Tag: Israel

Evening Prayer, Tuesday, New Year’s Eve: 1 Kings 9:4-7; Psalm 138:8; 2 Corinthians 10:5 ~ that Your faithfulness be known

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

I will wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word do I hope.

Remember us, O God; from age to age be our comforter. Bless your children at the turning of the year and fill the months ahead with the bright hope that is ours in the coming of Christ. You are our God, living and reigning, forever and ever.

prayer-Therapy-Course

Evening readings

1 Kings 9:4-7 NLT:

“As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’

“But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations….

Psalm 138:8 NLT:

The Lord will work out his plans for my life — for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

2 Corinthians 10:5 NLT:

We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

Reflection/Prayer:

We pray for God’s faithfulness to be known in our world.

+ In a world of change and hope, of fear and adventure, faithful God
glorify your name.
+ In human rebellion and obedience, in our seeking and our finding, faithful God
glorify your name.
+ In the common life of our society, in prosperity and need, faithful God
glorify your name.
+ As your Church proclaims your goodness in words and action, faithful God
glorify your name.
+ Among our friends and in our homes, faithful God
glorify your name.
+ In our times of joy, in our days of sorrow, faithful God
glorify your name.
+ In our strengths and triumphs, in our weakness and at our death, faithful God
glorify your name.
+ In your saints in glory and on the day of Christ’s coming, faithful God
glorify your name.

Canticle

In the shadow of Your wings I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

The Lord is my light, my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the refuge of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

In the shadow of Your wings I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek; to dwell in the presence of my God, to gaze on Your holy place.

In the shadow of Your wings I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. O wait for the Lord! Have courage and wait, wait for the Lord.

In the shadow of Your wings I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

Blessing

See that ye be at peace among yourselves, my children, and love one another. Follow the example of good men of old and God will comfort you and help you, both in this world and in the world which is to come.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

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Peanut Gallery: The Evening Prayer readings are from the USCCB Daily Readings and the format from the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community as available online here… and in the book form, Celtic Daily Prayer available on Amazon.com. The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you.

Morning Prayer: Psalm 30:1-5; Job 2:7-13; John 11:32-40 ~ mourning

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 30:1-5 NLT:

I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death.

Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Job 2:7-13 NLT:

A bereaved Israeli mourning ahead of Israel’s Memorial Day at the grave of a fallen soldier at Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul military cemetery, April 14, 2013. (Gideon Markowicz/Flash 90) Read more: http://www.jta.org/2013/04/15/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/israel-observes-memorial-day-with-siren-ceremonies#ixzz2lVoyAFcJ
A bereaved Israeli mourning ahead of Israel’s Memorial Day at the grave of a fallen soldier at Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul military cemetery, April 14, 2013. (Gideon Markowicz/Flash 90)

So Satan left the Lord’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.

Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”

But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.

John 11:32-40 NLT:

When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them.

They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.

But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”

Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?”

Reflection/Prayer:

Jewish custom was to mourn for the dead three full days and nights known as ‘days of weeping’ which were followed by four ‘days of lamentation’ thus making seven days. One rabbinical notion suggested that for tree days the person’s spirit wandered about the sepulchre; hoping to re-enter the body, but when corruption set in the spirit left. For this reason loud lamentations began on the fourth day. When the seven-day mourning period was over, and the visitors had left, the mourner returned to a quiet period of less intense mourning for 30 days, then 11 months to progressively come out of mourning. Close relatives make a practice of saying ‘the Kaddish’ often in the eleven months – a prayer of praise to God and longing for His Kingdom. It’s wording is parallel to that of the Lord’s prayer and is often used at other times as well.

Glorified and sanctified be the Great name of God in the world which He created according to His will. May He establish His Kingdom during your days and during the days of the whole house of Israel at a near time speedily and soon. Say, Amen.

May His Great name be praised for ever, glorified and exalted, extolled and honoured, and praised and magnified be the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, whose glory transcends, yea is beyond all blessing and praise and consolation which is uttered in the world. Say, Amen.

May there be great peace from heaven upon us and upon all Israel. Say Amen.

May He who makes peace from the heavens grant peace upon us and upon all Israel. Say, Amen.

