I am the Vine, you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much
fruit. However apart from Me you can do nothing. John 24:5
Abide In Me
Abide in Me, hide in Me, rest in this, My peace.
Receive in Me the thoughts of God that causes storms to cease.
For all that would oppress and overwhelm will fade away,
With but one word of living Truth, if you will only stay.
Abide in Me, trust in Me to meet your life’s demands.
Live in this assurance that your life is in My hands.
Here in Me the answer lies for strength to face the woes
That make your soul bow down, a tortured victim of its foes.
For in this sacred place I wait with unseen arms spread out,
To gather you as days grow dark with sin and fear and doubt.
The blood I shed will be for you a shield from every dart,
And cleanse your mind and keep and guard the doorway of your heart.
Abide in Me and you will rise above the bonds of dust,
To visions, new horizons, new and wondrous realms of trust,
And mysteries and secrets held in store and kept above…
Treasures all unfolding as you learn abiding love.
Abide in Me, for here in me the Father’s love awaits,
A river flowing deep and wide that has no bars or gates.
Here you can abide in Life and drink till you are whole,
Abiding in Me evermore, the homeland of your soul.
“To everything there is a season and a time
for every matter or purpose under heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
An Appointed Time
God has a time appointed for all things on the Earth,
And purpose written down for man before the day of birth;
Love or hate, peace or war, to each there is a season,
For all that happens unto man has a given reason.
There is a time for yielding ,a time to stand and fight,
A time to sit in darkness, a time to walk in light,
A time for great rejoicing, a time when joys are few,
A time to suffer patiently, and time for healing too.
God does not waste man’s valued time, nor his allotted years;
He numbers all man’s wanderings; He even saves man’s tears.
Through every season of man’s life, God’s purpose will stand sure…
To bring to glory many sons through sufferings they endure.
Though blessings turn to curses, the riches of His grace
Will bring us in our blindness to His appointed place.
And though our faith be fragile, still hope should not diminish,
For God works all things out for good, and good will be our finish.
God is not slack as some men think, but will His promise keep,
And those who trust, steadfast in faith, will in due season reap
Whatever does befall a man, God still works His design,
For He makes all things beautiful in His appointed time.
Copyright © 2008
“But love ye your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again;
and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be children of the Highest;
for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.” Luke 6:35
Beloved Enemy
O beloved enemy, what inspired your hate for me?
Was it some dark and secret thought that bore its fruit in you?
Was it some promise that I broke, perhaps a hasty word I spoke,
Some careless thing I might have done or even failed to do?
O beloved enemy, how dreadful was your hate for me,
Your blazing rage and blind contempt was more than I could bear.
And yet it did not serve to slay, but showed me in a clearer way,
A deep and hidden need for God I didn’t know was there.
O how the pain exposed my soul, my lack of love and self control,
And how I strived to save myself and justify my sin.
I sought a place where I could hide from wretched misery inside,
But even prayer died in my mouth before it could begin.
And so because of you I faced a need for growth, a need for grace,
Because of you I found in Christ the power to endure.
The everlasting arms became the secret place to flee my shame
Until I knew the peace of being sheltered and secure.
You didn’t mean to be a friend; you thought that hate would be my end,
But it became a fire that burned until I was set free,
For faith that wouldn’t have been mine was born from ashes left behind,
And faith wrought in the fire was what delivered me.
Through faith I came to deeply know the only One who could bestow
The perfect love that casts out fear, the love that conquered hate.
O Lord, You caused my heart to soar above it all and find the door
To inner strength of heart and soul You only could create.
And Lord, You loved Your enemies; You died, yes died for even these,
That theirs might be the gift of Life You promised from above;
For hatred put You in the grave and then became to You a slave,
As You arose Lord over hate, triumphant in Your love.
Beyond What I Am
Give me, O Lord, a life that won’t end
Till you’ve brought me beyond what I am;
Give me the strength of a lion, but let
It be clothed in the soul of a lamb.
