Waves of Mercy

Waves of Mercy

"Waves of mercy, waves of grace

Everywhere I look, I see your face

Your love has captured me

Oh my God This love

How can it be"

 David Crowder - Waves Of Mercy Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Our lives like Sandy beaches looking peaceful

But in creeps our enemy writing lies in the sand

Pecking away like bread in the beak of a seagull

Separating people with untruths and bitterness

Further and further they drift apart

Getting lost in dunes of un-forgiveness

Like collectors of shells desiring to attain

People gathering mementos of suffering

Holding on to, to look at again and again

Towards rocky jetties blindly running

The hater of your soul egging you on

Your relationships not the source of cunning

Open eyes to see the deceit

Not flesh and blood the true cause of trials

Time to let go of those balance sheets

Stop letting storms knock you over

Grab hold of your fellow beach comber

In truth and love full disclosure

The Rolling waves soon to wipe all trace away

Low tide only for a short while

Grace washing over, making new each day.

Cast your cares upon the sea

Release your hurt to Jesus’s  hands.

Let the waves of mercy wash over thee.

Peace offering

The sacrifice of a peace offering…

A giving of the good portions unto the Lord.

In days of old a repeated process required

Offering up the blood and fat over fire.

Not for repentance but fellowship.

“Shalom” a rest in safety from ones enemy,

A covenant of relationship,

 From man a hope for harmony,

A ritual to be made with joy.

 Before Christ, Peace a temporal space,

Sandwiched in between wars and battles.

The promise spoken to Isaiah

 Of a peace from God from a heavenly place,

The burning alter not needed, eventually to be dismantled.

 Coming soon would be a peace that does not depart.

A completeness, wholeness and tranquility

That would internally dwell in the heart.

 A peace that has everlasting durability.

The Greek “Eirene” an assurance of salvation

That the Messiah has procured our righteousness.

No longer fretting but at peace with the transformation

Now at ease in the assurance of his enduring faithfulness. 

Free from compulsion to work out our piousness.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives." John 14:27

Fail

“Ne’er-do-well

Epic failure.

Colossal loser.

Words and lies whisper in:

“Should’ve known better”.

Hope and truth wearing thin,

Seeping in how much a debtor.

Guilt and shame holding tight,

Bondage to our doubts worn like a fetter.

Secrets hold us captive in our plight.

Strength and will power defeated

The answers seem just outside our reach

All our resources used up and depleted

And yet a glimmer of light oft beseeches

Hang on there is a way!

Though Darkness is pushing hard

A breath encouraging just one small step this day.

Open your eyes and heart

“From you my beloved I will not depart”

“I see you and know all you face”

“My child I am here to embrace”

Look and see there is provision

More than your flesh can envision

A prayer to offer words of life

Grace enough to cover all the strife.

The loneliness and isolation

The enemies lies that this your only consolation.

Not just heaven bound thoughts,

But balm for now that has been bought.

Letting light penetrate if we dare

Together holding tight, we shed a tear.

Arm in Arm walking out were we have failed

Triumphant that He will and has prevailed.

Grace

Grace

How do we discern when to forgive and forget?

Or when to trust again?

Grace is such an easy word to throw about

Especially if it is for us to gain.

We want to gather as much as we can

Holding it to cover ourselves and sooth our souls.

This Grace thing that has been paid for we know,

It was God’s intention before time began.

But the burdensome task is how do we bestow?

Pride fights its way past the truth

Blocking the ability to release another.

Grace wanting to be loosed

But the hurt and pain overcome and smother,

 The appreciation for the mercy we have received.

Grace a gift of great value,

 Given more than we have deserved.

Beyond words to comprehend why

Like a water damn we hold back and reserve

The flowing out of this act and word.

Grace poured out in full measure,

More than enough,

Unlimited treasure.

 Spirit Turn our hearts back so we may remember

How Graced washed over like a fountain of love.

Spirit blow your truth on these embers,

Though yet sinners so unworthy of,

Yet even then Christ died for us.

Receiving

Gifts, to some opening divine.

To others an awkward moment,

A murky area hard to define.

