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We of free will
Do not dare drink His cup,
Nor choose to bear the weight
Of a fallen world.
God’s grace is in question,
Salvation from what?
As man builds again
Monuments of Self.
Vultures are mistaken
For angels of Light.
Performance proves false;
Blame is placed at God’s feet.
Up for interpretation
Are the things that are right,
While the bankrupt of soul
Always do as they please.
People are dying
By perverse mankind’s ways,
As they come in His Name
Like a plague.
God’s voice goes unheard
Through the lies of this age,
While the righteous of heart
Turn to pray.
Where are you Lord?
The victim’s heart pleads.
By deception
Such hearts are deceived.
For this is man’s world
Turning away as God weeps,
Speaking out, sowing death,
Sprouting weeds.
In His Name, evil hides
Behind all cunning and pride,
While salvation’s a whisper
In a grateful sinner’s song.
God uses the foolish,
The weak and despised,
To show that man’s strength
Won’t last long.
Hold fast to the Truth
For many will dispute.
There are no absolutes
In a world full of I’s.
Believe in the Name
Of the Son rising in you.
One day we will join Him
In the twinkling of an eye.
~~~~~
“Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:1-14
No matter where we find ourselves in this crazy, ever-changing life, it is a great comfort to know that we are never alone. Whether we face economic hardships, major transitions, difficulties in relationships or personal battles within, our glorious Lord is there to rescue us in every storm.
This leads me to raise a question: If we have Almighty God on our side, who will never leave us or forsake us, why do we struggle so much in this life?
Answer: We have not learned a very important secret.
Through the inspired words of God, spoken through the apostle Paul, we are told the wonderful secret of contentment in every circumstance, whether living in plenty or in want. Paul sums it all up with this powerful truth found in Philippians 4:13:
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
To speak this from the heart, is the ultimate declaration of complete trust in the one that we love, who first loved us. It is a truth we come to know wholeheartedly through our incredible relationship with Christ as we witness his protection, deliverance and unlimited blessings in our daily lives. When circumstances threaten to overwhelm us and we quickly reach the end of ourselves, Christ is there to carry us through the fire.
In the lines previous to this verse, Paul calls this a “secret” he had to learn, and this secret is something each of us must also learn, until our stubbornness yields to Gods’ grace. Why is this a secret? Because the simplicity of God’s love eludes us so many times, and instead of turning to our loving Father, we complicate our relationship with him, striving in our old, independent ways until we reach the edge of defeat and only then, call upon our God for help.
This scripture, is a liberating revelation for each of us to take hold of Christ and refuse to let go. If we would choose to take our eyes off of everything in this life that disappoints, including ourselves, and fix them entirely on Christ instead, we would begin to understand such a secret. We would begin to see clearly that our walk with God is not about what we have or what we lack; or what we want or think that we need to maintain happiness based on emotional highs and lows. It’s not about fixing the wreckage of our past that we bring before the Lord, accompanied by our shame and never ending guilt. The Lord has saved us from this. It’s not about someday arriving at a mythical place of perfection where we take pride in our own foolish attempts at a righteousness that is unobtainable by man and only achieved through the blood of Jesus Christ.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
But apart from Christ, I can do no good thing.
This is what we need to comprehend in order to find that place of contentment; that place where we are satisfied with our lot, whatever that is, because through Christ, we can do anything. We can crawl through the barren places in our lives with the same satisfaction we have when basking in God’s glory on the mountain tops. We can rejoice in our sufferings as easily as we rejoice in our victories. We can live in God’s perfect peace in the worst of circumstances. We can do all this and so much more because of our incredible love affair with God that overshadows all else. We’ve all known at one time or another what it felt like to be so enraptured by someone that all our concerns simply faded into the background of life. Imagine, if we came to Christ in such a way. That is the secret.
Only then, can our hearts echo what is written in Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”
What do we really want? Do we want to learn the secret of being content with our daily lives through a rich and deep relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, or are we still trying to rekindle a dead romance with the world, continuing to support an abusive marriage?
We should strive with all our heart to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, letting him nurture within us blessing upon blessing from such a powerful and loving relationship. Let us hunger and thirst for the righteousness that finds us in Christ alone, where we are rescued daily from this world and all its troubles, even while we rejoice in the midst of such troubles, looking them in the eye, and saying in complete confidence, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
So easily we claim offense when tempted
By words that have no life, but offer death.
Emotion roused to wrath, we draw our weapons
And in return, to war, with every breath.
Our patience is the first one slain, in fields
Where fires blaze upon the restless tongue.
Fruitless words hit home where none raise shields
Against incitement to become undone.
Help me not to fall beneath such swords of men
And in return become what I despise.
Lord, help me not to give or take offense
When tempted by such words that strike inside.
Real love can render useless, words of hate
If we would learn to not reciprocate.
