Jesus gently, faithfully, sov’reignly helps:
drawing us unto Himself.
Jesus gladly, lovingly, graciously saves,
lifting us out of the waves.
Jesus freely, powerfully, joyfully heals
as long as His name is revealed.
Jesus rose again yesterday and always lives:
this is the life that He gives.
i see a person alone
waiting
i approach to share a thought
listening
for them to express their deepest need
in all honesty
i hear a hint of pure love
in this new friendship
they enter into dialogue
or leave when they are ready
we learn a little bit from life
we are not parted though we leave the space
we found a meeting a brand new face
every conversation a bit of spice.
The Psalms are poems, and poems intended to be sung: not doctrinal treatises, nor even sermons. Their chief formal characteristic, the most obvious element of pattern, is … the practice of saying the same thing twice in different words. A perfect example is … ‘He shall make thy righteousness as clear as the light; and thy just dealing as the noonday’ (Psalm 37:6). If we have any taste for poetry we will enjoy this feature of the Psalms. Even those Christians who cannot enjoy it will respect it; for Our Lord, soaked in the poetic tradition of His country, delighted to use it. ‘For with whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you again …’ (Matthew 7:2)
It seems to me appropriate, almost inevitable, that when that great Imagination which in the beginning, for [His] own delight and for the delight of men and angels and (in their proper mode) of beasts, had invented and formed the whole world, submitted to express [Himself] in human speech, that speech should sometimes be poetry. For poetry too is a little incarnation, giving body to what had been before invisible and inaudible.
— Reflections on the Psalms.
From Bibles for Israel.
Today “Joe” t.alked to “John.”
Joe is a Christian who has talked with John before.
Today we met at a local retailer and got on the bus together and sat next to each other at the back of the bus.
John started his hustle, trying to get girls to pimp and make money from. Trying to get girls pregnant. Promoting “adult” entertainment, etc.
He did acknowledge that after a near heart attack recently, that limitless weed smoking is not a good thing. Smoking is indeed a health hazard. Joe the Christian urged John to repent of his pimping and promoting sex as an entre to prosperity economically.
John wanted to close off his ears to the good news “noise.” He rejected the law of God so he could not hear the hope of eternal life. He did not want to be honest about the consequences of his sin. As a result, John missed the hope of eternal life yet again. He heard enough of the warnings about God’s wrath to know that he deserved it.
The last I had a chance today to really speak to his heart: John was still hardened to the call to holiness.
How many people are going to hell simply because they repeatedly reject the invitations to get right with God. They know they sin. They know that God is calling them to repent but they keep postponing repentance. They pretend that there will always be another day to do the right thing.
Today is the day of salvation. If you know you are sinning, admit that to the Lord and turn away from your selfishness.
Jesus is waiting just a little bit longer. Your sins will find you out. Your lust, your theft, your lies, your selfishness, your adulteries and curses will all be exposed on judgment day.
Are you ready?
Love at times seems hateful. Not that true love is hateful, rather, it -appears hateful to those who love sin.-
For example, when a mother tells her children to stay away from the jar of sugar, she is hoping that they will not eat the whole thing and poison their systems. When a father tells his children to listen to their mother, he intends their good. The children may say, “You hate me.” In fact, the parents are doing the most loving thing.
In the same way, sometimes loving speech can seem hateful. Love makes us do things that seem foolish.
In today’s environment, people don’t like to hear that what they are doing is wrong. If you tell someone that what they are doing is wrong, they will say you are being hateful.
Our Forefathers were well aware that society’s can become corrupt, and so they quickly passed the First Amendment which guarantees Freedom of Religion, including the exercise thereof and the freedom of speech.
Religion by nature states that certain things are right and other things are wrong. There is nothing wrong with this aspect of religion in itself. Why? Because there is God who has already given His Word on what is right. If God says something is wrong, it is wrong.
Right and wrong are not decided ultimately by the citizens of these united states. Rather, truth is decided by God. As the Declaration of Independence held, we are all created equal by God.
The sad fact is that we have all equally gone astray.
There is none that does right.
Each has gone to his own wicked way.
The way of peace this nation as a nation no longer knows.
If you doubt me, ask even the Muslims. The Islamic world is on a jihad against the free world, subtle at times and at other times very violent. Islam can only succeed when a nation forfeits her freedom.
When America cuts loose from her moral restraints, jihad will break loose on America in dimensions the news has yet to report.
God is giving America an opportunity to repent, though. If we will speak up in love for what is right and against death and against sin and against every manner of evil and wickedness, then again will justice, peace and truly liberated love flourish as it is expressed lawfully when the word of God is honored in this land again.
