Category: Hatred

Sharing and caring

Ruth Kirk

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour, who daily bears our burdens (Psalm 68:19; NIV). 

In prayer a few nights ago, I realised that God constantly shares, and cares about, all the pain, grief, fear and suffering people are experiencing throughout the world.

As I reflected on this, I wondered how it might feel for God to open his heart in this way.

Then I saw that, to a very small degree, we, too, experience something similar when we genuinely care about others who are suffering.

They might be people we know: family members, neighbours, friends, acquaintances or colleagues. Stretching our hearts a little wider, we might include those we see in the streets, read about in the news, or glimpse on television, whilst not forgetting about those who are harming other people.

Opening our hearts a bit further, we can feel for the numberless millions who are suffering, even though we never hear anything about them. This could include, for example, those giving birth, or being born; the sick and disabled in body, mind, heart and soul, as well as the dying and the bereaved. Let’s not forget the poor, and those in prison, too.

Similarly, we can widen our hearts to care about everyone who is being abused, discriminated against, rejected, persecuted, hated and attacked, as well as all those caught up in wars.

Going a little further, there are always people who are hungry, thirsty, lonely, homeless and stateless, including refugees, as well as all those who lack security and medical care.

Sometimes we might be even able to expand our hearts still more, briefly sharing with God the immense weight of caring about the millions who are suffering all around the world. However, it is very hard for us to maintain this state of mind and heart for long periods.

God, on the other hand, is infinitely strong. He is also pure, perfect love (1 John 4:8; NLT). He cares for everyone, all the time. Unimaginable, isn’t it? Yet we are called upon to become like him.

Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him (Colossians 3:10; NLT).

References

The Lord is good to everyone; his compassion rests on all he has made (Psalm 145:9; CSB).

In all their suffering he also suffered (Isaiah 63:9; NLT).

He bears our sins, and is pained for us (Isaiah 53:4; BST).

Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy (Ephesians 4:24; NLT).

A reading from Matthew 25:34-40; NLT.

The King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.”

Then these righteous ones will reply, “Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?”

And the King will say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

An end to war

Ruth Kirk

I will make peace your leader and righteousness your ruler. Violence will disappear from your land; the desolation and destruction of war will end (Isaiah 60:17-18; NLT). 

Lord,
Help us bring
An end to war,

So we will hate
And kill
No more,

But be content
To live
In peace –

Then all our
Senseless strife
Will cease.

They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will never again train for war (Isaiah 2:4; CSB).

 

Christ is love

Ruth Kirk

To my delight I had plenty of time to pray yesterday morning, having woken early, and already posted the day’s blog. However, today’s verses started to arrive within minutes, and I couldn’t resist discovering what they were going to say.

Interestingly, this blog didn’t come out at all as I had expected. Even more amazing: I accidentally erased the penultimate line, which I knew said exactly what it needed to say. Sadly, I could neither remember nor reconstruct it, but a few minutes later God gave it back to me, for which I was deeply grateful.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28; NIV).

There’s neither you nor I:
There’s only love.
There’s neither me nor them:
There’s only us.

There is no place for judgement
Or dislike,
Discrimination, hatred,
Or distrust.

There’s neither priest nor people:
Only prayer.
There is no church:
Just Jesus, and his call.

There is no male or female:
We are one;
No living and no dead,
For Christ is all.

There is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all (Colossians 3:11; NIV).

References 

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us (Philippians 3:14; NLT).

I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one (John 17:22; NLT). 

We, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another (Romans 12:5; RSV).

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive (Luke 20:38; NIV).

We have passed from death to life, because we love each other (1 John 3:14; NIV).

 

Filling my soul

Ruth Kirk

I had to wake up early yesterday morning for some work to be done in my house. Whilst I was praying, these verses arrived:

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). 

Filling my soul,
You pray within me –
Lord, I’m your willing slave.

Pleading on my behalf
For others –
Lord, please forgive and save.

