The night is long, and dark, and strong, but the morning must come; and how what a sunrise will it be.
From Psalm 30:4-5: “Sing praises to the Lord, O you His faithful ones, and give thanks to His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment; His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
John Angell James (1785-1859) was an English pastor and Christian writer.
God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.
From Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.“
German-born Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident. Many of his writings express the role of Christianity in mankind’s daily lives. He paid the ultimate price for his activism against the Nazi regime during World War II.
Following
Truth’s path
God’s trusted light
Filled with renewing hope
Preparing
Navigating
Journey ahead
God’s defining promises
Hope front and center
Encouraging
Embracing
Eternity’s joy
God’s merciful love
Hope fills another heart
Overflowing
This series of poems (written in the German-inspired style of Elfchen or Elevenie) shares a total of eleven words in each poem, with a sequence by line of one, two, three, four, and one words.
From Hebrews 10:23: “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who has promised is faithful.”
Worldly treasures
Sparkle every hour
Each temptation
Promises to empower
Never enough
Looking beyond God
Contentment sought
Destiny’s promises flawed
Hearing God’s Word
Faith’s truth becomes known
Sin’s journey fades
Dark promises stand alone
Honesty breathes
Eternity stands
Spirit leads on
Promised grace, as Father planned
Walking with Christ
Following hope’s light
Leaving darkness
Promising love, always bright
From Lamentations 3:22-23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
From Psalm 119:1-2: “Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Happy are those who keep His decrees, who seek Him with their whole heart.”
Faith’s steady journey
Walking in God’s way
Keeping His decrees
Spirit sings each day
Glories of God’s law
Marking path ahead
Embracing His Word
Faithful, daily bread
Righteousness leading
Grasping trusted rope
Fixing eyes on God
Faith seals promised hope
God remains steadfast
Sharing divine love
Treasuring His flock
Grace flows from above
Commandments followed
Running to God’s light
Forgiving man’s sin
Cleansed heart taking flight
From Psalm 119:14-16: “I delight in the way of Your decrees as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.”
The simplicity of the Gospel gives what the complexity of human wisdom promises but never delivers.
From Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?”
John MacArthur (born 1939) is an American pastor and Christian author.
Always
With Jesus
Walking with courage
Strengthened through Risen grace
Victorious
Blessed
Beyond earth
Eyes upon Savior
Embracing His timeless grace
Salvation
Faith’s
Eternal light
Departing from darkness
Journey trusts Messiah’s grace
Promises
From Psalm 23:4: Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Always near
God’s mighty hand
From heavenly high
His creation, as planned
Mercy’s light
Shares daily bread
God’s comforting peace
Anchored at faith’s beachhead
Gospel’s breath
Fills from His Word
God delivers hope
Future no longer blurred
Harmony
Blessed with God’s love
Grace feeds man’s spirit
Established from above
Righteous road
God walks with thee
Promises fulfilled
Enemy’s darkness flees
From Genesis 28:15: “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
From Psalm 32:6-7: “Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to You; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. You are a hiding place for me; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with glad cries of deliverance.”
Journey’s faith seeking tomorrow
With every step, walking upright
God’s promises shall be fulfilled
Wilderness left, following light
Prayer’s faithfulness fills each day
Steadfast grace flowing from above
God’s mercy liberates each heart
Mission finished through Savior’s love
Darkness exits, righteousness leads
Passion for deliverance formed
Peace found in Savior’s forgiveness
Every breath of transgression transformed
God’s renewal of creation
Invitation to sinners each
Reconciled through Savior’s body
His blood flows, repairing faith’s breach
Mankind divided no longer
Each barrier crushed by love’s weight
Freedom’s light borne on Calvary
Redemption’s now visible gate
From 2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.”
From Jeremiah 17:7-8: “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.”
Coming to faith’s crossroads
Two unique trails offer choice
Trusting selves to wilderness
Or, following God’s voice
Like tree planted with grace
Waters nourish every root
Filling with life, staying green
Bearing always rich fruit
Sustained through steadfast trust
Even when darkness brings drought
Sustaining each righteous breath
Finding God’s faithful sprouts
Sunrise at Calvary
Resurrection’s risen hope
Witnessing His empty tomb
Grasping Christ’s promised rope
From 1 Corinthians 15:20-22: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.”
Big Sky Buckeye 