Pray Rather than Worry

 

 

Pray rather than worry

Worry results from fear,

Fear is a plain case of unbelief

So is worrying prayer.

 

Pray rather than worry

Worry is unbelief,

Unbelief says that God is unable

To bring needed relief.

 

Pray rather than worry

Worry brings on stress,

Stress when not properly managed

Is feeling less blessed.

 

 

 

Pray rather than worry

Worry is double-minded,

The apostle James forbids this;

Please be reminded.

 

Pray rather than worry

Worry makes it worse

Whatever our problem is at the time

As though it’s a curse.

 

Pray rather than worry

Worry is not faith,

Search worry all the way through;

There is not a trace.

 

 

 

Pray rather than worry

Worry is frustrating,

You will pray for hours on end

Without ever receiving.

 

Pray rather than worry

Worry is a force,

If this is the reason why you pray

Then Satan is the source.

 

Pray rather than worry

Worry is not trusting,

Pray in simple faith believing

That God is hearing.

 

 

 

Prayer is often worry

That brings us false relief,

This is believing with much prayer

We will get release.

 

Put it all in God’s hands

Whatever is the matter

And dare my sister to leave it there

With a little less chatter.

 

Let not prayer be chatter

Going on and on and on

As though hoping for God to return

From wherever He has gone.

 

Gone on a long journey

With no return in sight

Just like how the prophets of Baal

Engaged in futile fight.

 

Slashing, shouting, striving

But to no avail,

The god, to whom they often prayed

Had repeatedly failed.

 

 

 

Pray rather than worry

But with childlike trust

To God the Father that indwells us

In the name of Jesus.

 

Stewart Russell © November 21, 2025

 

Warriors and Worriers

 

 

 

“Why worry

When you can pray?”

“It’s easier said than done”

Is what we also say.

 

Warrior or worrier

Which of the two are you?

In whom do you really trust?

Answer me true.

 

Believers, if you ask me,

Are prone to worrying,

Yet they do pray incessantly

With much warring.

 

Warriors

They appear to be

But worriers

Is what we see.

Seems a very thin line

Between the two,

Prayer warriors are worriers;

Is this what they do?

 

Hamstrung by terms

And engrossed with titles,

Trust and faith seem lacking

But are so vital.

 

Ineffective worriers

Masquerading as warriors

Touting faith and resilience

From concrete towers.

 

Warring with the enemy

For victory already won,

Looking like beaten down foes

Terrorized and undone.

 

This is the image I get

Like watching a performance

Where the bark is extremely loud

But is down on resistance.

 

Where is the faith?

Where is the trust?

Why are the warriors, worriers?

Why this anxious fuss?

 

 

 

Goliath the warrior

Was felled by a stone

Where prior to this great victory

Israel did groan.

 

As cowardly worriers

They faced the Philistines

Until David with his sling shot

Arrived just in time.

 

Baal’s warriors warred

Against God on Mt Carmel,

But were reduced to losing worriers

When all of them fell.

 

Battles are not won

By how well Christians pray

But in unrelenting trust in Christ

Who is the way.

 

 

From hearts inclined to God

Is where the battle is won;

Not in anyone’s skillful rhetoric

With words cleverly spun.

 

It’s not how we beg

Or how we moan and groan

But out of our humble hearts

Reserved for God’s throne.

 

Warriors are faithful

To the written Word of God,

Not trusting in worldly armour

Like Israel’s King Saul.

 

Prayer warriors worry

Like the worriers of Baal

Where worry indicates unbelief

And worry spells fail.

 

Stewart Russell © July 6, 2024

 

Should I Say I Know?

 

 

Should I say, “I know,”

If I’ve a strong belief?

Oh yes, you should

If it brings relief.

 

Job said it, didn’t he

When severely tried?

“I know!” he stated emphatically,

It’s in Job 19:25.

 

Should I say, “I know,”

If it’s in God’s Word?

“I know Messiah comes,” she said,

When she had only heard.

 

The woman at the well

No longer had to hide,

Go yourself and check it out

In John 4 verse 25.

 

Should I say, “I know,”

If I strongly believe?

Of course, you should, my friend,

If from God you’ve received.

 

 

For “I know,” said Paul,

“Whom I have believed,”

As he shared with young Timothy

What he had received.

 

Should I say, “I know,”

When so many doubt?

Martha did, you would recall

And Jesus worked it out.

 

“He will rise,” she said,

In the resurrection,

Like Job, she too had believed,

In this revelation.

 

 

“I am the resurrection

And the life,” Jesus said,

“And he that believes in me

Shall live though dead.”

 

Should I say, “I know?”

Well, tell me why not,

Especially, as I’ve discovered,

God is all we’ve got.

 

Yes, I hear the rebuttal,

And I see it every day

Re those with their millions

Heading the wrong way.

 

They too say, “I know,”

Trusting in their wealth,

But what have they got, I ask,

When they’re facing death?

 

Their “I know” is mute

Unlike Job’s “I know”,

And all the wealth they have,

They still have to go.

 

 

In whom is your “I know”?

