Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Belief

The disciples had no New Testament, they wrote it.
They had no history of Jesus, because they lived it.
They were not called Christians, but called followers
Many were called witnesses, because they saw it.
The followers used the sign of the fish out of fear.

The disciples were told to wait with Jesus a while
As Jesus went off to pray alone in the garden.
They fell asleep and could not persist in prayer.
Thomas the disciple doubted and Jesus told him
To put his finger in his side and on his hands.
He was chided for his lack of belief and faith.

We need not be ashamed when we question why.
And then feel guilty at our lack of faith and hope.
Men and women in the Bible lacked faith too.
Christ’s very own disciples worried about a storm.
And John sank in the water when he took his eyes
Off Christ, and that is often what we tend to do.

Jesus’ brother did not believe until after Christ rose.
Then Christ spoke; he ate with the risen Jesus and saw.
And he was stoned for his faith and died a martyr.
After the Holy Spirit was given they received power.
With that power they travelled their known world.

We need not be ashamed when we question, or doubt..
And then feel guilty at our lack of faith and hope.
Men and women in the Bible often lacked faith too.
Christ’s very own disciples worried about a storm.
The disciples quarreled about who would be first.
And John sank in the water when he took his eyes
Off Christ, and that is often what we tend to do.

Power to preach the gospel, faith to dispel all fears.
The evidence of a living faith is a Spirit filled life.
Faith is a living substance needing to be fed.
The more you feed your faith with God’s word
The more it grows; when it grows it will readily sow.

Faith is the evidence of things that are unseen.
New hope and belief to others as they journey on.
You will feel in yourself God’s voice guiding you,
Christ left you His Spirit to guide and to teach too.
Put your trust by faith in God, the one you serve.

Faith is the evidence of things that are not seen.
New hope and belief give to others as they journey on.
You will feel in yourself God’s voice guiding you,
Christ left you His Spirit to guide and teach you too.
Put your hand in the hand of the one you claim to serve

There is a lesson for all of us in this poem I’m sure.
Confessed sin is forgiven, and our salvation is secure.
The weaknesses of man has changed little over the years.
Boldness to preach the gospel will come despite our fears.
To believe is a gift from God, but it needs to be used to grow.

  • Hebrews 11:6 ~ He that cometh to God must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
  • Galatians 2:20 ~ I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
  • 2 Timothy 3:14 ~ But continue thou in the thing which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing whom thou has learned and has been assure of knowing of knowing of whom thou has learned them.
  • Ephesians 3: 17 - 19 ~ That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Vanity

It is written in God’s word: “There is nothing new under the sun.”
The quest to seek for more, for bigger and better, it hasn’t just begun.
Wisdom, knowledge, work, and acquisition; the search for pleasure
Is as relevant today as in King Solomon’s day , proving beyond measure
That we still toil under the sun, desiring and striving for more, or what?
It all turns to dust in our hands, all the acquiring , and what have we got?
We leave with nothing, only what we have done for Christ will count.
Look and see how the wise does, just as the fool; it is all of no account.

Satisfaction in our toil only comes from our efforts for eternity and for God.
All else is vanity, envy, and discontent is actually a complaint against God.
Through the seasons of discontent we learn humility, God is the constancy.
Only He can satisfy, each day only He will fill our needs, be sufficiency.
We need to look at our lives in a new way, through the lens of our faith.
Pleasure under the sun will not satisfy,; it is fleeting, none of it is safe..
Only God can make the crooked straight, forgive our failings, set us aright.
He can lift us up out of the miry clay and place our feet solidly straight.

When you look at life with all its stressors, with its seemingly aimless cycles
One can become discouraged and cynical, never looking for miracles..
Never considering that only God can satisfy all our yearnings and our greed.
Time, money, accumulation and success can be thought of as our “need’.
What is our identity tied to as Christians, we are told this is not our home.
We are children of the King of Kings, and find our power is in Him alone.
If we live our lives serving others, and find that our sins He did atone.
We will soon find lasting and true happiness and am enduring contentment.
The things of this world will not satisfy, only Christ, that God hath sent.
                                                                                                                     
  • Ecclesiastes 2:11 ~ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
  • Ecclesiastes 2:33 & 24 ~ What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which the labors under the sun. All his days his work is pain and grief, even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
  • Ecclesiastes 2:26 ~ To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing of the wind.
  • I Corinthians 15:58 ~ Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.