LOOKING

I looked around
And saw how mankind acted
And what I found
Distracted.

I looked within
Where sinful nature lusted
And all that sin
Disgusted.

I looked above
As Jesus' grace incited
And heavenly love
Delighted.

February 2012
I borrowed the thought, but the versifying is mine.

CLAIMS

Grace has introduced me to
The company Christ loves to call
"My sheep".

He told me He wished me
With Him, as named by Him
"My servant".

And in a loving company
There will be that testimony,
"Disciples of mine".

His love would induce us,
Subject, to deserve the title,
"My friends".

And a risen Man urgently
Sees us as God purposed:
"My brethren".


February 2012
John 10, 12, 13, 15 & 20.

WE BOW BEFORE THE TRINITY

According to God's glorious ways
At home in Thy vicinity
To worship to the length of days
We bow before the Trinity.

With every heart and conscience clear
Before God's great divinity,
In reverence and godly fear
We bow before the Trinity.

Men, disparate, may now adhere
In heavenly consanguinity;
As in affection we appear
We bow before the Trinity.

Because of all that God has done
In love a new affinity
Of God and man has now begun;
We bow before the Trinity.

Acknowledging God ‑ Father, Son
And Spirit (in infinity
Three Persons, yet forever One) ‑
We bow before the Trinity.

THE FATHER'S PLEASURE

Our God and Father, it has been Thy pleasure
To hear us own the greatness of the Son
As witnessed in the work that He has done
To lead us here as Thy peculiar treasure.

How great the majesty of the Creator!
How great the Personage that fills Thy heart!
How great the grace that led Him to impart
The truth that through love's counsels Thou are greater.

How great Thy thought that we from our estrangement
From divine life should now be brought to share
A place of nearness where we can declare
Thine own supremacy in love's arrangement!

Father, we worship as Thy love ensconces
Our hearts in the indomitable power
Of its embraces, during this great hour,
Enjoying Thy delight in our responses.




If anyone knows a tune that would fit, please let me know!

LOVE'S DESIGNS

As beneficiaries of grace
Enrolled in the illustrious ranks
Of those who come before Thy face,
Our Father, we give thanks.

Initiates of love's design,
Acted upon in love's great ways,
Robed and secured in love divine,
Father, we give Thee praise.

As welcome to Thy residence
And liberated to explore
The splendours of its ambience,
Our Father, we adore.

THE FATHER'S REALM

Our Father we are here
Because of Thine own thought;
To gratify Thee we are brought
To this celestial sphere

Our Father we are here
As introduced by Him
Whose worth to Thee will never dim
And in Whom we appear.

Our Father we are here
Since we delight to dwell
With One whose love is known so well,
To worship and revere.

Our Father we are here
Suited as heavenly ones;
Formed by Thy Son, ourselves as sons,
With Christ who has no peer.

THE SPIRIT

As Christ goes out to view
The garden's fruit
To see the verdure of the valley
And find Himself anew
The joys His bride can contribute,
To dally
Blest Spirit it is Thou who dost provide
The dignity and freshness of the bride.

It was a lowly place
That Thou didst take
To bring us thus for God's own pleasure
In the divine embrace
Securing for Another's sake
His treasure
But only since divinity is Thine
Canst Thou accomplish God's supreme design.

We own Thy majesty
And worship Thee
The One by whom the worlds were garnished
Who labours every day
Till every son, drawn near, should be
Untarnished
And suited to the Father, while each one
Knows in his heart the Spirit of God's Son.

BRIDE

It was not good that Thou
Shouldst be alone;
Out of Thy death Thou dost receive
What God provides Thee now,
Derived from Thee, to be Thine own ‑
Thine Eve!

None but Thyself could tell
Of all the charms
Of her who now is by Thy side,
The one who will excel
As cherished in Thine arms ‑
Thy bride.

And only she describes
Thy loveliness
Which she can fully apprehend
As near Thee she imbibes
The grace and love Thou dost express,
Her Friend.

RELATIONSHIPS

Lord Jesus, now we welcome Thee
At Thine appointed tryst
Since Thou hast chosen us to be
Companion's of the Christ.

As all of one with Thee, blest Lord,
Those Thou hast sanctified,
Thy brethren praise with one accord
And Thou art satisfied.

Conjoined in admiration here,
Thy brethren coalesce
For Thine enjoyment to cohere
In bridal pleasantness.

