Lent & Beyond

Psalm 29:1-4 (ESV)
Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

We ascribe to You glory, Lord God. We extol Your holy name. Your majestic, powerful voice is over the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. We honor You and bless You.
Holy is the Lord. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Amen.

Genesis 6:2-5 (NKJV)
. . . the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Job 1:6 (NKJV)
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.

Dear Heavenly Father,
I am a fallen creature. I do not understand these scriptures. Lord, have mercy. I give you my lack of understanding.

I do understand this. Christ Jesus is the Son of Man.

Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

If, in any way, the sons of God, the giants, and the mighty men of old hold sway in Iraq,
If, in any way, the sons of God, the giants, and the mighty men of old are blocking the establishment of Your kingdom in Iraq,
We humbly invite Christ Jesus, the Son of Man, to break their stranglehold and to remove their obstructions. Your kingdom come, Your will be done in Iraq as it is in heaven. Amen.

–There have been Christians in Iraq since the first century. Acts 2:9 records Parthians from Mesopotamia in the crowd as the Apostle Peter preached at Pentecost.
–During the fourth century, Persia’s Zoroastrian zeal against the newly Christianized Roman Empire threatened to destroy the Christians living in the Mesopotamian lands of modern-day Iraq.
–The European Christian crusaders often saw the Iraqi Christians as false and the Muslims saw them as part of the enemy.
–Church historian Kenneth Scott Latourette found it amazing, not that Christianity survived as a minority cult, “but that it survived at all.”

Jonah
Psalm 31
2 Samuel 22
Tower of Eder
Enthroned
Hornets
Blessings
Chaldean litany
ISIS
Nahum
Polio

Rachel dies in childbirth. She names the newborn Son of sorrow. Jacob renames him Son of my right hand.
So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar at her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. Israel [Jacob] journeyed on, and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. (Gen 35:19-21 NRSV)

Scholars interpret Micah 4:8 as a prophesy indicating that the Messiah would be revealed from the “tower of the flock” (Migdal Eder) which is connected with the town of Bethlehem, southeast of Jerusalem.
And you, O tower of the flock,
hill of daughter Zion, to you it shall come, the former dominion shall come,
the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem. (Micah 4:8 NRSV)

Mishnaic sources indicate that the flocks tended in the fields around Bethlehem were raised for the ritual sacrifices of the Jerusalem temple.

Our Father in heaven,
In her death, Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel brings forth new life. In His death, Your beloved Son Jesus Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God, brings forth new life for mankind. We thank You for giving us new life.
Iraq has seen much death through violence, war, and disease. Have mercy, Lord, and bring her new life in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Reference: Wikipedia

Our Father Eternal, El Olam,
From the Babylonian exile, there have been Jews praising Your name in Iraq. On the day of Pentecost, Parthians from Mesopotamia, filled with the Holy Spirit, were praising the name of Your Son Jesus.
Holy Scripture teaches us that You are enthroned on the praises of Your people. We claim this promise over Iraq. We claim this promise for all of the praises of Israel and of the Christians through the millennia in Iraq. Time is Your servant. You are enthroned on the praises of Your people through time and beyond time. May Your name be praised in Iraq. Amen.