Category: pilgrimage

8.9.22: Starting afresh

Ruth Kirk

Today is my 70th birthday, and it marks a fresh start here on my blog, as outlined yesterday (https://wp.me/p45bCr-cbb). From today, until a review in one month’s time, I will be sharing much more directly what God gives me, without trying to shape it into poetry or articles. Instead, my blogs will take the form of an honest daily, spiritual diary.

Hopefully, this change will enable me to continue communicating with you, whilst reducing my workload appropriately as my health deteriorates. Introducing this change is exciting, and makes me feel much more optimistic about the future, no matter what it may hold. So, here is the first entry in my new spiritual diary.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” (Genesis 28:16; NLT).

Lord, please help me to remember that I live in your presence. I want to be conscious of your nearness, day and night.

As I get older, you’re slowly revealing the contents of my unconscious mind. Please help me to learn from all you show me. Thank you for everything you bring out of my inner darkness. By the time I die, I want to have discovered, faced and accepted as many as possible of the treasures hidden there, however challenging this process may be.

Help me to shine as a beacon of your love wherever I am and in all circumstances, confident that everything is just as you wish it to be. May I learn from all I experience.

Lord, my life here is an exile and a pilgrimage. Whatever happens, please help me to keep on heading back home to you, whilst doing what I can to serve those I encounter along the way. Thank you for taking care of everything else.

I ask all this in your dear Son’s name. Amen.

I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches from secret places so that you may know that I am the Lord (Isaiah 45:3; CSB).

He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness (Daniel 2:22; NLT).

Healing

Ruth Kirk

Image: Alok Timsina, Pixabay

Seek peace (Psalm 34:14; NIV).

1. Healing is a painful, lifelong journey:
A pilgrimage
In search of inner peace.

2. I struggle up the path to my next insight;
What joy to reach the top,
And what relief!

3. But every crest reveals a higher mountain,
And more beyond,
As far as I can see,

4. Until, at last, I glimpse my destination:
The hill, Lord, where you died
To set me free.

References

1. He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds (Psalm 147:3; NLT).

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage […] They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion (Psalm 84:5,7; NIV).

I search for peace (Psalm 120:7; NLT).

2. Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live (Psalm 43:3; NLT).

Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand (Philippians 4:7; NLT).

3. The mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all (Isaiah 2:2; NLT).

4. It is high and magnificent; the whole earth rejoices to see it! Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great King! (Psalm 48:2; NLT).

They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha […] Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross (Mark 15:22,24; NLT).

Christ […] has died as a ransom to set them free (Hebrews 9:15; NIV).

If the Son sets you free, you are truly free (John 8:36; NLT).

Death isn’t a disaster

Ruth Kirk

When our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,
this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory”
(1 Corinthians 15:54-5; NLT).

1. Death isn’t a disaster:
It’s the final trip we make
When our exile here is done,
The road that all must take.

2. Death isn’t a disaster,
For it brings us back to God
Along the way that all must walk:
The path that Jesus trod.

3. Death isn’t a disaster;
Whether life is short or long
It brings us to his Kingdom,
Where the weak will be made strong.

4. Death isn’t a disaster;
When our pilgrimage is through,
It brings us to eternal life:
United, Lord, with you.

References

1. I am your guest – a traveller passing through, as my ancestors were before me (Psalm 39:12; NLT).

2. He [Jesus] humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross (Philippians 2:8; NLT).

3. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever (Revelation 21:4; NLT).

4. The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7; NIV).

Turn exile into pilgrimage

Ruth Kirk

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

Lord,

1. Help me turn my exile
Into pilgrimage.

2. Help me turn my selfishness
To care.

3. Help me turn my suffering
To service.

4. Help me turn my whole life
Into prayer.

References

1. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them (Psalm 126:6; NIV).

2. If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me (Luke 9:23; NLT).

Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you (1 Peter 5:2; NLT).

3. When I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10; NLT).

Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all (Mark 9:35; NIV).

4. Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17; NIV).

Pilgrimage (#2 of 2 linked prayers)

Ruth Kirk

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
(Psalm 84:5; NIV).

1. May I live, Lord,
In your strength,
Throughout my pilgrimage
On earth.

2. May I wander
In your mind,
Discovering
Your Son’s great worth.

3. May I search, Lord,
In your heart,
Until I find
Your Spirit’s grace.

4. May I shelter
In your soul,
So I can gaze
On your dear face.

References

1. The Lord is my strength (Exodus 15:2; NLT).

2. This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him (Mark 9:7; NLT).

3. Keep on seeking, and you will find (Matthew 7:7; NLT).

4. Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1; NLT).

I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory (Psalm 63:2; CSB).

I will see you face to face and be satisfied (Psalm 17:15; NLT).