CHRISTIAN POEMS PAGE 1

Vacuum

There is a great, deep, aching void
    That no one else can fill,
I've tried so many times in vain
    To find it aching still.

Oh Life, my life, I come to you
    I give my empty cup--
I let that yearning grow within
    That you may come and sup.

I need you Lord, so very much,
    Without you life is vain,
If emptiness will bring you close
    I welcome aching pain.

Yes, let it grow, and grow and grow--
    This empty, empty void,
If emptiness will give more space
    For you to fill, my Lord!

1983

The Promised Downpour

(This came on the occasion of a torrential rain that came
during a prayer meeting for the out-pouring of the Spirit)

We prayed for a great revival,
And God sent us a sweeping rain.
We cried for the lack of power
For the Spirit to descend once again;

And he gave us this sign from the heavens
To encourage our hearts to believe,
And now we can pray with assurance
For the promised blessing receive.

As it was in the day of Noah
The rains came from above and below,
So the deep that is crying within us
Was answered in a way we can know.

So now we continue our vigils
And lift up our heads and not faint.
He know the way we are seeking,
He has heard the prayers of the saints.

When we know that revival is coming,
He works in our hearts to prepare
Because the rain need the reformation
To contain this answer to prayer.

May. 4, 1992

God's Building Program

Destruction before construction.
Oh my! Unpleasant thought!
We pray for intercession
And all we get is drought.

Recession brings depression,
Depression reigns in doubt,
If strength comes forth by weakness
It's time we found it out!

Temptations try our patience
To see just who will win,
This seems to be our portion
In this old world of sin.

To persist in perseverance
For us is something new,
We never could imagine
That this is what we’d do!

God grant us grace and wisdom
To walk this lonely way,
Believing in your mercy
To hold us day by day.

Oh, God, you gave the vision,
But what will happen now?
For now we see destruction--
Construction – yes -- but how?

March 4, 1992

Post Script

I have to write of joy,
Of joy in tribulation.
In spite of all there's faith,
And moments of revelation.

The Word of God is true,
And by this declaration
To cause the foe to flee
I make this proclamation,
I know that we love Jesus,
I know he overcame
And he who gave the vision
Will triumph in his name.

March 5, 1992

A Lamentation
(Written when Elenir first cried out for our
return to Rubiataba, GO - Brazil)

Go north-oh my soul- go north-
The land of the North-
For destruction is coming-
The nation is corrupt-
The church is divided-
A great separation is coming over the land.
God is sifting, sifting, sifting, his people.

Who is a rock
But our God?
Who is a defense
But the God of Abraham?

Who can stand in this day of his sifting?
Who can lift up a banner
And say this is the God of Israel!
Not by might, not by power-
But by my Spirit- says our God.

I want to go north-
Oh, my God,
Trusting only in thee-
Nor for peace,
But bearing a sword-
Bearing a banner-
The banner of the Spirit.

The Sword, oh Lord, the Sword-
The Sword of thy Word
Dividing in two-
Separating-
Like a wind that scatters,
And scatters,
And scatters,
And then gathers the Wheat in the bins.

And nor for rest-
Not rest from the battle,
For the battle is the Lord's
And we are in it!
And not for human love
For we have seen the end
Of sentimentality.

We are not meant to be a family of the flesh-
Or sentimentalities-
Of picnics and family gatherings-
Of pictures and songs-
Of Thanksgiving and Christmases-

We are called to battle-
But we were divided-
We were scattered-
We were shattered-
We were bereft
Of all of our children-
There is left to us- none
No, not one-
Because God has something to do
And he's not done yet-
For the Sword of the Lord
Must yet go forth,
Go forth, go forth-
From the north.

Nov. 17, 1993

Grace

I didn't pray.
God came.
I didn't seek.
Jesus knocked.
I didn't cry.
Jesus wept.
I didn't love.
Jesus loved.
I didn't die.
Jesus already died.
I couldn't “pay the price”.
It was already paid.

I didn't believe.
The Son of the living God
His only Son
Himself incarnate
Love, died, and lives
And waits until
All enemies are subdued.
And now--
His faith begins to move
In me.
No--
I pray.
I seek.
I cry.
I love.
I died in Adam.
I live in Christ.

Aug. 1989

My Cross

I do not choose my cross today,
It's not in me to daily die.
I live in Him who made the way,
His Spirit came, I need not try.

I do not know what I may face,
This is the day that He has made;
I only know I'm in my place,
When I'm in Him, I'm not afraid.

Jesus walked, and slept, and ate,
He really lived and really died;
He felt the world of love and of hate,
He's still alive and He's inside.

I do not know my cross today,
I may be up, I may be down;
I only ask whichever way
To give a glad “amen.”