Making me weep,
With sighs and groaning –
Lord, please touch every mind,

Ending our hatred, wars
And bloodshed –
Heal us, for we are blind.

In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are (Psalm 36:2; NLT). 

You will open the eyes of the blind (Isaiah 42:7; NLT).

Lord, save us! (with thanks for the safe crossing of C.O.)

Ruth Kirk

Yesterday I woke to the sound of a roaring sea, knowing that my friend was crossing to the island at that time. As I prayed for him, today’s blog burst into my mind. It is my prayer for all people in 2023:

It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within (Mark 7:20-23; NLT). 

Lord,

Please calm
Our raging storm
Of greed, and hate,
And war.

Heal every mind,
And heart, and soul –
Lord, save us!
I implore.

Change us,
As you changed Saint Paul,
For we, too, Lord, oppress,
And kill.

In every mind,
And heart, and soul
Please whisper:
Peace, be still.

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm (Mark 4:39; NKJV).

References 

Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” (Matthew 8:25; NKJV).

Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. …As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:1;3-6; NLT). 

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:11-12; NLT).

What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear! (Matthew 10:27; NLT).

Christmas Day 2022

Ruth Kirk

God often gives me a special prayer well in advance, ready to post on Christmas Day, but this year it didn’t happen. In fact, I had begun to think there would be no Christmas prayer at all this year. To begin with, I felt I should be able to write something appropriate, but I knew I couldn’t do this without inspiration, so eventually I placed the matter in God’s hands, and let it go.

Then, on the 21st of December, I received a long Christmas prayer, which was very difficult to put into words, to condense, and to edit. Eventually it took the form of a spoken exchange. The first section pictures Christ speaking to us, whilst the second pictures us responding to him.

1. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them (Luke 2:7; NLT). 

I was born on earth
In the shadow of want,
And lived in the shadow of fear.

I worked on earth
In the shadow of hate,
But knew that my Father was near.

I wept on earth
In the shadow of grief,
And prayed in the shadow of pain.

I walked on earth
In the shadow of death,
Then rose, to save all, and to reign.

The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15; NLT).

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

Though we dwell in the shadow of sin,
And grieve in the shadow of loss,

We pray, and give thanks, and rejoice,
For we follow your way of the cross.

Though we walk in the shadow of death,
We trust in your staff and your rod.

Lord, you are here, in earth’s darkness,
So we sing in the shadow of God.

Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings (Psalm 63:7; NLT).

God is near

Ruth Kirk

The night before last, my seventh with covid, I managed for the first time to cope without taking any cough-suppressant. As soon as I woke in the morning, I began to pray, but within seconds I was overwhelmed by today’s blog:

He is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:27-8; NIV). 

God is not far away,
But very near:
In everyone we meet,
And see, and hear;

In every joy and sorrow,
Smile, and tear;
In pain and anguish,
Suffering, and fear.

God is not far away,
But deep within:
In every mind, and heart,
And soul, and skin;

Despite our hatred,
Selfishness and sin –
God is not far away,
And God is King. 

God is the King over all the earth (Psalm 47:7; NLT).

 

Transformation

Ruth Kirk

I’ve been struggling badly since a new drug was added to my cocktail a week or so ago. Amongst other side-effects, it made me unable to concentrate, or to pray, and therefore, unable to write. Worst of all, it made me feel that life was not worth living.

However, yesterday, with medical help, I reduced the quantity of this drug by 50%, and today, to my great joy, I found I could both pray, receive inspiration and write again.

Tomorrow I hope to post what I was given this morning, but for now, here is an astonishingly appropriate piece I chose and prepared last night, with no idea that my state of mind might be about to change.

This prayer arrived very early one morning some weeks ago, when I woke at dawn and couldn’t go back to sleep.

My God turns my darkness into light (Psalm 18:28; NIV). 

You turn my darkness into light,
My sickness, into health;
My weakness into strength, Lord,
And my poverty, to wealth.