~~~~~
Lord, grant us the wisdom and the strength to not return evil for evil, but to return evil with good instead, when someone tries to rile us up with words. Help us battle our own pride and not take offense to words that do not matter. In Jesus name, amen.
I can’t begin to tell you how often I’ve fallen into this trap. Someone just grinds me the wrong way and then says something that gets my blood boiling…lol. Next thing I know, I’m on the defensive. One day I hope to keep my tongue in check, but I have the feeling that this will be the last thing to go before the end…lol. I will keep trying though (by the grace of God.)
~~~~~
“We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.” James 3:2
There is the Way I seek,
unheard of in the wisdom of this world,
hidden from the proud,
overlooked in the boasting,
lost in the words.
There is the Way I seek,
unseen to the naked eye,
feared by the doubters,
excused away by the fearful,
lost in the excuses.
There is the Way I seek,
not traveled by the greedy,
unprofitable to the selfish,
obscured by the hoard of the hoarder,
lost in the materialism.
There is the Way I seek,
unsearchable to the rational mind,
unexplored by the spiritually dead,
underestimated by mere emotions,
lost in the confusion…
…Found in the simplicity of God’s unfailing love:
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
There is a road I walk,
from the outside,
inwardly.
Deeper and deeper,
into the mercy of God.
Deeper and deeper,
into His loving kindness.
Deeper and deeper,
into the heart of Christ Himself.
This great quest continues toward infinity,
into the very depths of the Father’s heart.
~~~~~
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:5,6
All dreams once lost reflecting who we are,
Restored before the throne where children play.
The soldiers of the Earth lay down their arms,
For war has no more teeth, and death, no place.
Reunion’s laughter fill old halls of sorrow,
As loved ones lose themselves in longed embrace.
Yesterdays hold hands with all tomorrows,
For time has lost its hold and need to chase.
Questions sought for lifetimes meet their answers,
For no more do we see in part what’s clear.
The Son of Light and Love, the Ever After,
Now comes to take away our robes of fear.
~~~~~
This is my interpretation of what a glimpse of heaven might be like. One day…one day…
Scott
Heaven’s Soil, Heaven’s Shade
Can’t shake the man whose seeds are sown
In heaven’s soil where faith is born.
He does not care that storms prevail
Nor does it matter when he fails.
For he is held by hands not shown
Through every trial in lands not owned.
His eyes are fixed upon a place
Where Love will shine on every face.
So temporal, these days we dwell
On shifting sands within our shells.
With eyes upon a treasure sought
Beneath the skies where kingdom’s rot.
And he is strange who is not home
Among the lives of flesh and bone.
Where time stalks all with death in hand
He worries not, there is a plan.
One day his faith will meet the path
His weary heart will say, “At last!”
The bags are packed, his bed is made
And soon he sleeps in heaven’s shade.
~~~~~
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
This is a true story that happened to me some years back that I hope blesses you. I write this to share how good and loving our God truly is. This is one of the many wonderful things he did for me shortly after becoming a Christian. This is one of my favorite memories of God and I believe it shows just how much he wants to be a part of all aspects of our lives.
Even the little things matter to God.
I was ‘born-again’ or ‘saved’ down in North Carolina when I was in my early twenty’s. I never grew up in the church. Never had much use for anything religious. And to this day, trying to understand God looking through a pair of dogmatic glasses is like trying to dissect and pick apart a relationship with someone I care too deeply about. So I won’t speak from a religious point of view. I claim no denomination other than what the Bible says I should call myself: Christian, plain and simple.
Anyway, after my conversion experience, I had numerous questions about my new life, Jesus Christ, God, the Holy Spirit, the list goes on. In the beginning, as all my brothers and sisters in Christ know too well, I was attacked continuously by the enemy. He tried to snatch the seed of faith sewn into my heart numerous times. But God would not let that happen. God would never let me endure more than I could bear and in those early days of my faith, when I was still learning how to crawl, he did some amazing things to strengthen my faith.
I was invited to a church retreat over in Wilmington, NC. with a few other friends I had at the church I was blessed to be a part of. I was told that the place was some sort of old fort located along the beach. When I heard it described to me, I remember thinking about the book ‘Lord of the Flies’, specifically, I was thinking about that conch shell in the story. I don’t know why I thought about that story, but all I know is that I found myself later that evening talking to God and saying: “Father, thank you for saving me. I have a favor to ask you. It’s a silly thing really, knowing how busy you must be and all. But if it’s not too much trouble, could I ask you to find me one of those conch shells.” I remember feeling really foolish praying for that and I felt like I should have been asking him to help people and not wasting his time asking for stupid shells. I remember talking to one of the guys over the phone that was going with me to that retreat all about my silly prayer and we both got a good laugh out of it.
