TYPES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The substance of anointing,
Embruing the oblation,
Was ground of God's rejoicing
And of the priest's sustaining.
By produce of the olive,
Expressed in perfect patience,
Both God and men are honoured.

If Christ gives living water
It wells within our being
Expelling want or shortage
And springing in you freely:
And water will flow from one
Who is a tRue believer
And owns the Saviour's lordship.

Content to be a servant
He rode across the desert
To find his master's blessing,
The kindly rise Rebecca:
In type a glorious vessel
Comes, fittingly invested
For One who dwells in heaven.

On her journey from Haran
As the servant led her back
Power was needed to carry
Into Isaac's promised land;
Power was found in the camels
That endured, on Rebecca's path:
Camels supplied by the master.

Dry are the bones of the dead:
Flesh grows sinews and skin -
Stiff still they languish in death;
"Prophesy unto the wind".
"Come from the four winds, O breath."
Column by column, they live -
Born to their own land again.

First the woman lit the lamp;
Carefully she swept the house,
Patiently explored each crack
Till the missing coin was found:
Then, with thankfulness of heart
She invited neighbours round
That with her they might be glad.

Once, responding to Christ's worth,
The Spirit has descended
In the fashion of of a dove.
Repelled by what is fleshly
But impelled by such a One
He found, as come from heaven,
Peace where nothing can disturb.

09/07/05

The Lord is full of

Tender compassions caring,

Pruning, or feeding.

08/07/05

As core of his life

The Christian has what always

Is reliable.

07/07/05

Let God be thanked for

The courageous people who

Run towards the danger.

This was the day of the London bombing.

06/07/05

Faith apprehends a

Cosmological constant

Science does not know.

THE HUMBLEST MAN

(A Villanelle)

Unmarked by human sins or flaws
The Saviour did the Father's will,
The humblest Man that ever was.

Within His heart He had God's laws,
Which He delighted to fulfil,
Unmarked by human sins or flaws.

Men would not have this Man because
Despite temptation He was still
The humblest Man that ever was.

God did not love Him without cause
But chose the Man men wished to kill
Unmarked by human sins or flaws.

He did not wish for man's applause
But loved the par He had to fill,
The humblest Man that ever was.

The beauty of His nature draws
Our hearts to honour with a thrill,
Unmarked by human sins or flaws,
The humblest Man that ever was.





For the quote, "The humblest Man that ever was" see:
http://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/EXPOSIT/28018E.html

05/07/05

From the earth's surface

We give our thanks for workers

Hewing beneath it.

04/07/05

For a while soft sun

Lightens the weeping willow

In Rashwood garden.

Rashwood was the home where my sister-in-law Liz spent her last months.  Here she is with Rose.

THE PORTION OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT

We praise our God and Father who ordained
His pleasure should be centred in one Man,
And that that Man should be the Son, and that
The Son should lead back myriads of sons;
His pleasure prospers now in Jesus’ hands
And we perceive the Father’s character -
Made known in His beloved Son  - but known
In having such a One as His Beloved.
We bless our God and Father who has blessed
Us and has made us fit to share the place,
The portion and the dignity of sons
In light; for light is His eternal sphere
And light is what surrounds Him in the house
Where we are with Him, and He has made known
Himself in Christ who is Himself the Light.

03/07/05

The Lord is full of

Compassion, the Lord is good,

And the Lord is near.

02/07/05

God in love ordained

That what best suits Him is most

For our benefit.

01/07/05

Sunshine and a breeze

Makes a lovely washing day

Just before we leave.

(The series began on holiday in North Wales and ended on holiday in South Wales.)

30/06/05

The lusts of the world

Are for a time; but God's love

For eternity.

29/06/05

God in faithfulness

Fulfils His promise that day

And night shall not cease.

THE HOLY SPIRIT: ANSWERS

When did the Spirit descend?
When Christ was throned in glory.
Proof of that place He was sent
To men who approved that enthronement.
Christ would not leave them bereft
But sent as bond and clothing
Power from on high for their help.

Who had ordained that descent?
Being the Spirit of God
He came by right, of Himself;
Yet as out-poured by the Lord
He has His place here as sent,
While at the father's accord
Given at Jesus' request.

Where has He found His abode?
He has no home on the earth
Nor within structures or stones.
He dwells in hearts of the men
Christ has secured as His own:
In these the Spirit can rest
Letting affections find scope.

