Monday Memories: Learning, God’s Way

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.”

man reading a book

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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

brown book page

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Originally published August, 2019.

Oswald Chambers Quote

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Trust entirely in God, and when He brings you to the venture, see that you take it.

From Isaiah 12:2:  “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and will not be afraid, for the Lord is my strength and my might; He has become my salvation.”

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) was a Scottish evangelist and Christian teacher.  Following his death from an illness while in Egypt during World War I, his wife took on the task of transcribing the detailed notes she had written from his lectures and sermons.  Gertrude Hobbs Chambers’ efforts resulted in the publication in 1924 of MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST.  I frequently read from this devotional, and it has greatly deepened my faith and understanding of God’s Word.

Planting Righteousness

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.”

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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

 

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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.”

Resurrection’s Voice (Elfchen Series #207)

Gathering

Hope

Never forsaken

Revealed at Calvary

Flesh nailed to cross

Love

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Empowering

Love

None greater

Messiah conquering death

Saving each of us

Jesus

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Everlasting

Jesus

Faith’s builder

Risen Savior experienced

Emmaus Road’s transforming light

Redemption

Courtesy of Pinterest.

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.

Embracing Grace (Elfchen Series #206)

Turning Point

Facing

Darkness alone

Another door opens

Patience discovers mercy’s reward

Opportunity

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Healing Brokenness

Tasting

God’s Word

Holy Spirit guides

Always toward Savior’s light

Redemption

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Coming Alive

Witnessing

Sinful nature

Separated from Father

Christ resurrects salvation’s bridge

Love

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His Proven Ways

From Deuteronomy 10:12:  “So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you?  Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

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Facing yet another day

Father’s mercy offers hand

Overcoming each challenge

Solid ground covers sinking sand

 

Trusting path of wisdom’s light

Father’s Word guides each step

Escaping evil’s darkness

Destined for Calvary’s doorstep

 

Looking back at long journey

Father’s love fills wayward heart

Trading pride with humbleness

Hope renewing from faith’s restart

 

Embracing His proven ways

Father’s grace shining ahead

Resisting darkest shadows

Filled with Son’s everlasting bread

 

Blessing Savior’s righteous road

Father’s sovereignty leads

Offering bridge to follow

Blood of Christ saves each tender reed

 

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From John 14:5-6:  “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going.  How can we know the way?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.'”

Monday Memories: Christ Prevails

man holding sheep statuette

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From 1 Peter 2:24:  “He himself bore our sins in His body on the Cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”

Chosen and precious in God’s sight

To believers, Christ’s Spirit brings Salvation

Jesus Christ turns darkness into light

 

Our faith’s chosen and precious cornerstone

Christ comes forward to redeem us

We can live by His bread alone

 

Jesus becomes our Holy, High Priest

Believe and never put to shame

God’s own Son takes His seat

 

Nonbelievers reject God’s Holy, chosen one

Christ prevails to become our Rock

Salvation goes through God’s Holy Son

 

Christ suffers mightily for His flock

Yet, He never commits any sin

Following God’s steps around the clock

 

Christ never waivers, He follows through

Entrusting Himself to His Heavenly Father

Bearing our sins, Resurrection’s glorious view

 

Our lives feel threatened with gloom

Jesus never ceases caring for us

Standing by, Christ prevents our doom

 

Jesus at our side, always a friend

Loving us with passion and intensity

Our opportunity for Salvation, God sends

 

Christ, the Good Shepherd, beckons us

No longer gone astray and lost

Christ’s body and blood heal us

 

The old, rugged cross stands tall

Freeing us from our endless sins

Washing us white, Salvation calls all

 

Living in bondage, forever in sin

Emancipation by Christ, paying the ransom

Accepting Christ, brings all believers in

From Luke 24:6:  “Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”

backlit cemetery christianity clouds

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Originally published September, 2019.

Monday Memories: Choose His Path

photography of mountains under cloudy sky

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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

cross-sunset-sunrise-hill-70847.jpeg

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Originally published October, 2019.

Father’s Love

From Philippians 2:5-7:  “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness.”

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Chained to sin’s wilderness

Faith missing what matters

Detached from Father’s love

Like sheep, mankind scatters

 

Father responds with love

Relationship desired

Son of God empties self

Divine plan now hard-wired

 

Born in human likeness

Messiah shares His love

Father’s trusted guidance

Promised grace from above

 

Given name of Jesus

Mercy’s love now descends

Servant becomes Shepherd

Father’s own heart transcends

 

Calvary’s death vanquished

Jesus forever reigns

Every knee shall now bend

Father’s love breaks each chain

 

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From Philippians 2:9-11:  “Therefore God exalted him even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name, so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Eternity’s Treasure

From 1 Timothy 6:10:  “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”

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Many pursue worldly riches

Studying today’s balance sheet

Counting every single dollar

Sadly, sailing away from God’s fleet

 

Darkness harbors each earthly thought

Bending to desire . . . needing more

Chasing abundance without peace

Another day posts wealth’s losing score

 

Jesus speaks with Father’s wisdom

Holding eternity’s treasure

Teaching man to follow His light

Salvation’s gift fills mercy’s ledger

 

Enlightened spirit today sails

Sharing deposits of His grace

Leaving sinful journey behind

Jesus navigates faith to hope’s place

 

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From Mark 6:35-37:  “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for My sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?  Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?”