David Kossoff in his book A Small Town is a World tells of Rabbi Mark sitting by the death-bed of his friend old Mendel. Mendel sensed the Rabbi’s grief and made jokes. But then when his breathing grew shallow he asked the Rabbi for one last wish, his voice by now rather faint. ‘Anything, old friend,’ said Rabbi Mark, bending forward to hear the last words. ‘When it’s all over,’ said Mendel, ‘and it’s time to lift me into my coffin, promise not to hold me under my arms… I’m ticklish.’

A prayer upon waking:

The soul You gave me is pure, my Lord: You gave it life and You preserve it within me, and at the end, when the time comes, You will take it away, only to give it back to me one day. But as long as that soul is in me it will worship You, O Lord my God, the God of my fathers, from whom one day the dead will receive back their souls.

One Jew exclaimed to his friend:

‘You should live to be 120 years and a couple of months.’
‘Why a couple of months?’
‘So you shouldn’t die suddenly.’

Canticle

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: The Morning Prayer readings are from the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community as available online here… and in the book form, Celtic Daily Prayer available on Amazon.com.

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.

Israel: Obama’s “historic mistake” – nuclear Iran

Premier said to have rebuked Obama over Iran nuclear deal

by JPOST.COM STAFF, jpost.com / November 25th 2013 1:21 PM

image
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama.Photo: JASON REED / REUTERS

A lawmaker from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud faction told an Israeli television station on Monday that the premier rebuked US President Barack Obama over the interim agreement agreed upon by the Western powers and Iran on Sunday.

“The prime minister made it clear to the most powerful man on earth that if he intends to stay the most powerful man on earth, it’s important to make a change in American policy because the practical result of his current policy is liable to lead him to the same failure that the Americans absorbed in North Korea and Pakistan, and Iran could be next in line,” Likud Beytenu MK Tzachi Hanegbi told the Knesset Channel.
_______________________

Netanyahu said that he agreed with US President Barack Obama to send the Israeli delegation to the US when the two leaders spoke about the interim Iran deal on Sunday. 

“I spoke last night with President Obama. We agreed that in the coming days an Israeli team led by the national security adviser, Yossi Cohen, will go out to discuss with the United States the permanent accord with Iran,” the prime minister said.

“This accord must bring about one outcome: the dismantling of Iran’s military nuclear capability,” he said

Netanyahu added that the interim deal reached with Iran was bad but it would have been worse without Israel’s diplomatic efforts.

 
_________________________

Obama called Netanyahu on Sunday from Air Force One to discuss the interim agreement struck between world powers and Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

In the call, Obama told Netanyahu that the P5+1 — the US, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany — would use the next several months to forge a “lasting, peaceful and comprehensive” solution to the slow-motion nuclear crisis causing consternation throughout the Middle East.

“The president told the Prime Minister that he wants the United States and Israel to begin consultations immediately regarding our efforts to negotiate a comprehensive solution,” the White House said in a readout of the call.

“The President underscored that the United States will remain firm in our commitment to Israel, which has good reason to be skeptical about Iran’s intentions.”

While the White House said both leaders expressed their mutual desire to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, it did not acknowledge any disagreement voiced in the phone call.

Netanyahu on Sunday called the deal, hailed by the US, a “historic mistake” that would make the region more dangerous tomorrow than it was before.

After a hard series of negotiations, Iran agreed late Saturday night to pause much of its nuclear program, including construction on its heavy-water plutonium reactor in Arak and the installation of advanced centrifuges made to efficiently enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels. Iran also agreed to allow unfettered access to its nuclear sites and to dilute stockpiles of uranium already thoroughly enriched.

In exchange, the Islamic will attain relief from financial sanctions from the international community valued at up to $7 billion.

Michael Wilner contributed to this report.

Morning Prayer: Psalm 116:3-4; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Luke 21:21 ~ fall of Zion

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 116:3-4 NLT:

Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Please, Lord, save me!”

Ecclesiastes 12:14 NLT:

God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

Al Khazneh or The Treasury at Petra Petra, El Deir, Jordan
Al Khazneh or The Treasury at Petra
Petra, El Deir, Jordan

Luke 21:21 NLT:

Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city.