What means has the Spirit used?
Patience and weakness and toil.
He uses the lamp of truth
Seeking recalcitrant coin
Till profit to God accrues.
All that in men God enjoys
In meekness the Spirit produced.

Which persons provided His place?
Those who the Spirit selects
By right of sovereignty;
Those who have made their request
As moved by the Spirit to pray;
Those in whome grace has effect,
Whom God knows, those who obey.

How do they know His presence?
Christ is enthroned in the heart;
Life is enjoyed in blessing,
Linked with the glorified Man;
Springs of God's love are welling,
Deep in the innermost part;
Power come to judge the fleshly.

And why has the Spirit come?
To bring the heavenly Man
A bride to enjoy His love
And fill the need of His heart;
To find, for the Father, sons
Whom God eternally planned
Would share the Beloved's worth.

THE LORD OF GLORY

(To Cwm Rhondda)

As I see the Lord of glory
In His lowly service here
Showing that the grace of heaven
In Himself was drawing near
He must increase,
I must decrease:
He who walked in lowly grace
Well deserves the highest place.


As I see the Lord of glory
Bearing wrath without relief
On the cross, enduring for me
This unmitigated grief
He must increase,
I must decrease:
 He who touched the depths in grace
Well deserves the highest place.

As I see the Lord of glory
Seated on the Father's throne
With salvation undertaken
And secured by Him alone
He must increase,
I must decrease:
He who serves us there in grace
Well deserves the highest place.

28/06/05

Both physically

And in care for souls He gives

Summer and winter.

27/06/05

God, for our comfort,

Provides each in their seasons,

The cold and the heat.

26/06/05

That there might be fruit

God has faithfully maintained

Seed-time and harvest.

THE FATHER'S FACE

Brought near to be before the Father’s face
Because of His desire to bring us near
We think of His activities in love
Which clothe us in the worth of Christ His Son,
After He circled us in His embrace,
And gave our hands the ring that speaks of love,
While giving us the liberty of sons
With all the dignity which He desires
That title should imply, and thus respond
In answering activities in love
Until made conscious that the Father’s love
Had made a dwelling place within our hearts
Where it can rest, and we can rest in Him.

SONS

It is the Father who has chosen us
Before the worlds were made, and it is He
Who marked us out beforehand to be sons
And in His ways in time has made us sons
And given us the Spirit of His Son.
All is for the good pleasure of His will
And all redounds to His eternal praise
And to the fame of His Beloved One
While bringing bliss to those He has acquired.

25/06/05

Strength and dignity

Are her clothing, and she laughs

At the coming day.

24/06/05

Matthew show the King,
Rejected by His people,
Gaining the assembly.

23/06/05

He breathed into them -
The highest order of life
Is Christ's life as Man.

22/06/05

Before the Father

Stands our Patron, Jesus,

Pleading His own work.

21/06/05

Having sustenance

And covering, let us be

Satisfied with these.

20/06/05

Ther are rich blessings
Here, but to be with Christ is
Very much better.

THE HOLY SPIRIT: IF ...

If the wind blows where it will
Why did it blow upon me?
Touched by the sovereign Wind
Now there is life that is real;
Lacking that wonderful birth
All that the Spirit reveals
Would have been lost to my mist.

If I am conscious of life
Pulsing within me towards God
It must be life that's divine.
What, by the Spirit, is wrought,
Quickened together with Christ,
He will be sure to conform
Unto Christ's image, in fine.

If I experience joy
While I am still in this world,
So that my spirit is warmed,
This is because of His work:
Now He is shedding abroad
God's own ineffable love
Where in my heart He is lodged.

If I am able to cry
Using the voice of a son
- Words, "Abba Father", arise
Answering touches of love -
This is by power I derive
Through what the Spirit now does
And His abundant supply.

If I need guidance to move
Into more spiritual realms
Fleshliness must be eschewed -
None can approach them unless
Led by the Spirit of truth;
He who has searched in the depths
Gives me the power to pursue.

If I am joined to the Lord
Gaining His impulse within,
Answering here to His thoughts,
It is the Spirit who links;
If with the saints Christ has bought
Fellowship now can exist
It is the Spirit who bonds.

If I am soon vivified,
Even my body transformed,
Who is such quickening by?
Not merely "by" - but "because"!
Since God's own Spirit is live
In me what would be a corpse
Will be, like Christ, glorified.