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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Oh LORD, Our God,
How Majestic,
How Wonderful,
How Excellent is Your Most Holy Name!
You Alone Are Worthy to be Praised and Worshiped,
for You Alone Are the Most High,
Ancient of Days,
Rock Of Ages,
The All-In-All,
Aleph~Tav,
Alpha and Omega!
It is a Joy to Praise You,
Because You Are So Awesome in Your Glory,
Endlessly Creative,
Infinitely Just and Righteous,
Eternally Holy and Pure,
Yet Incredible Patient and Forgiving,
Slow to Anger, and Full of Love!
Your Memorial Name that You Gave us for All Generations,
YHVH, I AM,
Declares Your Existence to the world.
You Are The Great I AM,
The One and Only,
The Beginning and The End.

Give us Wisdom,
That we may discern Your Plan,
Even though events leave us puzzled,
frustrated, and hurt.
Help Us Remember that You are in Control,
You Are On the Throne.
Yours is the Kingdom,
The Power and the Glory,
And You Are the Same,
Yesterday, Today, and 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

[redryder_90]

Amen

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Names and Titles of God (The True Vine) John 15:1

15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

King James Version

________________________

In 1969, my boyfriend Mark's brother bought a real "Fixer-Upper" in Dedham, MA. It was in a prime location on the Neponset River, and was very cheap, so cheap that Mark's brother didn't even have to get a mortgage to purchase the property. However, there was so much work that needed to be done that a loan was secured for all the remodeling. We donned our work clothes and masks and began swinging sledgehammers, to bring the house down to its bare studs.

The previous owner, an elderly Italian man, had cultivated the entire backyard with fruits and vegetable all the way down to the river. However, as the old man declined in health, so did the yard. The annuals had long since died off, and the perennials had gone wild. The result was a tangled, rotten jungle.

From one end of the yard to the other was a crumbling pergola covered in grapevines. The Old Man had probably made his own wine back in the day, but now the vines completely overgrown, and would require massive cleanup.

Mark gave a shout of triumph and said:

"Hey, M.L., these vines are COVERED with grapes! Look at all these grapes! We can make home-made jelly and SELL it, and make a lot of money!"

At the time, I was like "Ethel" to Mark's "Lucy", which meant that he would come up with all these crazy schemes and rope me into them.

We started picking the grapes, bushels and bushels of them. We were thrilled that they were so abundant. We were going to get rich at the tender age of 17 with our new Home-Grown-Home-Made Delicious New England Grape Jelly.

We crushed the grapes, strained them and tasted the resulting pulp...Eyew...it was so bitter. Never mind, we added tons of sugar to make up for it. Then we added the "pectin" (gelling agent) cooked it down, filled the jars and sealed them with wax. Next we had labels printed up. The Sugar, Pectin, Jars, Wax, and Labels all cost quite a bit of money, but that was OK because we would make it all back and then some.

Finally, we opened our first jar and spread it on crackers.

IT WAS TERRIBLE!

There was no way we could sell this foul syrupy concoction. It was a total waste.

We couldn't figure it out. We had followed all the instructions, used all the right ingredients, sterilized the jars, sealed them thoroughly, and did everything right.

We finally deduced that, due to neglect, the grapes had somehow gone feral. Perhaps they had developed their bitter taste as a defense against being eaten. Maybe they had absorbed pollutants from the very urban Neponset River. Maybe the grapes had been appropriate for making wine, but not jelly. Whatever it was, the Jelly was inedible. It would seem that "cultivation", which includes pruning, training, fertilizing, and protection from pests are a very important part of growing grapes. From the size of the pergola, it seemed that the Old Man had known what he was doing. Mark and I, obviously, DID NOT.

In the 15th Chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus declares that He is The True Vine. He goes on to identify God The Father as the "Husbandman" or "Gardener". "Husbandman" is more than a Vinedresser or gardener though. We use the term now to define a Gardener who is also a "Scientist", One who trims the vines, makes hybrids, grafts in branches, and prunes other branches off. He adjusts the shape of the vines by adjusting them to an arbor or pergola, training them to climb to the right height to receive the full benefits of the air and sunshine. He also wraps the branches if it gets too cold, and shades them if it's too hot. The grapes from a vine that has been cultivated by a caring husbandman bring us delicious wines from every region of the world.

If you read further in this Passage, Jesus describes us as the "branches". We derive our strength and our nourishment through The True Vine. If the branch is cut off, it can't survive by itself. A cut-off branch will NOT produce grapes on it's own.

Without the tending, pruning, nourishing, and protection of the Husbandman, some grapes will maybe grow, but they will be "wild". The result is that, without comfort, nourishment, and protection, they become defensive, bitter, and useless. Even the deer didn't want those ones in the Old Man's yard.

The analogy goes deeper, as Jesus has called the Wine at the Last Supper, the "Blood of the New Covenant". He therefore connects Himself to being the True Vine, and His Father as The Husbandman.

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

For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. (Mark 4:22)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[Maudeen]

AMEN!