It Is Written:
Poems on Holy Writ
by Diana N. Shaw
1611 Cortez Drive
Mobile, AL 36609
334-661-8117
E-mail: dinosaur2@prodigy.net
Homepage: http://pages.prodigy.net/dinosaur2
(Unpublished Work Copyright 1999 by Diana N. Shaw)
Acknowledgment: Most of these poems were written for scriptures
selected by Paul C. Brownlow in his journal titled God's Promises
for Every Day: A Promise Journal for Abundant Living (Brownlow
Publishing Company, Inc., Fort Worth, TX, copyright 1991, 1995.)
For many of these, additional scriptures are cited by this poet as
titles or in explanatory notes after each poem. Some scripture-
based poems written earlier have also been added.
I John 5:13
For us it was written,
To all it was said:
He whose soul is the Son's
Is alive from the dead,
For our true life begins
When we first bow the head.
Nu 23:19
God resembles not man;
In His infinite plan
There's no redirection.
One eternally being
And ubiquitous, seeing
All, needs no correction.
Nor would Omnibeneficence
Let deluded Cross-referents
Resign their election.
Mt 5:9
Blessed is peace
And He who achieves it:
Satan began
Man's war; Christ relieves it!
Heb 2:17; 2 Cor 5:18-19 (20); John 1:12, Heb 2:13; Luke 2:14,
10:5-6; 2 Cor 13:11
I Thess 3:13
Oh, to be pure in His eyes,
Sufficiently still of His own
To be called when His people arise,
When His saints encircle the throne!
At the close of the race,
To be giv'n a small place
In His infinite grace
Is the meaning of "Paradise";
For a niche at His heart is our home.
Ps 62:1
My soul finds rest in God alone;
No shadow there of turning!
Above His law He placed that throne
Where Mercy reigns, and where I own
My King, pretenders spurning!
Ps 107; I Sam 8:6-18; Lk 4:5-9
Mk 11:25
Bound in debt to my debtors,
I stand as one of them.
Together we wear sin's fetters;
Together we sink or swim.
If His law is to loosen its letters,
How can my puny rights still condemn?
Ph 1:21
To live is Christ,
To die is gain;
To fill His lists
Requires our pain.
We speak Him here;
But souls are aching
As time draws near
For prophet-taking!
Prov 16:7
1.
When we are just,
The Lord is pleased with us,
Our fellow dust
May feel at ease with us,
And our foes must
Then live at peace with us.
2.
The Lord loves the simple
And humble hearts
Who delight to inherit Ps 16:5-6
Their heavenly parts.
How often a hedge surrounds them;
So a cleverer foe
With an evil soul
May find himself under
A strange control
That frustrates and quite confounds him!
Job 1:10; Esther
Isa 25:8
He will swallow up death forever;
Death will wallow in His own blood!
From Adam, the Fall He will sever;
From Noah, the tearful Flood!
John 1:14
The Only Begotten, and fully the Son!
Instilled into flesh is the Father, still One!
Tenting among us in this sorry skin,
Dwelling with all souls who sorrow for sin!
So singular glory broke forth and rained down
To return many-faceted, circling His crown!
II Cor 8:9
Poverty has this to recommend it:
That in this state the Lord His Son did send. It
Should suffice; all envy should be ended.
Ps 73
Zeph 3:17
His hands are so deft in the healing arts,
Wearing velvet for surgical gloves;
When His fingers must fret the strings of our hearts,
Still He quiets us with His love!
Mt 18:4
See how this child,
Mightiest yet mild,
Cynosure of awe
Laid on the straw,
By humiliation
Revived His creation?
So must His own
Value their thrones,
Saints casting down
Each the high crown,
Lifting low station
By humiliation.
I Peter 2:24
Meticulous dressers
His people are not,
For surplice mismatches
The stripe and the spot:
The purifications
Of our maculations
Depend on striations
That we never got!
Ps 19:7
Though circumspect
The intellect,
We're often flecked
With dirt;
Since thorough cleaning
Seems too demeaning,
Few egos preening
Convert!
But to the simple,
One perfect sample
Gave wisdom ample:
Rebirth!
(Naaman the Syrian) (Nicodemus)
Romans 8:32
Those who give rubies
Will surely give gold;
A fortiori,
The price will be told,
For it's less.
How shall that Father
Who gave His one Seed
Be frugal in filling
A smaller need?
He shall bless!
Heb 11:6
How shall they please who doubt,
Whose ears cannot hear the shout
Of Israel receiving the law,
Of angels rejoicing in awe,
Of John as he stood in the fount,
Of Lucifer cast from the mount,
Of Our Lord as He hung on the tree,
Of His saints as they find themselves free?!
Isa 49:15, 16
Forever the Lord's promise stands,
For our lives are inscribed in His blood,
Engraved on the palms of His hands
By the nails that pierced through to the wood.
James 1:2,3
Doubly secure
Is the soul the Lord tests:
If it's sifted and pure,
It's enrolled with the best;
If it fails of its goal,
It has Peter and Paul
To assure it a soul
Becomes God's once for all.
Luke 22:31-32, I Cor 3:11-15
John 16:7
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
His generosity commands His parsimony;
His parsimony commends His generosity.
From Chaos and Darkness, He birthed Day.
Ps 127:1
A useless truce!
Passed without understanding,
The peace of God,
Stillborn, stirs old Belial's ranting,
Provokes his rod.
With seven friends,
His peaceable habitatiion
Again begins.
Rom 4:21,22
In innumerable stars begotten,
Like the sands of the sea,
Eyes of the dawn unblinking,
Are no eyes to see.
But, one insignificant speck
In the cosmic winds
Cradled a curious spark
That comprehends:
Spawn of an unseen God
With an eye for friends.
Gen. 3:8a; James 2:23; John 6:46; Isa 41:8; John 15:14, 14:9, 15:15
Re: Roe v Wade anniversary: the special value, in the physically
overwhelming universe, of the small human life.
I Cor 15:57
Approaching storm of death and Hell forecast
Is slowed, averted. All is well. No blast;
And sun at last its peaceful shadows casts.
|Long footnote explaining (origin of) short poem! Maybe type in
later.
Ps 103:11
God's Love came down from Heaven
To cast Fear into the abyss,
Where Old Nick, in his rage to get even,
Must struggle and writhe and hiss
Forever --
And never
Be missed!
I John 4:18
Gal 6:9
Be not weary in doing well,
For the time of the end the Lord must tell.
Every host offers the best wine first,
But the Lord of Hosts saves it to slake the thirst
Of his pilgrim martyrs -- and bathe their feet
Ere they touch the tiles of His holy street.
John 13:1-14; Isa 34:6, 63:1-9; Ps 58:10-11, 68:24
Jer 31:33
Damned by the sins of our first ancestor
Never to know our proper place!
Adam had doomed the human race.
Copy the pattern predating the fester;
Heal by renewing, reconstitute, bear
Adam again. Disassemble, repair.
Now the new Adam, fit to be heir,
Gains the sweet garden, Paradise, fair
Eden, where God's voice falls clear on man's ear.
I Cor 15:22,45; Rom 5:12-14
II Timothy 1:7
With spirits bold in prayer,
We call before His altar,
Sure of His love for the Son in us.
How Satan must compare
The way we blush and falter
When called to attest to the One in us!
In His holy ones, truly, He put no trust.
Ps 34:22
Fallacious flesh floats in a sea of grace;
Mercy is multiplied to those who seek His face.
John 11:25,26
Oh, Death, where is thy sting?
For the Lord our God giveth a song!
In thy night, His saints still sing,
And His morning of joy will be long!
Ps 30:5
Prov 3:25,26
Happy the house with the Lord for its walls,
The city with Him for its gates;
Firm through all earthquakes and fires and squalls,
Hid from all angers and hates,
Its peace is abundant; all danger abates.
I John 1:9
The confession of sin is an easy task,
But particular sins are harder.
If you doubt that principle, try it -- ask
How the cookie jar leaked in the larder!
Ps 103:5
He who shelters us
Under His wings spread with silver
Lends them to us.
Ps 63:13; John 1:32;
Ps 17:8, 36:7, 57:1, 61:4, 91:4
Ruth 2:12
I John 5:12
At death's partition,
Life will not end--
Neither begin.
From faith's petition,
Life has been constant in Him.
II Cor 9:6
As we sow, so shall we reap;
So, sow so-so,
Reap cheap and weep!
Lam 3:22,23
Fresh with each morning's breaking,
His salve for the closed night's aching.
John 12:46
From chaos and darkness the light was commanded,
And radiance surrounded the newly born land. It
Sank in sin's shadow, lay bound in the gloom
Till the Sun rose reborn from the pure virgin's womb.
Ps 68:5
Fence to the defenseless,
At once our wall and our door!
How shall we, so sheltered,
Seek man's protection more?
He who binds the wicked,
But sets His prisoners free,
Protects us unrestricted,
Secured for liberty.
II Cor 1:3,4
The Word in due season,
The Word fitly spoken,
The Balm that's in Gilead,
Who binds up the broken,
The River's live waters
That flow from our breasts
Are to lift up the weak,
Bring the weary to rest.
1 Peter 3:7
???
Deut 7:9
God's love's our heirloom,
Passed from Father to 1000 sons;
Old wingback, with room
Always, somehow, for a few more ones.
John 16:13
Lying Dead
The truthful Spirit,
Speaking only what is heard from God,
Inspires, revivifies
This dead -- and lying -- sod.
Death is an ancient lie
That only God's Word can deny.
Romans 5:1
A treaty with God,
Signed, sealed; delivered!
Released from our sod's
War: doomed endeavor!
Ps 1:6
The Way of the Right
Is always in God's sight.
His Son, ever One
With Him, how should He slight?
The Way of the Wrong,
Although by many thronged,
At end must descend,
By sudden slope or long.
II Timothy 2:8,9
"God's Word is not chained."
Prometheus was bound,
But Heaven's holy fire
By grace rains freely down.
Our Hero's unflawed;
His truth, secure and sound.
Jn 8:32
John 3:16
Saints' Valentine
Lord God leaves His station
Over all creation
Victory unceasing,
Every soul releasing,
To bring.
Oh, sing
His love in grace abounding,
In mercy all surrounding!
Mystery astounding!
Ps 19:8
The joy of the Lord
Is the strength of His Word,
For Truth gives to true souls delight.
The laws of the Lord
Are eagerly heard
By Sun-loving shunners of Night.
I Thess 4:14
We believe He gave His breath,
Spent His soul, obeyed to death.
We believe He took His place,
Reigns on high to bless our race.
Prov 4:23
"The heart is deceitful..."
Keep your yearning --
Loves and hates;
At every turning
Satan waits
To lead astray
The unwary soul
With perverse pathway,
Ghastly goal.
Our lust at last
Is gaping hole.
I John 2:1
1. Eloquent attorney
Speaks in our defense --
How many arguments
During one short journey?!
2. Christ receiveth sinful men,
Bringing on Himself one sin;
Satan's charge and furious plea:
Receiving stolen property!
Jer 32:27
Men are matters meant for death
From that moment we draw breath,
Filthy, worthless, and depraved,
Tied in "nots" and bound for grave.
To Him that can such trash redeem
Can any hill a hardship seem?
Golgotha was not too steep;
Other mount is hardly heap!
Luke 6:37
Happy is the soul that mends its own ways,
Minds its own business, directs its own days.
Heavy is the burden of our own sins judged
For the judgments we render or the debts we grudge.
Mt 5:10
Through a hail of arrows
From Hell's longbows
The bridge of promise
Heavenward goes.
The bows of sin
And the bow of peace
Are forever opposed
Till the world shall cease.
Eph 1:13,14
"Just washed": No load's too large
To be ticketed here at God's laundry.
The billing notes read, "No charge,"
And they're scheduled for A.M. delivery.
Prov 16:3
Straight to the Source
To straighten your course.
Dire straits or confusing address?
Direct access yields speedy success!
Every hill will elide,
Every gate open wide,
Every obstacle fall out of place,
And the tortoise will win that old race!
James 2:5
Did the Lord not choose
The poor of the earth?
Then a weighty purse
Is a snaring curse,
And there's little use
To what men call "worth"!
Isa 26:3
The Lord is just.
No promise, abrogated,
Will turn to dust.
His saints are filled -- no, sated!--
With joy and trust.
Rom 8:38,39
There is no division,
No breaking, barring, banning.
Satan's cruel illusion
Is burst like bubble. Spanning
The gap from God to man,
With rainbow robes invested,
With sceptre-crook in hand,
Is Love Incarnate. Bested
Is Hatred's daunting band.
Mt 18:20
There am I -- and there, and there:
In every bowing head,
In each united prayer
Where jealous strife is dead;
Where love has cast out fear
And sin is only dread,
I come to breathe sweet air.
II Sam 22:2,3
Sure-footed, adept, and as free
As the mountain goat roaming his rocks
Are His foolish wayfarers like me,
Leaping over all stumblingblocks
To arrive at that fortress so strange:
Secure fold whose inhabitants range
Where they will, with no prisoning locks.
Isa 35:8
Heb 2:18
"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" verses
(from school chapel)
Jesus is both man and God,
Born of Spirit and the sod.
He knows just what it's like to be
Flesh and blood like you and me.
He knows all the sins we bear;
He's felt all our troubles here;
When you're hurt and feeling down,
Never fails to be around!
Just reach out; He's always there.
There's no friend that can compare.
Doesn't need a telephone
If you've made your heart His home.
Ps 138:8
Lord, leave not the work of Your hands!
Let Your promises be complete,
For the small grains of Abraham's sands
Were ground from That Rock -- and by feet
Of your pilgrims and saints, holy bands
Whose faith would permit no retreat.
Isa 55:10-11
Mt 5:44,45
Dispense with the verbal darts --
Or relational programs and panels.
A whisper can change a heart,
If it's broadcast through proper channels.
A quiet request to the Master
Can alter without a word
Where words can lead to disaster,
For the servant knows his own Lord.
|
John 16:22
("By and By" verses)
We're a humble pilgrim band,
And we cannot understand
Why the road seems sometimes rugged
To that freely promised land.
But, we know He's in control,
He shall never lose a soul,
And we'll understand it better by and by!
1st Chorus:
By and by, when the shadows fall
And the saints are up against a wall,
Satan throws a party! Satan has a ball,
'Cause he thinks he's gonna get 'em by and by!
But, the morning comes again,
'Cause the Lord will always win.
Satan hasn't got a prayer;
He must take it on the chin!
When the Lord comes through the air,
Old Nick's gotta pack it in!
We will understand it better by and by!
2nd Chorus:
By and by, when sin has ceased to be,
And the saints march home to victory,
We will tell the story, how he set us free!
We will understand it better by and by!
Dan 11:32-35, etc.
Deut 8:18
The Lord is generous in money and power and such
Because He that is faithful in that which is least
Is faithful also in much.
So, His notice extends to the coin of the Beast,
But He scarcely intends to be offering the Midas touch!
Acts 3:6
Job 5:17
A rod of gold
Beset with pearl;
The lessons told
Ignore at peril
Of withered soul
In desert world.
Jer 7:28
Eph 2:4,5
Dead in sin!
The spirit stone within;
A heavy load
That pulled us ever down,
Like Jonah doomed to drown
In whale's abode.
Fate reversed!
How suddenly the cursed
Became the blessed!
The Beast regurgitated,
For all His Goodness hated
Was laid to rest.
Rom 6:3-10,14; Rom 8:33-34; I Ptr 2:24
Mt 21:22
Only believe.
Not plead
With fervency;
Not lead
In purity;
Not earn
By any feat.
Simply receive.
A childish act:
Accept the fact.
Luke 18:17
I Thess 4:16,17
Vaya con dios! Auf wiedersehen!
Go with God; we'll see you again!
Ps 103:13
Fear the Lord,
Whose Perfect Love
Has brought men Word
The Power above
Would cast out Fear
That torments here.
I John 4:18
I John 2:12
On His account, we are forgiven
Our sin, rebellion, promise riven;
Our unpaid debts of duty, law,
Or gratitude; our lack of awe.
For all these errors, we are shriven.
On His account, we are to preach
The Word that freed us free to each:
To give again the Freely Given.
Mt 10:8
II Sam 22:4
We call on the Lord,
Who is worthy of praise;
His light soon guides,
And His wings upraise!
Beset by our sins
Or assaulted by foes,
We appeal to His Name,
And His grace soon flows!
Rom 10:9
Confess in us His part;
Admit Him to the heart
Of all our matters.
Enlisting His defense
Admits no arguments,
For Satan flatters.
Convinced our work's our own,
We wander from the throne;
The flock then scatters.
Ps 68:19
Take each day's cross
And follow me,
And I will be
An arm below
To lift the load,
An arm beside
To guard and guide,
An arm above
Of governing love
That wards off loss.
Luther's translation: Gelobt sei der Herr t„glich. Gott legt uns
eine Last auf, aber er hilft uns auch. Ps 68:20
Philippians 2:14,15
Obedience without dissent,
Compliance without argument:
A fine ideal,
But let's get real!
The Lord is stuck
With "NO SUCH LUCK!"
He never hears the slightest grumble.
(It's rather more an earthquake's rumble!)
I Peter 3:12
Shield of all,
Like adamant harder than flint!
So, perversity can't make a dint
In this wall.
Though the darkness of Hades is dense,
The face of the Lord is against
All evil.
Ezek. 3:7-9
John 3:36
Life is thus:
To see His face,
To feel His hand,
To have His grace:
God with us!
Now to know
He has now come,
He is now here,
Is all the sum;
Life is so!
I John 2:23-24; Rev 21:3
Prov 16:18
Whenever we think we're getting it right,
It's out of the ballpark -- not even in sight!
Whenever we feel our feet fill with talents
For trapeze and tightrope, we're losing our balance
And heading for sawdust! Our peak pirouette,
With a spin like a top, will descend to the pit!
When our egos swell biggish from giving Our All,
Let's remember Miss Piggish was prone to pratt-fall!
II Cor 4:18
When this brief sun, garish and yet too dim,
Ceases to blind this temporary day,
Then will our true eyes first see fully -- Him:
The eternal Light of all that is to stay.
Rev. 21:23 (& Isa 60:19 See also 9/19.)
James 3:18
Peace is the debt we owe:
Peace for His seed to grow;
Peace for the sons of men
Quietly to look within;
Peace for the still, small voice
Answering the soul's right choice;
Peace for the Love that calls
Out of loud Babel's halls
Into the Shepherd's fold.
Peace: silent Word of gold!
Mt 6:14; 5:22-26;
Mt 13:31; 17:20;
Mal 2:15; 2 Sam 12:9-12; 16:20-22
Gal 5:15
Ps 37:3
Trust in the Lord;
Remain in His ways;
Follow no other;
On Him our hope stays.
His laws at each moment
Define the just road
That winds through safe pastures
To reach His abode.
Lk 6:38
1.Bread that is broken
To those in need-
For the broken in flesh
Or in spirit to feed,
How shall the God
Who was broken for men
Not return all
To the breaker again?
Lk 11:5-8; Acts 3:6
2.How shall a man
Who by Heaven is fed,
Begged for a crumb,
Deny it for dread
Of a lack?
He'll pay back!
Mt 7:2
Ps 1:3
Deep waters, cool and clear,
Quiet, flow unseen,
Steadily rise, appear
In stem and leaf as green,
In ripening fruits as flecks
Of golden glow or ruddy.
And, all these tints reflect
In stream beneath -- with muddy,
Rich banks, that here and there
Bear footprints bare and bloody.
Heb 12:1
Staring eyes,
Clouded with hatred -- and mortal sin,
Cruelly contemptuous of God and men,
Mock our weak tries.
Looks that despise,
Born of perversion's indelible stain,
Blind to the Christ Who makes death but our gain,
Witness -- our prize!
Acts 7:54-60
Rom 5:3-5
Never a race was worth being won
Run on the level, so easily done.
Whenever the runner is fit for the prize,
He'll take on the devil -- and spit in his eyes!
The higher the summit, the steeper the slope;
The harder the struggle, the deeper the hope.
The sharper the pain Satan's hate may devise,
The keener our joy in that Love he denies.
Isa 40:11
How close to His heart are the lambs,
The playful, unhurtful, unheeding!
How angry the Great I Am
To see this flock broken or bleeding!
Their hunger devours His flesh,
Their bruises imprint on His back;
Their tormentors' feet are enmeshed
In a mire of uncleansable black.
Heb 4:12
This cutting of spirit and soul
Is a surgical sharpness that cures;
This edge, that makes doubly whole,
Will judge without wrath and make pure.
Mal 3:6
There is a Wind that blows where it lists,
Yet ever the same direction;
Ships that obey it may heave and may twist,
But there's never a course correction.
There is a Wind that calms the seas,
That whispers the billows tame;
Yet its fan will winnow the chaff from the seeds,
While its bellows enrage the flame.
There is a Spirit Who's ever the same,
Though the sight of the flesh may alter.
His work shall be done and His will shall reign,
However men turn and falter.
John 13:34,35
Love one another,
For where two or three gather
In the Holy One's name,
They are one and the same
As their Father and Brother.
John 17:21-23 (But, note also 14:23.)
II Tim 2:11,12
Does He own us?
And dearly bought!
Shall we own Him,
Then, as we ought?
In deed we must
Be worth the trust
Or dispossessed
Of Canaan's rest.
II Cor 9:7
A gift is from the heart
Or not delivered;
A title grudged remains
Still with the giver.
Unless the soul itself
Is open-handed,
A price eventually
Will be demanded.
Ps 23:1
The Lord is the Master
Of many a pasture;
His sheep may wander free,
Their bounds no less
Than His boundlessness --
His fertile infinity!
II Tim 2:13
One Way
The chance of rescension is nil,
for God has an unchanging will.
Yea,
The contract He made with His Son
Was then, and shall always be, one --
Way.
Deut 20:4
Noli Contendere!
The Lord is our leader of war;
Our enemies all shall be far!
Shall any foe dare to contend
When Omnipotence cares to defend?
Though Satan himself should oppose,
Would he not find a ring in his nose?!
Isa 40:29
Lift up the weary hands
And strengthen the feeble knees!
With muscles of steel, iron bands
For sinews, the Lord will be pleased
To equip every staggering saint,
If we can but walk and not faint.
Mt 23:11,12
He that lowered Himself
To suffer the loss
Of Deity's throne
Was lifted -- on cross.
|"And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men after me."
I John 2:17
Little the world and its consequences,
Whether it smiles or frowns or winces,
Whether it curses, whether it blesses;
Nothing its no's, and less are its yes's!
Only a perverse will embolds it;
Cling to the hand Whose palm still holds it!
Ps 118:24
Let us rejoice and be glad in His day,
Joy in the Sun Who enlightened His Way,
Joy in the Word and the work of His hand!
Sorrow is faithlessness; bitterness, banned;
Anger's impiety; fear is deceit;
Joy sings the meter that moves the saints' feet!
Heb 12:7
Softness is morally dead,
The perversion of Sybarites.
Better the road for a bed,
The Rock to pillow the head,
Than the fatuous fat delights
With which Esau was comforted
For the sale of His true birthrights.
Rom 15:4
The Holy One writes in longhand,
And in flesh as on parchment or stone.
His reach is beyond man's grasping,
With ends known to Him alone.
Lk 9:23
There's no way around it;
To enter this Gate,
Enter under the Burden
That seals the good fate.
Mal 3:10
Four nails threw open
The floodgates of Heaven.
The blessing that poured
Out then was much more
Than men had room for.
A tide
For a tithe?
The Exchange was not even.
Ps 37:28
Safe from the storm
Of sin,
Of doubt,
Suffering no harm
Within;
Without,
Evil may rage,
Denied
His prey;
Satan's encaged,
His pride
Unmade!
II Thess 2:16,17
Weak-willed,
We falter,
Defiling
His altar!
Yet still
He cleanses;
Smiling,
He mends us,
Straightening
Our bent parts,
Strengthening
Our spent hearts!
How can
We grieve, then?
Work and
Believe Him!
Ps 73:26
"In hoc signo, vincit!"
Flesh is frail,
And the heart will fail;
But strength is the Lord's,
And the strength of His Word
Will forever endure.
Through it, victory is sure
Though our spirits may quail;
For our lot is secured
By the strength of a nail.
Ps 68:34
Ezra 9:8; Isa 22:23; John 20:25
Eph 2:8,9
Faith
Certitude
Inserted
From without;
Attitude
Inverted:
No more doubt!
I John 5:14
If we ask with His will, He hears.
Our confidence rests in this thought,
For one great source of our fears
Is knowing we ask what we ought --
Not.
Lk 22:42b
Dan 2:20,21*
1.The prudence of fools
Seeks wisdom or power
Without Him Who rules
Millennium and hour,
Without Him Whose mind
Is source of all meaning,
The laws that define
Both being and seeming.
2.He changes time and season,
Rearranges rhythm, reason,
Reassigning mode,
Realigning node.
His own their laws; what treason?
Heb./Chaldee "changes" = [aphel root] (a) to change, (b) to
transgress.
Heb 4:15
Popular priest!
Stoops to the least,
Stopping at none;
Lowest are won.
Even the poor
Find Him at door,
Dust of the street
Covering His feet
(Strangely, not soiling!).
Manifold toiling,
Singular goal:
Everyman's soul.
God and no other
Loves as a brother,
Wearing the features
Of His own creatures.
Mt 6:1
Righteousness easily seen
Gives obvious temptation to feign.
Goodness too open to sight
Invites in hypocrisy's blight.
Man's admiration can hurt you,
Diverting incipient virtue
Into the widening path
That wins the crowd's cheers -- and God's wrath!
James 4:6
Count it all mercy when plainly you stumble,
Openly failing before your own eyes.
"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble,"
So failure's a sheepdog that nips toward the prize.
Ps 138:7
Enveloped in care --
In His mercy, we walk
Through doom-laden air
In jungles where stalk
The henchmen of Hades;
Yet red tooth and claw,
Though poisoned with rabies,
Are sheathed by His awe.
I Pe 5:8; Dan 6:20-22
John 16:33
Man is born to trouble
As the sparks fly up,
For the devil mingles
Us a bitter cup;
But there is a table
That has peace enough,
For the heart is stable
Where the Lord will sup.
Job 5:7
Ps 23:5; Prov 15:17; Lk 2:7; Rev 3:20
Isa 55:7
"The Stock is a Doctrine of Vanities" (Jer 10:8)
Let the wicked forsake his way
And the evil man his thoughts.
But will-o-the-wisps are they;
All his schemes will come to nought.
From the hand of God comes all;
Nothing can be elsewhere bought.
Sin is put; perdition's call;
Pardon's free as soon as sought.
II Cor 9:8
There is none good save God,
But all who would, God saves.
Each soul that goodness craves,
Each crooked bit of sod,
Each helpless, hapless slave
Of Satan, feels the breath
Of Life dispelling Death,
Then issues from its grave
To test a pair of wings
That lift it from this sty
And bear it toward the sky,
Where lark or angel sings!
So raised to states astounding,
Saints praise His grace abounding!
John 4:14 (Cf. I Jo 2:14)
The Word that He tells
Makes our souls wells,
So well we may make
Another soul's ache.
And, truly, we will
While we drink in Him still
Waters!
John 7:38; 15:3-5
Ps 23
Ps 23:4
"I will fear no evil,"
For the power of God
Has laid mountains level
All the way I've trod.
There can be no Valley
With the mountains gone;
There can be no Shadow
Standing by the Sun.
II Cor 2:14,15
"The Church Militant"
Called as His censer,
Filled as we kneel,
Lit by His zeal,
Burning to answer,
Spreading sweet savor:
The Word of His favor.
II Sam 22:33,36
Victory is the only shield
The Lord can use,
For Omnipotence could not truly yield,
Even should He choose!
Rom 5?8
While we were sinning,
His Grace chose to die.
Such a beginning
Cannot but belie
Any doubt
Of the out-
Come!
Prov. 16:32
The world may bow
To the warrior now,
To the one who conquers others;
But to vanquish sin
Is enduring win,
And the soul that swiftly smothers
Its smoldering wrath
Can discern the path
Far more clearly, so will rise
To a higher peak
Than the woul whose pique
Lets its own smoke blind its eyes.
Prov 14:17; Eccl 7:9; Eph 4:26; Mt 5:22
John 14:6
Crossroads,
Where ways meet,
Are sweet deceit.
There is but one:
God's own Son.
Loss knows!
Ps 84:11
No good thing
Deos God withhold
From those who walk
The Way He told
Through Living Word:
Our perfect Lord.
Lk 12:22,23 (& 4-7) (Cf. Lk 10:1-12; John 6)
Fear not for food,
The care of fools!
The Lord is good;
His kindness rules
The world He built;
His sheep will graze.
Fear only guilt
That hides His face!
Php 3:20,21
Utopia's Myopia
Little the worth
Of a heaven on earth,
Even could mere men achieve it.
Sooner than planned on,
Man must abandon
Any such work. So, leave it
To others to plan
Their governments grand,
Economies fruitfully toiling.
Babylon's lonely
Tower reached only
The heights of hell, busily boiling!
II Kings 6:16
"Who is on the Lord's side?"
Myriad legions of power!
Thousands of chariots of fire!
No true prophet need hide.
Some fourteen thousand stiff knees
Would not be bent to Baal. These
Stand to turn back Hell's tide!
I Cor 2:9
Beyond our sense,
Beyond our thought
The recompense
His love has bought!
I John 4:10; John 14:2
I John 3:1
"What's in a name?"
The love of Christ,
Who gave us His
At bitter price.
Heb 2:13
Prov 10:4*
Poverty pursues the unwilling hand.
So does a lazy spirit stunt the fruit
The Lord may sow within, as if in sand
The seed has fallen. Shall the Son of Man
So cheat His harvest? Will He still bestow
On idle souls a Word that fails to grow?
*Cf. Mt 6:26, so meaning spiritual, at least most importantly.
Mt 13
Rom 6:4
"Dead to the world they are."
"They sleep through the main chance."
"Opportunities are lost on them."
"Their sights may be set too far."
We'll wait for the next dance,
When the tune will be an endless hymn.
Lk 16:8b
I Pe 4:14
A blot on our escutcheon?
It suits our crest,
For so was Christ,
Noblest and Best,
For "goodly price,"
Insulted, mocked, and bludgeoned.
His stripes our shield
Before true Judge,
We gladly yield;
We little grudge
This world's undue high dudgeon!
Zech. 11:13
Ps 40:4
Fools' Gold
Blessed is the soul
That makes the Lord its trust,
That looks not to the proud
And plays not to the crowd,
Who fall for gods of gold --
And end esteeming rust*!
(*Iron pyrite is sulfide, but close enough.)
II Cor 12:10
His grace is sufficient for me,
Though the list of my sins is long,
For when I am very weak,
Then is His witness strong.
When His Spirit repels attacks,
My testimony is sealed;
When this earthen vessel cracks,
His Light within is revealed.
II Cor 4:7; Judges 7:15-20
John 14:13,14
Though God's people
Be but feeble,
The Church is equal to its task,
For unlike Cain,
Who toiled in vain,
We know our work is but to ask.
James 4:7,8
The Lord's Side
Submit to God,
Resist the devil.
He'll make the ground
Of battle level
And arm your soul
To turn the tide,
For Hell must flee
Those at His side.
Isa 55:8,9
The height of heaven above the earth
Is universe's infinite girth.
Did Deity
Use irony?
For, when they failed to catch this humor,
These men with egos swelled to tumor
Reindicated
Their worth inflated.
II Cor 3:17
Perfect Order,
Yet without border;
Power's source,
Eschewing force;
Reside in Me,
Be truly free.
Ps 4:8
Just God for guard
With just reward:
His perfect peace
Will never cease.
John 17:15
Which feat seems harder,
Walking on water
Or walking in world,
Staying clean, unimperilled?
A world that aspires
To inhabit quagmires,
Building hopes on a strand
Of voracious quicksand!
A world peopled by dogs
And enamoured of hogs;
A world governed by ghouls,
Where Depravity rules!
Does the Lord let us teeter
Through this world as Peter
Once trod on the lake --
For the miracle's sake?
Heb 12:11
The seed, as it swells, must ache;
How tight its skin,
How cramped within!
And when it comes time to break,
To split from strain,
Does that give pain?
But harvest could never be
If seedling did not burst free.
Prov 17:22
Recipe
For misery:
Crush one spirit;
Extract all glee
That might cheer it;
Futility
Should be added
Liberally.
If not sad, it
Ought to be!
Heb 6:10
God will not forget;
Small things are not lost
On Him.
No need to regret
The glory that they cost.
The dim
Candles that we lit,
Not tall enough to boast,
Were trimmed,
Tapered just to fit
The needs of Holy Ghost.
Lk 16:10, Rom 12:3-8; I Cor 12
Mt 24:12,13
Body of Christ -- Aging
Through the veins
Ice will flow.
Blinding snow,
Chilling rains
Freeze the heart.
Few will know
Still the glow --
Some small part.
Ps 145:8
The Lord is slow to anger
Or His folk would be in danger
Each second!
Are we not ever balking
Or stumbling as we're walking?
He beckoned
The best to face the lion;
The rest of us, just trying
To endure
The daily tribulations
Of petit-mal temptations,
Feel insecure.
Lam 3:22-23; Ezra 3:12
II Tim 3:15
The Holy Writ
Confers more wit
Than all the sages
Of all the ages
Could ever gain
With all their pain --
Or even Science,
On which reliance
Is placed despite
Its Cyclops-sight!
