Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem(12/24/20)[Prayer]

The Holy Scriptures | 12/24/20 | left that other site

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Lambs, Sheep, and Shepherds

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Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah’s Complaint

12 You are always righteous, Lord,
    when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
    Why do all the faithless live at ease?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root;
    they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
    but far from their hearts.
3 Yet you know me, Lord;
    you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
    Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
4 How long will the land lie parched
    and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
    the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
    “He will not see what happens to us.”

God’s Answer

5 “If you have raced with men on foot
    and they have worn you out,
    how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble[a] in safe country,
    how will you manage in the thickets by[b] the Jordan?
6 Your relatives, members of your own family—
    even they have betrayed you;
    they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
    though they speak well of you.
7 “I will forsake my house,
    abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
    into the hands of her enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to me
    like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
    therefore I hate her.
9 Has not my inheritance become to me
    like a speckled bird of prey
    that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.
10 Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
    and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
    into a desolate wasteland.
11 It will be made a wasteland,
    parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
    because there is no one who cares.
12 Over all the barren heights in the desert
    destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the Lord will devour
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no one will be safe.
13 They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
    they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
They will bear the shame of their harvest
    because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”

14 This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. 15 But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16 And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 12:5 Or you feel secure only
2. Jeremiah 12:5 Or the flooding of

New International Version (NIV)(End of Scripture Passage)

Jeremiah and The LORD have a dialogue about discouragement.

New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Our Father Who Art in Heaven,
Magnified and Sanctified
Is Your Most Holy Name!
How Blessed Are You,
Oh LORD, Our God,
King of The Universe,
Who Has Brought Us To This Day!
We Come into Your Presence With Singing
And into Your Courts With Praise,
For You Alone Are Worthy,
You Alone Are LORD;
You Alone Are The Host High;
You Alone Are The LORD of Hosts;
And You Alone Hold The Power of Life and Death in Your Hand.

LORD, We Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem,
According To Your Will and Promise.
We Beseech You on Behalf of Our Captive Brethren,
Christians and Jews,
In Bondage in Hostile lands.

We Pray For Our President,
And other Leaders of Our Beloved USA
May They Receive Wisdom from You
To do the Right Thing.
We Pray For The Swift and Sure Coming of Messiah,
Blessed Be He,
To Establish His Kingdom,
and Make All Things Right.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[DarthVader]

Amen !!! <><

Psalm 45

To the leader: according to Lilies. Of the Korahites. A Maskil. A love song.

1 My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

2 You are the most handsome of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you for ever.
3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your glory and majesty.

4 In your majesty ride on victoriously
for the cause of truth and to defend* the right;
let your right hand teach you dread deeds.
5 Your arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king’s enemies;
the peoples fall under you.

6 Your throne, O God,* endures for ever and ever.
Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity;
7 you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honour;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

10 Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
forget your people and your father’s house,
11 and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him;
12 the people* of Tyre will seek your favour with gifts,
the richest of the people 13with all kinds of wealth.

The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;*
14 in many-coloured robes she is led to the king;
behind her the virgins, her companions, follow.
15 With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.

16 In the place of ancestors you, O king,* shall have sons;
you will make them princes in all the earth.
17 I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;
therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever.

[DarthVader]

IBTZ!

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

This is not a popular Scripture portion. The Prophet Jeremiah had good cause to be discouraged, as the corruption in his nation was way over-the-top. God gave Jeremiah a mission to speak to the people in parables, but not in word only. Jeremiah was perhaps the first "Multi-Media" Preacher, using linen sashes buried in mud, baskets of rotten figs, broken pottery, and worse to illustrate God's Coming Judgement. For his efforts, he was arrested, beaten, thrown into a well, chained up outside the jail exposed to the elements, and other "cruel and unusual" punishments. From his writings, we can see that he was prone to depression, and is sometimes referred to as "The Weeping Prophet."

You may say that Poor Old Jeremiah had a RIGHT to sing the Blues. In fact, he reminds me of the old Billie Holiday song:

I gotta right to sing the blues
I gotta right to feel low-down
I gotta right to hang around
Down around the river

In fact, this Classic Blues song resembles Psalm 137 (By the Rivers of Babylon), which is a song of exile, the very thing Jeremiah was predicting!

God wants us to be "transparent" with Him, so phony bravado in our prayer life is not acceptable. However, Discouragement without Hope is Despair, which St. Thomas Aquinas called one of the Seven Deadly Sins. In this Passage, we see Jeremiah praying in such a way that God has to remind him of Whom he is speaking to. God admonishes Jeremiah about his kvetching over the small stuff, when the issues are far bigger.

5 “If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?

God then goes on about the coming exile, and it seems hopeless. But then, God promises REDEMPTION, even to those who have worshiped Baal in the past. This is the message of HOPE. Nobody is "irredeemable."

Things looked pretty bad in the First Century AD. Rome had conquered Israel and had turned it into a Vassal State. Their puppet ruler Herod wasn't even a Real Jew, and he was extremely cruel even by the standards of the time. People were being taxed to the breaking point, and the Romans used the Religious Authorities to keep the people in line. Everything seemed hopelessly corrupt. Now a certain carpenter had to make a difficult journey with his young, pregnant wife, in order to register to be taxed some more. The People had the "right" to sing the Blues!

Meanwhile, a scholar somewhere in the East noticed a new star in the sky. Something was about to happen...

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, DarthVader, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[stars & stripes forever]

AMEN. GOD is always there, even in the darkest hours.

[etabeta]

Joining in prayer. God bless.

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Etabeta, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, stars & stripes forever, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[Hebrews 11:6]

Apparently you've bucked off today's horse-thief. I'm reminded of the remarkable feelings I had the first time I sat astride an enormously powerful horse. It makes me wonder whether Jesus had ever ridden a donkey prior to Palm Sunday; if not, the new sensation of riding would have combined for Him with that day's astonishing events.

It is my pleasure to agree with your important prayer and, as I did so quite largely yesterday, to wish you the very merriest of Christmases, Mary-Lou.

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Hebrews 11:6, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Credit goes to DarthVader for “bucking “ off the Horse Thief, as I was still writing the meditation when the horse thief showed up with actual CURSES on this Devotional Thread. I looked up the culprit, who has been on FR since 1999, and all of his comments were negative, nasty, and replete with cursing.

A bitter person, who needs prayer, I would think.

It happens from time to time.

[redryder_90]

Hallelujah and Amen

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, redryder_90, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[NEWwoman]

Amen, left that other site

We certainly are living in days for deep corruption. And looking to Heaven for redemption.

Joining in prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem and for our beloved America.

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, NEWwoman, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[OneVike]

Prayers for the Whole Middle East as so many Arab nations have signed peace agreements with Israel. They will all need our prayers if the Democrats and republicans succeed in their attempt of the 4 year coup.

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, OneVike, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS