Faith

 

 

 

There is a lot of talk about faith

And, as a matter of fact,

Some are known by their abundance

And quite a few by their lack.

 

Some have faith in Christ

And some have faith in faith:

These two I hope to deal with

And this is by God’s grace.

 

Not to be mixed up with the faith

Meaning the doctrine of Truth

But the two most argued about:

One without biblical proof.

 

The Bible is replete with texts

Depicting faith in Christ

And central to this specific faith

Is his atoning sacrifice.

 

Jesus is the object of our faith

All of the household of faith,

All them that are the born again

Via their faith in God’s grace.

 

They that put their faith in Jesus

Having repented of their sins

And like sheep that know his voice

Are walking along with him.

 

This faith is given in measure

And exercised in our daily walk,

It is manifested in our conversation

And it impacts the way we talk.

 

It’s different from faith in faith

The object of which is faith

That has no bearing on salvation

Or to God’s wonderful grace.

 

 

 

It’s a kind of God-like faith

As defined by some denominations,

The kind of faith that God used

Way back in the creation.

 

A speak-it-into-being faith

Conceive it, believe it, receive it,

Albeit full of illusion and delusion

Leaving adherents in a fix.

 

Exercising faith in faith

As opposed to Christ as the object

And faking it till you make it

Being another illusory aspect.

 

Faith in Christ is not for miracles

That may or may not happen,

It is in fact the God-saving faith

That tells us we are forgiven.

 

It is not that miracles have ended

And will never again occur

But above all miracles that ever were

It’s the miracle of salvation I prefer.

 

Miraculously and wondrously saved:

The miracle of a life transformed,

By faith in Jesus Christ, my Lord,

Miraculously I have been reborn.

 

And this for all eternity,

I am at present a citizen of heaven

And sealed by the blessed Holy Spirit,

All my sins have been forgiven.

 

By faith I walk in righteousness

As a born-again child of God

And by faith in my Saviour Jesus Christ

I share him at home and abroad.

 

Stewart Russell © October 9, 2022

 

We Come if Welcome

 

 

We come if ‘welcome’,

If not, we will not,

After all, we aim to please you

And serving is our lot.

 

Only where ‘welcome’

Is where we will go,

You have the right to affiliation

And that right we know.

 

We strive not to offend

But rather, to satisfy,

And your privacy is your right

Which we won’t deny.

 

We come if ‘welcome’

Is our stated policy,

We won’t turn up unannounced

At anybody.

 

That ‘l’ is important

One finds in welcome

And if it is unilaterally ignored,

It becomes we come.

 

That is presumptuous

As in “we have the right”!

No, my erudite learned friend

That right is might.

 

“Ever so welcome,

Wait for a call”

Used to be neighbourly advice

Adopted by all.

 

So, we come if ‘welcome’

Is there for all,

We won’t take any for granted

But wait for a call.

 

Stewart Russell © April 23, 2025

 

Saved from What?

  

 

Oh, that’s an easy one!

Saved from sins

And you can take your Bible

And inquire within.

 

For he shall save his people

From their sins-

Matthew chapter 1 verse 21

As sharp as a pin!

 

But there is much more,

I can assure you

And it concerns all of his people

Including me and you.

 

Sin brought separation

Between God and us

And therefore, God sent His Son,

The sinless Jesus.

 

 

 

Upon His own Son

God poured out His wrath

And made him a public spectacle

To make a path.

 

It was for our sins

That Jesus was crucified,

Yes, it was on account of our sins

He suffered and died.

 

It should have been us

Crucified on that cross,

We should have been the ones

Suffering the loss.

 

So, saved from what?

I will ask you again

And you will need to re-examine

Your original claim.

 

 

 

It’s far more, I assure you,

Much more than our sins-

God actually sent his Son, Jesus,

To save us from Him.

 

God, Himself, I mean,

From His divine judgment,

He poured out on His Son, Jesus

Whom He sent.

 

Expressed another way,

It’s the wrath of a just God

Who has zero tolerance for sin

We make light and small.

 

 

 

Enemies of a Holy God,

That’s what we had become

And the only peace that could be had

Was through His Son.

 

Mankind had no desire

To initiate such peace with God

But rather, from Adam's historic fall,

Man had declared war.

 

Thus, God is the initiator

Of the peace shown in Romans 5

And it's as a result of God’s grace

By which we survive.

 

So, saved from what?

I am forced to reiterate,

Not only sin, but from God’s wrath,

The sinner’s fate.

 

Romans 5:1

 

Therefore,

Being justified by faith,

We have peace with God

Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

Saved from God’s wrath

Culminating in divine judgment

But poured out upon His righteous Son

Whom God Himself sent.

 

From His righteous wrath

Only God could protect us

And His expression of amazing grace

Was sent through Jesus.

 

From justice to mercy,

From mercy to amazing grace,

Through the resurrection and the life

Death has been displaced.  

 

Stewart Russell © July 30, 2026

 

Which Israel?

 

 

This may be a puzzle

But it need not be, my friend,

An explicit reading, I dare say,

Should bring it to an end.

 

Go to Romans chapter 9

And you will see what I mean,

As I read it for myself

I see two different scenes.

 

I see Israel number 1

And I see Israel number 2,

Since not all Israel are of Israel

Is clear to me and you.

 

 

Yes, there are two “Israels”

Read it in Romans 9:

One of the flesh and one of promise,

Lock this in your mind.

 

This is explicitly stated

In not all Israel are of Israel,

Israel number 2 you should see

Are an assorted people.

 

Not all children

Because they are Abraham’s seed

But the children of the promise

Are counted for seed.

 

Predestined to be so

In God’s redemptive plan

That all the nations of the world

Will be blessed in Abraham.

 

 

“At this time will I come

And Sarah shall have a son,”

It was not Ishmael as some may opine,

 Isaac was her promised one.

 

 

Yes, Ishmael was older

But Isaac was the promised son,

Very similar to Esau and Jacob

But Jacob was the chosen one.

 

 

It was said to Sarah

The elder shall serve the younger,

As it is written, Jacob have I loved

But Esau have I hated.

 

Of course, love and hate here

Must be put into context

Never mind Jacob did some things

That really made Esau vexed.

 

After all, Jacob was a trickster

And by trickery he made his way

But in all of his dealing and scheming,

God held absolute sway.

 

Do not be side tracked

By the quality of men God chose,

The reason why He chose these men,

Only God knows.

 

Here He chose a trickster

Whose seed crucified the Christ

Arguing they were Abraham’s seed

And Christ did not suffice.

 

Not only of the Jews

Did all-wise all-knowing God call

But He also chose of the Gentiles;

Jews were not them all.

 

Not all of Israel are of Israel

Has a double meaning,

Follow me closely as I proceed

And see what I am gleaning.

 

Not all of Israel

Meaning not every Israelite,

To say that they all will be saved

Is just not right.

 

Thank God there were Jews

That did come to Christ,

Not all of them rejected the Saviour

Losing out on eternal life.

 

Not all of Israel

Are of Abraham’s flesh,

But in Abraham’s seed, of course,

The Christ, all will be blessed.

 

So that Israel number 2

Comprise both Jew and Gentile,

Both being endued by the Spirit;

The flesh being defiled.

 

For in the flesh, it states

Dwelleth no good thing,

Paul makes this clear in chapter 7

In what he’s offering.

 

‘Tis God’s sovereign choice

To choose as He did choose

But it is an act of man’s free will

Whether he win or lose.

 

 

Israel number 2 is the elect

The chosen of Almighty God,

These are they that came by faith

When they heard Him call.

 

“Whosoever will may come”

Is the invitation to one and all,

“Elect according to God’s foreknowledge”

Them that heed His call.

 

Neither Jew nor Gentile

But all are one in Jesus Christ

Who gave his life a ransom for many:

A once for all sacrifice.

 

Romans 9:30-33

 

What shall we say then?

That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness,

Have attained to righteousness,

Even the righteousness which is of faith.

 

But Israel,

Which followed after the law of righteousness,

Hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

 

Wherefore?

Because they sought it not by faith,

But as it were by the works of the law.

For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

 

As it is written,

Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence:

And whosoever believeth on him

Shall not be ashamed.

 

 

 

Be sure to say which Israel

For not all Israel are of Israel,

The one of faith is not ethnic Israel

But the New Covenanted Israel.

 

Stewart Russell © March 20, 2024

 

Fame Fortune Faith

 

 

Two we strive for

The other is God-given,

This is the one that holds firm

When trouble threatens.

 

None of us is without,

We use it every day

In circumstances and situations

Too numerous to say.

 

Fame and fortune

May go hand in hand;

The more famous the person

The more in demand.

 

 

Where demand is

Fortune will emerge

And the more the fortune

The greater the urge.

 

Sometimes fame

Comes without fortune

But such is a rare occasion

That there is no boom.

 

Many a preacher

Has become famous

By accumulating a fortune

Via the religious.

 

A niche-market

Full of gullible persons

Whom these preachers set up

For financial reasons.

 

Elaborate crusades

Where miracles are done

And the appearance often takes in

An unsuspecting one.

 

Miracles of healing,

Financial breakthrough

And other supernatural feats

Of what faith can do.

 

 

Desiring fortune?

Looking for fame?

Some of these preachers will say,

Call on Jesus’ name.

 

A reliable talisman!

If you use Jesus’ name

You can come into great fortune

And much fame.

 

But fame and fortune

Outside of Jesus Christ

Is worth eternally nothing

But a useless device.

 

Beware of charlatans

Whose fortune and fame

Comes from conning people

In Jesus’ name.

 

 

Faith in the Gospel:

This is saving faith

And if fame and fortune come,

Give God the praise.

 

Stewart Russell © December 11, 2024

 

Whose Prayer?

 

 

Whose prayer is more important:

A child’s prayer or an adult?

Please bear with me, my brethren,

I sincerely mean no insult.

 

The reason I ask the question

Relates to what I see and hear,

Some prayers are given more importance-

At least that’s how it appears.

 

We’re oft at serious odds

If we cannot contact a person

That we hold in very high esteem,

To pray about a problem.

 

Often it is a pray warrior

Or a specially endowed intercessor

With whom we cannot make contact

And this becomes a stressor.

 

Is it a matter of whose prayer

That gets the message through?

Is God partial to the prayers of some?

Has this become your view?

 

Is prayer an object in itself

From which it derives its power?

For, if this is the case, my friend,

Then prayer is our strong tower.

 

However, I am led to believe

God should be the object of prayer

Such that, neither the adult nor child

Should be an issue here.

 

 

So that whether adult or child

God makes no such distinctions,

We are all his children in His eyes

And to us He pays attention.

 

Someone said a while ago,

And it is best that I insert it here,

Satan trembles when he sees

The weakest saint in prayer.

 

It is my firm and simple belief

That God responds to the heart,

It matters not whether child or adult

Here’s where prayer should start.

 

From our heart to God’s heart-

Thus, the answer to whose prayer,

Whether it be a child or an adult

For them both, God cares.

 

Whose prayer? if you should still ask-

The prayers of the born again,

By faith, we can trust God’s Holy Word-

The scriptures make this plain.

 

Stewart Russell © May 25, 2023

 

No One and Nobody

 

 

Follow this argument

With a critical mind

And of course, this would be

If you have the time.

 

No one and nobody

Synonyms perhaps?

But can you picture either

As a tangible fact?

 

No one or nobody

What does it matter?

It could be the former

Or even the latter.

 

Did you see no one

Or did you see nobody?

When you arrived there

Did you look for me?

 

When I arrived there

I saw no one

Meaning I saw nobody;

Everybody was gone.

 

Am I no one

And am I nobody?

Are you trying to tell me

You did not see me?

 

I did not see you

So, you were not there,

I am sure no one or nobody

Ever appeared.

 

 

You can’t see no one

And you can’t see nobody

And that is the reason why

You didn’t see me.

 

How does no one look

Or for that matter, nobody?

Right now, for example,

You can see me.

 

Next time you see no one

Or you see nobody,

Take a picture with your phone

And let me see.

 

If you can do this

You would convince me

That it is actually possible

To see nobody.

 

I cannot do that

You know it’s not possible

Even if the camera

Were ultra-reliable.

 

This was an argument

Between two friends

And for a moment I thought

It would never end.

 

But we say things daily

That to us make some sense

Though not absolutely so,

Please, no offense.

 

It aids communication

Though not an actual fact,

Seeing no one or nobody

Is a case like that.

 

 

“I saw no one”

I’m sure you’ve said that

Or, “I saw nobody”;

This too is a fact.

 

Don’t fret yourself

If it happened to you,

Like me, you are weird-

Admit this is true.

 

It takes a weird mind

To have a weird thought

And so, it was from a weirdo

This one was brought.

 

Stewart Russell © June 10, 2024