11-3-15 Fight the Good Fight

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:12 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

The moment you professed that Christ was Lord,

Professed your faith to God and man alike,

The Spirit came upon you like a sword

And Satan came against you stone and spike.

Do not forget the enemy’s intent

To twist the mind of man against the Word.

You are a soldier from the Savior sent

To do the will of God with faith secured.

You’ve victory in Jesus, called to fight,

Delivering the gospel to the lost,

And love the Lord and men with all your might,

And keep the faith whatever be the cost.

Now Fight! Through Grace eternal life is yours.

A solider gird in faith will long endure.

7-6-15 On Obedience

⁵¹ And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.

⁵² Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

⁵³ Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

Matthew 26:51-53 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

The sacrificial Lamb, obedient,

Stood ready to be given up for you,

Could call for legioned angels to be sent

To save Him from the death that would ensue.

But no, this was not time to wield a sword;

The days of ‘eye for eye’ had passed away.

Christ came to yield His life, our sovereign Lord;

The pure unspotted Lamb would have His day.

The sins of all the world would soon be borne

Upon the shoulders of the Lamb of God,

Then beaten, bloody, His whole body torn

Was bound for victory with love to laud.

The sword was put away as so much dross

And in its stead was glory on the cross.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

sonnet #407

6-9-15 Good

See that none render evil for evil unto any man;

but ever follow that which is good,

both among yourselves, and to all men.

1 Thessalonians 5:15 KJV

~~~~~~~~~~~

You child of God, who’s more like Jesus now

Than yesterday, for He now lives in you,

Are so compelled by Grace to not allow

An evil for an evil to accrue.

Observe the Golden Rule more now than then,

For in you dwells the Spirit of the Lord,

And teach this way of life to those who ken;

No good can come when sword begats a sword.

So choose to always serve that which is good

Among your fellow saints and to all men.

If you can do it, anybody could;

The greatest good’s the gospel shared again.

Now promulgate the good, on love rely;

If you don’t feed what’s evil it will die.

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

sonnet #384

2-22-15 Rejoice in the Lord!

Though all my wealth be filched by criminals,

My life be threatened by a killer’s sword;

Though I be chained against a pirate’s hulls,

I will rejoice in Jesus as my Lord.

Though famine strikes my crop from year to year,

My business looted by a passing horde;

Though all my friends start treating me severe,

I will rejoice in Jesus as my Lord.

Though pain may wrack my body night and day,

My reputation ruined, my face abhorred;

Though cancer eats my skin and bones away,

I will rejoice in Jesus as my Lord.

The God of my salvation will I praise!

He set me free and set my heart ablaze!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk 3:18 KJV

11-29-14 The Day is Here

The day is here when Christians suffer much;

They’re taunted, tortured, murdered for their Lord.

They bear the cross as He once bore it such,

Then kneel and lose their head by brutal sword.

They must not be ashamed to claim His name;

They could have lied and stayed alive instead,

But these great martyrs boldly do exclaim

And glorify our God to lose their head.

Don’t be ashamed if you must suffer, too,

The blades and hammers of such men that hate

Because you call Christ Lord and His word true.

Exalt the name of Jesus; don’t abate!

He suffered much and died upon the cross.

Can you not stand for Him whate’er the loss?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian,

let him not be ashamed;

but let him glorify God on this behalf.

1 Peter 4:16 KJV

11-11-14 Forged

Your life is full of hardship,tears and pain;

You feel as if you’ve poverty of soul.

It seems your every effort’s been in vain,

And you are nothing more than lump of coal.

A diamond starts as coal that’s under stress,

Amid great heat and pressure over time,

And you are far more precious in egress,

Refined by life’s hot furnace whence you climb.

Who wants a soup with vegetables too coarse?

You’ll want them cooked until they taste just right.

Affliction turns the raw to the main course,

Delicious morsel of the truth and light.

God needs a mighty sword annealed and keen,

One forged from hard affliction rough and mean.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver;

I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

Isaiah 48:10 KJV