Jul., 1990

Disciplined Child

When Father says “No”
    I want to say “Yes”,
To yield my heart without pain or distress.

When Father says “No”
    It is always for good,
I want this fact to be well understood.

When Father says “No”
    I don't want to pray
“Lord, this cross is too heavy, please take it away.”

When Father says “No”
    He sees far ahead,
His plans are eternal, mine lead to the dead.

When Father says “No”
    My Father is real!
He gives me great joy. How safe I feel!

1984

Inside, the Sword

I have a controversy with the Most High.
I have taken hold of something I cannot let go.
Inside my innermost being His Sword
Slashes with fire--
Severs my joints--
Pierces my marrow--
My every thought with incessant stream
Revolts, resists, rejects, repels--
With every device seeks some escape--
And yet that Almighty Hand
Steadfastly sure, with resist less purpose
Deftly strikes the roots of hidden desires
Unknown to me.

Oh, that I might fly away to some far desert,
Or sit under a juniper tree
And request to die!

Oh, that I might return
To a placid, jejune existence,
Content to live day by day,
To satisfy the appetite
On some nominal earthly plane!

But no, the fire is there,
Burning, burning,
Loosening every satisfaction,
Every latent lust,
Every image of self,
Every idol seen and unseen,
And with the power of jealousy
Turning flesh to ashes
And self to powdery dust.
His sword is a fire in my bones.
I have given myself to Him,
And there is no return,
No quiet fireside life is left to me--
I have embraced His secret weapon
And the throes of His combat,
The Sword with ceaseless motion
Burns with consuming fire,
Exciting fury and triumphant passion.

For yet, I, too,
Daughter of Israel
Shall bear in my thigh
The signet of
His relentless conquest
Already consummated
So long ago.

(after receiving the Holy Spirit)

Zeroing In

God brings us to nothing one way or another,
Through our miserable self or our miserable brother;
For out of this dust; this person of clay
Finds devious means to have its own way!
That green-eyed monster, the pity for me
Displays the emotions for the world to see
It is like a balloon that soars to the skies
But God pricks through the sham with one look of his eyes!
Thank God I am nothing, and never shall be
But Christ by his Spirit is living in me!
Amen.

April 1984

Battleground

When flesh meets flesh
    There's a head-on clash
And somebody's ego
    Is bound to crash!

When Spirit meets spirit
    It is three-in-one
And hearts are united
    In the Father and Son.

This life-long struggle
    Is a ceaseless war,
The Satanic lion
    Is a continuous roar.

But the lion of Judah
    Already prevailed,
All accusations
    On the cross were nailed.

July 1984

A Prayer:

Holy Father make me one
By the Spirit through the Son,
Glorify thy name in me,
Make me one with Trinity.
May my will be wholly thine,
Give me life and love divine,
This alone is my desire,
Wholly cleansed by holy fire.

Secrets

I am learning to keep secrets with God;
    On precious truths--
The tears that no one sees,
    The prayers that no one hears;
The little deeds I want to do
    For no one to know, but just for you.

Lord, I don't know much about this way--
I just am learning day by day.
There are other things that others see,
And in their praise is reward for me,
But Lord I want to enter more and more
To a covenant secret behind the door
Where only you can hear my cry,
Where on your bosom alone I lie;
The things you tell me there alone
I want to hold for my very own--
Oh Lord, the burden of your heart I want to share,
For the things you want, I want to care.
Teach me, Lord, another way;
Not all I feel I have to say--
Alone with you, my heart I give,
And just for you I want to live.
In the secret closed I’ll tell you all,
The times of faith, the times of fall--
So much I do to be seen of men,
But, Lord, I ask for grace to enter in
To the closet of prayer and commune with you,
For you to have glory in all that I do.
Amen.

Song of One Little Seed.

Go gather the stars in a basket
    And number them one by one,
You will never finish your counting
    Till the end of time has come.

Call forth the children of Abraham
    From now to eternity,
And you'll find as God has promised
    They're like the sand of the sea.

I'm just a drop in the bucket,
    An atom in this great sea--
Yet the God so great and infinite
    Has plans for even me.

Mysterious predestination
    Know before ever I could see,
My father chose my pathway
    And poured out His love for me.

Now here I sit at His footstool
    And wait for His moving in me
To be quickened by His Spirit
    To be what He wants me to be.

May 10, 1989

Dust Storms

Come, gather my soul in the whirlwind,
    And scatter my ego in the dust,
I'm tired of my self-justifications,
    There is only one who is just.

There are times when I rest in the Spirit,
    And I know I am sanctified,
By faith I enter into the worship,
    With Him I'm identified.

But oh, this horrible mixture!
    Oh flesh despising the grace.
Come, powerful wind of the Spirit
    Blow the dust away from my face!

