The Book of Judith
Chapter
5
¹ It was reported to Holofernes, the general of the Assyrian army, that the people of Israel had prepared for war and had closed the mountain passes and fortified all the high hilltops and set up barricades in the plains.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 1)
Oh brothers and sisters throughout the whole world, be aware that the devil is well armed and that all the time in many situations of our life, he is launching one attack after another. He knows our weak spots and when to attack us. I pray that we put on the armou rof the Holy Spirit of God as protecion from the arrows of the evil one and his evil comrades. Amen.
With reference to the two kingdoms that of God and that of Satan I invite you to click on the following link credit to The Endless love of Jesus MInistries.
The kingdom of God and Satan
² In great anger he called together all the princes of Moab and the commanders of Ammon and all the governors of the coastland, ³ and said to them, "Tell me, you Canaanites, what people is this that lives in the hill country? What towns do they inhabit? How large is their army, and in what does their power and strength consist? Who rules over them as king and leads their army? ⁴ And why have they alone, of all who live in the west, refused to come out and meet me?"
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 2 to 4)
Oh God my beloved Father at times I have also been asked such a question in relation to my life and especially in relation to my marriage. Considering the hard times that I have endured and am still experiencing I am frequently asked where does my energy come from, and my answer has been always the same. My energy is from God and it is in Him that I trust and obey Amen.
I invite you to click on this link and join me in this sog and prayer:
My strength comes from God
⁵ Then Achior, the leader of all the Ammonites, said to him, "May my lord please listen to a report from the mouth of your servant, and I will tell you the truth about this people that lives in the mountain district near you. No falsehood shall come from your servant's mouth.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 5)
Oh God my Father, if someone had to make a report on me and my country that is Malta, I wonder what would be reported, although Malta is rich in history and culture it is also known for the use of swear words. It is known as the "Haqq people" which is used many times in order to curse or offend each other and even You. I pray that You heal us from such a malady Amen.
⁶ These people are descended from the Chaldeans. ⁷ At one time they lived in Mesopotamia; because they did not wish to follow the gods of their ancestors who were in Chaldea.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 6 to 7)
Oh God my Father even though I am living in 2017, through You my descendants are also from Abraham. I am proud to be related to him since his faith in You did not fail him even though he experienced hard times especially during his life of marriage to Sarah. I pray that we go back to our roots and relive both the faith that our ancestors had and also the simple life that they used to live Amen.
⁸ Since they had abandoned the ways of their ancestors, and worshipped the God of heaven, the God they had come to know, their ancestors drove them out from the presence of their gods, so they fled to Mesopotamia, and lived there for a long time.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 8)
Oh God my beloved Father, this is the price that we have to pay for believing in You. Many people will not accept us as being in their circle of friends and may even decide to terminate their relationship with us. However in such cases I will keep my trust in You my God and Father, for You are my one and only true friend who is more than reliable Amen.
⁹ Then their God commanded them to leave the place where they were living and go to the land of Canaan. There they settled, and grew very prosperous in gold and silver and very much livestock.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 9)
Oh God, my blessed Father, I pray that You keep on showing me Your ways so that in a spirit of obedience I can keep on following You until You deliver me to my Promised Land that is a place in Your loving presence forever, that is if You find me worthy Amen.
¹⁰ When a famine spread over the land of Canaan they went down to Egypt and lived there as long as they had food. There they became so great a multitude that their race could not be counted.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 10)
Oh God, my beloved Father, during times of famine and hardship You provided Egypt for Your people. During my time of hardship, You provided me with my mother, who has become my primary means of support apart from You from whom all find its meaning and providence. I thank You for giving me such a mother who like You did not turn me down during my moment of crisis Amen.
¹¹ So the king of Egypt became hostile to them and forced them to make bricks.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 11)
Oh God my beloved Father, when I was in a state of Egypt while still in marriage, I was harassed from all sides, I ended up becoming angry and frustrated all the time, and many times innocent others such as my daughter ended up being shouted at as a consequence of the anger that her mother was causing me to experience. I pray that I never end up in this form of exile again Amen.