The next day we went to that old fort on the beach. I had forgotten all about the shell and was just looking forward to the weekend out there. One of the first things we did was head straight out to the beach to see the ocean. As we were walking along the beach, the very same friend that I had spoken to the night before was about to step on what looked like a rock in the sand.
I told him to stop and we both looked down at his foot, to what was directly beneath it. He looked at me and I looked at him with this knowing look of wonder and we both said, “No way. It can’t be.”
We both raced for the sand and started to dig up what we thought was a rock and guess what we found instead? That’s right. A fully, intact conch shell.
That turned out to be an amazing weekend. And with one foolish prayer answered, God not only blessed me, but he blessed the other guy I went with that he used to help us find the shell, along with a whole lot of other people we got to tell the story to before the weekend was over. Later when we visited the local gift shops in the area, they all remarked that our shell was the biggest they’ve seen around those parts. In fact, there were many shells for sale but none of them were as intact as ours was.
That’s God for you.
I learned that God considers no prayer foolish. He was probably touched that I would concern him with such a small affair. And that’s just it. I didn’t ask him for anything big, directions for the future, wisdom to live a good life, things of that nature. No, I simply asked him for a conch shell. And he was glad to do that small thing just for me.
The more we let him into our lives, even the little things, the more he can truly bless us and become more apart of our everyday lives. Let’s face it, our everyday, busy lives are full with all sorts of little, and what seems insignificant, things that if we just let God in on, imagine how much more he would be there.
Acknowledge him in everything you do. I believe he truly wants this from us. As any loving parent would.
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep.
A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” Luke 8:22-25
She is so full of bitterness. The anger and the hate at all the injustices she’s suffered have just about broken her. The bad relationships, those that have used her, abused her. The lack of trust in anyone ever again mirrored in her eyes. She is scarred on the inside, bruised on the outside, with a heart just about on the edge of never being able of letting go of all that hate.
Depression, the monster that it is, nearly consumes her. She wants to be free of this life. Doesn’t care how. Her days are long. Her nights are pure misery.
She comes to church again. Doesn’t know why. The words just make her feel more angry. What would that preacher know of my pain! How dare he speak to me about loving anything! Who ever loved me enough to give a damn? Where was God, when I needed him then? What is my life now, that I should even care?
She exits her seat from the back of the room in the middle of the message.
She doesn’t care who she’s offended. Who are they to me anyway? They know nothing about real pain! I’m not ever coming back to this place!
The following Sunday, she comes to church again. Doesn’t know why. There’s that preacher again! Why does it seem like every time he opens his mouth his messages are directed right at me!? There he goes again, telling me how great the love of God is. How much he loves me. Oh please!
She leaves once more, but this time she stays for the entire message. Forget that social B.S. afterwards though!
God has been speaking to her all week. It nearly drives her off the edge, but then something…something…she can’t turn away. Not this time.
She decided to pick up that old Bible her grandmother gave to her. She doesn’t even know why she kept it this long. She ended up in the book of John reading about another man! Doesn’t that figure. Just what she needs to hear about is one-more-man in her life. That’s right, the preacher kept talking about this guy, Jesus. Seemed like every time he mentioned that word love, Jesus was the very next thing that came up!
All the same, the words seize her. God embraces her tightly in his loving arms and he will not let her go. She is far too precious to Him. God is speaking ever so gently into her heart. He is showing her through each painful flip of the page, just how much He loves her.
God keeps pouring out his love into her until her mighty damn can hold it back no longer. It starts with a crack, and then, the breach. Her guards come crashing down, so do all her mighty defenses. All that hate, all that anger, washed away by His mighty love.
She does something she hasn’t allowed in years. She weeps. For a long, long time…she weeps.
She’s back at church again. Her eyes are red from tears and little to no sleep. She’s not quite her hard self.
The preacher is speaking about love again.
At the end of the message, the preacher hesitates, then asks if anyone is ready to receive the Lord Jesus into their hearts.
He waits for what seems like forever. The preacher doesn’t know it, but he’s waiting for her.
God is calling her this day to come to Him.
Slowly, painfully, stubbornly, she takes each step down that long aisle from the back of the room.
Two thirds of the way to the altar, the angels in heaven are already on their feet. God is about to amaze them again.
We are all silent as we watch her come forward.
Each step of the way, one more demon loses its grip on her ankles. Nothing will stop her from getting to this man Jesus.
She makes it to the altar and loses all composure. She falls down on her face, the tears are endless.
The preacher kneels beside her and speaks into her ear. She says the words with him.
You want a miracle?
I just saw one.
That was the day she fell before the Lord, broken, humbled, her pain laid bare before the altar.
That was the day she received Jesus Christ into her heart.
That was the first time I ever saw her smile.
“Cross” Copyright © 2008 John Ecko. All rights reserved.
Here is one I wrote under my visual poetry name.
Scott
