The Birds- Lent 35, 2022

Alright. I’m going to tell you a little secret. I love doing the photos associated with these devotionals each year. This year’s has proven a little harder because of the content. At times it’s been my favorite part…choosing images, rendering and piecing collages, to display visually what is going on.

***
Not today.
I don’t want to depict what’s actually going on.
***

Revelation 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. “

Thoughts for today:

I am aware that it’s hard to like on Facebook or share something that is frankly quite a disturbing image. I think Revelation intends that we be disturbed by it. Why might John give us this horrific visual of the last days?

Read through the list of those who will be devoured: “kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

Is anyone among them marked safe?

Take time to pray for your loved ones who are not yet “marked safe” by virtue of following Christ.

Almighty Father in heaven, please draw ____ to Yourself during these Last Days. Give them reassurance of Your power and presence in their lives. Help them to see their sin for what it is and their need for forgiveness and salvation through Christ our Lord. Draw them with everlasting love and place a holy fear of judgment in their hearts so they will believe upon Your Son Jesus, our Messiah. Help them to see it’s a fear to be driven out by Your perfect love because “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment” (1 John 4:18). And there is no punishment awaiting those “marked safe” by the blood of Jesus. We praise and thank You, Lord, and give You all the glory. Amen.

===

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.