Category: Father

26.3.23: My mind is still

Ruth Kirk
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These verses came to me earlier this week when I was praying without words. I wanted so much to ignore them and keep on drawing nearer to God, but they were so insistent that I had to open my eyes and write down what I was being given:

Today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43; NLT). 

Father,
While my mind is still,
Please let me rise
To you, in heaven.

Jesus,
While my eyes are closed,
Please let me see
Your shining face.

Spirit,
While my heart is hushed,
Please let me hear
Your wordless sighing.

Threefold God,
Though I am dust,
Please let me share
Your peace and grace.

May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace (Titus 1:4; NLT).

References 

His face shone like the sun (Matthew 17:2; NLT). 

The Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:26; RSV). 

I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27; NASB20).

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1; NLT). 

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9; KJV).

The Rosary Hospital

Yesterday I enjoyed improving two of my own rosaries, which have been awaiting my attention for the last few weeks. I feel much happier about them now.

11.3.23: Your hand

Ruth Kirk

God’s hand was on the people of Israel (2 Chronicles 30:12; NLT).

Father,
Lay your loving hand
On every mind today.
Please call us to repent
And turn to you.

Jesus,
Lay your loving hand
On every heart today.
Please touch us, heal us all,
And make us new.

Spirit,
Lay your loving hand
On every soul today.
Please fill us with your breath,
And cleanse us, too.

Yahweh,
Lay your loving hand
On every life today,
Then we will serve with love,
In all we do.

Do everything with love (1 Corinthians 16:4; NLT).

The Rosary Hospital

Yesterday I made a first communion rosary, using the restored centrepiece I mentioned a day or two ago. It’s not quite finished, but here it is so far:

5.3.23: Rejoicing

Ruth Kirk

This is the last of several prayers I received in rapid succession last Wednesday morning:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; NIV). 

Rejoicing comes
Through saying Yes,
No matter what God sends,

And thanking him
With all your heart,
Until this journey ends.

So don’t resist
The Father’s will,
But make it your delight:

Find joy in your vocation,
For you’re precious
In his sight.

You are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you (Isaiah 43:4; NLT).

References 

Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called (Ephesians 4:1; KJV). 

Precious is their blood in his sight (Psalm 72:14; NIV). 

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants (Psalm 116:15; NIV). 

18.1.23: Help me to pray

Ruth Kirk

Today’s little couplets began to arrive yesterday morning, when I kissed my icon of Jesus. To my surprise, everything I receive is still about prayer, so I’m just going with the flow.

Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray (Luke 9:28; NLT). 

Help me to pray with you, Jesus,
All day and all night.

Help me to pray in your Spirit,
And walk in your light.

Help me to pray to our Father,
In heaven above.

Help me to join you in Oneness,
And live in your love.

Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them (1 John 4:16; NIV).

References 

They will pray day and night, continually (Isaiah 62:6; NLT). 

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests (Ephesians 6:18; NIV).

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life” (John 8:12; NLT). 

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy (Matthew 6:9; NLT). 

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us” (Genesis 1:26; NLT). 

The LORD our God, the LORD is one (Deuteronomy 6:4;NIV). 

Whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17; NIV).

The Rosary Hospital 

Yesterday I made a simple, experimental prayer circlet to wear around my neck, and to hold. It’s loose enough to be able to move from one bead to the next using only one hand. After trying it out, I plan to re-make it with a moveable cross at intervals, as I think that will be helpful when I’m praying.

20.10.22: God’s will

Ruth Kirk


Context: Yesterday I went into town to do a small amount of shopping and have my covid booster. It was diverting at the time, but afterwards I was absolutely exhausted. It can still sometimes come as a shock to realise how limited I am now in terms of what I can do.

After a long sleep in the afternoon, I tried to work on what I had been given when I woke up that morning. However, I was too tired to make any progress with it. So here is a prayer from my storehouse, instead:

“Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Mark 14:36; NLT).

You came to do the Father’s will
Because you trusted in God’s name.

You wanted to forgive my sins,
To heal my guilt, and end my shame.

So, Lord, you lived and died for me,
Because you shared the Father’s aim:

To spread his love and tender care –
Please help me, now, to do the same.

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same” (Luke 10:36-7; NLT).

11.9.22: Heaven on earth #2

Ruth Kirk

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10; RSV). 

During an on-line conversation yesterday morning, a friend and I were discussing free will. I was praying in between reading and responding to their messages, and suddenly saw that when everyone freely chooses to do God’s will out of love, we will all live in heaven on earth.

Until that blessed day arrives, each of us can help the world to move towards it, by treating everyone with love, no matter how they behave towards us.

All this became much clearer in my mind when I was praying at bedtime: we can live in heaven on earth individually, and we can also live this way collectively. Free will means that the choice is ours.

When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, offer it of your own free will (Leviticus 22:29; NKJV).

Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ (Ephesians 5:2; NLT).

References

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind (Luke 10:27; NLT).

Love your neighbour as yourself (Luke 10:27; NLT).


Love the stranger (Deuteronomy 10:19; NKJV).

Show love to foreigners (Deuteronomy 10:19; NLT).

Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you (Luke 6:28; NLT).

Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing (Luke 23:34; NLT).

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them (Romans 12:9; NLT). 

Do everything with love (1 Corinthians 16:14; NLT).

Whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17; NLT).

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us (Luke 11:4; NLT).

We have all sinned against you (Jeremiah 14:20; NLT).

