Shall I Indeed Bear a Child?

Creation: A Divine Cycle
The Savior Has Been born

God Promises a Savior

Genesis 18:9-15 The Message

⁹ The men said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”
He said, “In the tent.”
¹⁰ One of them said, “I’m coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man.
^11-12 Abraham and Sarah were old by this time, very old. Sarah was far past the age for having babies. Sarah laughed within herself, “An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?”
^13-14 God said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh saying, ‘Me? Have a baby? An old woman like me?’ Is anything too hard for God? I’ll be back about this time next year and Sarah will have a baby.”
¹⁵ Sarah lied. She said, “I didn’t laugh,” because she was afraid.
But he said, “Yes you did; you laughed.”

For Reflection

Out of site, but not out of earshot, Sarah heard of this impossible prediction.  Among the stories told within the household of Abraham, surely one or more was an illustration of God's unlimited power.  Yet Sarah laughed at the ridiculous notion that she could bear a child. Sarah and Abraham are completely human in their responses to God.  A kernel of doubt is always with us.  We often act as though God can not or will not visit us with miraculous blessings.  We too, laugh at the thought of what we consider impossible.  Then, like Sarah, we deny our doubt when confronted by the truth and lie about it to hide our embarrassment and denial of God's power.

Pray

for supreme confidence in God's power to do God's will through you.  Pray for the courage to fight through the whispers of denial that rise within you and trust in God with unreasonable faith.

I Asked Him of the Lord

Creation: A Divine Cycle
The Savior Has Been born

God Promises a Savior

1 Samuel 1:15-20  The Message

^15-16 Hannah said, “Oh no, sir—please! I’m a woman hard used. I haven’t been drinking. Not a drop of wine or beer. The only thing I’ve been pouring out is my heart, pouring it out to God. Don’t for a minute think I’m a bad woman. It’s because I’m so desperately unhappy and in such pain that I’ve stayed here so long.”
¹⁷ Eli answered her, “Go in peace. And may the God of Israel give you what you have asked of him.”
¹⁸ “Think well of me—and pray for me!” she said, and went her way. Then she ate heartily, her face radiant.
¹⁹ Up before dawn, they worshiped God and returned home to Ramah. Elkanah slept with Hannah his wife, and God began making the necessary arrangements in response to what she had asked.

Dedicating the Child to God

²⁰ Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to a son. She named him Samuel, explaining, “I asked God for him.”

For Reflection

Hannah, desperate for a child, pleaded with God and promised to dedicate her child to God.  Hannah, embarrassed that as the first wife had not born a child, wanted for herself.

God wanted for Hannah's people.  Samuel was the blessing, the last of the great judges.  We may want for ourselves, but, God wants for us all.  God gives what we want in accord with God's will for God's people.

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving and praise for the God who, while preserving our humanity, gives what people need.  Pray that God will fill your soul with the desire to do what God needs you to do.

Here am I, Send Me

Creation: A Divine Cycle
The Savior Has Been born

God Promises a Savior

Isaiah 6:1-8 The Message

Holy, Holy, Holy!

6 ^1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other,

Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
His bright glory fills the whole earth.

The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,

“Doom! It’s Doomsday!
    I’m as good as dead!
Every word I’ve ever spoken is tainted—
    blasphemous even!
And the people I live with talk the same way,
    using words that corrupt and desecrate.
And here I’ve looked God in the face!
    The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!”

Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said,

“Look. This coal has touched your lips.
    Gone your guilt,
    your sins wiped out.”
And then I heard the voice of the Master:
    “Whom shall I send?
    Who will go for us?”
I spoke up,
    “I’ll go.
    Send me!”

For Reflection

In seeing God's son, we have looked God in the face and recognized ourselves reflected in the eyes of Christ.  Christ's birth, life and death is the coal that has touched our lips.  Are we ready to speak up?  Are we ready to become God's collaborator?  Are we prepared to say, "Here am I.  Send me?"

Pray

for the courage to say yes when God places an opportunity to serve in your path.  Pray for courage. Pray for wisdom.  Pray not for God to save you.  Rather, pray that you will collaborate with God to help fully realized God's Kingdom on Earth.