Reflection/Prayer:

In AD 70 before the fall of Jerusalem there were several divisions within Judaism – Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes were the most prominent sects. Nazarene Jews (Jewish believers in Jesus) were another section of the Jewish community. But when the Roman armies approached Jerusalem to quell Israel’s rebellion, these Nazarenes fled the city, taking up residence in Petra. They thereby avoided terrible destruction and slaughter by the Roman army. The rest of the Jews distrusted them thereafter and assumed there was treachery afoot. Why did they flee? In Luke 21 and Matthew 24 Jesus predicted that Jerusalem would be surrounded by enemies. His followers were commanded, whenever they saw this beginning to occur, to ‘flee to the mountains’. They were not traitors; they were simply following their Yeshua’s teaching.

Amazingly, this date, Tisha B’av, was exactly that of the destruction of the first Temple; now 656 years later the second Temple was destroyed (and in 1492 it was on this day the decree of Expulsion of Jews from Spain took effect). This date is still marked by mourning customs

Now some people argue that, with the birth of modern Israel, mourning for the fall of Zion has become an anachronism.

But the Jewish national memory is long. It is not likely that the given date of the capture of Jerusalem and the ruin of two temples will be forgotten.

In the twelfth century the Crusades set out to free the Holy Land from Arab-Islamic control. The cry went out that it was inconsistent to seek to rid the Holy Land of infidels when there were infidel Jews within the midst of the lands of Europe. Hence Crusaders held their crosses high as they pillaged and destroyed Jewish lives and property throughout Europe on the way to the Holy Land. Many were burned alive or tortured. Bad theology easily kills – as surely as obedience to the words of Jesus brought life to the Nazarenes at Petra. There is a tendency to read Scripture in such a way that we assume all the negative words to Israel are still addressed to Israel, and that anything nice to say will be transferred to the ‘church’.

We may validly receive from Scripture a subjective answer or a word with real prophetic significance to us. What we cannot do is disregard its original intention. (‘Upper and Nether Springs’ speaks about Northumberland for us, but we are not saying that was the author’s original intention, only that God has quickened such an understanding of these passages in addition to their own factual meaning.)

Canticle

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: The Morning Prayer readings are from the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community as available online here… and in the book form, Celtic Daily Prayer available on Amazon.com.

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.

Morning Prayer: Psalm 65:9-13; Leviticus 23:15-22; Acts 2:1-2 ~ Shavuot

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 65:9-13 NLT:

You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The river of God has plenty of water; it provides a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so. You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops. You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy. The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with grain. They all shout and sing for joy!

An Ultra-Orthodox Jew carries sacks full with wheat after harvesting it using hand sickles in a field some three kilometers from the Mevo Horon settlement in the Israeli occupied West Bank, on May 22, 2012. (Photo credit: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/GettyImages)
An Ultra-Orthodox Jew carries sacks full with wheat after harvesting it using hand sickles in a field some three kilometers from the Mevo Horon settlement in the Israeli occupied West Bank, on May 22, 2012.
(Photo credit: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/GettyImages)

Leviticus 23:15-22 NLT:

“From the day after the Sabbath—the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering — count off seven full weeks. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later. Then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the Lord as a special offering. Make these loaves from four quarts of choice flour, and bake them with yeast. They will be an offering to the Lord from the first of your crops. Along with the bread, present seven one-year-old male lambs with no defects, one young bull, and two rams as burnt offerings to the Lord. These burnt offerings, together with the grain offerings and liquid offerings, will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Then you must offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a peace offering.

“The priest will lift up the two lambs as a special offering to the Lord, together with the loaves representing the first of your crops. These offerings, which are holy to the Lord, belong to the priests. That same day will be proclaimed an official day for holy assembly, a day on which you do no ordinary work. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.

“When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”

Acts 2:1-2 NLT:

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

Reflection/Prayer:

The temple priest now returns to the grain field, now full and rich with a very ripe crop of grain, ready for harvest. He cuts and gathers enough to make two loaves. Back in the temple, he beats and presses the seed, grinding it to flour, adding water to fashion loaves from the dough and slips them into the depths of a fired oven. He waits. It is now about eight in the morning. Soon the loaf will be ready to lift out from the oven, take to the altar and lift up to God. Then the day of Pentecost will have fully come.

Meanwhile at a house somewhere in the city people are praying, and the presence of God bursts upon them. The Day of Pentecost is fulfilled. Harvest is here. The church is born.

(Gene Edwards)

Canticle

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: The Morning Prayer readings are from the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community as available online here… and in the book form, Celtic Daily Prayer available on Amazon.com.

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.