Flame Of God (Poem © by Amy Carmichael)

Flame Of God (Poem © by Amy Carmichael)

 

From prayer that asks that I may be

Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,

From fearing when I should aspire,

From faltering when I should climb higher

From silken self, O Captain, free

Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

 

 

From subtle love of softening things,

From easy choices, weakening,

(Not thus are spirits fortified,

Not this way went the Crucified)

From all that dims Thy Calvary

O Lamb of God, deliver me.

 

 

Give me the love that leads the way,

The faith that nothing can dismay

The hope no disappointments tire,

The passion that will burn like fire;

Let me not sink to be a clod;

Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God 

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Bonhoeffer’s last poem, “Who Am I?”

One of Bonhoeffer’s last poem,  “Who Am I?”  deserves another hearing:

 

Who am I? They often tell me

I would step from my cell’s confinement

Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,

Like a squire from his country-house.

 

Who am I? They often tell me

I would talk to my warders

freely and friendly and clearly,

as though it were mine to command.

 

Who am I? They also tell me

I would bear the days of misfortune

Equably, smilingly, proudly,

Like one accustomed to win.

 

Am I then really all that which men tell of?

Or am I only what I know of myself,

Restless and longing and sick like a bird in a cage,

Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat,

 

Yearning for colours, for flowers, for the voices of birds,

Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,

Trembling with anger at despotisms and petty humiliation,

Tossing in expectation of great events,

Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,

Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making

Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?

 

Who am I? This or the other?

Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?

Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,

And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?

Or is something within me still like a beaten army,

Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

 

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine.

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Wait – (Poem © by Russell Kelfer)

Wait

by Russell Kelfer

 

 

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried; 

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied. 

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . . 

And the Master so gently said, “Wait.” 

 

“Wait? you say wait?” my indignant reply. 

“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why! 

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard? 

By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word. 

 

“My future and all to which I relate 

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait? 

I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign, 

Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign. 

 

“You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe, 

We need but to ask, and we shall receive. 

And Lord I’ve been asking, and this is my cry: 

I’m weary of asking! I need a reply.” 

 

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate, 

As my Master replied again, “Wait.” 

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, 

And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting for what?” 

 

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . . 

and He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign. 

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun. 

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run. 

 

“I could give all you seek and pleased you would be. 

You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me. 

You’d not know the depth of my love for each saint. 

You’d not know the power that I give to the faint. 

 

“You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair; 

You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there. 

You’d not know the joy of resting in Me 

When darkness and silence are all you can see. 

 

“You’d never experience the fullness of love 

When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove. 

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start, 

But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart. 

 

“The glow of my comfort late into the night, 

The faith that I give when you walk without sight. 

The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask 

From an infinite God who makes what you have last. 

 

“You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee, 

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee. 

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true, 

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I’m doing in you. 

 

“So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see 

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me. 

And though oft My answers seem terribly late, 

My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait.”

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Do it immediately; Do it with prayer; … (an old Saxon poem)

 

Do it immediately;
Do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly,
casting all care;
Do it with reverence,
Tracing His Hand,
Who placed it before thee with
Earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence,
Safe ‘neath His wing,
Leave all resultings,
DO THE NEXT THING.

(an old Saxon poem)

 

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The WORD – [Isaac Wimberley]

The Word – © by Isaac Wimberley

If there are words for Him then I don’t have them

You see my brain has not yet reached a point
Where it could form a thought
That could adequately describe the greatness of my God

And my lungs have not yet developed the ability
To release a breath with enough agility
To breathe out the greatness of His love

And my voice, my voice is so inhibited
Restrained by human limits
That it’s hard to even send a praise up

If there are words for Him then I don’t have them

My God

His grace is remarkable
Mercies are innumerable
Strength is impenetrable

He is honorable, accountable, and favorable
Unsearchable yet knowable
Indefinable yet approachable
Indescribable yet personal

He is beyond comprehension
Further than imagination
Constant through generations
King of every nation

But
If there are words for Him then I don’t have them

You see my words are few
And to try and capture the one TRUE God
Using my vocabulary will never do

But I use my words as an expression
An expression of worship to a Savior
A Savior who is both worthy and deserving of my praise

So I use words

My heart extols the Lord
Blesses His name forever
He has won my heart, captured my mind
And has bound them both together

He has defeated me in my rebellion
Conquered me in my sin
He has welcomed me into His presence
Completely invited me in

He has made Himself the object of my sight
Flooding me with mercies in the morning
Drowning me with grace in the night

But
If there are words for Him then I don’t have them

But what I do have…Is Good News
For my God knew that man-made words would never do
For words are just tools that we use
To point to the Truth
So He sent his son Jesus Christ as THE WORD
Living proof

He is the image of the invisible God
The firstborn of all creation
For by Him all things were created
Giving nothingness formation

And by His word He sustains, in the power of His name
For He is before all things and over all things He reigns
HOLY IS HIS NAME!!

Praise Him for His life
The way He persevered in strife
The humble Son of God becoming the perfect sacrifice

Praise Him for His death
That He willingly stood in our place
That He lovingly endured the grave
That He battled our enemy
And on the third day rose in victory

Praise Him because He rose!!
Hallelujah He rose!!
He is everything that was promised

Praise Him as the risen King
Lift your voice and sing
For one day He will return for us and we will finally be
United with our Savior for eternity

So it’s not just words that I proclaim
For my words point to the WORD
And the WORD has a name
Hope has a name
Joy as a name
Peace has a name
Love has a name
And that name is Jesus Christ
Praise His name FOREVER!

 

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Disturb us – [Sir Francis Drake]

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

 [© Sir Francis Drake]

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Jehovah Tsidkenu – “The Lord Our Righteousness”

Jehovah Tsidkenu – “The Lord Our Righteousness”  

© by Robert Murray McCheyne – November 18, 1834.

 

I once was a stranger to grace and to God,
I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.

 

I oft read with pleasure, to sooth or engage,
Isaiah´s wild measure and John´s simple page;
But e´en when they pictured the blood sprinkled tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me.

 

Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,
I wept when the waters went over His soul;
Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu””´twas nothing to me.

 

When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;
No refuge, no safety in self could I see””
Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.

 

My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain, life giving and free””
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.

 

Jehovah Tsidkenu! my treasure and boast,
Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne´er can be lost;
In thee I shall conquer by flood and by field,
My cable, my anchor, my breast-plate and shield!

 

Even treading the valley, the shadow of death,
This “watchword” shall rally my faltering breath;
For while from life´s fever my God sets me free,
Jehovah Tsidkenu, my death song shall be.

 

… … …

“And this is His name by which He will be called, 

‘The Lord our righteousness.’ “- 

Jer. 23:5-6

 

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