Ps 119:99
Mt 4:4
Man does not live by bread alone,
Except the Bread that heaven showers
In ages when the Spirit's powers
Are poured on those who are His own:
Bread for the day, that spoils by morn,
Except one golden pot laid by
Within the Ark -- for ages dry
And desolate, for times forlorn.
Acts 2:16-18
Amos 8:11-12; Lam 2:9
Ex 16:19,33; Heb 9:24 (tabernacle; cf. I Kings 8:9 - temple)
II Thess 3:3 (Cf. I John 2:14)
Satan tempts
These weak vessels.
Will we yield?
Be his vassals?
Scorn the gifts
God has given,
Let His white
Robes be riven
From our backs?
Night attacks!
But, His day
Wins the fray!
Faithful Star,
Heaven ascending,
Ends the war,
Flesh defending.
Only pray!
Lk 22:40 & 46
Isa 40:30,31
"They will soar on wings like eagles,"
For the Body they seek is high,
And those that would feed on His Presence
Must keep head and sole, heart and eye
On the Sky!
Lk 17:37
John 5:21
The Son gives life as He pleases,
Yet it can be had with ease, as
It pleased His heart to squander
His own life on all who wander.
His call sounds sweet to the timid:
"Whosoever will" is the limit!
Ps 119:9,10
How can a man live purely?
By God's true word and will!
I'd seek with full heart, surely,
But heart and head are ill!
Since sick heart cannot seek,
And only seekers find,
To seek and save the weak,
He sent His Shepherd kind.
All we, like sheep, had strayed, then.
It was, indeed, His Word
That brought us to His Way again.
Our efforts were absurd!
Jer 17:9; 3:10,13, 15; 24:7
Rom 7:15-25
Mark 2:17; I Tim 1:15; John 15:16
Eph 2:10
We are God's sculptures,
Wrought in His Stone,
Made in His image.
Then, good alone
Can be our own works'
Matter and line,
For they inherit
Pattern divine.
Ps 27:1
The light of the Lord banishes
All trace of gloom.
Where He is, all fear vanishes:
Fear what or whom?!
Mt 6:6
1.The Father does nothing to please the crowd,
Nor did the Son, nor are we allowed.
2.The secret prayer,
Breathed only to the air
And Him,
Is most intense.
When population's dense,
We're dim.
Our candles flicker
As company grows thicker.
3.The door of the soul is most open
When the door of the chamber is closed;
Then we seek not from men, but put hope in
God alone, without posture or pose.
Ps 145:17
Ps 85:3
Loving toard all He made --
Even the very edge
Of sight: the dull sparrow maid
Hiding inside the hedge.
Trembling, it feels His grasp,
Knows that He comprehends,
Shrinks to escape that clasp.
(Favor always pretends!)
Oh, but the clutch is sure!
Helpless, the bird goes numb.
Wonder! The love endures!
Sparrow to nest has come!
Php 4:6,7
Worry is vain,
Faith finds reward;
Trusting hearts gain
Peace for a guard.
Empty desires,
Fears without cause
Kindle the fires
That burn against laws.
Isa 58:9 (whole chapter)
When our fast
Is to house the outcast,
When the poor
Is not turned from our door,
When the bare
From our closet has share,
When the Word
That is our Food is heard
By the soul
That yet starves to be told,
When the bound
With us freedom has found,
We will call,
And the Lord will grant all,
We will cry,
And He'll say, "Here am I."
John 5:28,29
The Lord made Life and not Death;
So, every soul that draws breath
Will someday draw it anew.
Not only the chosen few,
But all his take in that day
The felon Death must repay;'
For God, in His own good time,
Will undo the fatal crime.
Eph 2:13
Far from the face of God,
Filled with a festering gloom,
Buried in dark despair!
Suddenly, light and air,
Scented with prayer's perfume,
Breathe through the deadened sod;
Then, like corpses torn loose by a flood,
We rise, brought near by the Blood!
See other citations, esp. Heb 2:17, II Cor 5:18-19.
Deut 30:16
The soul that understands
The heavenly commands
Perceives the higher plane
Where will replaces chain.
For those need not be bound
Whose minds and hearts are sound,
But how could kindly God
Leave lunatics abroad?
Lk 12:24
I think one reason that I feed
The birds is that I feel no need,
And so it helps me understand
Why God would choose to care for man.
Ps 119:71
Ezekiel 7:2-4
"Sorrow is better than laughter,
For through sadness the heart is improved."
If the saints are to reign hereafter,
God must teach them to love as He loved.
"The heart of the wise visits mourning,
While the heart of the fool visits mirth,"
For the Lord deferred joy till the morning
When He came to bear grief with the earth.
I Cor 6:2; Rev 20:4
Ps 30:5
Prov 10:27
Honor thy Father, the Maker
And Lord of all things that are,
That thy days may be long on this acre
Of dust whirling round one small star.
Ex 20:12
Rev 1:3
Blessed are they who read the Word;
Blessed more, they whose hearts have heard.
Little the use of Word without;
The Word within is past a doubt.
Doubts will be past when visions near;
Hopelessly late, they'll disappear.
Rom 6:14
The churls of Satan are chained;
Receive redemption and reign!
Dan 9:9
The Lord is merciful.
Though souls have sinned,
He will forgive, accept
Them back again.
Though nations cast themselves
In filth like swine,
If they repent, He'll change
Their swill to wine.
I John 3:2
We shall be like
Him, by His grace --
Save mark of spike
And thorn-torn face.
Rev 5:8-14
John 14:16,17
We know Him, for He lives with us
In humble guise,
In friendly fashion counselling
Our daily lives,
Making fools wise as naturally,
It seems, as if
The air we breathed were scented with
The priceless gift.
Ps 19:7
Ps 91:4
Covering love,
Sheltering, shielding,
Hovers above,
Saving, healing:
Wings of the Son,
Gleaming golden,
Victory won,
Saints embolden.
I Pe 5:6
Good measure will we receive
Pressed down;
The downpressed God will relieve,
The penitent He'll reprieve --
And crown.
Lk 6:38
Prov 18:10
Lofty its walls, yet lowly;
Ordinary clay, though holy;
Righteous run to it for shielding;
Death and Hell find it unyielding.
Mt 24:35
Though space will disband
And matter be dispersed,
The writs from His hand
Will never be reversed.
II Kings 17:39
Worship the Lord;
He is God indeed!
Not God in word
Only, but in fact.
He is God in act.
His speech is sword
That cuts away deceit,
Leaves His people freed
From all falsehood's attack.
Heb 12:14
Live at peace with all,
For all is God's. His call
To us is to forgive
And pray that all who live
Will live within His will.
While we our own fields till
To bear Him holy fruit,
Let grievances be mute.
When winds would blow us ill,
He whispers, "Peace; be still!"
We need not fear a loss;
He rules the waves that toss.
II Cor 4:16
Within we are renewed
And strengthened, day by day.
Did not the Master say
His flesh would be our food,
His blood would be our drink?
How could we fail to flourish
With souls by His soul nourished?
Though mortal courage sink,
A soul can't lose that heart
That in the Lord has part.
John 6:55-56 (50-58)
Ps 41:1,2
Blessed is he who considers the weak,
Shares his good and his goods, lets his voice for them speak.
Since he walks in the way that the Lord Himself takes,
God is always at hand if his own fortune breaks.
Gal 2:20
What did God give?
The fruit of His body
For the sin of my soul!
In Him we live;
Part of His lot,
We are now become whole.
Custom persists:
Flayed by the rod,
The church scattered and told.
Flesh sown like His,
Broadcast in sod,
We yield fruit hundredfold.
Micah 6:7
Isa 28: 24-27; Acts 8
Ps 8:4,5
1.Who made the Sun
Made also the atom.
Who made the Son
Made also small Adam.
2.Matter's success
Depends upon size.
God's not impressed
With such specious lies.
3.Matter throws its weight around.
Spirit comprehends unbound.
Mt 6:33
Seek first His grace,
Then all falls into place.
Without the right,
The world's best good is blight.
Esau's hand fails
To grasp the cross and nails.
Isa 41:13
By their right hands
The Lord leads His bands
Of little and faint.
But what of Great Saint?
For him He must use
Both hands -- and both shoes!
I Cor 3:9
John 14:12-13
Are we not God's building?
Let us, then, be yielding
These stones to His repair,
That He, residing there,
May do in us on earth
The work of men's rebirth.
I Pe 2:5; I Cor 3:16-17
Heb 6:18
The Lord God has no motive to dissemble.
Before whom should He be afraid or tremble?
His Word, that two-edged sword from out His mouth,
Returns not empty, let no heart hold doubt!
Isa 57:11; Heb 4:12; Rev 1:16; Isa 55:11
Ps 17:5
When earth becomes a smelter
Aflame with God's fierce wrath,
His sealed will safely shelter,
In midst of fire unscathed,
Within that tabernacle
By human hands not fashioned,
Preserved from the debacle
By Love God's mighty passion.
When men shall pray to mountain
And rock to fall and hide,
The Rock that gushed forth fountain
Shall raise His people high.
Ezek 28:5; Rev 7:3; Dan 3; John 1:14, Heb 9:11, Rom 8:1; Rev 6:16;
Nu 20:8-11
II Tim 3:16
All Scripture is God-breathed --
With perfumed air, for wreathed
About its every line
Is that sweet-scented Vine
That brought its gifts to men
To wash the wounds of sin.
Eph 2:19
No longer alien
To goodness
And God,
But now a citizen
Upon his
Own sod!
There will in Beulah be
Jubilee --
Home free!
Ps 145:18
In range of touch,
So near
He is to such
As fear
His Name and call
Upon
It; near to all
As one.
There's no divide,
No breach;
He's at the side
Of each.
Prov 14:34
The high and mighty nation
Must be above temptation,
For history confirms it:
His law annuls who spurns it.
Mt 7:7,8
"It's a Given!"
Nothing's required but the inquiry;
Free for the asking, that's His fee.
The only lock
Is the lack of a knock.
The only bolt
Is the spirit's revolt.
The only key
Is a humble plea.
I Tim 2:3,4 (& 1-2)
The Lord God is not highly selective;
Of men's persons He is not respective.
He'd prefer all men saved if they could be,
But won't substitute must be for would be.
He has said whoso will may come to Him,
Yet 'twas mostly the poor heard and knew Him.
The great governors largely weren't able
To stoop down low enough for a stable;
And the Lord would not rise to their level,
Although offered that place by the devil.
Deut 32:3,4
Oh, praise the greatness of God,
How just the ways He has trod!
His perfect works are our song;
The upright God does no wrong!
His Word is worthy of trust,
Engraved in Rock, not in dust.
Ps 40:5; Deut 9:10; Ps 62:1-2,5-9, 18:2; Gen 2:7; Ps 40:4;
Jer 17:5-8
I Cor 3:16 (and 12-15)
We are the walking Church;
However we sometimes lurch,
Or stagger, or veer, or halt, or
Meander, we are His altar.
God's Spirit will still reside
In us, though unmagnified,
Protecting the sure foundation
He laid at our recreation.
What utterly shaming grace
If, coming, He must replace
Some structure of hay and stubble
His Fire has reduced to rubble!
John 6:35
There is no lack to them that fear
Our God. The bread's sufficient here.
Fine wine like water flows to quench
Their thirst. In drought, they will be drenched.
When every tree is withered rod,
Their green rods bloom who fear our God!