“Better to give than to receive”

The saying goes.

But in actuality these words can deceive.

Giving the simple task.

Shopping, buying wrapping

Presenting pretty things and then to gather warm thanks.

But to accept, how hard to do.

To be vulnerable and in need,

To allow others to provide for you,

To your own lack willingly concede.

This is where the metal hits the road.

 To be open handed to receive,

 Allowing others to bestow.

Rethinking what you believe,

 It’s ok to get the” long end of the rope”.

Permission to be overcome,

And allow the feelings of joy to rush in.

Surrendering control and succumb,

Blessings from friends are not a sin.

This receiving is as the creator decided

The gift of eternal life not by our doing

But our unwrapping to be guided

By a humble spirit and not pride

With hearts, minds and hands open wide.

Remain

 John 15:4 “Stay with me, and I am in you. Just as the branch cannot yield fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither do you unless you stay with me.”

1 John 2:24”So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father.”

John 14:23 “Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

Remain

“Remain in me”

Remain…how does one remain?

When daily the media barrage filling ones eye with everyone’s stuff.

Stuffing ourselves never feeling like its enough.

Words that are so dividing with ignorance of how they cut,

And news that is hard and yet difficult to touch?

How do you remain with pronouncements of faith that feel like someone is just looking to strut?

Remain focused on a God that seems so far away?

Remain as you go about your every day?

What does it mean to remain?

Is it to keep your eyes looking upward at the clouds?

To examine ancient texts and pray aloud?

Is it attending a weekly church meeting,

Or a bible study giving each other a holy greeting?

What is this abide? 

Is it waiting for something to occur?

Or perchance to sojourn right where you are?

This remaining, abiding, enduring...

Is it holding tight to the mooring of a religion from the past?

Why is this so difficult to grasp?

The understanding I have even as limited as it is,

Tells me again and again to remember that I am his.

The “meno” abide says that I am “rooted in Christ knit to him…”   

The word spelling out truth and clearing misinformation within,

The spirit giving wisdom, convicting sin.

This “remain and abide”…

Are To give words to describe

The posture of those who understand they are forgiven

Living it out in the circadian rhythm

To continually “stay fixed upon”,”watch for”,” “submit too”,"to dwell in and encamp”,"bear patiently in waiting"…

This abiding in the love of the Father, Spirit, Son

The only  real work to be done.

Precious

Precious, tiny, vulnerable infant,

Sweet Little girl or boy still so innocent,

Purity still in place.

But too soon this will not be the case.

Commence the slither of sin,

Twisting and turning its way in.

Some to be property traded for gain

Filling the bellies of those who at home remain.

Some their only crimes

Believing their pimping friends’ lies.

Others just desiring food and to get out of the cold

Allowing their bodies to be used and sold.

The life of freedom desired
Gone as they become body for hire.
Broken promises, heart ache and strife,

Pushed and enslaved into the harshest life.

Beaten, tortured and broken

Abused, all innocence stolen.

Fear a daily event

No place to be safe, none to their defense.

Home a memory of the past.

Whore, loser, worthless, new names cast.

All hope shattered like glass.

Shards of pain needing to be numbed

Even the most violent attention sought like a treasured crumb.
Men and women given over to desire and lust,

Oh mighty dollar and pleasure the thrust.

All thoughts of escape withered,

Thoughts of death and suicide highly considered.

Oh church let us awaken!

Let the whole earth be shaken!

Let us arise in protest and proclaim:

Give the forsaken a new name,

You are Beautiful, Beloved and Valuable!

To Jesus the messiah your worth incalculable.

Let us in hope call them out!

Let our prayers to heaven lament and shout

For them and us to see past the wounds and the hurt.

Let us be naked and real,

Letting the ice in our veins be warmed, so we may feel

The truth of the power of a savior whose love covers all,

From whose death, healing everyone may draw.

Let us pray for scars to be used for the building of faith,

For the outreaching arm of grace

To grab hold of our world so displaced.

Let us pray for the testimonies along with Christ’s blood

To bring proof to the world that God is still good.