Calling
Upon Father
Hearing my voice
His righteousness nourishes faith
Energizing
Kneeling
Before Father
Accepting my repentance
His erasing sin’s scorecard
Forgiving
Trusting
Father’s promises
Transforming my wilderness
His steady compass navigates
Following
From Psalm 34:4: I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”
In midst of dark wilderness
Lost, yet seeking His cover
Praying for Father’s response
Forgiveness whitens sin’s color
Life’s journey shall remain hard
Moral compass guides each heart
Praising Father’s steadfast love
Shallow hope finds blessed restart
Ember of faith’s glowing light
Mercy shared from Heaven’s voice
Treasuring Father’s wisdom
Holy Spirit guides every choice
Righteousness conquers darkness
His answers more clearly seen
Walking in Father’s refuge
Grace, flowing with truth, intervenes
Rescued from evil’s shadow
Faith growing, no longer crushed
Breathing through Father’s spirit
His Son’s promised peace, never hushed
From Matthew 3:17: “And a voice from the heavens said, ‘This is My Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.'”
From 1 Thessalonians 4:1: “Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more.”
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God blesses us with opportunities to learn
Viewing our sinful ways, brings Him concern
Our Lord assembles His flock to learn His law
Witnessing our errant behavior with many flaws
We are encouraged to learn about God’s Word
Humbling ourselves, embracing faith now stirred
God creates each of us with simple, blessed minds
Acquiring wisdom from His Word, we gladly find
Wayward hearts and lost souls run to seek God
Taking time to learn His righteousness, all nod
Pursuing life’s errant ways, lost will be one’s fate
Our heavenly Father gathers many on this date
Our Lord delivers honest and equal justice for all
Learning to contribute good for others, is our call
God possesses sovereignty over all things
Conveying His message, truth will ring
We learn about Christ, His righteous ways
Staying with us to the end of our long day
Christ brings forward promises to be kind
Praying each day for mercy from His mind
Christ teaches at the temple, seeing God’s way
Bringing forward His Father’s Words, to say
Christ learns obedience, His Father knows
Taking our sins to a bloody Cross, He goes
Step forward and accept our Lord and Savior
Learning a new way, praise God’s selfless favor
God’s Word encourages us to listen and learn
Calling out to sinners, all of us stop and turn
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Originally published August, 2019.
From Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Father’s tender voice
Presenting oneself
Hearing His calling
Old ways left on shelf
One body in Christ
Transforming faith’s breath
Hearing His calling
Rising from sin’s depths
Father’s trusted Word
Walking faith’s new road
Hearing His calling
Sharing burden’s load
Response to Christ’s grace
Tuning in faith’s love
Hearing His calling
Finding peace above
Father’s righteous ways
Honoring faith’s flight
Hearing His calling
Embracing Christ’s light
From Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Grace
Unconditionally planted
Rising with purpose
Faith’s emptiness now fed
Fulfilled
Faith’s
Seeds scattered
Night and day
Growing fully, then ripening
Harvest
Sowing
Tiniest seed
Maturing into fullness
Faith nurtured by Spirit
Righteousness
The German hymn, “We Plow the Field and Scatter,” was written by Matthias Claudius in 1782. The lyrics were set to music in 1800 by Johann A. P. Schulz. The hymn was translated into English in 1861 by Montgomery Campbell.
As you listen to this song, focus on the lyrics as they appear on the screen. They add a meaningful visual image to this series of poems. The hymn’s piano melody is played by Mary Munson.
From Psalm 92:12-15: “The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, showing that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
Our Father, our Creator
Sowing faithful seeds of grace
Bearing Spirit’s endless fruit
Upon every earthly place
Father’s love thaws frozen heart
Enriching trust with each gift
Bringing hope into darkness
Faith’s ship no longer adrift
Father’s divine plan transforms
Sending His Son in harm’s way
Knowing glory to be praised
Calvary’s cross won’t delay
Father’s peace walks with Jesus
Reconciling wayward hearts
Proclaiming new creation
Freshness of faith, grace restarts
Father’s breath shall never rest
Stirring color without gray
Planting righteousness from light
Salvation rises this day
From 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: “For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And He died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the One who for their sake died and was raised.”
From Deuteronomy 5:12-14: “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work.”
Keeping His Sabbath Holy
Cherishing God’s blessed day
Strengthening our faith journey
Worshipping Commandments’ way
Submitting to Father’s way
Following His righteous road
Rescuing us from darkness
Relieving our burden’s load
Supplanting with mercy’s load
Praising Resurrection’s flight
Proclaiming Jesus as Lord
Allowing in grace-filled light
Trusting faith’s heavenly light
Walking daily with God’s Son
Shining His mercy upon
Stepping boldly now as one
Joining together as one
Sowing forgiveness of sin
Healing our relationships
Hearing Christ’s spirit within
From 2 Corinthians 4:5-6: “For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’s sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Light will shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
From Matthew 8:24-25: “A windstorm suddenly arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but He was asleep. And they went and woke Him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!'”
Swamped by storm’s endless waves
Darkness covers waters
Perishing, “Lord, save us”
Every son and daughter
Deceived by enemy
Lord brings light upon scene
Watching evilness flee
Savior transforms faith’s genes
Filled with courageous strength
Darkness gives in to light
Witnessing, “Lord with us”
Mercy boards rescue’s flight
Glorified God in Christ
Lord teaches how to love
Rising beyond death’s tomb
Infinite grace above
Urged to always stand firm
Darkness shrinking away
Hearing Lord, “Do not fear”
Righteousness paves His way
From Isaiah 41:13: “For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.'”
From Psalm 1:5-6: “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
Time forever witnessed
Gathered in God’s hands
Blessing with His patience
Every minute planned
Given choice of two ways
Passed on wicked’s advice
Choosing God’s righteous path
Grace pays entry’s price
Faith guiding each next step
Called by God to pause
Waiting for His command
Timeless counsel draws
Spirit, water, and blood
Filled with purity
Believing in God’s Son
Hope’s security
Deeply-rooted faith sown
Watered with God’s love
Overcoming darkness
Harvest’s light above
From 1 John 5:6-8: “This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree.”
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We have a clear path to choose
Anything else, we definitely lose
A godless enemy brings emptiness
He prowls and waits, eager to strike
His path only leads to unhappiness
Our lives feel like a bursting dike
We see the good life in front of us
But the light comes with false hopes
Glamour and riches without the fuss
Darkness clouds over life’s periscope
Gloomy doom brings promises, so empty
A champion bears our guilt and shame
There is a better way, filled with plenty
Life truly means more than just a game
The Light of Salvation chases away the dark
Christ bears our wounds at a bloody cross
The enemy slithers away, gone is his spark
Jesus’ Holy righteousness reaches across
Our loving Father sacrifices His only Son
His shed blood atones for our sinful ways
An empty tomb declares, Christ has won
Accept me and follow, He proudly says
We have a clear path to choose
Anything else, we definitely lose
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Originally published October, 2019.
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