It had better be God,

For if it is not with all you’ve got

You have nothing at all.

 

Should I say, “I know,”

If in Christ Jesus I believe?

Oh yes, you should, my friend,

I trust you are relieved.

 

Stewart Russell © August 22, 2024

 

Another Word for Trust

 

 

Except…

 Ye become as a little child!

Not necessarily

As in meek and mild…

 

Nor for your sojourn

 Pure and undefiled

But trusting in God

As your chosen lifestyle.

 

But what is trust?

Please explain!

Is there a single word?

A one-word refrain?

 

O yes, there is!

Can’t you guess?

Well, no bother…

On one word I rest.

 

 

“Cling to the Lord

With all thy heart…”

Find this verse

And you’ve got a start.

 

Something is wrong

But no need to fuss,

You won’t see cling

But there is trust.

 

“Trust in the Lord

With all thy heart…”

Cling fits in nicely,

How’s that for a start?

 

To hold on tightly

Or tenaciously:

That’s what cling means

Check a dictionary.

 

It’s not in the Bible

That’s my assertion…

Well certainly not

In the King James version.

 

 

Trust is confidence:

“On such you can lean”,

Very similar to cling

If you see what I mean.

 

I recall a youngster

Being spanked by his mom,

She would push him away

But back to her he’d run.

 

Despite the spanking

Staying away was refused,

The source of his pain

Was his only refuge.

 

He clung to his mother’s apron

Is the example given:

The only place of comfort

Whatever peril threatened!

 

To whom would we go?

Peter did ask,

When many turned away

From the Saviour’s path.

 

 

To the Saviour cling

Whatever the fuss!

Cling, I hope you see,

Is another word for trust.

 

Lean is in there too,

We have synonyms three:

Lean and trust and cling

All speak of safety.

 

Stewart Russell © September 21, 2020

 

Defenselessness

 

 

Defenselessness is a defense

A mechanism for trusting God,

Of critical importance to the believer

Absolutely vital to the “called”.

 

This may seem quite nonsensical

To the powerful and the strong

But if like me you are a weakling

On it you would not frown.

 

Cows have horns and goats too,

This is their defense,

Some animals are fleet of foot

And some can jump the fence.

 

Some are huge and frightening

Like the elephant and the bear,

And when you see the lion’s teeth

It is a warning to stand clear.

 

Some deliver powerful kicks

Like the donkey and the mule,

Some make use of camouflage

I find that rather cool.

 

But there are particular animals

To which believers are likened,

They have no defense mechanism

And are quite easily frightened.

 

Defenselessness is their defense

Sheep are the animals I mean,

They are scattered every which way

If the shepherd is off the scene.

 

But their defenselessness is good

They are cognizant of their weakness,

Hence they trust their human leader

And with him they safely rest.

 

So it is with the believer

Our dependence is on Jesus,

We have no defense in ourselves

But in God we quietly trust.

 

 

His strength is perfect in weakness

The weakness of His little lambs

Defenselessness becomes the key

In depending on the Master’s hand.

 

Defenselessness is our defense

We have neither bark nor bite,

Hence, we simply resist the devil

And our Shepherd puts him to flight.

 

Defenselessness is a weapon

Given to the trusting child of God,

Any defenses of his own

Are of the devil, not the Lord.

 

So let us be like the sheep

Which in a shepherd must put its trust,

We are of “the whosoever” will

That put their trust in Jesus.

 

 

Defenselessness is a mechanism

For all that trust in God,

Stand still and see your salvation

All you who are named the “called”.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019

 

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

 

Faith in Whom?

 

 

 

What we call faith in God

Is more often than not faith in man,

To impress the human authority

In all of life is our plan.

 

For the job and for the wife

We say we sought God’s plan

But the truth be told in all honesty

Such was always in our hand.

 

God did not choose our job

And neither did He choose our wife

And neither was He responsible

For most of our choices in life.

 

Hopefully they were wise choices

Base on the wisdom from above

Installed in each born-again believer

Because of the Father’s love.

 

Faith in human authority

Has been plagued with many a fall

And even in the case of Christians

Many accuse Almighty God.

 

We put faith in our national leaders

To fulfil the promises they made

But we blame God for our suffering

Whenever these leaders fail.

 

We cannot live out our existence

Without trust in a human source,

That is a certain everyday reality

We must acknowledge, of course.

 

However, we can use godly wisdom

As we choose whom we will trust

While understanding at the same time

The possibility of being crushed.

 

Faith in God: He’ll see us through,

Trust in man: it’s natural to do,

We ride on planes and busses and trains

We are very trusting: both me and you.

 

“I don’t trust a single living soul.”

That is a colossal untruth

And every waking and sleeping moment

Provides unmistakable proof.

 

The arm of flesh will fail us

As is demonstrated in the Word of God,

But the strong arm of God Almighty

Sustains us even when we fall.

 

It is never ever God that fails

But men in whom we must trust,

Let’s put this matter in right perspective

And save us a world of fuss.

 

Stewart Russell © September 8, 2022