You turn my mourning into joy,
My sighing, into prayer;
My loneliness, to oneness, Lord,
My selfishness, to care.

You turn my water into wine,
My sinfulness, to good;
My anger, into peace, Lord,
And my bitterness to love.

You turn my losses into gains,
My dross, to precious ore;
My death, Lord, to eternal life
With you, for evermore.

In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28; NIV).

References

I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life (John 5:24; NLT). 

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever! (Psalm 30:11-12; NLT).

 

What is the Kingdom of God like?

Ruth Kirk

After posting yesterday’s prayer (https://wp.me/p45bCr-c36), I saw that the image of the wolf lying down with the lamb is a wonderful way of representing the revolutionary quality of relationships in the Kingdom of God (Isaiah 11:6-9; NIV).

This radically new way of living is characterised by treating everyone with love, regardless of how they behave towards us. We all have the potential to live like this, because God’s Kingdom is present within everyone (Luke 17:20-21; NKJV). Jesus lived as a citizen of God’s Kingdom on earth, and we, too, as individuals, can work towards the same goal.

However, for the Kingdom of God to hold sway throughout the whole world, we must all overcome the temptation to judge, reject, hurt, hate and destroy others. This applies to every person, family, group, denomination, caste, sect, class, tribe, religion and nation.

Both individually and collectively, the human qualities we need to overcome include:

  • Behaving selfishly and callously towards others
  • Refusing to share what we have
  • Controlling, dominating, bullying and abusing those less powerful than ourselves
  • Taking what belongs to other people
  • Judging and rejecting others for being different from ourselves in any way
  • Rejecting those with different spiritual beliefs and practices from ourselves
  • Looking down on, or hating, those whose skin-colour, sexuality, or way of life, is different from our own
  • Pursuing cruel, destructive conflicts and wars
  • Overexploiting and destroying the earth, our only shared home

Using richly symbolic, visionary language, Isaiah vividly illustrates what it will be like when everyone lives in the Kingdom of God:

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:6-9; NIV).

Following this train of reflection, today’s poem quickly came to me, though it was very difficult to put into words:

Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.” He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough” (Luke 13:18-21; NLT). 

What is the Kingdom of God like?
The strong take good care of the weak,
Men treat all women as equals,
And wait for their sisters to speak.

What is the Kingdom of God like?
The rich share their wealth with the poor.
The healthy assist the disabled,
And all give up hatred and war.

What is the Kingdom of God like?
It’s heaven on earth, and above,
For colour and creed make no difference
When all live in God, who is Love.

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

References

When He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21; NKJV).

The LORD will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:4; NLT).

I heard a loud voice calling from the throne,“Look! God’s Tabernacle is among humankind! God will live with them; they will be God’s people, and God will be fully present among them. The Most High will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death, mourning, crying and pain will be no more, for the old order has fallen.” The One who sat on the throne said, “Look! I’m making everything new!” and added, “Write this, for what I am saying is trustworthy and true.” And that One continued, “It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To those who are thirsty I will give drink freely from the spring of the water of life. This is the rightful inheritance of the overcomers. I will be their God and they will be my daughters and sons (Revelation 21:3-7; TIB).

Light in darkness

Ruth Kirk

When I was praying, I saw a light shining in a vast vault of darkness. Instantly, the first line of this prayer-poem came into my mind. As always, I knew I had to write it down immediately, without thinking about anything else at all. Long experience has taught me that inspiration fades within just a few seconds if I don’t grasp it straight away. Subsequent lines usually come into my mind as I’m noting down the line before, so I just keep on writing until the sequence comes to a natural end.  

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it (John 1:5; NLT). 

For what other great nation has a god so near to it as YHWH is to us when we call (Deuteronomy 4:7; TIV). 

Light in darkness,
Joy in sorrow,
Peace in anguish:
God is near.

Strength in weakness,
Love in hatred,
All is well,
For God is here.

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well (Revelations of divine love, Julian of Norwich). 

God is with us (Isaiah 7:14; NLT).