own and that of others. We thank you for people all around us, people made in Your Image, and the humor and kindness they show.
For You, Dearest Father, are in all of life. There is nothing hidden. And though times change, human experience varies in some ways, but in others is not so different after all. And You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we love You. And we are indebted to You for all of life’s goodness and protection in this present darkness. And we thank you.
In Jesus’ kind and blessed Name,
Amen.
Image:timothy-eberly-yuiJO6bvHi4-unsplash.jpg; priscilla-du-preez-bJPn27RFg0Y-unsplash-scaled.jpg
There is a veil of delicate thread, translucent, yet opaque,
Through which we all must walk one day alone, but not alone;
Friends and family on one side, and those awaiting make
Departing in a quiet hour a blessed going home.
Each soul travels in this life of work and prayer and thought
A road. We journey through the days and take what we are giv’n
By One Whose glorious life shone forth and One Whose death has bought
A clearer veil, a sweeter road, the truer rest in heav’n.
Reflections upon the homegoing of a much beloved Uncle John; Image: zac-durant-_6HzPU9Hyfg-unsplash.jpg
Not long ago it was popular to say “I see you” to someone who believed they were marginalized.
But we are seeing people and things now – just not in the way we were told to. We are actually living out the time described in the Bible that says, There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. Take heart! The peace and beauty of a clean house is worth the mess.
It’s been about seven years since I stumbled upon Liz Crokin who was writing about what is sometimes derisively called Pizzagate. She’s a good reporter who has put her life on the line (and she’s not the only one). I was sickened, but I believed her.
Not everyone believes her, though. Still, those who see truth must stand firm. There are many things in our innocent, comfortable existence that we naturally deny. We know evil exists, of course, but we believe God is taking care of things and we disbelieve Satan has much power. The thought of demons and other kinds of evil rulers scares us. We don’t want to think they influence things of which we are acquainted and some of which we are not. And we’re not supposed to look too closely into evil, are we? No, not in a way that we are seduced; but think, for a minute, of the temptation of Christ. Did He dismiss Satan’s claims of power in this world? Think of the Biblical phrases we skim over because we don’t understand them: things like powers of darkness, Nephilim, as in the days of Noah, under the earth, law, spiritual laws . . . too many phrases that we make our own assumptions about and to which we give little thought. It’s past time we start thinking. Praying. Searching. It is, after all, the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it out.
I hope, dear reader, that you are willing to acknowledge dirt and grime so that things can be put in order, and that you are waking up from the hypnotic sleep many of us have been under. Let’s be kind enough to understand that some hit the snooze alarm more than others. And even though it is disheartening, I hope you keep your eyes open. We are living in the amazing time when God pulls back the curtain hiding the expansive reach of Satan and his servants! We have work to do – work that God expects of us. If you don’t know what to do, do what’s in front of you! We must move from weak to warrior! Now. We are seeing many things, including crimes unimagined and also true victims of those crimes. Mark Attwood describes some of those perpetrators in a poem. I’ll leave you with his words.
We See You.
The Scales have fallen from our eyes.
The veil has drifted down from the sky;
Meandering firmly finally revealing;
Your depth of depravity – that’s fear you’re now feeling.
We See You.
Your demonic bloodlust laid bare to see;
The statue of filth on the BBC;
The Prince and the Madam, the Crisper spy;
The Islands of horrors in the ocean lie.
We See You.
A billion souls stolen over the years;
You hid them deep down to drown their tears.
Perfect and Innocent: God’s own creations;
Mutilated by your sick machinations.
We See You.
Vlad the Impaler and his vile descendants;
Fleeing the palace from the 5D ascendants.
The virus distracted but gave us the time;
To peel back the layers of your heinous crimes.
We See You.
Run! Run as fast as you can;
Back for more orders from the Phoenician Clan;
Out of White Rabbit, the Looking Glass;
Cracked tipping point reached – odds against you now stacked.
We See You.
Pizza and hot dogs, pasta and sauce;
Your sickness decoded your lack of remorse;
Our slumber is over; our eyes not wide shut;
For the children of Haiti – a knife to your gut.
We See You.
Ascension is powered by the light of the flare;
Scramble like rats to the ruins of your lairs;
It’s over! It’s over! Save our children we cry!
Revealed and reviled: it’s your soul’s time to die.
We See You.
References: Luke 12:2; Proverbs 25:2; We See You by Mark Attwood; https://youtu.be/IKMmy8oXBmE; Image: pexels-harrison-macourt-6599771.jpg
