Sunday 29 January 2017

HORSE

A horse girt in the loins goes by the will
Of him who caused it to be harnessed. He
Live on the principle of hearing till,
Moved by the Father's purpose and decree,
He suffered on the cross. But He had served
The weakest and most needy of mankind,
While in His life below He never swerved
From doing what was in the Father's mind.
 
And still He serves: He serves as Advocate
Before the Father, as Priest for all our days
Of need, and for the Father's heart: how great
That it is He who leads the Father's praise!
 
And while we wait for Him the Spirit joins
His help to faithful saints “girt in the loins”.



26 May 2015 Worcester

Wednesday 25 January 2017

DANIEL

He was what he ate: not
The adulterated food of Chaldea
Fit for a - heathen - king
But the simple, pure, pulse.


The lion “king of beasts”:
Yet they were to form
His court; there he stood, ennobled,
Lionised in their company.

If the word of God left him
Astonied, the word of God
Was the tower of strength
To speak truth to tyranny.


Amid the stench of a court
Here was a person so just
That no tinge of it clung to
A man, right with his God.

Thus he continued. Kings
Tried or fumbled the reins;
He, upright before his God,
Was “One greatly beloved”.

Monday 23 January 2017

BETHEL

Genesis 28 & 37

The place made Jacob's flesh recoil
In face of things which were divine;
Yet, if he first poured only oil
Returning he poured oil and wine.

The Spirit graciously portrays
Himself as substance to deploy
To honour God and as God's ways
Adjust our souls we give God joy.

And substance whereby God anoints
The saints He chooses to refine
To fill the places He appoints,
Whose hearts are glad, and faces shine.

Thursday 19 January 2017

SERVANT

Abraham's servant did his will
In going to a distant land
To find and guide a woman till
She was the bride for Isaac's hand.

And so the Holy Spirit serves
In His meek place to suit God's mind;
He works to nourish and preserve
Christ's bride, till she will be refined.

And saints serve in humility
And meekness garnered from His ways
And, serving in His company,
They burgeon in their Master's traits.

Monday 16 January 2017

JUSTIFICATION

I love the Father
Who secured through the Just One
Justification.

Tuesday 10 January 2017

TIME

Before God’s earliest actions in creation had begun
The One we know as Father loved the One we know as Son.

Before God made our planet as a dwelling for mankind,
The Man who shed His precious blood was in the Father’s mind.
 
Before man’s course of sin and disobedience had its start
I had a status as a son, within the Father’s heart.
 
**********
 
After God’s operations in the realms of time are done
Our God and Father will receive the kingdom from the Son.
 
After rebellion’s last defeat when everything is blest
God’s tabernacle will be there and all will be at rest.

After He has disposed of worlds affected by sin’s taints
God will have Christ as source of joy - and Christ formed in the saints.

**********

Now God is working on the earth where Christ was crucified
That in the hearts of ransomed saints Christ might be magnified.

Now through the Son and Spirit’s work in testimonial ways
Saints are secured, and formed like Christ, to give the Father praise.

Now saints rejoice to be for Christ where He has been despised
While features of assembly light are being realised.

Saturday 7 January 2017

HIS KINGDOM

His kingdom will not cease
To flourish and increase
In righteousness and peace.

Tuesday 3 January 2017

CAMELS

What wealth the stolid camels bore
With Eliezer as their guide,
But Isaac saw them bearing more:
The coming camels bore his bride.

What wealth of heaven Thou dost bear,
Blest Spirit: it cannot be priced.
We wonder at Thy faithful care
As Thou dost bear the bride to Christ.

And God sees the fidelity
Of persons who have learned Thy ways;
He will have through eternity
Such faithful servants for His praise.

Monday 2 January 2017

LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED

"Let not your heart be troubled", Jesus told
The eleven as He girt them for their grief:
Knowing their faith in God He could unfold
That He would be their Object of belief.
He told them, "In the Father's house there are
Many abodes"; He would prepare a place
Distinctly ours, above the highest star,
Where we shall be before the Father's face.

"I go", He told them, and the going meant
The cross, the tomb, the garden, and the throne;
He came alone; but through the way He went
The Christ our Lord did not remain alone.

For, taken from the scene where we have grieved,
It is unto Himself we are received.