Kindle I pray, a fire in my heart,
To embrace other hearts that are cold,
And set it ablaze with a heavenly flame
That cannot be quenched or grow old.
O Lord, give me eyes to see what You see,
Eyes that dwell not on things left behind.
Give me a glimpse of what is yet to be,
To inspire a new hope in my mind.
Bring me Lord, to that place that is holy and good,
That place not in time or in space,
Where wounds old and new are covered and healed
And all things are bathed in Your grace.
O give me a prayer that will touch heaven’s throne
And shatter the darkness with light;
And Lord help me stand in unshakeable faith
As Earth’s twilight fades into Earth’s night.
Give me I pray, the heart of a child,
That sweet, simple trust in Your care,
And cause me to hear with the ears of my heart
Your promise to always be there.
Today let me sing the first note of a song,
That will last for Eternity;
Let me sing with the joy that tomorrow will bring
The perfection of my love for Thee.
May I rise in the morn with Your name on my lips;
May I rise to give honor and praise
To a God who has brought me beyond what I am,
Before the full end of my days.
Cause Me To Drink
Cause me to drink of Your river, O Lord,
When my soul in its thirst looks away
In its longings to yearn, in deception to turn
To the river of death and decay.
For the cares of this world and its pleasures or gains
Are a cup full of poisonous wine.
Plunge me into Your flow till I’m full and I know
That the life of Your river is mine.
Cause me to live in Your river, O Lord,
Let it flood and spill over within,
Let it rise and flow out to a land parched with drought,
And bring back the flowers again.
O cause me to drink of Your wisdom and truth,
Quench my thirsting to know what You mean.
Cause my eyes yet once more to lose sight of the shore,
In the wonders of what I have seen.
And though I am tempted and tested and tried,
Till I scarcely can stand, speak, or think,
Many my soul never cease to drink of Your peace,
Cause me ever and always to drink.
Take me into the depths till I sink out of sight,
Far beyond all my heart dreams or knows,
Till I’m drowned in Your life to the earth and its strife
By the river that over me flows.
O cause me to drink of Your river, my Lord,
So my faith will be pure and stay true,
And remain undefiled with the heart of a child,
In the blessing and wonder of You.
“
The odor of Your ointments is fragrant; therefore do the maidens love you.Draw Me
Call forth in me those deep desires that have their roots in You;
Those hidden fires whose pure light divides true and untrue.
Let every shadow, every tint of life known and unknown,
Embrace the purifying flame that marks them as Your own.
O let Your shining presence from the mystic realm within,
Renew the holy ardor that consumes and cleanses sin,
That I may know the kiss of God and feel Your presence there,
Expanding and creating, birthing peace and joy and prayer.
Draw forth in me the willingness to come and to become
Set apart for You and dead to all You’ve drawn me from.
And Lord, whate’re Your hand has touched in dark or rainbow hue,
Cause me to discover there the Voice that speaks of You.
Let every song and every sight to You be sweet perfume,
A pledge for days to come when all love’s noblest dreams will bloom.
Lord, draw my heart away and it will run in glad pursuit,
Until You’ve wrought in mortal clay the stamp of holy fruit.
Reach deep into my heart, O Lord, where’re its depths be found,
To form and hallow bonds that join our hearts on common ground.
There where the hidden wellspring lies that causes Life to be,
May I always hear You, Lord, calling, drawing me.
“…feed surely on His faithfulness and truly you shall be fed.” Psalm 37:3
Feed on His faithfulness, O fainting heart.
Tired of being tossed and torn,
You wake up dying in the morn
Wishing you were never born.
Feed on His faithfulness.
Long into the night the Morning Star
Has comforted through darkening hours.
Their threat of doom above you towers,
But He, undaunted by their powers,
Shines on in faithfulness.
Feed on His faithfulness though troubles swarm
Upon your soul like clouds of bees.
He rides upon the clouds and sees
And trouble falls upon its knees
Before His faithfulness.
Feed on His faithfulness; His power and care
Will kiss away your anxious tears,
Will be your guide throughout the years.
Feed on His faithfulness.
Feed on His faithfulness; your soul shall see
New strength from deep within arise,
New hope that pierces through dark skies,
New faith that soars, a faith that flies
To meet His faithfulness.
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him
,Forgiveness
Forgiveness is a fragrance, the flower of the heart,
To understand its beauty is the Spirit’s work of art.
In its richness there is healing, within its depths is love,
And the essence of its sweetness is the heart of God above.
For it brings restoration and destroys the walls of hate,
Dissolving in its presence evil thoughts that separate;
Turning children to the fathers and the fathers to their own,
Blending hearts and spirits in a love that is God’s own.
Let not the seed of bitterness within the heart take root,
Lest many be corrupted and it brings forth bitter fruit.
Forgiving one another—is not this the test that’s true?
One cannot hate his brother and say he loves God too.
For if you judge another, you do yourself condemn;
Instead with goodness overcome the evil done by men,
As He gives power to forgive, a power divinely great,
To every heart that will forsake its right to judge and hate.
For as He said, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do,”
He knew that some day those He loved would have to say it too.
And even as God for Christ’s sake, our sins have all forgiven,
So now through Christ, let us forgive, seventy times seven.
“The earnest heartfelt prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power
available, dynamic in its working.” James 6:16 Amplified Bible
God Waits To Hear
God waits to hear our lips confess
We’ll not let go until He bless;
That here we’ll stay and pray and cry,
And here He answers though we die.
For prayer is passion, labors, tears,
For all the heart’s unbidden fears
And needs beyond our power to bear,
Until in weakness yielded there,
With one last, final, desperate thrust,
The burden is released in trust.
For in His wisdom, love, and plan,
To grant the heartfelt prayers of man,
In every conflict, test and task,
He waits to hear if man will ask
And ask again till God gives rest
To those who fought to have God’s best.
For prayer brings all, both high and low,
To level ground where all must know,
Beyond that moment, from that hour,
It is not might nor human power
That brings to them the answered prayer,
But God’s own faithful love and care.
Lord, help us call both night and day,
In every place and time and way,
That You to whom in prayer we plead,
Will be our hearing God indeed,
And grant the goodness You have willed
Till all the cries of Earth are stilled.
Gifts of The Heart
A bouquet of roses I lay at Your feet
For all of the times the world seemed so sweet,
But when clutched to my heart, how it cut, how I bled,
For in reaching for roses I found thorns instead.
And it taught me the lessons experience brings,
To leave to the world all the world’s pretty things,
And to hold as most precious what by faith I see,
For a Rose without thorns are You, Jesus, to me.
O Maker of jewels and Refiner of men,
I bring for the many times over again
When you fashioned from pressure and forged out of pain,
Gems of trust, wisdom, hope, where the old Self was slain…
This chest made of silver and inlaid with gold,
Filled with pearls, precious stones and diamonds untold.
In the fires of testing, the pressure of trial,
Will their luster and beauty, Lord, cause You to smile?
Lord, I bring You this wine that has aged through the years,
Made of conflict and peace, of rejoicing and tears,
And the time You invested, the love You have given
To create from these something fitted for Heaven.
In the blending and crush of surrender and strife,
Will you be satisfied with the taste of my life?
For though it was worthless You made something new
That was meant to be poured out and offered to you.
Three gifts of the heart, Lord, I bring unto Thee,
For the one greatest Gift You have lavished on me,
Your Life in my spirit, Your own divine rest,
All the words You have spoken that rescued and blessed.
And the fellowship shared in a love that each day
Ever seems to be giving its riches away.
So I lay these, my treasures, before Your great throne,
The gifts of the heart just for you, Lord, alone.