This was the joy that lay before ‑
Thy helpmate and Thy wife,
The precious pearl Thou valuedst more
Than even Thine own life!

THINE

We own, Lord Jesus, we are Thine
Since Thou art the Creator;
Of life and all God's vast design
Thou art Originator.

We own, Lord Jesus, we are Thine
Because Thou hast redeemed us:
Thy blood the price at which divine
Affection has esteemed us.

We own, Lord Jesus, we are Thine
As held by Thine affection;
Beneath its shadow we recline
To bask in its perfection.

We own, Lord Jesus, we are Thine
As those whom Thou didst gather
With Thee eternally to shine
As given by the Father.

RESPONSES

We praise Thee, glorious Lord, when we behold
Thy victory
Since Thy sublime accomplishments unfold
Thy splendid way
To open all God's wonders, and impart
Thy love and blessedness to every heart.

We honour Thee, our Lord, because we know
As born anew
The glorious worthiness which Thou dost show
To fill our view
In Thee all excellences are secure ‑
True, amiable, noble, just and pure.

We worship Thee, in blessed consciousness
That Thou art God
Although in sorrow, pain and humbleness
Thy path was trod;
Thou, by Thy word, didst uphold in Thy power
The whole creation in Thy weakest hour.

We love Thee, Jesus, Lord, since we are brought
By Thee alone
As purposed for us in the Father's thought
To be Thine own
Having a dignity which God equips
To share with Thee in love's relationships.

THE SUPPER

We gather, Lord, to call to mind
Thyself and all Thy worthiness;
Thou hast secured all God designed
For those whom He desired to bless;
Our souls and spirits lifted up
We break the bread, we drink the cup.

We gather, Lord, till Thou shalt come
As testimony in the scene
When, mid this world's opprobrium
Thy death and sufferings have been;
Our souls and spirits lifted up
We break the bread, we drink the cup.

We gather, Lord, unto Thy Name
In fellowship that will not cease
United in the single aim
Of righteousness, faith, love and peace
Our souls and spirits lifted up
We break the bread, we drink the cup.

We gather, Lord, to furnish Thee
With opportunity to show
Thyself and all Thy love whilst we
Remain in pilgrimage below:
Our souls and spirits lifted up
We break the bread, we drink the cup.

GATHERING

The Lord is glad to see His people gather
Emerging from their homes to come within
His own guest chamber, showing they choose rather
The suffering pathway than the way of sin;
In their desire to please Him they are led
To pay allegiance to their absent Head.

And they, assembled, see in one another
The Spirit's work, which cannot be denied,
Esteeming well each sister and each brother
As one for whom their Lord and Saviour died;
While they appreciate that every one
Is given by the Father to the Son.

They own Christ's claim acknowledging that whether
In life or death they are the Lord's; for He
To whom they raise their heart and voice together
Has operated that they might be free;
Since His great love had bound Him to fulfil,
Despite the depths of sorrow, all God's will.

THE BELOVED

I am redeemed
In the Beloved;
The Father has been declared
By the Beloved;
I am to hear
The Beloved;
I am taken into favour
In the Beloved.

DAVID

The movements of your cadences are lost from hearing;
The texture of your voice is a thralled secret.
Did regular rhythms underpin your structures;
Or were words secured by the clasps of rhyme?
The technique is beyond the scope of our imitation;
But the power of your themes excels our inspiration.
Your structure is nothing compared to your concepts,
Scorched in the forge of experience into soul.
Deep calls to deep among your swell of tides;
Light answers light above your sun-soothed lands.
Out of the shepherd, fugitive and warrior
Endurance worked the sweet psalmist of Israel.

And an Israel cored by Zion, the hill of His holiness,
Stretched by your vigour, built from the ramparts and inwards,
Struggled for from God's house outwards, founded
On the promises of God, reaching even to the Euphrates,
Each tributary nation giving gold for the house of God.

You came from the House of Bread,
The luxuriant valley, through the tent
Set for the sun to Saul's pavilion ‑
An Honoured, chilly place.
Soon the sky was your roof again,
Or the dank limestone of Adullam,
Wandering in deserts and mountains,
And in dens and caverns of the earth ‑
Mad in the Philistine's presence,
Priestly in God's tabernacle.
You found Jehovah your fortress
Even into your kingly palace.

