Thursday, December 31, 2015

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


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.


Wednesday, December 23, 2015

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

Saturday, December 19, 2015

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.


Saturday, December 12, 2015

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.


Sunday, December 6, 2015

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.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

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.



Tuesday, December 1, 2015

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.