Sister and Brother (#3 of 3)

Ruth Kirk

Context: This is the last in a series of three blogs which arrived in rapid succession on the same morning. Whilst I was praying, I saw that everyone is my sister, my brother and my mother, and that every child is my child. God is within us all, so we all belong to one family, and we are all one. Jesus, of course, understood this long ago:

There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:32-5; NLT). 

You’re my Sister and Brother,
My Child and my Kin;

My Teacher, my Shepherd,
My Saviour, my King;

My Mother and Father,
My Staff and my Rod,

For, living in all,
You’re my Lord and my God.

Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us (Colossians 3:11; NLT).

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed (John 20:28; NLT).

References

The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40; NIV).

He gives the childless woman a household, making her the joyful mother of children (Psalm 113:9; CSB).

Mother, Father (#1 of 3)

Ruth Kirk

Context: This prayer is the first of three which arrived yesterday morning, one after another. By the time I went downstairs for breakfast, my head was reeling:

Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings (Psalm 61:4; NLT).

Mother, Father,
Priest and King,
In everyone,
And everything,
I come, each day,
To dance and sing
Beneath the shelter
Of your wing.

Stranger, Neighbour,
Friend and Kin,
In everyone,
And everything,
I come, each day,
To hide, and cling
Beneath the shadow
Of your wing.

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by (Psalm 57:1; NLT). 

Like a lion

Ruth Kirk

Context: This poem arrived after I watched a TV programme about a man who brings up rescued sun-bear cubs in his home. He does this in order to save them from the cruel bear-bile industry.

Giving them all the loving care they need, he slowly, painstakingly rehabilitates each cub, introducing them to the world, just as their mother would have done. Eventually, the young bears graduate to a Wildlife Centre, where they have lots of space to express their natural behaviours and instincts, and to interact with other bears. The man’s constant purpose is to give these traumatised, motherless creatures a rich and satisfying life, which is exactly the same as Christ’s aim for us all (John 10:10; NLT).

Whilst praying without words, I saw that this man is like a mother-bear to the cubs, just as Jesus is like a mother to us all. No matter what damage we have sustained in life, Christ’s purpose is to heal and rehabilitate us, just like the man caring for the orphaned cubs:

I won’t leave you orphaned; I will come back to you. A little while now and the world will see me no more; but you’ll see me; because I live, and you will live as well. On that day you’ll know that I am in God, and you are in me, and I am in you (John 14:18-20; TIB). 

We can’t see God, but the Bible is packed with vivid images, metaphors, similes, poems and parables which illustrate different aspects of what God is like. Here is just one example:

Go, inspect the city of Jerusalem. Walk around and count the many towers. Take note of the fortified walls, and tour all the citadels, that you may describe them to future generations. For that is what God is like (Psalm 48:12-14; NLT; my emphasis).

This verse is particularly useful, as it demonstrates the limitations of figurative language, as well as its richness. Such images are not meant to be taken literally. Rather, they are an invitation to meditate on the qualities of God they can reveal.

Then, when I had seen all this, these verses arrived:

God is love (1 John 4:8; NLT).

God is like a lion,
Like a tiger,
Like a bear.

God is like an eagle,
Like a raven,
Like a dove.

God is like a keening,
Like a murmur,
Like a plea.

God is like a father,
Like a mother:
God is love.

God is like a mountain,
Like an ocean,
Like a storm.

God is like a day-star,
Like a comet,
Like a sun.

God is like a heartbeat,
Like a whisper,
Like a sigh.

God is like a father,
Like a mother:
God is One.

God is one (Mark 12:32; NIV).

References 

There is …one God and Creator of all, who is over all, who works through all and is within all (Ephesians 4:5-6; TIB).

The Spirit, too, comes to help us in our weakness. For we don’t know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit expresses our plea with groanings too deep for words. And God, who knows everything in our hearts, knows perfectly well what the Spirit is saying, because her intercessions for God’s holy people are made according to the mind of God (Romans 8:26-7; TIB). 

God

Ruth Kirk

Context: As soon as I woke and started to pray today, this is what I saw:

  • Only God is worthy to be worshipped by all people, creatures and things.
  • God makes, maintains and ends them all.
  • God lives over, in and through them all.
  • God can never be destroyed.
  • God is the First and the Last: infinite and eternal.
  • God is Love.

Then, as soon as I began to worship, this little prayer arrived:

God:

1. My Father,
And my Mother;

2. Spirit: Sister;
Jesus: Brother;

3. Maker, Shepherd,
Saviour, Lover:

4. You are all;
I want no other.

God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28; TIB).

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.
(Psalm 23:1; NLT).

References 

1. You are our mother and father, YHWH; we are the clay and you are the potter, we are all the work of your hands (Isaiah 64:8; TIB). 

2. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister” (Proverbs 7:4; NIV). 

God has revealed this wisdom to us through the Holy Spirit. She searches out all things, even the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10; TIB). 

Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother (Mark 3:35; NLT). 

3. You cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things (Ecclesiastes 11:5; NIV). 

The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23:1; NLT). 

I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior (Isaiah 43:3; NLT). 

My lover is mine and I am his (Song of Songs 2:16; NLT).

4. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him (Philippians 3:8-9; NLT).

God has put all things under Christ’s feet and made Christ, as the ruler of everything, the head of the church, and the church is Christ’s body; it’s the fullness of the One who fills all of creation (Ephesians 1:22; TIB). 

He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:22; NKJV). 

This is what the Lord says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: “I am the First and the Last; there is no other God” (Isaiah 44:6; NLT).