¹² They cried out to their God, and he afflicted the whole land of Egypt with incurable plagues. So the Egyptians drove them out of their sight.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 12)
Oh God, my beloved Father You never refuse our prayers. I, therefore, place in Your hands the issue of my daughter who does not want to have contact with me. I pray that You take the situation and if it is for our good change it to one of love and motivation so that we can be reunited together as friends and as Father and daughter Amen.
¹³ Then God dried up the Red Sea before them, ¹⁴ and he led them by the way of Sinai and Kadesh-barnea. They drove out all the people of the desert, ¹⁵ and took up residence in the land of the Amorites, and by their might destroyed all the inhabitants of Heshbon; and crossing over the Jordan they took possession of all the hill country.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 13 to 15)
Oh God my blessed Father, how easy it is for us to take the merit for actions that we did not do. Throughout verses 13 to 15 You are not mentioned one single time, however it was due to Your intervention that Your people crossed the Jordan and even drove out the inhabitants of the hill country. I wish to thank You for all the interventions that You carried out in my life Amen.
¹⁶ They drove out before them the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Shechemites, and all the Gergesites and lived there a long time.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 16)
Oh God my blessed Father, I thank You for the many obstacles and hurdles that You helped me in overcoming, for the people that You sent me at the appropriate time of need and with whom I am still in contact. I thank You for these pillars of support my God and Father Amen.
¹⁷ "As long as they did not sin against their God they prospered, for the God who hates iniquity is with them. ¹⁸ But when they departed from the way he had prescribed for them, they were utterly defeated in many battles and were led away captive to a foreign land. The temple of their God was razed to the ground, and their towns were occupied by their enemies.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 17 to 18)
Oh God my Father, this is also my story and that of all humanity. When we give You control of our lives everything that happens will be according to Your will, however when we try to become God's of our own lives we end up on our way to our old Egypt a state of sinful slavery. I pray that I always make a good choice that of living according to Your will and ways Amen.
¹⁹ But now they have returned to their God, and have come back from the places where they were scattered, and have occupied Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and have settled in the hill country because it was uninhabited.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 19)
Oh God my Father, we are all scattered children in many different parts of the world, for our home is not on this earth but in heaven. I pray that when our time comes we will meet as one family in our heavenly home Amen.
²⁰ "So now my master and Lord, if there is any oversight in this people and they sin against their God and we find out their offense, then we can go up and defeat them.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 20)
Oh God my beloved Father, the Devil works in the same way, once this evil spirit discovers our point of weakness and sin, this spirit moves in to attack us, however, if we are constant in prayerⁱ and be aware of ourselves this evil spirit does not stand a chance.
²¹ But if they are not a guilty nation, then let my lord pass them by; for their Lord and God will defend them, and we shall become the laughingstock of the whole world."
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 21)
Oh God my Father, I am proud to be on Your side, I know that You will defend me when my enemies put pressure on me in order to harm me. I thank You for being a firewall and a tower of refuge Amen. Thank You Jesus Amen.
²² When Achior had finished saying these things, all the people standing around the tent began to complain; Holofernes officers and all the inhabitants of the seacoast and Moab insisted that he should be cut to pieces. ²³ They said, "We are not afraid of the Israelites; they are a people with no strength or power for making war. ²⁴ Therefore let us go ahead, Lord Holofernes, and your vast army will swallow them up."
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 22 to 24)
Oh God my Father, when faced with different situations in life that ask us to ask and answer at times in a short span of time, we find ourselves facing great dilemmas. At times we may not have the answers at hand. However You are our counsellor and advocate and above all our loving Father who cares and loves us and who turns all situations into our favour for our own good.
Therefore in all situations my God and Father may we turn to You and give You all our personal and maybe familial or issues of friends and end our prayers with the famous end, with which I wish to end this fifth chapter of the book of Judith;
" God this is Your issue, may Your will be done!"
Oh God my beloved Father I would like to end this meditation on the fifth chapter of the book of Judith with the following prayer.
