Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Dear Father in Heaven,
 Blessed Are You, Oh LORD,
 Our God,
 King of the Universe,
 Ancient of Days,
 Our Rock and Our Redeemer
 For You Alone Are Worthy;
 You Alone Are Holy;
 You Alone Are Righteous and Just;
 And You Alone Are The One True God of Abraham!
 How Wonderful Are Your Precepts;
 How Precious Is Your WORD!
 How Eternal and Sure Are Your Promises!

  Abba Father,
 In a world of duplicity,
 Your Faithfulness Abides Forever!

Let all that has been Concealed
Be Revealed.

Father, We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem,
According To Your Will and Promise.
We Pray That You Will Forgive The Sins
of Our Own Nation,
and Lead us all to Godly Repentance.
Create in Us Clean Hearts, Oh LORD,
and Renew a Right Spirit Within Us.

This we Pray Together,
As We Await Your Messiah,
Blessed Be He,
To Set Up His Kingdom,
And Make All Things Right.

God Bless America.

ML/LTOS

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Genesis 50

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: 17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.

19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

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A few days ago, I told a story that was about an on-going situation that has not yet been resolved. A number of Prayer Warriors contacted me, either in the thread or privately, wanting to know "The Rest of the Story". They were concerned because nearly all of my stories have a Punch Line. I hadn't realized that I had left people hanging.

I had an aunt who loved to tell stories. Unfortunately, she would go off on tangents and never have a punch line. Often she would forget which story she began with and end up in a galaxy far, far away. We dreaded this aunt having even one glass of wine, as it made the "story-telling" even worse. At the end of the story, when it finally arrived, there was no punch line, just an exhausted sigh.

Today's Reading contains the Punch Line for the ENTIRE Book of Genesis. It may even be extrapolated to be the Punch Line for the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

With Jacob dead and buried, there is nothing to prevent Joseph from totally annihilating his brothers, and he would have been within his rights to do so. What they had done to him was, in human terms, unforgivable. Not only that, the brothers seemed more fearful of punishment than genuinely contrite about their sins against their brother and father. They concocted a story that Jacob's last request was that Joseph forgive his brothers. We know that not to be the case, because Jacob's last request is recorded, and it is that he be buried in the Cave of Machpelia. We read that Joseph wept when his brothers said this lie. Was his weeping because he knew that their hearts still weren't right, or that they didn't believe that Joseph had indeed forgiven them? Have you ever sincerely forgiven someone and they still questioned your motives? I'd weep over that too.

Then...here comes the Punch Line:

“Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.”

Tomorrow we will reach the end of The Book of Genesis. It has taken two and a half months, but we did it together!

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.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS