teach_me_thy_way – We Love God!

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

Frances Drake

A. Scriptures about God’s effecting conception: Gen. 29:31 – “the Lord opened her (Leah’s) womb” Gen. 30:22 – “God opened her (Rachel's) womb” Judges 13:3-5 – “committed to God from the womb” Ruth 4:13 – “the Lord gave her conception” Luke 1:15 – “filled with Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb” B. Scriptures about God's involvement in forming unborn: Job 10:8-12 – “God knit me together with bones and sinews and granted me life” Psalm 127:3 – “the fruit of the womb is a reward” Psalm 139:13-16 – “God weaved me in my mother's womb” Eccl. 11:5 – “bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman” Isa. 49:1,5 – “the Lord called Me from the womb...formed Me from the womb” Jere. 1:5 – “before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I consecrated you” Luke 1:15 – “filled with Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb” Luke 1:39-44 – “the baby leaped in my womb for joy” Gal. 1:15 – “set me apart from my mother's womb, and called me through grace” C. Scriptures to consider about alleged “sacredness” or “sanctity” of human life: Gen. 1:26,27 – “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image’” Psalm 8:3-8 – “God made man a little lower than God” D. Scriptures to consider if abortion is murder: Gen. 9:6 – “whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” Exod. 20:13 – “you shall not murder” Exod. 23:7 – “do not kill the innocent or the righteous” Prov. 6:17 – “God hates hands that kill innocent blood” Amos 1:13,14 – “God punished those who ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead” I Peter 4:15 – “do not let any of you suffer as a murderer”

James Fowler