A Power Called Love

 

 

Love is not weepy and weak

It’s gentle yet firm,

It is harnessed power

Even when spurned.

 

It’s synonymous with God

For God is love,

Jesus demonstrated it

When he came from above.

 

Love was reviled

But reviled not again,

It was to a cruel rugged cross

That love came.

 

To enforce is temporary

Until fear goes away,

But God’s love is everlasting

And has the last say.

 

Love cannot be forced

And is not external,

Au contraire, it is within

And is eternal.

 

Love is the power of God

That constrains,

It is why we do what we do

In Jesus’ name.

 

 

 

Love held the Saviour

On Calvary’s cross,

It was not those iron spikes

But his love for the lost.

 

Love was the real power

That held him there,

Love shouts across the centuries

Jesus cared.

 

 

For God so loved…

Therein is the power

That created heaven and earth

And keeps us every hour.

 

The vastness of God

Does not speak of His size

But to His wonderful love

That so many despise.

 

Love so amazing

Of power so divine

That assures me I belong to Jesus

And Jesus is mine.

 

Yes!  Such is the expression

Of the power that is love

That came that first Christmas

From heaven above.

 

 

Love is harnessed power

Released under control

And coupled with grace and truth

God’s mercies unfold.

 

Each and every day

His love comes our way,

It’s synonymous with God’s power

That over us holds sway.

 

Who or what can separate us

From love so profound?

God’s love has all the power

Any opposition to confound.

 

Love is the power

That binds us to Christ

Just like it held him to the cross

In his atoning sacrifice.

 

Love is the power

That keeps all that he saves

And brings them back in line

When they misbehave.

 

Love is the power

That binds the born again together,

No fear that unharnessed power

Will cause us bother.

 

 

No power without love

And no love without power

For what would be the use

One without the other?

 

A power called love

To a love that is secure

And a love that is powered

To keep us assured.

 

Stewart Russell © April 20, 2024

 

Such Convincing Proof

 

 

He said he loved me

I asked him how much

“More than anything,” He said,

“That is how much.”

 

He said He loved me

I asked Him how much

“More than the world,” He said,

That is how much.”

 

He said He loved me

I asked Him how much

“More than everything, He said,

“That is how much.”

 

He said He loved me

I asked Him how much

“More than the heavens,” He said,

“That is how much.”

 

He said He loved me

I asked Him how much

“More than anyone has ever loved,

That is how much.”

 

That was quite convincing

But I needed something more

So I switched my enquiry,

I wanted to be sure.

 

 

He said He loved me

I said to Him to show it,

“I gave my ultimate,” He said to me,

“He’ll tell you of his visit.”

 

He said He loved me

I said to Him to show it,

“I came from a celestial city,” he said,

For you was my mandate.

 

I left it all behind

Because I thought of your need,

I left because I love you

It’s that love that made me bleed.

 

He said he loved me

I said to him to prove it,

He showed to me his hands and feet

Then I started to get it.

 

 

 

Then he showed his riven side

And without a doubt I knew

Not only does he love me

But I know he loves you too.

 

He said He loves me

I no longer demand any proof

For when I look into his eyes

I know he is the Truth.

 

He said he loves me

He gave his all for me,

He died the death of a criminal

For me on Calvary’s tree.

 

He said he loved me

Though I had committed the crime,

It was my sin that nailed him there

Before the beginning of time.

 

He said He loves me

Though unlovable I truly am

And even before the dawn of time

He had decided on a plan.

 

 

That plan was put into action

And completed by His Son

So that I could have eternal life

And be an heir of His kingdom

 

“Now that you know,” He asked,

“How much do you love me?”

That’s a lifetime commitment I said

With which I struggle daily.

 

“You will struggle,” He replied,

“Once you try in your own love

But that struggle will go away

With the love that’s from above.”

 

I’ve found that to be true

Though I still occasionally fall,

But whenever there is such an incident

I would hear His loving call.

 

 

He calls me by His Spirit

That faithfully shows the way

To love the Lover of my soul

Each and every day.

 

Stewart Russell © June, 2018

 

Unconditional for Whom?

 

 

 

How oft have you heard

God loves unconditionally

Meaning of course,

You, me and everybody?

 

Sinner and saint

The unsaved and saved

And it doesn’t really matter

How any of us behave.

 

Contrite and unrepentant

Believer and atheist,

It doesn’t matter what we do

We're all on God's list.

 

God loves the sinner

But He hates the sin

And he loves us whether or not

We come to Him.

 

Think of the signal

Such a statement sends

And understand, my friends,

God does not pretend.

 

Does he love all the same?

I would think not

But Satan wants us to think so

For he is a sly old fox.

 

God loves the world

And this we cannot deny

But not like he loves His Son

Whom it crucified.

 

This love is not the same

Just like human beings show,

For their loved ones it’s different

From those they just know.

 

 

God loves the born-again

Just like He Loves His Son

And He extends this same love

To all who to Him come.

 

They become God’s children

By way of their rebirth

And this rebirth is in Christ Jesus

Whom God sent to the earth.

 

So that God loves these

Through His love for Jesus

And so, to those who are saved,

God’s love is a must.

 

God loves the sinner

But hates the sinner’s deeds

Yet the sinner will go to hell

However much he pleas.

 

 

That’s not unconditional

I hope you can see,

God will judge sinners and sin

Eventually!

 

What good would be His love

To those in hell?

What benefits would be theirs then?

If you know, pray tell.

 

God abhors ungodliness

And sin attracts His wrath

And the unrepentant is going to hell

In their own chartered craft.

 

Stewart Russell © January 20, 2022

 

What a Lack!

 

 

 

Listen to gospel radio

Or watch gospel television,

Very few of their broadcasts

Deal with sin.

 

Most of their presentations

Are to the converted directed

And the message of salvation

Is being neglected.

 

It’s not the salvation of souls

But the prosperity of man,

This is in direct contravention

Of God’s redemptive plan.

 

There is dire lack

When dealing with sin

And the audience wants to know

What’s in it for them.

 

I must ask this question

So please hear me well,

How does one respond to salvation

If we another message tell?

 

We are bombarded these days

On how to get rich,

Prosperity is the hot topic

It is the sales pitch.

 

Don’t take my word for it

Take some time, you must,

Scroll through the religious channels

And note what is the fuss.

 

It is about getting power

And about getting rich

Seldom about extricating a sinner

From sin’s overpowering ditch.

 

 

“It is even a sin to be poor,”

Some often say,

Poverty is a sinner walking

In the devil’s way.

 

Sickness too

Is another taboo,

No Christian should have it

That means me and you.

 

But the message of the church

Is left far behind,

It is severely diluted

Or at best, redefined.

 

The golden text of the Word

Is John 3:16

But today what we propagate

Is how to achieve our selfish dream.

 

“Look out for number one,

This is how you get wealth!

Come to Jesus now

To get both wealth and health.”

 

Nothing in there

About man’s deplorable state

And the need for the Saviour

With whom he can relate.

 

 

Nothing in there

About sin and its consequence

And the Christ who came down

And our need to repent.

 

Nothing in there

About God’s wonderful grace

And the sacrifice Jesus made,

No, not a trace.

 

It is about how we can prosper

And get ahead in life,

Nothing about how to resist the devil

In our everyday strife.

 

There is a great need

To emulate our Saviour and Lord,

To walk in his footsteps

And to propagate his word…

 

While keeping in our minds

St Luke chapter 4,

To preach to sin’s captives

Whether they be rich or poor.

 

Our gospel radio preachers

And televangelists too,

Need to revamp their programme

And adopt a different view.

 

And send a strong message

Across the airwaves,

How Jesus is still the only one

Through whom man can be saved.

 

 

To preach the bad news

About sin and about hell,

And then tell the Good News

About the one who makes sinners well.

 

For God so loved the World

That he sacrificially gave

His Son Christ Jesus and our Saviour

Through whom all can be saved.

 

Stewart Russell © February 2020

 

 

By Life Before Lip

 

I listened to my pastor preach

And he was as usual on song,

He had my undivided attention

Though he was a little long.

 

“Preach the word,” he admonished,

“Use words when necessary.”

From that entire message

This will likely remain with me.

I always thought that preaching

Was about the words one use

But in the spreading of God’s love

There is a better way to choose.

Before one utter a single word

One’s life must speak for Christ

It is life before lip you see

And very often life will suffice.

“What we do speak so loudly

That others do not what we say,”

So life before lip is the way to go,

It is a better evangelism way.

Action is the key, my friend,

To attract a prospective convert

And when he queries your modus operandi

Then to words you can revert.

What makes you tick he’ll likely ask

Then to him you can reply,

I am quickened by the life of Jesus

That came for my sins to die.

Because of God’s indwelling Spirit

I now live not after the flesh

But I live by the Holy Spirit

By whom everyday I am refreshed.

The explanation comes by words

But the attraction by the life we live,

So preach the word; use words when necessary

Is good advice that one should give.

Stewart Russell © March 2019