Promised Redemption Fulfilled

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

Alpha and Omega

Isaiah 43:1-7  The Message

When You’re Between a Rock and a Hard Place

43 ^1-4 But now, God’s Message,
    the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,
    the One who got you started, Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
    I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
    When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
    it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
    The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
    all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That’s how much you mean to me!
    That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
    trade the creation just for you.

^5-7 “So don’t be afraid: I’m with you.
    I’ll round up all your scattered children,
    pull them in from east and west.
I’ll send orders north and south:
    ‘Send them back.
Return my sons from distant lands,
    my daughters from faraway places.
I want them back, every last one who bears my name,
    every man, woman, and child
Whom I created for my glory,
    yes, personally formed and made each one.’”

For Reflection

The redemption God has given to Israel, God has given to us all, through Jesus Christ, the risen son of God.  We should no longer fear.  We should no longer feel left alone to fend for ourselves.  We, also, are the children of God.  Rejoice in this knowledge.  Be humbled by the grace of God.  Be empowered to do good in God's name.  Oh, yes! Hallelujah!

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving and praise. Pray that you will always abide in the loving arms of God.  Pray that you and all of God's people will accept and perform in the manner of God's promise.

Worship without End

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

Alpha and Omega

Revelation 7:9-12  The Message

^9-12 I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing:

Salvation to our God on his Throne!
Salvation to the Lamb!

All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals—fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing:

Oh, Yes!
The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving,
The honor and power and strength,
To our God forever and ever and ever!
Oh, Yes!

For Reflection

Many think of worship as a once-a-week thing.  We go to church, pray, listen to the pastor's message, confess our sin, repent and ask forgiveness.  We sing, pray some more and receive the blessing and charge for practicing our faith.  Clearly, this is a good thing.  We recognize the sovereignty of God.  We engage in the public expression of devotion and commitment to the Way of Jesus Christ and we find support for our faith in the rituals of our Christian community.

But, worship is more than attendance.  Worship is found in the everyday practice of Christianity.  Practicing our faith is the highest form of worship.  It is prayer on legs.

Shalom


Pray

so that you will be in tune with the Wind Whispered Words of God.  Pray so that you will find and respond to the opportunities for fostering peace, forgiveness, compassion and justice.

Your First Work Rewarded

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

Alpha and Omega

Revelation 2:1-7  The Message

To Ephesus

2 Write this to Ephesus, to the Angel of the church. The One with Seven Stars in his right-fist grip, striding through the golden seven-lights’ circle, speaks:

^2-3 “I see what you’ve done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can’t stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders. I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out.
^4-5 “But you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway? Do you have any idea how far you’ve fallen? A Lucifer fall!
“Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I’m well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle.
⁶ “You do have this to your credit: You hate the Nicolaitan business. I hate it, too.
⁷ “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I’m about to call each conqueror to dinner. I’m spreading a banquet of Tree-of-Life fruit, a supper plucked from God’s orchard.”

For Reflection

Once in a while, everyone needs a pep talk.  John begins with a compliment about  hard work and perseverance.   However, John was concerned about the direction their ministry was heading.  They seemed to lose sight of  humility and the desire for spreading the gospel of love, compassion, forgiveness and justice.  Perhaps, they, as many of us do, claimed the passion for love as their own rather than assigning that passion to the Spirit of God.

We tend to respect the capacity to distinguish the phony and the real thing.  Yet, when it comes to the practice of our faith, many are reluctant to recognize the harm of those who pretend to teach the gospel but, in fact, infuse Christian practices with fear driven motives and messages of hate in the guise of love.

Perhaps at this juncture of civil affairs the divisiveness of our rhetoric has clarified the difference.  It is now the time for peace-making and reliance on  love and "Wind Words" of forgiveness, compassion and justice.

Shalom


Pray

Pray for the wisdom to see the need to separate civil affairs from spiritual affairs.  Pray for the wisdom to let  the Spirit guide us into acts of peace-making.  Pray for the triumph of love over hate and courage over fear.

The Lord God, the Almighty

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

Alpha and Omega

Revelation 1:4-8  Good News Translation

Greetings to the Seven Churches

⁴ From John to the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace be yours from God, who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits in front of his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world.
He loves us, and by his sacrificial death he has freed us from our sins ⁶ and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father. To Jesus Christ be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
⁷ Look, he is coming on the clouds! Everyone will see him, including those who pierced him. All peoples on earth will mourn over him. So shall it be!
⁸ “I am the first and the last,” says the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come.

For Reflection

Few  of us write letters any more.  Many text or send e-mail.  Our written communication to each other is at best cryptic.  We rush through ideas as though each respondent understands the message as we do.  Perhaps our assumptions about our written communication are inaccurate.  Perhaps, in our brevity much meaning is lost.  We write past each other and fail to consider the impact of our messages.  We might as well be writing to "occupant"

How many of us open our messages to Christian friends as John does, with a blessing of grace and peace, recognition of Christian hospitality?  In modern conversational mode, one need not begin so formally.  But, is it possible that  including such reference to the power and sovereignty of God might strengthen our bonds and reinforce the Good News of the gospel?

Shalom


Pray

for the power of the Spirit to fill your soul with good news.  Pray that you will work to strengthen the bonds among all people.  Pray that worship extends to the actions you take to the glory of God.

This Is the Messiah

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

Alpha and Omega

John 7:37-44  The Message

^37-39 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)
^40-44 Those in the crowd who heard these words were saying, “This has to be the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Messiah!” But others were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? Don’t the Scriptures tell us that the Messiah comes from David’s line and from Bethlehem, David’s village?” So there was a split in the crowd over him. Some went so far as wanting to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.

For Reflection

Christ issues His call.  The invitation was not just given to some, it was given to all.  To all who hear, Christ invites you to the table of God.  To all who believe in the Way of Christ, salvation is offered.  Christ offers freedom from the restraints of the Mosaic Law and freedom to fulfill the intentions of the Law.  The invitation is open to all, Jew and Gentile alike.  It is God's promise to bless the people with forgiveness, justice, and compassion.  It is God's blessing of hope for all who hear.

As then and as now, the Gospel fell on fertile ground and on rocky soil.   Some heard and understood the meaning of Christ's words.  Some did not.  Some were confused, some were not,  Some feared the message some did not.  Some rejected the promise of salvation some did not.  Some had such great fear of change that they wanted to arrest Christ .  None tried.  On that day Hope triumphed over fear.  Hope continues to triumph over fear.

Pray

for the domination of Hope.  Pray prayers of praise for the living God who gave us Christ.  Pray prayers of thanksgiving for the life God gave us and for showing us what God is, who God is, and the power God wields to accomplish goodness and life as God has intended.  Sing hallelujah!

The Paralytic Walks Again

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

Living Waters

Matthew 9:2-8  The Message

Who Needs a Doctor?

9 ^1-3 Back in the boat, Jesus and the disciples recrossed the sea to Jesus’ hometown. They were hardly out of the boat when some men carried a paraplegic on a stretcher and set him down in front of them. Jesus, impressed by their bold belief, said to the paraplegic, “Cheer up, son. I forgive your sins.” Some religion scholars whispered, “Why, that’s blasphemy!”

^4-8 Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why this gossipy whispering? Which do you think is simpler: to say, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or, ‘Get up and walk’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . .” At this he turned to the paraplegic and said, “Get up. Take your bed and go home.” And the man did it. The crowd was awestruck, amazed and pleased that God had authorized Jesus to work among them this way.

For Reflection

Water: the symbol of purity, of purification, and of turmoil, and fearsome power.

Stepping off the water, Christ is confronted by a challenge.  The scholars -- so much training, so little education.  Christ speaks and his authority is unquestionable.  God has given Christ the power to heal both body and soul. 

Pray

that you never loose the amazement at the power of the Holy Spirit.  Praise God.  Have faith in the one who wields the healing waters.

The Lord Acts with Passion

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

Living Waters

Isaiah 42:10-17  The Message

^10-16 Sing to God a brand-new song,
    sing his praises all over the world!
Let the sea and its fish give a round of applause,
    with all the far-flung islands joining in.
Let the desert and its camps raise a tune,
    calling the Kedar nomads to join in.
Let the villagers in Sela round up a choir
    and perform from the tops of the mountains.
Make God’s glory resound;
    echo his praises from coast to coast.
God steps out like he means business.
    You can see he’s primed for action.
He shouts, announcing his arrival;
    he takes charge and his enemies fall into line:

“I’ve been quiet long enough.
    I’ve held back, biting my tongue.
But now I’m letting loose, letting go,
    like a woman who’s having a baby—
Stripping the hills bare,
    withering the wildflowers,
Drying up the rivers,
    turning lakes into mudflats.
But I’ll take the hand of those who don’t know the way,
    who can’t see where they’re going.
I’ll be a personal guide to them,
    directing them through unknown country.
I’ll be right there to show them what roads to take,
    make sure they don’t fall into the ditch.
These are the things I’ll be doing for them—
    sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.”

¹⁷ But those who invested in the no-gods
    are bankrupt—dead broke.

.

For Reflection

Water: the symbol of purity, of purification, and of turmoil, and fearsome power.

Adrift on the waters of time, we are lost.  We wallow in the troughs as the seas swell around us and threaten to drown us.  We feel abandoned.

But God is with us.  God holds our hands when waves crash against us and threaten to crush us against rocky shoals.  God is our guide.  In God we place our trust and God does not forsake us.  Even though we feel abandoned we are not alone.

Pray

for the courage to face the seas with fearless abandon.  Pray to trust God to save us from ourselves when life oppresses us.  Thank God for God's protection.  Praise God for prevailing over those things which would diminish us.  Worship God. Follow Jesus.

The Sustaining, Healing Water of Life

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

Living Waters

Isaiah 41:17-20  The Message

^17-20 “The poor and homeless are desperate for water,
    their tongues parched and no water to be found.
But I’m there to be found, I’m there for them,
    and I, God of Israel, will not leave them thirsty.
I’ll open up rivers for them on the barren hills,
    spout fountains in the valleys.
I’ll turn the baked-clay badlands into a cool pond,
    the waterless waste into splashing creeks.
I’ll plant the red cedar in that treeless wasteland,
    also acacia, myrtle, and olive.
I’ll place the cypress in the desert,
    with plenty of oaks and pines.
Everyone will see this. No one can miss it—
    unavoidable, indisputable evidence
That I, God, personally did this.
    It’s created and signed by The Holy of Israel.

For Reflection
Water: the symbol of purity, of purification, and of turmoil, and fearsome power.

We can not survive long without water.  Water is the essence of our existence.  Thirst drives desperation.  We thirst for freedom.  We thirst for community.  We thrust for justice.  We thirst to be seen as God intended us to be.  We thirst for compassion. We thirst for forgiveness.  We are desperate for love.  God turns the wasteland of scalded lives into a lush living paradise filled with the Holy Spirit.

Pray

that you will drink from living water. Pray that you will flood the parched land with healing waters of love.  Pray that you will rest in the pools of God's grace.

God Is Present and the City is Secure

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

Living Waters

Psalm 46  The Message

A Song of the Sons of Korah

46 ^1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
    ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
    courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
    the tremors that shift mountains.

Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

^4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
    this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
    God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
    but Earth does anything he says.

⁷ Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

^8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
    He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
    breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
    loving look at me, your High God,
    above politics, above everything.”

¹¹ Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

For Reflection

Water: the symbol of purity, of purification, and of turmoil, and fearsome power.

Every day we stand before the awesome power and turmoil of the seas of life.  We, like Jacob, wrestle with the demons of the deep. And God, our protecting father, our shield against all life's demons, more powerful than the seas, is armed not with swords, but with reels baited with grace, forgiveness, compassion and love.  God, the peacemaker, reunites the disparate, reconciles the deviants, accepts the unacceptable and resolves all conflict.  God the peacemaker smooths the rough seas of life.

Pray

prayers of praise.  Pray prayers of thanksgiving.  Pray that all will accept the fertile grace of God.  With God surrounding you, pray that you will meet the tumultuous seas of life fearlessly.

Healing River Flows from the Temple

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega
Living Waters

Ezekiel 47:1-2   The Message

Trees on Both Sides of the River

47 ^1-2 Now he brought me back to the entrance to the Temple. I saw water pouring out from under the Temple porch to the east (the Temple faced east). The water poured from the south side of the Temple, south of the altar. He then took me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the gate complex on the east. The water was gushing from under the south front of the Temple.
¹² “But the river itself, on both banks, will grow fruit trees of all kinds. Their leaves won’t wither, the fruit won’t fail. Every month they’ll bear fresh fruit because the river from the Sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

 

For Reflection

Water: the symbol of purity, of purification, and of turmoil, and fearsome power.