Ps 34:9, 23:1,5; Cana; Isa 55:1-2, 58:11; John 7:38; Ps 1:3;
Jer 17:7-8; Ezek 21:10-13; Heb 9:4; Nu 17:8
Ps 37:4 (and 119:111-113)
Delight in the Lord and His law,
Make Him your fondest desire,
And He will give to you all,
For He is all souls require.
There is naught else but deceit,
A dusty desert's mirage!
In Him all being's complete;
The rest is lying charade!
I John 3:9
He that is born of our God
Cannot continue to sin --
Not for the threat of the rod,
But the law that's now written within.
He has printed it clear in our hearts,
So we know it well -- even the least;
And His Spirit its meaning imparts,
For His Son made us fit for that feast!
Jer 31:33-34; Isa 51:7; Jer 24:7, 33:40; Ps 32:8; Mk 4:11;
Matt 22:1-14
Mt 25:40
What's done to Heaven's least
Is done to Him
Who dwells within,
Who knows their pain, their peace,
Their joy, their hymn,
Their wrong, their sin --
And bears with them.
Isa 58:11
1.Crawling through desert land;
Broiling, abrasive sand
Grinding the flesh; the tongue
Swelling to choke; the sun
Staring with vulture's eye,
Sucking the marrow dry,
Bleaching the white-hot bone;
Lost beyond hope, alone!
So will the soul repent
Heaven's abandonment.
2.Man's isolated sight
Sees but a blinding light.
(See also 7/8.)
Php 4:13
I have the strength for every task
If I but ask.
When faced with fray, I do but pray;
He clears the way.
Of energy in mind or back
There is no lack,
For power at work is never my,
But His, supply.
Mt 5:3
Blessed the meek
Because they inherit
Earth; but I seek
To be poor in spirit.
They draw a lot
Clearly more than even:
Theirs is a spot
In the realm of heaven!
Ps 119:89,90
One Word,
One call,
Once heard
For all.
I Pe 5:7
No burden spurned,
No plea returned,
No lack of care:
The back that spared
Itself no whip
Still bends to lift.
Prov 11:30
He who wins souls is wise;
There's no other lasting prize.
When the foundations shatter,
What will our buildings matter?
Idols our hands have fashioned
Will melt in the conflagration.
Even our time-redemptions
Then will find no exemptions.
Man's works have been at odds,
In Eden and since, with God's.
God has salvation planned
Not for man's works, but man!
Jer 51:17-19
Acts 4:12
No other name:
One sound gives soundness;
By One, wholeness came;
One, only boundless.
Isa 43:1
Fear not, thou worm!
God's grant is firm.
You cannot lose
What you did not choose.
His was the choice,
And His the voice
That called you here.
Allay your fear.
Have trust; be still
And know His will.
Isa 41:14; John 15:16; Ps 46:10
II Tim 4:18
The Lord is at my side -- and front and back!
The Lord will fend off all the world's attack!
Though I were thrown from Hades' 13th story,
He'd bear me up and bring me to His glory.
Though I were cast in Hades' lowest jail,
His grace would rescue me, His power prevail!
Acts 2:25; (Ps)
Ps 91:9,10
The tent that the Lord is in
Will stand against any wind.
The fortress the Lord's without
In calm is a doomed redoubt.
Ps 127:1
Ja 5:16
Let each say to each,
"So far is my reach,
"So much have I done,
"No more have I won.
"Add your prayers to mine."
Our wells shall be wine!
Our wounds shall be well!
Our Christ shall not fail!
Ps 46:1
What strength I have is all the Lord's --
Both ways:
No other source true strength affords;
So, praise
With all His strength to Him I'll sing
All days
That He preserves my soul in being.
Acts 17:28
Gal 3:28 (& Acts 2:18)
Upon His servants will He pour
Himself and all He has in store
For those who love Him,
Both "us" and, yes, "them."
For male and female, slave and free,
For Jew and Greek, there is just "we,"
There is no more "they"'
The Lord's had His say.
I Cor 2:9
Rom 6:23
Wages are received
For work.
Sinners are deceived.
To shirk
Labor inthis case
Is wise:
Death's the pay, with face
Disguised!
Jubilee imposed
No task:
Life is free to those
Who ask!
Heb 3:18; Jer 28:14
I Chr 29:12,13
Now, our God, we give You thanks!
Wealth and honor, nobler ranks,
Strength and power all are gifts
From Your hands. The very lips
We use to praise You are Your own
Creation. Were Your mighty throne
Not resting on the Mercy Seat,
Man would be crushed beneath Your feet!
The grapes of wrath You should have trod
Were changed to wine in Son of God!
Isa 34:6, 63:1 vs. Micah 2:12-13!
John 14:18
We are not left
Bereft.
Our Lord and Father,
Rather,
Whom world had spurned,
Returned
And in ourselves
Now dwells.
No more we need:
His seed
Above the rest
Are blessed!
Heb 12:28,29
Our God is a consuming fire,
Who will consume our funeral bier,
But naught of us except our sin,
That we may, purified, go in
To His unshakable domain,
Where Love has ruled out wrong and pain,
Where hearts obey His holy law,
Enshrining Perfect Good with awe.
I Cor 3:12; Jer 31:33
Heb 7:25
Blessed with a blessing
That cannot diminish!
Joy never ceasing;
Though perfect, not finished.
Ever He's living,
His prayer our protection;
Healing, forgiving,
He seals our election.
Ps 30:5
Like the fall of a leaf
His anger is brief,
For the bud that displaces
Grows quickly to graces
For sinners' relief.
Zeph 3:5
Morning by morning, His justice prevails;
Daily we're taught how to trust in the nails.
Deut 33:27
However high
The fledgling soul may fly,
Above the sky
It travels is His eye;
And underneath,
Should weak wings miss a beat,
The eternal arm
Is stretched to save from harm.
Rom 8:1
Though guilty of the crimes,
We're told we'll pay no fines,
Not even costs!
The trial's already ended;
Our sentence was suspended --
On the cross!
Ps 9:10
There is a Name --
By hell's deceivers hated --
That, once enunciated,
Secures a claim
Forever on salvation,
Its syllables erasing
For all time blame.
I Tim 4:8
The Christian by profession
Will exercise discretion
And use some circumspection
In choosing the direction
Of his supreme exertions.
Too casual dispersions
Of energy and hours
May dissipate the powers
The future will require
For purposes much higher.
Rev 3:20
A voice and a knock --
And a turning lock,
And a soul believes
And a heart receives
Its Master,
Though many a doubt
Kept Him standing out,
And many a sin
Made His entering in
No faster.
Acts 10:43
By all the prophets testified,
In Him alone our sins may hide,
In Him alone, our worth reside.
On His account all debt's relieved
When bankrupt sinners have believed.
Prov 14:12
Where climate is inclined to be inclement,
A road composed of rather rugged cement
Which seems still smoothly paved
Can hide a virtual cave.
When reasonable and prudent travellers follow
Such routes, they learn that human wisdom's hollow.
However circumspect,
Eschewing all neglect,
Their confident acumen's false at bottom,
For circumstances unforeseen have got 'em!
Mt 28:19,20
His promise given here
Should every foolish fear
Assuage:
He will our way attend
Until the very end
Of age --
A surety and call
For each, as well as all.
Ps 146:8
Youth knows His love
When blind eyes see;
Age knows His love
When bent back's free
And pent-up soul
Finds liberty!
John 14:27
Let not our weak hearts be troubled;
The Lord owns our mortgages now.
He'll never foreclose on these hovels,
Though they fallinto ruins and rubbles,
For He'll never go back on a vow.
Php 4:19
"Fidei Modicum, Quare Dubitasti?"
How shall a God so complete,
Possessing all, knowing all, kind,
Not in His wealth of love meet
All needs, both of body and mind?
Why are we doubtful, distressed?
Does He not always attend?
Why do we shrink from the test?
A foregone conclusion's at end!
II Chron 7:14
If we but appeal,
He will heal.
If we humbly turn,
Cease to spurn
Promises and law,
Feel His awe,
Pardon will be swift,
Gracious gift!
I John 3:16
His comfort, wealth and rank
He left for others --
For those who little thank
Him! Made them brothers.
So now should they
His gifts repay.
Jonah 2:8,9
Pulled from the sea by His strength
(Salvation comes from the Lord!),
Why should we longer cling
To the vain ideas that stirred
Our struggling souls before
He pulled them to His shore?
Mt 7:11
From evil parent
To child of evil,
Gifts good.
It is apparent,
Without the devil,
What would
Be mankind's share in
God's heart for caring.
II Pe 1:3
By His grace are we saved --
By the sight of it!
By the goodness we craved
When the height of it
Loomed above us
And showed it loved us!
Isa 59:1 (etc.)
Surely the arm of the Lord
Has not in our days been shortened.
Nor has He simply ignored;
Nothing can seem unimportant
To Him Who made both beam and mote.
He Whose hand scattered the stars
Would not find us too remote.
Our own hearts have fashioned these bars.
Insolent pride has installed,
Sin upon sin has improved them.
Our hearts built these prisoning walls;
Only our hearts can remove them.
II Cor 5:1
Feeble tent
Quickly rent,
Pallid skin
Stretched so thin!
Final breath
We call "death"
Lets us out
Into stout
House of stone,
Soul's sole home!
Ps 32:7
Surrounded with songs
Of the Lord,
Protected from wrongs
By His Word:
Its music abides
Through the storm,
Its harmony hides
Us from harm.
Ps 118:14-15, etc.; 17:4
I Pe 1:3,4
We are born into hope -- green and living,
Into mercy still growing, still giving
Us those blessings, that pardon forever:
Tree of Life, whose sweet fruit can fail never,
Whose lush leaves draw their balm from that River!
Rev 2:7, 22:2&14
Eph 2:22
1.Built in!
Guilt's end!
Life's start!
Now part
Of God's
Abode!
Now found
So sound!
Now fit
For it!
2.By Son
Begun,
Its frame
His Name,
The shrine
Divine
Will praise
God's grace!
3.All healed
And sealed
By Son
Are one.
Gal 4:4,5
"Habeas Corpus"
Now when the time had fully come,
By woman did God send His Son,
Who, having kept His law to full,
Served sentence that its force annulled,
And so received the Holy Writ
That freed His brothers from the pit.
Heb 13:5
It was for gold
That Judas sold
The Lord's election.
His base defection
Our souls should warn
To hold in scorn
Corrupting metal.
Let our hearts settle
Their hopes on purer.
God's coin is surer.
Isa 43:2
The fires may cure,
But not consume.
Their smoky plume
Cannot obscure
His radiant face --
Though it may guide.
Within may hide
Perfecting grace
That burns out dross
And sanctifies;
That multiplies,
But brings no loss.
I Cor 3:12
Ex 13:21
Isa 1:25-27; Prov 25:4; Heb 12:5-7
Acts 8:1-4
John 8:36
This is true freedom:
Within His soul to range,
Where there is no limit,
For love holds us in it
And faith gives us free rein.
Ps 119:45
Ps 94:12
Schooled in God's awe,
Taught from His law,
Those without letters
Bested their betters.
Acts 2-7, esp. 2:7 and 6:10
Mt 10:18-20; Lk 12:11-12; Col 4:6
John 7:15 & 46
Ps 119:23-24 & 99; Ps 19:7
Mt 5:4
Blessed the weary and wretched in heart
And those who help shoulder their sorrow,
For He Who bore all that we bear but in part
Will come for their comfort tomorrow.
