12-21-15 Serve the Lord with Gladness

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Psalm 100:2 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

Let’s serve the Lord with gladness, joy and cheer!

Let’s worship Him with singing full and strong!

Now come before His presence, gather near,

And praise our God with labor and with song!

Assemble all you saints and harmonize

By lifting up your voice in gratitude,

For by His loving grace our souls arise

To worship Christ our Lord with certitude!

Let’s praise the Lord, for He has shown His love!

Upon the cross He sacrificed His life

So those of us with faith could soar above,

To serve Him here and in the afterlife!

Let’s magnify the Lord and share the Word!

Let Jesus work through us now undeterred!

~~~~~~~~~~~

REMEMBER: When you serve the Lord with joy in your heart and a song on your lips, the unsaved will be more receptive to His light in you.

12-9-15 The Perfect Bond

And above all these things put on charity (love), which is the bond of perfectness.

Colossians 3:14 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

THE PERFECT BOND

Of all the aspects of a Christian heart,

Of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind,

Of meekness, patience, tolerance impart,

Forgiving one another so refined,

Above them all is charity and love;

Without it all the others are a show.

Agape’s like the stitching in a glove,

The letters in these words you’ve come to know.

Love is the perfect bond of unity,

The source of all that’s beautiful and true.

The way to run a just community

Begins with selfless love from me and you.

The fountainhead of love is God Himself.

His Spirit lies in Christ and in yourself.

12-2-15 Live by Faith

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

Hebrews 10:38 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

LIVE BY FAITH

Obedience to Christ is lived by faith,

A sober and regenerating love.

A child of God is not some flimsy wraith

Who always doubts salvation from above.

When justified, the saved will turn to Christ,

As natural as flowers turn to light.

Redemption’s not a treat that thinly sliced,

It’s paid for at the cross in full, outright.

If any man draw back from fear or shame,

To shrink away completely from belief,

Or think that righteousness is his to claim,

Perdition will be his with no relief.

Go boldly now in Christ with confidence;

Have faith in Jesus – He’s deliverance.

111415 Show Us Something Good

Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen (helped) me, and comforted me.

Psalm 86:17 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

SHOW US SOMETHING GOOD

O Lord, it seems the wicked rules the day;

I see my brother’s blood upon the ground.

Please show me something good from this, I pray,

To fill my enemy with shame profound.

You’ve helped me, Lord, when I have called on You,

You’ve soothed me with the comfort of Your love.

Console the suffering, help see them through

Please show us something good from up above.

Reveal to those who hate us You are God,

Cause them to be disgraced among their friends.

Lay bare their evil hearts here and abroad;

Humiliate them to the furthest ends.

Please show us something good so all may see

The righteous will prevail; in You we’re free.

10-02-15 These Stumbling Times

¹⁰ He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

¹¹ But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

1 John 2:10-11 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

There is no question these are darker times

Than all the days this world has ever known.

The moral structure failed, there are more crimes,

The stench of sin makes all the earth to groan.

There’s so much hate we see it in the air;

The people that you pass won’t look at you.

Sweet life has lost it’s value; most don’t care,

As if we’ve all gone blind and can’t see through.

The only hope we have is Jesus Christ;

He lights the way with nothing less than love,

And here the grace of God is so sufficed;

Believe in Him and see the way above.

It’s not so hard to love our brother when

We have the perfect light of Christ within.

9-23-15 Side by Side

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:6 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Eve and Adam lived in Eden land,

There were no predators, no blood was spilled.

The glory of the Lord was full and grand,

And everything that lived was love fulfilled.

Then sin arrived, corrupting all it touched

And flesh once sacred now became just meat.

The earth was soaked in blood and death was clutched,

And man became the worst to kill and eat.

The Son of God was born to bring God’s love;

His miracles wrought Eden bit by bit,

And when the Lord returns from up above

The Garden fills the world and sin will quit.

The lion and the lamb lay side by side,

And childlike love will be the earth’s new guide.

8-23-15 On Sowing

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;

but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Galatians 6:8 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

They say that what you eat is what you are;

If that’s the case the world is full of waste.

The things that we consume won’t get us far:

The flesh is born to die, a fleeting taste.

Wherever you invest your consciousness,

Will soon become a new reality.

Then set your heart on Spirit to access

A truth that leads to immortality.

The Spirit that you sow should be of love;

For God so loved the world He gave His Son,

And from that fruit abides new life above.

The seeds you plant from this won’t be undone.

The way of flesh leads certainly to death.

The way of Spirit brings eternal breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~

sonnet #445

8-13-15 Unconditional

But love ye your enemies, and do good,

and lend, hoping for nothing again;

and your reward shall be great,

and ye shall be the children of the Highest:

for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Luke 6:35 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Savior shed His blood for good and bad;

Remember this when you’ve an enemy,

And anyone who’s lost should make you sad,

So share the love God has to set them free.

Not only lend expecting nothing back,

Give love in deed without thought of return.

Without God’s grace you would be ruin and wrack;

If He would take it back you’d surely burn.

To be this way is not so hard to do;

For all your faults the Lord still gives you love.

He’s kind to evil people, thankless, too;

You are a child of God, who rules above.

A child that wants to please his Father should;

Do this by loving all, both bad and good.

~~~~~~~~~~~

sonnet #435

8-7-15 Yet Believe

Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

John 20:29 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

When Thomas needed proof that Jesus rose,

It did not mean he loved the Savior less.

His faith, though slow, with all its highs and lows

Arrived when he saw Christ to then assess.

Christ could have scolded Thomas mightily,

But in His love He showed His hands and side.

Yet blessed are they, He said, who could not see

But still believed He lived after He died.

If you have faith that Jesus conquered death

And lives within you now in truth and love,

You should not fear your final mortal breath,

For life will then begin for you above.

So blessed are those not seeing still believe;

Through grace by faith ’tis heaven they’ll achieve.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

sonnet #429

7-23-15 O Lord of Lords!

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

Psalm 8:1 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

O Lord of Lords, Your glory shines above,

Illuminating Heaven and the earth!

Your power, truth and mercy rich with love

Was evident upon Your mortal birth!

How wonderful the grace you grant to man!

Unworthy though he is, You love him so!

You sacrificed Your life as was the plan

To bring salvation to the lost and low!

Jehovah, O how excellent Your name!

The universe in all its splendor fails

To demonstrate the grandeur that You claim

Upon a crown of thorns, a cross and nails.

Your glory is above the heavens heights,

But still Your spirit soothes our darkest nights.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

sonnet #414