We need to protect the freedom to speak against moral and sexual sins like homosexual behavior so that the rest of the freedoms of society may flourish. Otherwise, America will perish like Sodom & Gomorrah as a nation, but the remnant who clings to the truth of God’s word will be preserved, though they run to the Middle East to find refuge in the desert and on the distant islands where the deserts and coastlands shall bloom once more.
depending on the Messiah as the only true Prince of Peace,
Mert Hershberger
Ypsilanti, Michigan
If the above seems extreme in light of future history, feel free to disregard me as a poet. If the truth of God’s word is fulfilled, then it will have proven to be prophetic. If you don’t believe me, read the Bible. If you don’t believe the teaching of Jesus, please comment below.
“News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.” (Matthew 4:24)
Jesus was at work in Syria in Ancient Times. I believe Jesus is traveling through Syria today. Even amid much conflict and much “bad news” … may the Good New of Jesus go forward with many signs & wonders to accompany it.
I want to be remembered for the love of the Highest & Best.
I want to be remembered for patience with the lowest & for kindness to the least.
I want to be remembered for remembering the forgotten and focusing on the ignored.
I am thankful for those who lift me up in low times.
And I am thankful for those who remind me not to be haughty.
I am thankful for One Who was my best Friend even when I was at my worst.
And I am thankful for One who spent His life to help me when I felt ready to waste mine.
When I am surrounded in the land in a desperate battle against innumerable foes,
my Hope is a mountain refuge to Whom I run.
When I am adrift on the sea of life in a terrible storm of trouble,
my Hope is an anchor that ensures I will arrive safe in harbor.
When I am wandering aimlessly in an empty desert of parched dryness,
my Hope is an oasis that springs eternal and feeds my soul.
When my highest dreams are shifting clouds without rain in the brazen sky,
my Hope is the bright morning star rising up on the darkest night.
Written with friends who were seeking to remember the good times and regain a vision of better times to come.
This phrase and the entire verse from Galatians 2:20 makes a great motto. It is a wonderful slogan.
The reality behind it is not nearly as glamorous.
One would think that identifying with the leader of 2 bilion people would be a thing of honor. Think again.
Notice the verb: am crucified.
First, this is passive.
Once someone understand who Jesus is, has faith, commits to Him, loves the Lord above all else, etc. … there is an inescapable process that follows. If you think you can escape what follows knowing the Lord, you are deceived. Holiness follows. Not a little halo. Not angel wings. Not a white robe an harp on cloud nine. No. A life of love dedicated entirely to God.
Being passive means that this need not be a prominent nor especially public activity. I do not mean that we should keep the truth a secret, far from that. Rather the very nature of the process necessitates that it be a passive one. It is acted out upon you. It is a matter in which you really have no choice, once you have submitted to your Creator.
Indeed, the very lack of submission to this nature, is why the religion called Submission (Islam) is so full of hypocrisy. Islam denies the very nature of submission and certainly and rather explicitly, Islam denies the extent of submitting to Allah (that is, to God).
Second, this is a matter of crucifixion.
Islam refuses to suffer dishonor, disgrace, shame, ignominy, disrepute, hatred, spite, malice from anyone, or any real discomfort. While claiming to honor God, the real god of Islam, that is the real allegiance is to the self.
The way of Righteousness is not the same. Rather, the righteous, the saints embrace humility, even humiliation. We accept silence in the face of slander. We speak up to testify to the Love of God, though we risk our own comfort, our reputation, our jobs, our homes, our families, our very lives. Often, this suffering is hidden: in homes where one bitter family member attacks or persistently rejects a believing family member. At other times, it is a matter of a business owner seeking simply to conform to the will of God rather than putting the profit motive at the fore and so being penalized by the state which is in bondage to the evil one simply because they acknowledge no authority higher than the authority of God.
We look to Jesus for help, and so we are treated by the world as though we are helpless. We take the Lord as our defense, and so the world tramples on us as though we are defenseless. We acknowledge only One Invisible, Eternal God, and so the world calls us godless. We trust not in our riches, and so the world slanders us as poor when we receive help from the Lord. The world slanders us as greedy when we have nothing left to give. The world calls us beggars when we share our needs. The world calls us boastful when we share our riches with them. Though the Shepherd has found us and will not let us wander into harms way, the world call us lost because we have left the ways of the world.
The world calls us fools for we reject the wisdom of the world, yet we have the mind of Christ. The world calls us as weak for we do not fight them, yet we are triumphant in the Name of the King of the Universe. The world calls us nobodies and nothings for we hold nothing as our own, but God Himself holds us in His arms as His beloved.
We speak the secret things of God openly, in the hope that some will join us in the Way, but the world calls us madmen. Yet inwardly they burn, for they will know the truth of what we speak one day, that we are not mad, but made anew in the mercy of God.
The cross was not a piece of jewelry.
We are called to be tormented, rejected, hated, despised. We are instructed to suffer with joyful expectation and eager hope. We trust in the face of adversity and definite uncertainty as the world accounts things. We love in the face of spittle, instruments of torture, trauma, beatings, mockery, poverty, isolation, and all manner of evil, for we live in the presence of God.
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