Who do we please?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.”
~ Proverbs 3:5-7

Should we do that
Should we do this
Should we please you
… individually
or as a group
Should we please ourselves

Someone
wants this done
Another
wants something else

And then there is the Lord
He too we hear
His word is different
than all the others
To please Him
we simply must be
in His Presence.
Meeting with Him daily
Listening to His counsel
Following His advice

We are bombarded

The Lord says to go
So we go
He says to stay
So we stay
Sometimes too He says to stop
Stop and wait
So we stop… and we wait

But some do not like
where we go
nor
where we stay
and stopping and waiting
is just not reasonable thinking

The Lord says
+ to keep our focus on Him
+ to seek His kingdom, His righteousness
+ to follow His leading
+ to look at every circumstance for His provisions
+ to live our lives with His light
shining in us
shining upon us
shining through us

+ to share His love with everyone
+ to be still and know Him.

It is not the world
and not our Christian brothers and sisters
to whom we owe allegiance,
but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself!

To Him
we must look first
for every answer, every need, every desire

Is not our faith in Him?
We trusted Him to save us … do we not trust Him with our day-to-day living?

 How can we say we trust the Lord,
but do not obey His commands, do not follow His  leading ?

 How can we pray for guidance and then  decide it is not enough?
 We need more.
We know what we need.
God doesn’t have a clue.

Are we sure our faith is in Him …
Are we sure we trust the Lord to guide us down the right path …
Are we sure He knows the way?

 No, we are not sure.

 We proclaim to be born-again Christians
and yet we live as though we control the universe.  

and we do not. 

(c) March 31, 2016

The best gift of all

Christ is me
The best gift of all
For without Him
all of me
all of life
is filled with distractions

It is not
what He does
nor
what He gives
but
who He is

And
who He is in me

I only walk
through the motions
of the day-to-day grind
in the workplace
in home life
even in leisure time

Our bodies fail
and wither away

Our minds nod off
into dull senseless thought

 We are … nothing.

But we can be transformed.

Christ
born for us
lived for us
died for us
and three days later,
He arose
for us!

Christ is alive!
I too am alive
Reformed
Reborn
Renewed

I must Be still
I must
come into His Presence…
I must
listen
be alert
obey
His every call
upon me

I must!

For if I am only
what is
and nothing more

God’s light in me
will never shine.

(c) March 27, 2016

Showered with blessings

The Lord says to me, I shower blessings on you daily, but sometimes you do not notice them. When your mind is stuck on a negative focus, you see neither Me nor My gifts.

The showers (of blessings) fall upon you

 Are you so unaware when things go contrary to the way you think is right
that you can not give another the benefit of the doubt?

Is the other always wrong?

Do you ever consider your perceptions might be faulty?

Do you go to your Father in heaven?

Do you ask for a better vision  of how you see things?

Do you seek the light of God whose presence defeats the very darkness that overwhelms and steals all that is good from you?

Do you knock daily, seeking a presence with His almighty Presence?

He lives in your heart.

He is with you always.

or

 Do you believe the day you accepted Him as your Savior was enough?

Do you wonder  … What more could there be? 

                                                                                                      (c) March 21, 2016

Shadow of Emptiness

I am like a shadow

Cast upon the earth,

My worthiness being

That of dirt,

In darkness I am not known,

But in light my life is shown,

Nothing to glory in, nothing to own.

This is my destination,

For eternal condemnation.

But lo, I heard a voice,

God said I have a choice,

"My Son I send to thee

To be your Savior

To set you free.

He'll give you purpose and meaning

He'll give you a life worth living,

Believe in Him my beloved friend

For to His kingdom there is no end." 

(c) Donald Brayton, 1979

God knew ...

He heard the call
You Lord placed on his heart
He heard
and responded
If you please Lord, I will go
And he went
off to school
to learn and be equipped
to follow You wherever sent

Along the way
life crowded in
oh so merry
so very grand
but distractions
overtook and
the path
He was destined to follow
became overgrown
with fear and worry,
anger, lies

The call, still present
He knew it was there
God doesn’t say yes
and mean no

There was another voice
He heard in the darkness
No, you can’t!
You are done for
You’re a failure

You can’t
You can’t

The words echoed
in his mind

Many years
come and gone
He remembered
the call
the words spoken
by many
who could not condone
would not forgive

Awakened
as if in a dream

a phone call comes

God remembered His child
God knew his heart
God sent him
for He knew he would go.

(c) March 20, 2016

And He wept ...

Behold, your King, My Son, is coming.
To you who gather He comes
lowly, as was His birth
astride a donkey … foretold
and regally,
a white horse His steed.

Jesus enters
The city
Your heart

To finish
To return
To restore
To carry you home
To conquer
To complete

Palms strewn at His feet
and hands lifted high in praise
cries of Hosanna! Save Us!
hammer the air

As His disciples proclaim,
“Blessed is He, the King, who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven and glory
in the highest!” (Luke 19:37-38)

But they knew not

Peace
was far from them
Rejoicing was in hope
of a “for the moment” fix
Wisdom and knowledge
hidden
as prophecy long foretold
not remembered.

And He wept.

 (c) March 18, 2016

Parenting and ...

Parenting and …
We know nothing firsthand
Yet we know much
Learned and still learning
when our grandson
and then later his brother
were born

We are not their grandparents
Yet we are

There are no blood ties
Yet heart strings pull hard

We love them so
We – Gramma and Papa

(c) March 7, 2016

Hearing Hearing

Hearing, Hearing
What do you hear
Are there many voices
vying for control
or just one
who bends your ear

Hearing, Hearing
What do you understand
of the words that are said
Do you know what is meant
when The One voice you hear stronger
is not yours alone

Hearing, Hearing
concentration a struggle
discernment more
So many voices
How do I know
one from another

Stay near
Walk close
The Lord Jesus says
Read My Word
Study My  Way
Follow My Life
Know My Truth

Hearing, Hearing
I wander
but the path is not rough
nor overgrown with weeds
Wherever I travel
I know the way
for the voice I need
is here beside me
One voice alone
I know His voice
and He knows mine
I hear
He speaks
I follow
His lead.

(c) March 3, 2016

“He who does not enter the sheep hold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”  ~ John 10:1-5