God Himself Our Pardon

 

 

 

God Himself

Became our pardon

And through His Son’s shed blood

We are forgiven.

 

‘Tis a mystery

We must all agree

And infinitely too wonderful

For any to see.

 

Three in one

As in the Divine Trinity:

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit

For you and me.

 

 

An infinite cost

To bring us salvation,

God, the sovereign facilitator,

Of our redemption.

 

In Jesus Christ

Drawing us to Himself

And in the Holy Spirit giving us

Spiritual health.

 

None good enough

To redeem human kind,

It took the Almighty Creator

To enter time.

 

Take heed

Therefore, unto yourselves,

And to all the flock

To feed the church of God

Which He hath purchased

With His own blood.

 

 

Whose blood?

God’s own blood

For none could pay sin’s price;

Only God could.

 

God our pardon

In his begotten Son

Gave Himself for His flock:

Every single one.

 

The church of God

Meaning to all the flock,

Purchased with God’s blood

Every single drop.

 

‘Tis a mystery

We must all agree

And infinitely too wonderful

For any to see.

 

But by faith

We believe the testimony

Found in the written Word:

Saved for eternity.

 

Acts 20:28

 

Take heed therefore

Unto yourselves,

And to all the flock,

Over which

The Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,

To feed the church of God,

Which he hath purchased

With his own blood.

 

 

‘Tis a mystery

We must all agree

But it’s not by the physical eye

Such things we see.

 

God our pardon

In his begotten Son

Gave Himself for His flock:

Every single one.

 

Stewart Russell © January 20, 2025

 

What Faith Is

 

 

Faith doesn’t get you through the storm

No, it does not!

Faith does not make the fiery trial

Any less hot!

 

Faith does not heal a loved one,

As a matter of fact, faith can’t!

Faith cannot even restore

A shattered romance.

 

Faith does not pay the bills

When the money is lacking

And it certainly doesn’t keep a train on track

When the train is not tracking.

 

Faith does not bring back a precious saint

When the grim reaper calls

And it surely doesn’t fill the gas tank

When the motor engine stalls.

 

Why did that airliner full of missionaries

Suddenly crash to the ground?

And why when they needed God

He appeared not to be around?

 

 

Clearly faith didn’t turn things around

For that plane burrowed into the ground

And the screams and the prayers went unheard

All the time it was going down.

 

Faith didn’t bring the miracle

That for long years some had sought

Though with tear-stained face and bruised knees

They prayed and were not distraught.

 

They believed every time

And they kept on beseeching God

But the evidence showed, and starkly so,

They never received that for which they called.

 

Though they had faith

And they never lacked,

Their request was not forthcoming

But was like a letter sent back.

 

 

So, what is this faith

That so many elaborate about?

This faith, that pleases God,

And the born-again cannot live without?

 

It is the faith that speaks to:

Who is in the boat

When the storms of life assail us

And we struggle to stay afloat.

 

It is the faith that we hold to

 And increasingly convert to trust

When all around us is falling apart

Amidst the confusion and fuss.

 

It is the faith that resolutely says

I know the Saviour is with me

And with trust in him I will march forward

Irrespective of what circumstances be.

 

His strength for my weakness!

His perfection for my every flaw!

Faith in the Spirit of the Living Word

And not the letter of the Law.

 

Faith in his every admonition!

Faith to walk the blood-stained way!

Faith to crucify the flesh and the world

And to walk with Jesus till my dying day.

 

Faith to traverse the valley of death

With an assured and calm repose

And faith in the knowledge of being a conqueror

Over death, my final foe.

 

Faith to know that when I open my eyes

After they close in death

I will behold my precious Saviour, Jesus,

And my eternal rest.

 

I will behold his nailed pierced hands

And know for a surety,

It wasn’t just faith that brought me through

But trusting the Almighty.

 

Faith doesn’t get you through the storm

No, it does not!

Faith does not make the fiery trial

Any less hot!

 

 

Faith is knowing

Jesus is with you in your boat

And he will be always with you

Whether it sails or float.

 

Stewart Russell © October 25, 2022

 

Fifty-Three Years

Fifty-three years, what does that mean?

I guess you would say middle age,

But for a nation, that’s pretty young

Though getting ready for adult stage.

However, it means, we have seen a lot

A lot from which we should have learnt,

Repeating the same lessons all the time

Means a lot of time will be burnt.

Precious, valuable, can’t recall time

With a lot of wasted effort too,

Two very precious commodities, these are,

I am sure that you share my view.

Fifty-three years of progress

And that we have certainly seen

Even though still appended to Great Britain

Since her queen is still our queen.

Shacking up in recent times with T and T

A satellite, you may say

And still searching for an identity

Now trying out the USA.

When the US sneeze we get a cold

This I am sure you have heard,

Nowadays it is all kind o’ flu

And I don’t mean to be absurd.

Presently we are obsessed with Trump

And how to impeached an apple

While we too have a myriad of problems

With which we seem not to grapple.

But remember, fifty-three is growing up

We are not yet old,

For a nation that is young

So as youth we can be bold.

Be bold in taking a stand for right

Even if against the world,

Be it the UK, the USA or the UN

We need to stand on God’s Word.

They may withhold their sanctions

When we don’t join them in their wrong

But if we stand on the Almighty’s side

He will make us strong.

Strong to take a stand

When many others fall like bowling pins,

Upright and bold and resolute

In God, we are bound to win.

Fifty-three years should be an eye-opener

Regarding our success and failure

And by learning from them both,

Enhance the prospects of our future

Praise and thanks to the Almighty

For all we have achieved,

Fifty-three years is about growing up

We need to do that with speed.

For fifty-three years we are grateful

Lord, we give you praise,

The lessons learnt, may we never forget

Let this be more than a phase.

We tend to have short memories

And repeat our past mistakes,

May we rise above this error

And stay on the narrow and straight.

Stewart Russell © November 2019

October Not All Over

October all over, not quite

We’re still in the hurricane season,

Can’t fold our arms and feel smug

October is a major reason.

September ended the hurricane season

You would recall hurricane Janet

But hurricanes occurred in October

And the hurricane season had to be reset.

Two months were added to the season

To include November as well,

From the 1^st of June to 30^th of November

That’s the period on which we dwell.

From mid August and all of October

This forms the peak of the season,

Expect most hurricanes during this time

For this is the primary reason.

Note the difference from the rhyme

That we said when we were at school,

“October all” over applied back then

But now that is no longer the rule.

Change will come inevitably

The only sure constant is change,

Except of course for The Almighty

Who, nothing or no one can rearrange.

Don’t drop your guard, at least not yet,

Surely not during the month of October

For if you do you may consequently find

For you it might be all over.

Hurricanes can cost the loss of lives

Or at least the loss of our property,

Hence it behooves us to be prepared:

There is that possibility.

Disabuse your mind of that little rhyme

I say that for the following reason:

In October it’s definitely not all over

We’re in the peak of the hurricane season.

Stewart Russell © October 2018

I Have A Voice

I have a voice

It was given to me

By God the Creator

 The Almighty

It articulates my opinion

And expresses my choice

It gives vent to my feelings

Thank God for my voice

It breaks forth in melodies

And praises to God

It declares His word

And his wonders laud

It explodes in anger

When I am provoked

But calms a friend

Finding it difficult to cope

It is sometimes still

With nothing to say

Then it proclaims loudly

That God is the way

It gives expression

To so many facets

Social and Spiritual

And many other aspects

It can be soft

Or it can be loud

And sometimes what it says

Doesn’t make me proud

It can be hurtful

In its discourse

And has to be restrained

With much needed force

It is expressed in words

That cut and sting

Or in a song

That soothes when I sing

I can use it for evil

Or I can use it for good

I dare say

For the latter I really should

I have a responsibility

When using my voice

To make sure always

I make the right choice

Using it to bless others

And honouring the Lord

Telling of his goodness

And proclaiming his word

Using it to witness

To a world that is lost

Of the Saviour’s love

Expressed on the cross

Of his death and burial

And his resurrection too

And the hope it holds

For me and for you

Announcing his coming

With an assured voice

Convincing the world

To make him their choice

I have a voice

And with it I pray

Lord use this voice

As a blessing today

Stewart Russell © April, 2017