Oh God my loving Father, for You fountain of all love and wisdom the word impossible does not exist. You are able to make what is humanly impossible possible, however it all depends if this is according to Your plan for us which is based on our own good. Amen. Therefore in all situations and crisis let not our wills be fulfilled, but may Your will be done even if at the time we may not understand why it had to happen in this way and not according to our plans. Help us to remember that our ways are not Your ways, because we have a limited view of what is good for us, but You see the whole picture. Amen
² In great anger he called together all the princes of Moab and the commanders of Ammon and all the governors of the coastland, ³ and said to them, "Tell me, you Canaanites, what people is this that lives in the hill country? What towns do they inhabit? How large is their army, and in what does their power and strength consist? Who rules over them as king and leads their army? ⁴ And why have they alone, of all who live in the west, refused to come out and meet me?"
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 2 to 4)
Oh God my beloved Father at times I have also been asked such a question in relation to my life and especially in relation to my marriage. Considering the hard times that I have endured and am still experiencing I am frequently asked where does my energy come from, and my answer has been always the same. My energy is from God and it is in Him that I trust and obey Amen.
I invite you to click on this link and join me in this sog and prayer:
My strength comes from God
⁵ Then Achior, the leader of all the Ammonites, said to him, "May my lord please listen to a report from the mouth of your servant, and I will tell you the truth about this people that lives in the mountain district near you. No falsehood shall come from your servant's mouth.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 5)
Oh God my Father, if someone had to make a report on me and my country that is Malta, I wonder what would be reported, although Malta is rich in history and culture it is also known for the use of swear words. It is known as the "Haqq people" which is used many times in order to curse or offend each other and even You. I pray that You heal us from such a malady Amen.
⁶ These people are descended from the Chaldeans. ⁷ At one time they lived in Mesopotamia; because they did not wish to follow the gods of their ancestors who were in Chaldea.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 6 to 7)
Oh God my Father even though I am living in 2017, through You my descendants are also from Abraham. I am proud to be related to him since his faith in You did not fail him even though he experienced hard times especially during his life of marriage to Sarah. I pray that we go back to our roots and relive both the faith that our ancestors had and also the simple life that they used to live Amen.
⁸ Since they had abandoned the ways of their ancestors, and worshipped the God of heaven, the God they had come to know, their ancestors drove them out from the presence of their gods, so they fled to Mesopotamia, and lived there for a long time.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 8)
Oh God my beloved Father, this is the price that we have to pay for believing in You. Many people will not accept us as being in their circle of friends and may even decide to terminate their relationship with us. However in such cases I will keep my trust in You my God and Father, for You are my one and only true friend who is more than reliable Amen.
⁹ Then their God commanded them to leave the place where they were living and go to the land of Canaan. There they settled, and grew very prosperous in gold and silver and very much livestock.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 9)
Oh God, my blessed Father, I pray that You keep on showing me Your ways so that in a spirit of obedience I can keep on following You until You deliver me to my Promised Land that is a place in Your loving presence forever, that is if You find me worthy Amen.
¹⁰ When a famine spread over the land of Canaan they went down to Egypt and lived there as long as they had food. There they became so great a multitude that their race could not be counted.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 10)
Oh God, my beloved Father, during times of famine and hardship You provided Egypt for Your people. During my time of hardship, You provided me with my mother, who has become my primary means of support apart from You from whom all find its meaning and providence. I thank You for giving me such a mother who like You did not turn me down during my moment of crisis Amen.
¹¹ So the king of Egypt became hostile to them and forced them to make bricks.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 11)
Oh God my beloved Father, when I was in a state of Egypt while still in marriage, I was harassed from all sides, I ended up becoming angry and frustrated all the time, and many times innocent others such as my daughter ended up being shouted at as a consequence of the anger that her mother was causing me to experience. I pray that I never end up in this form of exile again Amen.
¹² They cried out to their God, and he afflicted the whole land of Egypt with incurable plagues. So the Egyptians drove them out of their sight.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 12)
Oh God, my beloved Father You never refuse our prayers. I, therefore, place in Your hands the issue of my daughter who does not want to have contact with me. I pray that You take the situation and if it is for our good change it to one of love and motivation so that we can be reunited together as friends and as Father and daughter Amen.