The water spoken of in these passages is water of purification, water of fertility, giving birth to the Holy Spirit in the human soul.  God's soul flowing out of the temple, rushing into the world and tumbling into all who approach this living stream.  Water that generates buds which bloom into the persons God had intended them to be.  Stand by the river.  Drink in its life force.  Worship God and follow Jesus.

Pray

that you will rush to the shores of the living water.  Pray that you will drink of the Holy Spirit.  Pray that you will allow God to rule your life.

The Architectural Splendor of the New Jerusalem

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

I See A New Jerusalem

Revelation 21:15-27  The Message

^15-21 The Angel speaking with me had a gold measuring stick to measure the City, its gates, and its wall. The City was laid out in a perfect square. He measured the City with the measuring stick: twelve thousand stadia, its length, width, and height all equal. Using the standard measure, the Angel measured the thickness of its wall: 144 cubits. The wall was jasper, the color of Glory, and the City was pure gold, translucent as glass. The foundations of the City walls were garnished with every precious gem imaginable: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate a single pearl.
^21-27 The main street of the City was pure gold, translucent as glass. But there was no sign of a Temple, for the Lord God—the Sovereign-Strong—and the Lamb are the Temple. The City doesn’t need sun or moon for light. God’s Glory is its light, the Lamb its lamp! The nations will walk in its light and earth’s kings bring in their splendor. Its gates will never be shut by day, and there won’t be any night. They’ll bring the glory and honor of the nations into the City. Nothing dirty or defiled will get into the City, and no one who defiles or deceives. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will get in.

For Reflection

God provides perfect beauty within which God's people live and enjoy their being.  The city is so striking that all people will desire to live within its confines.

But the built environment is not the only perfect architecture.  God has created a beautiful and safe environment for all people who accept his sovereign reign.  God lives and walks among God's citizenry.  Not a result of surrendering to a dull and confining way of life, God's people live in beauty and sing and dance in joyful worship.  God has given us this place because of God's determined love and power and God's will that we live satisfying lives full of joy and celebration.

Pray

that you go forward as empowered people of God, fearless in your practice of love and confident in the power of the living God.

City of the Alpha and Omega

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

I See A New Jerusalem

Revelation 21:5-8   The Message

^3-5 I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”
^6-8 Then he said, “It’s happened. I’m A to Z. I’m the Beginning, I’m the Conclusion. From Water-of-Life Well I give freely to the thirsty. Conquerors inherit all this. I’ll be God to them, they’ll be sons and daughters to me. But for the rest—the feckless and faithless, degenerates and murderers, sex peddlers and sorcerers, idolaters and all liars—for them it’s Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!”

For Reflection

As a deer thirsts for water our souls thirst.  Our souls want because God is not finished giving.  Yet the feckless and faithless seek to satisfy the soul by filling it with materialism, the stuff of the common place, worldly values.

God feeds the soul with God-centered wisdom.  God feeds the soul with a want for justice.  God feeds the soul with a want  of compassion.  God feeds the soul with a want for forgiveness.  God feeds the soul with a want to forgive.  God feeds the soul with a want for humility.  God gave us Jesus to fill the want of our soul.

Pray

to fill your soul with God centered joy and love of the Way of Christ.

Missing from the Holy City

The Sovereignty of God
The Alpha and Omega

I See A New Jerusalem

Revelation 21:1-5  The Message

Everything New

21 I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea.

² I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband.
^3-4 I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” 

For Reflection

In New Jerusalem God protects us from those who would threaten and diminish our lives.  God promises a salvation, here and now, free from anxieties and free from fear.  With angels standing guard at the gates, we are secure.  God lives with us.  There is no need for each to fend for oneself.

Pray

for the courage to live as though you were cradled in the loving arms of God.  Pray that your commitment to live in New Jerusalem is strong and everlasting.  Pray that you will adjust to this new life in the hollow of God's hand and live as God has intended you to live.