AUTO PSALM

Once I was a gas-guzzler, belching fumes:

Grace has converted me to solar power.

I wandered through side-roads and cul-de-sacs:

Now grace gives satellite navigation.

My windscreen was translucent and shattered:

Grace replaced it, and broadened my vision.

My brakes could not restrain my headlong course:

Discs, pads, and fluid – grace replaced them all.

For my overheating engines and gears

Grace has abundance of coolant.

COMPUTER PSALM

I had crashed like all normal computers

But the mercy of God rebooted me.

Though my programmes were incompatible

He has linked me in grace to a mainframe.

Grace gave me a new hard-drive and software –

All I wait for is an upgraded screen.

Seeing my limited applications

It gave me richer functionality.

Where I had been merely a stand-alone

Grace connected me to a world wide web.

ACROSTIC PSALM

1.Abundant mercy has answered my need;
Abundant grace has given me a home.
2.Blessing was in God’s heart for wilful me;
Blessing is in my heart, put there by God.
3.Come to the earth the Saviour showed mercy,
Mercy is free since He went into death.
4.Death was the dominant power against me;
Love has acted to break that dominion.
5.Every day pressure surround man’s pathway;
Saints are succoured by great loving-kindness.
6.Faith gives us access into God’s favour;
Love gives us favour in the Beloved.
7.Grace has given me a place in glory –
Glory will accrue to the God of grace.
8.Heaven is my home through the Lord’s goodness –
How can I count His manifold blessings?
9.I was going astray like a lost sheep:
His goodness has led me to repentance.
10.Just as I am He poured mercy on me;
Just as He is He brought me into grace.
11.Kindness of God wished to make me at home
As David wished to bless Mephibosheth.
12.Love never fails, love is patient and kind;
And Jesus Christ never fails to show love.
13.Many waters cannot quench love, Christ proved;
The love which triumphed is now free to bless.
14.No one can challenge God’s rights in mercy
Nor cavil at the actions of His grace.
15.Outstretched arms are towards us in blessing;
Underneath us are everlasting arms.
16.Perilous seas cannot overwhelm me
Since I am buoyed by god’s loving-kindness.
17.Quietness pervades the people of God
Who rest in the Lord’s goodness and favour.
18.Redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus
We glory in the grace that redeemed us.
19.Sustained daily by His loving-kindness
We wait for redemption of the body.
20.Travellers on crooked paths find straight roads
As accompanies and protects them.
21.Unworthy of life since we were sinners
We have received mercy through Jesus Christ.
22.Victory appertains to Him alone
But grace allows us to share it with Him.
23.Worthiness belongs to Jesus alone
But love allows us to share it with Him.
24.Xenophobic Jews and Greeks are made one
For love at the cross smashed the middle wall.
25.Youths and maidens faint and the old languish
But God in His kindness revives us all.
26.Zealously sing praise to God and the Lord
By whom we have blessing, favour and love.

PSALM

What wonders were seen in the pristine church
Formed by the Spirit to be for Christ's glory!
What power in the word of the apostle
To turn to the Lord many in Israel!
What power in his word to heal the lame man;
And power in his word to unmask deception!
Shown the assembly's heavenly ambience
He blasted the passage through which Paul ventured.
How glorious the light that the Spirit gave
To magnify Christ, to Paul the apostle!
How full the truth that the heavenly Man
Disclosed to Paul, that the church is His body.
In the light of this what praise ascended
And what testimony came through Paul's writings.
The saints of Ephesus specially displayed
The love and life that took pulse from Christ's headship.
And throughout the vicissitudes of time
The Head has His body; the body its Head.
But whenever man is responsible
He has failed in his responsibility.
Let us give thanks for the heavenly Head
And for what is held by the Holy Spirit!
May we have help in our generation
To respond in practice to the Head's guidance.
But soon the saints departed from the way
Of constantly drawing from the Head's wisdom
Despite the power of the Holy Spirit
Since that was wise in divine operations:
Only thus could there be overcomers
Fit for the gift that heaven longs to bestow,
Faithfully adhering to their Lord's will
In the midst of the indifferent churches.
But what a turning away from the truth
Plunging men to the depths of superstition,
Binding their souls by human fantasies,
Blinding their hearts by depriving them of faith!
But in all this the Lord knew those who were His
And rejoiced in the light that shone in the dark.
Through the clogged valleys where little fruit grew
God drove like a ploughshare His servant Luther;
Rich was the yield from that overturning,
Justification by faith being the crop.
And once that was vigorously growing
Images and superstitions went tumbling
While men, assured of divine righteousness
Grew to show the righteousnesses of the saints,
The Holy Spirit thus securing praise
And witness, even to the blood of the martyrs.
Yet throughout this growth there was this weakness:
The trend to lean on the trellis of the state,
And any leaning on man's woodenness
Will splinter the hand like Egypt's broken reed.
But the grace of God continued to give
A gospel message to those who would attend.
How could there be revival to God's thoughts
And something on earth that was for His pleasure?
The public status might not be revived
But the body's vitality might flourish.
All depended on a separate path
Walked in subjection to the heavenly Head.
Rejoice therefore that persons have been found
Subject, and departing from iniquity
- Specially as seen in the public body -
Gathered together to remember the Lord.
But as I consider this blessedness
I remember my own need for commitment:
This blessedness is not some abstraction
But depends on persons with real devotion.
Holy Spirit, help me to be faithful
In my part in the lasting testimony!
Lord Jesus, keep me under Thy guidance
Until I am taken to be with Thyself!
Father of compassion give me the grace
To walk the narrow path until the Lord comes!