Titus 2:11,12
Grace
Makes the will more chaste,
Controls
The unruly soul's
Lusts,
Till it renders us
Upright
In the Father's sight,
Fit
For His monolith,
The Stone
He will build upon.
I Pe 2:5; Mt 16:18
Ps 48:14
Even to the end
He'll guide us!
Never would a friend
Abide as
Patiently as He
Beside us,
Suffering our sin
And pride as
Spirit's works begin.
How wide His
Gracious love must be!
Heb 8:12
Our wickedness will He forgive,
And all our sins He will consign
To oblivion, deleting line
By line sin's law to let us live.
Rom 7:25-8:2
Lk 12:32
Fear not, little flock,
It is His good pleasure
To give us the kingdom;
For its greatest treasure,
His Son, shared His birthright
To ransom His sheep,
And His Father's conferred it
On all who will keep
His seed in their hearts
Till His harvest is reaped.
Prov 14:30
Self-centered rivalry,
A cancerous malady,
Devours the marrow of
Our spirits. Narrow love,
That's fond where it finds gain
But hates where it finds pain,
Gives much too little space
To admit that flow of grace
That brings our souls' dry bone
Sweet succour from His own.
Mt 5:43-48; Ezek 37:3
Col 1:13,14
The kingdom of the Son He loves
Became the kingdom of His sons;
For, sacrificed, true love freed loves
And nova bred a million suns.
Ps 97:1
1.Let the distant shores rejoice
In the reign of the Lord, for near
Is the closing trumpet's noise,
When their distance shall disappear,
When the peace preached by that Voice
Will drown enmity and fear!
Acts 2:39; Eph 2:13-17
2.Let the distant shores rejoice with us,
for we've found Old Ocean's Master.
He can calm the seas when boisterous,
He can countermand disaster.
He has walked the waves in majesty
While a thousand empires perished,
For that power is but a travesty
That in Hi spower is not nourished.
Gen 1:2; Mt 8:26, 14:25; John 1; John 17:5,24; Ps 127:1
Mt 7:21 (Cf. Ezek 33:30-33, esp 32)
Grim warning to frame
And post it before us:
The Lord's mighty Name
Was not given for chorus.
II Cor 5:17
Those now dead in their Christ are yet living,
While those living in Christ are now dead,
Growing numb to this life's wants and giving
All affection to His will instead.
Rev 21:4
He will wipe away the tear,
Then clear
Will be our eyes:
Vision sweet for those who yearned,
Who spurned
The old world's prize.
Its illusions will have vanished,
And banished
Will be its sighs.
Eph 3:12
þ
In Him God eased
Infinity's
Antipodes:
Made justice' line
And mercy's twine
In sacred Vine;
Brought sinners near
To God they fear --
'Cross point of spear,
Where intersection
Arranged election
By redirection.
Col 1:20-21; II Cor 5:18-19
I Sam 15:22
Whatever service God requests of us,
The least progressed up through the best of us,
The Lord will not accept our substitutes.
No bribes, no fees, no mercenary troops.
No feigned ineptitude; He will not hear it.
We have His laws, His promises, His Spirit.
Whatever be His call, or the temptation
His will permits, whatever situation
The world may put us in, we must obey,
Ourselves take up those crosses day by day.
He does not need our wealth; it will not help
To give unless we give it with the Self.
Ps 9:18
"The needy will not always be forgotten."
Indeed, they are not now. The widow, orphan,
The Lazarus with sores untended, rotten,
Already have God's ear. Their evil fortune
Is made by men and Satan, not by God.
He's one of them! They need not long importune!
Our Lord, Himself, was outcast and downtrod.
John 9:35; Lk 16:23; Hos 14:3; Deut 10:18, etc.!
II Cor 1:20
His promises
Need not be ratified.
His Word and bond's
Already satisfied
Before it's spoken.
His Holy Name
Is certain token.
We need but claim;
It can't be broken.
No hidden premises
It's predicated on!
Heb 13:6
We have His arm;
What other power
Can do us harm?
By day and hour
His reassurance
Allays alarm,
Supports endurance.
Gal 4:7
Not a slave, but a child!
Such a thought would be wild
Were it not for His Word.
Our Lord's Will has been heard;
Our Lord's Testament read:
He left life to the dead,
He gave grace from the grave,
He made heir of the slave.
Isa 43:25 (21-25)
We have made Him labor,
And He has made us rest.
We have made Him weary,
And He has made us fresh.
We have scorned His service,
And He has made us blameless;
For His Son's sake He did it,
Gave His Name to the nameless.
Because He would have mercy,
Hell's sacrifice is flameless.
Mt 12:7
I John 3:21,22
If, however poorly,
His people try to follow,
His supply comes surely,
His promise is not hollow.
Undertake His mission
And confidently ask;
Source will be sufficient
To complete the task.
Mt 14:17 ff.
John 15:5
The fruit is in the sap
That courses through the vine.
The branch is very apt
To grow, and intertwine,
And bear to breaking point
If vine brings life into it;
But break it off at joint,
And drought sends deadness through it.
John 6:56&63; Lev 17:11
Prov 1:7
The Lord is a generous teacher of all
Who approach Him with loving regard;
But for those whose contempt and proud manner appall,
The lessons come later -- and hard!
Acts 20:35
Since the Lord's always just
In His dealings with men,
Those who give good may trust
He will give more again.
The receiver gains once,
But the giver's replenished,
So the giver's account's
Still ahead at the finish.
II Pe 1:4
What a precious word is this:
We shall share His nature! Bliss
Indescribable to be
Good, and kind, and pure as He!
It would be a blessed lot
Just to lose this world's foul rot;
To be promised, too, a part
In His sweetness numbs the heart!
Isa 60:19
Material light but imitates
The brilliance of His radiant face.
Material energy and act
Are cold reflections of His fact.
(See also 3/18.)
I Cor 10:13
Paradox: A way
Out that lets one stay
Under and still lift!
Truly divine gift!
Purposes here Cross:
Gain without a loss!
Mk 9:23
All things can be
Done if one believes,
For faith in Him relieves
Our finity.
Our closure from God's Self
Is opened by Christ's help,
And power runs free.
Micah 7:18
Who is a God like You, who pardons sin
In the remaining few of mortal men
Who seek to do Your will?
However weak and ill
Their efforts, though they raise Your righteous wrath
With all their hesitations on the path,
Mercy's raised higher still!
Nu 21:4-9
Rom 8:11
Adam's nature sickens;
Spirit in us quickens.
God, Who let His only
Son be slain, our lonely
Souls His love has given.
For Son's sake we're shriven,
And our mortal part
Melded with His heart.
So, His love inside us
Will not let Death hide us.
I Tim 6:10
Material greed's
The worst of the weeds
Satan has sown
In the Lord's own
Fields,
Which, choking the roots
Of virtuous shoots,
Hundredfold evil
Back to the devil
Yields.
Mt 13:25; Mk 4:18-19
I Pe 1:23
A field of dead and dying brambles,
Of tumbleweed, whose chiefest pride
Is gamboling with the winds, once dried,
Ungainly skeleton that rambles
Here and there, undignified
And undirected, far and wide:
The growth of man's seed, fit for shambles!
Harvest of what men might have been --
And can be still when Spirit Wind
Blows softly through to bear again --
Is Garden of God, all lush and green!
Prov 25:21,22
Heap burning coals on the head of your foe:
Warmth of God's love, thus rekindling the glow
On the hearth of fraternity, killed by hate's snow.
Mt 5:5
Earth, when all's finished,
Sadly diminished,
Will fall from the hands
That had ambitious plans
To the humble and weak,
Who were given to seek
The design of the Lord
And proceed on His Word.
Then alone will this sorry
World find its true glory.
Ps 32:10
The Lord's unfailing love surrounds
The man who trusts in Him.
Rebellion's wickedness confounds,
For smoke of hate makes dim
The light divine affection lit
To guide the soul around Hell's pit.
Heb 9:15 (Rom 9:14,26)
Christ is the viaduct, the conduit.
Through His pierced flesh the streams of mercy flow.
"I will have mercy" -- future: eleeso
"On whom I have it" -- present: eleo.
Who would receive it but the Son of Man?
Who had it always but the Son of God?
All have it also who within Him stand;
All had it always, since it was God's plan.
Many are called, for all may come to it;
Those who are chosen not are Esau's lot!
Mt 22:14, 11:28, 12:50; Acts 2:21; etc.
Lk 12:33,34
Heaven's great Treasure
Is ever replenished,
Never expended,
And suffers no loss,
Though its work's measure
Will never be finished,
Must be extended,
And started on cross.
Mt 15:34-37 (etc.)
Eph 2:21
Ps 55:22
1.Those He has justified
Are held up by His hand.
Let them in trust defy
That Liar's threatening band,
Knowing God does not lie
And will not change, as man.
John 8:44
Nu 23:19; I Jo 2:21-22; Jas 1:17
2. I John 4:18
Cast upon the Lord your cares,
For perfect love is His,
And perfect love casts out all fears
As hindering perfect bliss.
Col 1:22
We are holy in His sight,
All our faults, all accusation
Hidden in Christ's blinding white:
Guiltless by association!
Micah 7:19
We fell, and You left us;
But Mercy behind
Left a promise: redemption
Through One of our kind,
Who would trample the Serpent
And, with him, our sin;
Who would mirror Your image
In our flesh again;
Who would hurl our iniquities
Into the ocean,
Blot out our transgressions,
Renew our devotion.
John 10:10
Who came to kill and destroy? The Tempter!
Who came to bring back our joy? Redemptor!
Who came to take light away? The Tempter!
Who came to turn night to day? Redemptor!
Who came to make man a fool? The Tempter!
Who came to give life in full? Redemptor!
Who was willing to slither
That Eden might wither?
The Tempter!
Who was willing to suffer
To make man His brother?
Redemptor!
II Chr 30:9
Man's imperfection
Infers rejection;
God's perfect essence
Implies acceptance.
Man's conscience, ridden
With guilt, stays hidden;
God's grace, revealing
Man's sin, is healing,
For mercy pardoned
While yet in Garden.
Gen 3:8; John 3:20
Gen 4:7
(Gen 3:8; John 3:20)
Gal 4:1-5
Gen 3:15
I Tim 6:17
Even in direst straits,
We find He has heaped our plates
Quite truly with good things more
Than we can be thankful for --
Although we may not have wit
Enough to find benefit!
Too frequently, stubbornness
Prefers to affect distress
By staying in state forlorn,
Impressing "Fate" with its scorn.
II Cor 5:21
He wore our sin
By entering in
To filthy flesh
To give His Rest
To souls entombed
By Eden's doom
Who yet did labor
To find God's favor.
By torment, He's
Secured their ease,
Who now possess
His righteousness.
Rom 8
Ps 34:7
Beneath, above,
On every side --
It's hard to hide
An ambush of
Infinity;
The chance of win
Grows still more slim
When He's times Three!
I John 4:4
1.In the world
Ever roaming
To prevent
Souls from homing,
Finding charge
To berate us,
Is the one
Who will hate us
Till his end.
But our Friend,
Who will best him,
Of his power
Will divest him
In that hour!
2.Satan's scorn
Is annulled!
But, who opposed?
Satan's thorn
Has been pulled
By Sharon's Rose!
Heb 9:28
Once He appeared:
To take away sin,
He was taken away.
