Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Abba, Father
Who Art in Heaven,
Blessed Be Your Holy Name!
How we love to sing Your praises,
To Lift Up Your Holy Name in Worship,
For You Alone are Worthy of Praise.
For You are Holy, Righteous and Just,
And Glorious in Majesty!
You Alone Are The One True God.
Perfect in All Your Ways
Ancient of Days,
King of Kings,
And Lord of Lords!

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

Names and Titles of God (The Tree of Life) Revelation 2:7

7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

King James Version

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In the mid-1950's, the Boston Public Schools were still very traditional. One of the things that was considered essential to a good education was memorization. Sometimes this was a good way of training our minds, but other times it was merely rote without insight. A perfect example would be a person who memorizes Scripture, but remains untouched by the Message.

From First Grade to Third Grade, we were all forced to memorize the following poem:

"Trees" by Joyce Kilmer(1913)

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

This little poem was a favorite of Elementary School Teachers, and our neighborhood even had a Park and a School named after the Author Joyce Kilmer.

The poem had some unfortunate choices of words in it that caused great hilarity and embarrassment to Third-Graders. First of all, the poet had a GIRL'S name even though he was a guy. (Joyce was actually his Middle Name, but whatever). Who would name their boy "Joyce"? Next, right in the first verse, the poem personifies a tree Breastfeeding from Mother Earth! YIKES! We Mid-Century kids were all Bottle-Fed, Thank You Very Much! Breastfeeding was so...uncivilized!

Then it talks about the tree getting birds in her hair. That's pretty disgusting. But the crowning indignity was in the last two couplets, where the word "bosom" appears. That was too much. The prepubescent boys would become almost unmanageable with their giggling...until the Teacher brought out her BIG RULER.

By the Fourth Grade, we had moved on to memorizing "Sea Fever" by John Maysfield. I liked that one. But "Trees" always gave me a headache. I couldn't understand the attraction.

At some point during my Elementary School years, the networks started showing old movies on TV. Mom and I sat down to watch "The Fighting 69th"

The movie is based upon a true story that took place during World War One.

As the characters are introduced in the movie, we get to know that one of them is a famous poet, Joyce Kilmer! So the guy who wrote "Trees" was a Soldier! I got instantly attached to the character, and ignored the others in the story.

True to the Historic Record, Joyce Kilmer was Killed In Action. I was heartbroken! The strange poet who wrote about bosoms and breastfeeding, and who had a girl's name, was a WAR HERO!

By the way, 64 years later, I can still recite "Trees" from memory.

Trees appear in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. From The Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, Trees are a part of the Story. Whether it is the Staff of Moses, The Righteous Branch of Zechariah, the Cross, and, finally, "The Leaves of the Tree for the Healing of Nations" (Revelation 22), we see Trees symbolizing Life and Death, Knowledge and Innocence, Bitterness becoming Sweet, Blessings and Curses. The Fig Tree even has leaves shaped like the Letter "Shin" in Hebrew, which is a Symbol for God.

After The Fall, the Tree of Life was closed off to Adam and Eve, and they became MORTAL. In the New Jerusalem, at the END of the Book, the Tree of Life is accessible, and we are actually Invited to partake.

The Turning Point to this transformation is also on a Tree, on the Lonely Hill of Calvary.

I think Joyce may have been on to something!

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