The church is in one vast whirlwind,
    The dust is flying high!
Oh, for a rain of the Spirit
    In a deluge from the sky.

April 25, 1989

The Question is--

Can the blind lead the blind to a land of perfect light?
Can a shadow bring the sun to an earth enclosed in night?
Can a lake give living water when the source of it is dead?
Can a body ever function disconnected from the head?
Can the mind with human reason bring the light upon God's word?
Can the church without a vision give the message of the Lord?
Can a surgeon heal a cancer without cutting with the knife?
Can the Holy Ghost rejected raise Christ's Body into life?

No, the blind without exception, though they vainly claim they see
Cannot change a type or shadow into clear reality.
Oh, that well of living water which our Lord said he would send
Must again flow from its fountain and with every part must blend.
Never shall the human reason bring the church to unity,
Vision comes when minds are humbled and Christ Himself has liberty,
Purging sin and sharply burning with the Holy Ghost and fire,
Thus he brings to life his Body, which alone is his desire.

April, 1964

Eternity Now

Today is the day of salvation,
Today is the day of the Lord,
For I've had a new revelation
Of Jesus, the living Word.

I'm not looking for pleasures tomorrow,
Nor regretting the sins of the past;
I'm realizing my present salvation,
I'm beginning to know Him at last!

There's someone within me who is calling,
“Come live in eternity now,
For the life in the Spirit is timeless,
Not trying to get there somehow!”

Dec. 31, 1986

She laughed

Sara, behind the curtain
Laughed in unbelief,
That she should have a child--
Her barren womb, her grief.

The Lord rebuked her laughter,
Renewed his word that day,
So she conceived her Isaac,
And laughed another way.

She judge the Lord was faithful,
In faith was Isaac conceived,
In the honor roll of Hebrews
She was one of those that believed.

And now, oh daughters of Sara,
Let us weep for our unbelief,
For the faithful God of Sara
Will give laughter for our grief.

Aug. 1989

Present or Future Tense?

When His thoughts are my thoughts
Ill know what to say;
When His heart is my heart
Ill know how to pray.

When His work is my work
Ill know what to do;
When His dreams are my dreams
Ill see dreams come true.

His thoughts are my thoughts
By simply receiving;
His work is my work
By simply believing.

1985

Song of Faith

Faith is a leap in the great unknown
With the loving assurance that we are not alone.
Faith hears the call of the Shepherd's voice
And leaps in the joy, and with hope can rejoice.
Faith is the song in the long, black night;
Faith is the power to walk without sight--
Faith is the gift from the Person we love
Born on the wings of the Heavenly Dove;
Faith leads the way to talk with our Lord;
Faith gives the strength to obey His word;
Faith is the door to heavenly things;
Faith is preparing her priests and kings;
Faith gives transition from death to life,
Adorning the virgin to make us his wife.

Mar. 13, 1984

My Song of Grace

Grace is the law of the Spirit working in me.
Adam who sinned has died on the tree.
Christ sent us his Spirit who cannot sin,
Now, hallelujah! I'm dwelling in him.

So why this depression, oh my soul?
Confess the truth, let his Spirit control.
I'm a child of the day and not of the night.
Grace gives me the power to walk in the light.

If I make some mistakes, what then?
Bring them out in the open and confess Jesus again.
We are saved by our hope in Jesus’ return,
Grace has been given, there’ s nothing to earn.

The power to forgive, the power to love,
This revival poured out from above.
For this we are praying, for this we wait--
Though the promise tarry -- it's never too late.

March 23, 1990

The Vision

We can see it is time for the third reformation,
Combined with revival to shake this nation;
Israel returned to their promised land,
But without their messiah they don't understand.
And neither do Christians, expecting a rapture
Flying off in a cloud to a mystic hereafter.
One people, one promise, one glory,
One cross, and only one man to finish this story;
Oh, Jesus, come quickly for a glorious bride,
For your chosen people for whom you died.

March, 1990

Manifesting Jesus

In losing self we do not lose personality.
We become precious stones
In the breast-plate of Aaron,
Each with a different hue,
Polished and glorious,
Giving glory to God.

At the table of the Lord
As the Spirit moves
Upon each person
According to his nature
Christ is manifested
In glory.

There is a song from a heart redeemed;
Expressions of gratitude beyond words;
Prophecies revealing the purposes of God
For his people, for the coming of His kingdom;
Compassion stirred for a world without love;
Ministrations to one another for healing
Of soul and body;
Communion in the depth of grace
In wonder and awe.
The body is functioning
Through each vessel
In harmony.
This is worship.

Personality is Jesus in us--
His manifold personality
Manifested in vessels of clay;
Beautiful, glorious harmonious--
Stones with our own name
Borne on the heart of Jesus
In a tabernacle,
The place of meeting with God.

July 1989

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