ABRAHAM

What did it mean to him
When Abraham clave the wood
Of the burnt-offering?

What did it mean to him
When Abraham laid the wood
On his son Isaac?

What did it mean to him
When Abraham built the altar
And piled the wood?

What did it mean to him
When Abraham bound Isaac
And laid him on the wood?

"POEMS ABOUT GOD"

I picked up a book of
“Poems about God”: there was
Some sense and wonder but
It did not give a pure note
Because it missed
The Man who best knows love.

YEA, HE LOVETH THE PEOPLES

(Deut 33 v 3)

All his saints are in thy hand...
Coming through the wilderness,
Coming to the promised land:
How He loves to care and bless -
Yea, he loveth the peoples!

...And they sit down at thy feet...
Knowing thus the better part,
Since Thy teachings are so sweet
That they satisfy their heart:
Yea, he loveth the peoples!

...Each receiveth of thy words...
To supply their spirit’s needs
Naturally as the birds
Feed upon the ripened seeds:
Yea, he loveth the peoples!

LOVE'S DESIGNS

As beneficiaries of grace
Enrolled in the illustrious ranks
Of those who come before Thy face,
Our Father, we give thanks.

Initiates of love's designs,
Acted upon in love's great ways,
Robed and secured in love divine,
Father, we give Thee praise.

As welcomed to Thy residence
And liberated to explore
The splendours of its ambience,
Our Father, we adore.

THE SON OF GOD

When I was bound by darkness
Beneath a load of sin
With judgement as my prospect
And fearfulness within
Who shone upon my darkness?
Who worked to set me free?
The Son of God who loved me
And gave Himself for me.

I'm longing for the moment
When all the ransomed crowds,
Arising into glory,
Will meet Him in the clouds;
How wonderful the moment
When blissfully I see
The Son of God who loved me
And gave Himself for me.

He is the Lord of glory
And is the Prince of peace,
Creator and Redeemer,
Whose wonders will not cease:
Wonder of grace and mercy
That such a One should be
The Son of God who loved me
And gave Himself for me.

O Father, make me like Him,
The Man of thy delight!
O Holy Spirit guide me
Where he will be my Light!
Help me, my Lord and master
To be conformed to Thee
The Son of God who loved me
And gave Himself for me!

5 February 2012.

BOW THE KNEE

One who always has existed
And will always be
Took His lowly place in manhood:
Bow the knee!

Seeing Christ who suffered for us
That we might be free
To enjoy God’s love and favour
Bow the knee!

As you read the Holy Scriptures
And rejoice to see
Christ as Helper of the needy,
Bow the knee!

Knowing Jesus, caring for us,
Raised us up that we
Might have part in praise and worship,
Bow the knee!

MAN

The face now shining
Is that of the Man
Whose face was smitten and marred.

He laid His right hand
Upon me - the Man
Whose hands were pierced.

The feet that will have
His enemies as footstool, once
Were nailed to the cross.


03/02/12

CROSS

God did not let them
Cast Jesus down; but let them
Lift Him up to die.


02/02/12

SPEAKS

He speaks in a way
Informed by the character
Of heaven itself.


01/02/11