¹³ Then God dried up the Red Sea before them, ¹⁴ and he led them by the way of Sinai and Kadesh-barnea. They drove out all the people of the desert, ¹⁵ and took up residence in the land of the Amorites, and by their might destroyed all the inhabitants of Heshbon; and crossing over the Jordan they took possession of all the hill country.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 13 to 15)
Oh God my blessed Father, how easy it is for us to take the merit for actions that we did not do. Throughout verses 13 to 15 You are not mentioned one single time, however it was due to Your intervention that Your people crossed the Jordan and even drove out the inhabitants of the hill country. I wish to thank You for all the interventions that You carried out in my life Amen.
¹⁶ They drove out before them the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Shechemites, and all the Gergesites and lived there a long time.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 16)
Oh God my blessed Father, I thank You for the many obstacles and hurdles that You helped me in overcoming, for the people that You sent me at the appropriate time of need and with whom I am still in contact. I thank You for these pillars of support my God and Father Amen.
¹⁷ "As long as they did not sin against their God they prospered, for the God who hates iniquity is with them. ¹⁸ But when they departed from the way he had prescribed for them, they were utterly defeated in many battles and were led away captive to a foreign land. The temple of their God was razed to the ground, and their towns were occupied by their enemies.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 17 to 18)
Oh God my Father, this is also my story and that of all humanity. When we give You control of our lives everything that happens will be according to Your will, however when we try to become God's of our own lives we end up on our way to our old Egypt a state of sinful slavery. I pray that I always make a good choice that of living according to Your will and ways Amen.
¹⁹ But now they have returned to their God, and have come back from the places where they were scattered, and have occupied Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and have settled in the hill country because it was uninhabited.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 19)
Oh God my Father, we are all scattered children in many different parts of the world, for our home is not on this earth but in heaven. I pray that when our time comes we will meet as one family in our heavenly home Amen.
²⁰ "So now my master and Lord, if there is any oversight in this people and they sin against their God and we find out their offense, then we can go up and defeat them.
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 20)
Oh God my beloved Father, the Devil works in the same way, once this evil spirit discovers our point of weakness and sin, this spirit moves in to attack us, however, if we are constant in prayerⁱ and be aware of ourselves this evil spirit does not stand a chance.
²¹ But if they are not a guilty nation, then let my lord pass them by; for their Lord and God will defend them, and we shall become the laughingstock of the whole world."
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verse 21)
Oh God my Father, I am proud to be on Your side, I know that You will defend me when my enemies put pressure on me in order to harm me. I thank You for being a firewall and a tower of refuge Amen. Thank You Jesus Amen.
²² When Achior had finished saying these things, all the people standing around the tent began to complain; Holofernes officers and all the inhabitants of the seacoast and Moab insisted that he should be cut to pieces. ²³ They said, "We are not afraid of the Israelites; they are a people with no strength or power for making war. ²⁴ Therefore let us go ahead, Lord Holofernes, and your vast army will swallow them up."
(The Book of Judith Chapter 5 verses 22 to 24)
Oh God my Father, when faced with different situations in life that ask us to ask and answer at times in a short span of time, we find ourselves facing great dilemmas. At times we may not have the answers at hand. However You are our counsellor and advocate and above all our loving Father who cares and loves us and who turns all situations into our favour for our own good.
Therefore in all situations my God and Father may we turn to You and give You all our personal and maybe familial or issues of friends and end our prayers with the famous end, with which I wish to end this fifth chapter of the book of Judith;
" God this is Your issue, may Your will be done!"
Oh God my beloved Father I would like to end this meditation on the fifth chapter of the book of Judith with the following prayer.
Oh God my loving Father, for You fountain of all love and wisdom the word impossible does not exist. You are able to make what is humanly impossible possible, however it all depends if this is according to Your plan for us which is based on our own good. Amen. Therefore in all situations and crisis let not our wills be fulfilled, but may Your will be done even if at the time we may not understand why it had to happen in this way and not according to our plans. Help us to remember that our ways are not Your ways, because we have a limited view of what is good for us, but You see the whole picture. Amen
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