Twice: He will bear
Salvation to men
Who on Him their hopes stay.
Ever He's here,
Supporting unseen
Till eventual Day.
Joshua 1:9
Be strong!
Take heart!
We're part
Of a long,
Firm line,
Straight, true,
Drawn to
Design;
His Hand
And Name;
His fame;
His band
On earth
That knows
And shows
His worth!
Dismiss
All fear!
He's near!
What bliss!
Let dread
Subside
Beside
Our Head!
John 15:7
How could He offer
To grant each petition
Of spiritual pauper
So short on discretion?
His pure Word, in chiding
All sin, makes correction;
His Spirit, abiding
Within gives direction.
II Tim 3:16
Rom 8:26-27
Mark 9:35
The head the Lord prefers
Will stay low;
No point is last or first
In halo.
Joel 2:28
His Spirit
Poured out
Will ferret
Out doubt,
Revealing
New visions
With healing
Incisions.
Heb 4:12
Mt 5:6
Of Goodness a feast,
The fat of the land
And Wine on the lees:
This freely He'll grant
To lowest and least,
Beyond the command
Of full Pharisees.
Isa 25:6-8
Mt 5:20
II Pet 3:9
The Lord is not slow.
We will know,
When the time has come
For the sum
To be added, why
He'd deny
Our hot prayers for haste.
He'll not waste
One moment -- or one
Straying son.
Ps 100:3 (& John 8:32)
1.We are His,
And it is
He Who made
Us Who'll aid
Us to be
Wholly free.
Man was framed
In the same
Shape as He;
Liberty
Must be part
Of man's heart.
Satan's aim
Was the chain;
Satan hates.
God creates;
Father's choice
Is free voice.
Ps 119:108
2.Satan seeks
To possess;
Father speaks
But to bless.
When we've heard
His true Word,
We will be
Wholly free --
Holy! Free!
Eph 3:20,21
Now to Him Who is able --
Who can without limit,
Who cannot be bounded,
Surrounded, kept "in it,"
Whose best definition
Is that He can have none,
His blest generation
Sings praise for redemption!
Beyond our wits' ranging,
His spirit works in us,
Past all our hopes, changing
Assembly of sinners
To saints' congregation,
His own New Creation!
Fact mightier than fable!
Mt 11:28
Come to Him for rest,
And He will burden you
With blessed labor.
If Spirit you request,
It will be heard in you.
His peace will favor
Fruition full and best --
Yet almost effortless!
John 15:5; Lk 12:12
Isa 65:17
"Good as Blind"
It will not be remembered,
The feebly glowing ember
That should have been a flame
Of zeal to spread His Name,
The faith that wore in trial
Almost to His denial,
The love that was too cold
To make the flesh more bold.
Is he as good as blind?
"It must have slipped My mind."
Heb 13:8
The Lord's Way will evince
The same events
In every tense.
The soul can sense
No change of consequence.
Prov 27:1
1. Mt 6:34
"Take no thought
For the things
Of tomorrow."
We are taught
To give wings
To such sorrow
And send it away;
For the Lord is our stay,
And our foresight's too slight
To be other than blight!
2. James 4:13
He who "banks" on future plans
Must often swerve
Round sudden curve.
Tomorrow's road is in God's hands.
Rom 8:15
Though we are knaves,
We are not slaves
To God from fear,
For Christ appeared
In guise of Son
To show us One
Who will be Father
To those who rather
Deserve the chain.
His will is plain:
He showed His grace
In Jesus' face.
John 14:8-9; Luke 15:11-32
Prov 3:5,6
Though the path weaves,
And the light leaves,
All our dark fear
Of the cliffs near
Is but nightmare.
Not a foot slides
While His eye guides.
By the pitfalls
Are unseen walls
That will shelter,
Helter-skelter
Though our heads be.
Try to turn! He
Draws a line there,
Keeps our steps square
With the rules. Goal:
Save the fool's soul!
Gal 5:22,23
The fruit of the Spirit
Is all that we lack.
Its price? Well, compare it:
We have to give back
Whatever we had. That
Was nothing! Not bad, that!
Rom 1:16
How shall we be ashamed
Of the framework
That let His Name work
Our sins' and deaths' effacing?
Though many would defame
The simple story,
Did not its glory
Stem from his self-abasing?
Why should we now expect
Or seek the world's respect?
Ps 121:1,2
I lift up my eyes to the hill --
To Calvary,
And the mercy that flows from it still
Will salvage me,
No matter how far from His will
My soul may be.
Heb 10:14
1.The sum was made complete
By One, Who will entreat
For all who wholeness claim
By calling on His Name.
2.One moment on the mount
Filled infinite account.
Isa 44:22
With one sweep of His hand,
He dismisses our sins!
With one breath of His winds,
The dark storm clouds disband!
Just wrath's threatening minute
Wrapped Christ's radiance in it.
His redemption needs man's
Sense of guilt to begin it.
Ps 30:5, etc.
Lk 7:40-44
|Rom "were under tutelage to the law" passage
Lk 14:13,14
Though table set
For sorry guests
Has never met
Man's social tests,
Their unpaid debt
Will richly bless.
I Cor 12:4-6
Eph 4:3 Ps 133:1
Many differing gifts
Divide in mirroring bits
The face of Him Who broke
Himself for all, Who spoke
A prayer that we should be
All one, as God and He.
In peace, then, with each other
Reflect God's Son, man's Brother.
John 17:21, etc.
Nah 1:7
He knows* and cares
That we are dust.
So, all our trust --
With all our fears --
Must be toward Heaven;
For those who rest
In arm of flesh
Accept its leaven.
Ps 103:13-14
Luke 12:4-5
Luke 12:1
(The Hebrew verb used for "cares" in this verse means also "knows."
Gesenius, mng. 7.)
Col 2:9,10
(John 14:8-9)
1.All of man's need,
All of man's dread,
In this one Seed --
Grain from full Head,
Ground for our Bread.
John 12:24
2.All of God's Being
Formed for man's seeing,
So that God's fullness
Fills up man's dullness,
Now showing brightly
God's image rightly.
John 1:1; 1 John 1:1
I Cor 15:47-49
Isa 46:11
1.When the Lord has spoken,
No further token
Should be required.
There is no higher
Security.
His surety:
His Word,
Once heard.
2.God's word must stand alone,
For He and His Word are one.
To swear by Himself is no more
Than what He has spoken before.
Heb. 6:13; Ps 89:35; Isa 62:8; Jer 22:5; John 1:1
Mark 10:15
To receive His crown
We must all grow down.
Pride must learn again
That it must depend.
To inherit His part
Takes a simple heart,
For He will not lift
Us but as free gift.
Ps 121:7,8
He watches as we come into this life;
He watches as we come into His fold;
He watches if we go the way of strife
And sees that we return. When we grow old,
He watches as we struggle for each breath;
And finally, when we come to welcome death,
He watches as we go to Him and home --
And recognize the Heart that we have known
So long. For He has led us with His Arm
Since evermore, and kept us from all harm!
I Peter 2:9
We are His chosen
To speak forth His praise
As break forth His rays
From the hard-frozen,
Dark wasteland of Death,
That melts at the breath
Of His call,
Freeing all.
Mt 5:7
Blessed are they
Who take pity on pain,
For they shall obtain
In exchange for their alms
All of Gilead's balms
In the Lord's Day.
IJsa 66:13
Whenever Satan and his tribe
Deal hurt,
The Lord is ready to provide
Comfort.
The hands that felt and could sustain
The pain
Those two nails dealt, made Stephen's bruise
To lose
Its sting. So death will lose its power
That hour
Those same hands smooth away all tears,
And fears
Dispel as clouds of Hell's old curse
Disperse.
Acts 7:54-60
Heb 13:16
1."Do not forget to do good
And to share!"
As if a child of God could --
Or would dare!
Gal 2:10
2.There is a special prodigality
Appropriate to God's reality:
"Sell all you have and give it to the poor,
And see what better gold I have in store!"
Rev. 3:18
II Peter 3:10
Luke 12:2
"There's nothing covered
That shall not be revealed."
When, patience over,
The Lord earth's shelter steals,
Makes stars an oven
That burns away the sky,
Men will feel open
To Judgment's piercing eye!
Ps 100:5
Good is the Lord!
His love forever
Endures, and never
Will His Holy Word
And token
Be broken;
Though aeons suspend,
No jot fails of its end!
Luke 22:37
Mt 12:50
These are our kin:
All the children of men
Who remember the Garden
And look for His pardon;
Who, lost and alone,
Rejoice at the tone
Of His Voice now still crying
In earth's wilderness dying.
John 6:28-29, 38-40; 7:17; 10:3-4
I Sam 2:2
II Kings 17:41 (7-41)
It is extremely odd
How easily men say,
"There is no other god,"
While being drawn away
By every idol thought
And every silly whim --
For days or centuries taught --
That's introduced to them.
Jehovah's "jealous wrath"
Was Shepherd's only way
To keep on safer path
The stubborn free-astray.
Ezek. 11:17-21
I John 4:7
No human heart can love.
The feelings flesh will give
That name are merely needs
Dressed nicely to deceive
Ourselves. To reach above
The cravings of the flesh,
Some One must plant His seeds
In us and start us fresh.
Ezek. 36:26
II Chronicles 32:8
With Satan is only the arm of flesh,
For to follow his plan,
He's required to use man.
A trap of his choosing has him enmeshed!
The Lord's own Right Arm
Preserves us from harm
And guarantees always His peoples' success!
Isa 63:5
Ps 98:1
Gal 2:20
Heb 1:3
Image projected
Of and through His Being,
To us His mercy bringing,
Upholds the elected.
Gal 6:7
We cannot deceive
The laws of God by burying
Our sins. The dirt we carry in
To cover them will give
New life to them. They'll sprout
And grow, by hundreds multiplied
Above the few we sought to hide.
Before Him, truth will out!
Mt 12:43-45
Ps 139:1-12
Prov 15:17
A handful of beans --
Or a mess of wild greens
Picked fresh from the yard! --
Aren't nearly as hard
For digestion to take
As a fine cut of steak
That was broiled by the glare
Of a hate bloody-rare!
I Cor 13:13
"Faith, Hope, Love"
1.Of the Three named above,
The prime mover is Love.
Though feeble and weak,
It leads to our Faith,
For no soul will seek
A God that it hates;
While not Hope, but fear,
Expectantly waits
A God not held dear.
2.In this Blest Trinity,
Love's best of all the Three!
I Timothy 6:18,19
Do good! Be rich in deeds!
For God, Whose perfect Being
Is Act, will not be pleased
With passive, dying Thing.
His Spirit tends to scatter
Accumulating matter.
Luke 12:16-21
Ps 34:15
The eyes and the ears
Of the Lord are toward
The spirit that hears
And observes His Word.
James 1:22; Deut 6:3-4; Prov 23:26
II Cor 6:17,18
Come out from the dross
And the dirt!
You'll suffer no loss
And no hurt
That are worth your regret
Or regard.
It's a character test
That's not hard,
For the parts of the fruits
Left behind
Are the peels and the pits
And the rind!
Rom 1:17
By faith will the righteous live --
And their energies get and give
By faith;
For the gospel they live to spread
Has a living and immanent Head --
No wraith!
And His Life, through their spiritual veins
Surging powerful, brings all the gains
Of faith!
Prov 28:20
Those who stick firm to their words once given
Have a firm hold on the favor of Heaven.
Whatever may seem to be lost thereby
Will be richly repaid, as the Lord has an eye
For such, since His own vows He will not deny.
Ps 15:4
Rom 8:17
Our Lord has shared with us His Father's favor
And spared us wrath.
Can we not bear to share with men this Savior,
To share that path
That led Him from His glorious throne to savor
Such bitter draft?
The cup He drank for our sakes shall we waver
Ourselves to quaff?
Mt 20:22-23; Isa 30:18-21
Prov 3:11,12
Fear not to hear
The Lord when He chides,
Or chastens to hasten.
His rod merely guides.
His wrath is all kindness;
His favor abides.
The clouds are our blindness;
His sky's always clear.
(Isa 30:15-26)
John 10:11
When His flock were threatened,
The Shepherd took up weapon
And kept the least from loss.
His cudgel was His Cross.
Ps 18:2
"Hapax Legomena" - Ps 89 (v.35)
The Lord's an invincible rock
That can never be cleft again,
That can never be wounded or struck
As it was, one time only, for men.
The side that was pierced by the spear,
The brow that was marred by the thorn,
Were asked one time only to bear
Pain, brokenness, sorrow, and scorn.
Just once, and forever He's spared,
As to David just once it was sworn!
John 16:22
John 15:10
His love and His righteousness meet.
They cannot conflict or compete.
Their dictates are always the same.
Who keeps one, in them both will remain.
John 15:17; 14:21,23-24;
13:34 etc.
Luke 19:10
His heaven He gave
To seek and to save
Mankind, lost and ill.
Such sacrifice will
Not admit of the shame
Of allowing a name
Not His to gain entry.
This King has no gentry!
Acts 10:34
Ps 4:1
God has a little set aside:
Less gold, more silver, lots of brass!
Too small a sum for Satan's pride,
But He knows how to make it last.
It's not enough for proper crown --
And tarnishes too easily;
But somehow He can spread it round
To buy back mortgaged property
For all His prodigal creation
That plead for debt consolidation.
I Kings 19:18
Lk 9:12-17 (NB 13)
Col 3:3,4
We have little to fret about
In this world,
For to it we're dead and out
Of the whirl
That dizzies the heads which must
Sink or swim
Over Charybdis' bed, since they trust
Not in Him.
Ps 4:6-8
Prov 3:9,10
Acts 17:28; Isa 2:6-12 (esp. 7&8)
They're a sorry excuse,
But the first of our fruits,
As a gesture of honor,
Are for Him to garner.
It's only a symbol;
Wouldn't fill up a thimble,
What man has to give.
But, it's in Him we live
And produce. What we make
Is done all for His sake,
If it's done as it should be;
For He's all that's Good. He
Would only remind us
That riches can blind us,
Works make us forget
All our power's in His debt.
II Tim 1:12
I know in Whom I have believed
And Whom I trust,
That He will all my debts relieve,
That He is just,
That with His power I can achieve
What things I must
To do His will before I leave
This lump of dust.
Isa 51:14-16
Ps 125:1
Isa 28:16; I Pet 2:5-6
Zion's foundations reach
To the roots of Life.
Earth and Hell cannot breach
Her walls with their strife!
Seismic or cosmic powers
Are helpless to crack
The stones of her lofty towers,
Borne on her Lord's back!
Mt 16:18
Eph 6:2,3
Eccl. 12:1 & I John 4:20
Did the Father above,
Whom we are to repay
With our works in the day
Of our temporal youth,
In His wisdom and love
Transfer some of His right
To the parents who to sight
Portray spiritual truth?
Prov 15:29
Mt 19:17
God's ear
Can hear
But One:
His Son!
The rest
Are blest
To claim
His Name!
Mt 16:24,25
1.The lost is kept,
The kept is lost.
The slain who slept
Beneath the cross
Are still but with
Us, with us still.
The ear with wit
May hear at will.
2.The life that's full
Of this world's joy
Is just a toy
To please the bored.
The life that's cruel
From chosen sorrow
Will tomorrow
Please the Lord.
Heb 1:14
Are not the angels minions?
Yet they so bright reflect
His glory that their pinions
Shine quite without a speck!
How then does it demean us
To wear the livery
Of service? He will clean us,
With quick delivery!
II Cor 7:1
Colossians 3:2
For free were the promises given,
But the gift inspires such a love
That our hearts with its force it has riven
From the world to seek things above.
Ps 60:12
Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30; Deut 32:35-36
The feet of our God are ample
Our enemies' necks to trample.
The saints may in peace disdain
Their surplice with blood to stain.
For feeble their foes indeed,
Who to their destruction succeed.
Acts 18:10
I John 4:10
Only one Love is real!
Angels have first derivative.
Saints may the second feel.
Satan prefers the privative!
Ps 8:5
Heb 2:7&9
Rom 8:28
Mt 16:21-23
In all things God works for our good,
Not only as we think He should,
Not only for folk that we favor.
Our hearts are small. We often savor
The human things. His work is higher:
To save souls from Hell's final fire.
I Sam 2:7,8
The Lord sends poverty
Or wealth,
Like sun or rain, to be
For health
Of all that arable
Domain
Portrayed in parable
Of grain.
The good, deep soil will need
A share
Of each to sprout its seed
And bear.
Mt 5:8
James 4:8
It's the heart, not the eyes,
That must window the soul.
If God's vision's the prize
The soul seeks, the heart's goal
Will be to screen out
All uncleanness and doubt.
I John 1:7
Our walks -- or our teeters --
In the light may be
As steady as Peter's
Short stroll on the sea;
But buck up and be brave,
For we know that He
Will snatch up from the wave
Any feeble knee.
Jer 29:13
When the heart is one,
And only then,
Does He show His Son
To the sons of men.
I Peter 2:10
Once not,
But now so:
His lot,
But how so?
No ill
That was then
Lives still
In cross' kin.
Their sins
In His grave,
Christ wins
His folk saved.
Heb 10:23
Let us not swerve,
But hold to the plan
With unfailing nerve.
The end's in His hand;
The cross held no curve.
Isa 53:5
Ps 116:12-13, 17
Pierced! Crushed!
Why must
His peace
So cease,
That we
Might be
Redeemed?
It seemed
Unjust!
But trust
God's heart.
Our part:
To thank
And drink!
Ps 34:18
The Lord is close to the broken,
Who tend to be more soft-spoken.
Not as loud,
Less proud.
Crushing leaves one a bit open.
Gal 6:8
Two natures yield
In generous proportion,
But yet each field
According to its notion,
Its own ideal:
Rebellion or devotion.
One battles good
To grow its own confusion;
Well understood,
The flesh seeks self-contusion!
The Spiritual would
Fulfill without conclusion.
Isa 9:6
A child is born
World should be hailing,
With such a Name
As should win fame.
But, earth is ailing;
He wins its scorn!
A teacher dies
On cross of crime,
With such a name
As should win shame.
But earth, in time,
On Him relies!
John 15:16
We will bear fruit that shall last,
Not the vain works of the past.
Not our old empty, self-glorious
Trophies and tombs, but victorious
Temple that lives and gives praise
To Him Who its dead Stones upraised!
John 1:11,12
Judges 7:20
He came to that which was His own.
Though His creation His light shown.
And yet its blindness could detect
Only the pitcher. The elect,
Souls of a certain heavenly stamp,
Saw through the vessel to the Lamp.
The rest of mankind had to smite
The clay with sword to see the light.
John 19:34-37
James 1:5
Sometimes it doesn't pay
To be so smart,
To struggle to find a way
By one's own art,
When the Lord lends a willing ear
To pleas for advice
From any fool willing to hear
Who asks Him nice
(-ly)!
Rom 1:22 Isa 50:11
Ps 102:17
1. James 5:15
He will answer.
Though the cancer
Of sin leave us
In plight grievous,
With His Son's Name
To dress our blame,
To heal wrong's wound,
He will hear soon.
When we cry out --
Without one doubt,
He will answer.
2. Mark 9:24
When faith addresses,
The Lord caresses.
He will make whole.
And if the soul
Be not that sure,
That, too, He'll cure.
When faint hearts have
Nightmares of hells,
His mercy salves
Our weaker selves.
John 10:27,28
All that are His in
Spirit will listen.
These tones they follow;
Others sound hollow,
Empty, deceiving.
No true sheep's leaving,
Foolishly choosing
Wolfish delusion.
Ps 18:28
Our lamps are never turned off.
Even our dark sins, burned off
By His hot wrath, become fuel
For His light's constant revewal.
I Cor 15:51,52
When the last trumpet sounds,
All of our mortal bounds
Will be removed,
All our souls' wounds and wens,
All of our foolish sins
That He's reproved,
Vanishing in a twinkle,
By the sweet hyssop sprinkled,
Dipped in His love!
We'll be His dove!
Exod 12:22
Ps 51:7
Song of Solomon 1:15, 2:14, 4:1, etc.
Rev 3:11
Soon, He has told us,
Soon He will hold us
Safe in His high cleft!
Till then, we're not left
Wandering without guide.
Spirit dwells inside
Dark little sheep souls,
Keeps us in sheepfolds,
Guards from the leopard,
Watches for Shepherd!
1 Sam. 14:6; 2 Chr. 14:11; John 6:5-14
"There is no restraint to the Lord to save
By few or by many." Or by hardly any!
Five small barley loaves, sold by the penny,
Cradled in Bethlehem, House of Bread,
And a few fish, scions of Jonah, fed
Untold multitudes, told from the grave.
Acts 6:2, 8:5ff.; Luke 22:27
For the apostles, it was not meet
To leave the word of the Lord to serve tables.
It was more meet for Philip:
"Meat to eat that ye know not of,"
Meat to serve Samaria
And relieve the Ethiopian's famine.
"My flesh is meat indeed..."
"But I am among you as he that serveth."
"Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
Eph. 5:16
The casual, artless, random bloom
Our path presents -- when we are young,
Blows sweet, but yet seems out of tune;
Grown old, we know it's all we've sung.
"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers..."
Heb. 13:2
Stranger, lost where no man speaks your tongue,
Different customs, alien ways
Find yours repugnant, fear you, feel you've come
To wrong their status quo. With hate-blind gaze,
They watch you die that death that sealed their graves.
Matt. 22:37-39
We should love the Lord our God
With all our heart, with all our soul, with all our might;
Then this fire in hearths of sod
Will kindle up such warmth of heart, despite
Our whole love spent, that we can better embrace
Our human brothers! Superabounding grace!
Same strange arithmetic that multiplies
The loaves and fish beyond the tables set.
But "two and two make four" is always wise:
If God is love, and God is infinite,
Then love consumed entirely leaves the same
To give away again.
One vector: Love His name;
Resultant: Love His kin.
Rom 14:4
In soul's malaise
Of shame and guilt,
The flowers of praise
Will often wilt,
Their heads low hung
For works not done,
For songs not sung,
For souls not won.
How hard we learn
His goal for each
Is never earned,
But always reached.
Jer 45:3; Eph 5:19-20; I Th 5:18
The serpent tooth
Of man's ingratitude
Gnaws at my heart.
Complaining attitude
Stops up the love
That once welled there for Him.
I'll tear it out
And let the grateful hymn
Gush forth that will
Reprime that flow of power
The unthankful nails
Dug in His last -- unmurmuring -- hour.