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Sep 16, 2018

 

Bible verse for meditation:

Revelations 21:4-6
NIV
4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

ESV
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.


What does this scripture mean to you?
Has it had a different effect this reading as compared to times past?
How does this scripture make you feel?

Continue breathing deeply as you ponder this meaning.

Meditation on scripture / bible verse meditation:

A fact that is common to all of us is loss. Sooner or later each of us will be touched by massive loss and death. Unfortunately many people I talk to are so uncomfortable with dealing with loss that they put off thinking and talking about it until it becomes disruptive in life. Our faith in God is not intended to be a long string of perfecting sprinkled with rare occurrences of loss. Our life is meant to be full of loss. In fact it is impossible to love and not experience loss eventually. The scriptures do not shy away from this idea and even more more important than just telling us we will suffer, God tells us how to overcome the loss of this world. It is through learning how to have hope through Him. He is the source of comforting our suffering. By developing a relationship with him we realize that happiness comes by the ability to acknowledge our pain and to move through it and beyond it.

My young family has experienced a recent loss. This week we had to put down my dog. He suffered a massive stroke. He was 15 years old. My wife and I have had this little dog in our lives since before our children were born. We have moved more than a dozen times and he is one of the few constants in our lives. He was always there. My children grew up with him always in the home. I helped walk my children through opening the floodgates of their emotion and they cried harder than I have ever seen them cry. We also talked about how to receive comfort from God. We talked about His plan and heaven. The strange thing is that in the days that have passed since those first two days their sadness has been much more moderated. We continue to talk about him and the loss but the bitter sting has been eased by their willingness to walk through challenging emotion while not intentionally wallowing in it, but letting it surface and be what it is without catastrophizing it and then letting God heal their hearts. In subsequent waves of grief we focused on the gratitude that we have for having so many years with this dear sweet pet. I hope my example is not insensitive. By no means do I compare the value of a human life to that of a dog so please take these words as an allegory or metaphor.

Because God is the beginning and the end he is able to make all our loss right. Eventually death will be no more in our eyes as it is already no more in his. He has an eternal solution filled with love.

Take a few moments to reflect on this message and how it applies to your own life.

 

Meditation of Prayer:

Pray as directed by the Spirit.
Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready ask God for understanding you desire from Him.

Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm:
I invite you to sit in silence feeling being patient for your own faults and trials.

Meditate and Visualize Positive Change in Your Life:

Sue donated on Patreon and selected the scripture. Thanks Sue!


Final Question: what is the light of God.

Final thought - What causes you the most tears, and how can God help heal that in your life?

In this podcast I talked only of one kind of loss, which is death. In truth we suffer from many types of loss including divorce, betrayal of friendship, job loss, even empty nesting. God’s power is not only reserved for death but every tear we ever let loose. Although overcoming such deep sadness is not simple I think great benefit can be gained by plainly acknowledging the pain, then realizing that it is temporary, then trusting in God to help. After this when we are struck with further evidences of it we can repeat the cycle and replace our sadness with gratitude for the good times we have had. God will dry every tear and all loss will be understood and I truly believe that we can learn and grow from every hardship.