Fear Vs Faith

 

 

Fear says you can’t

Faith says you can

Fear says I’ll stop you

Faith says not God’s man

 

Fear says you’ll fail

Faith says you’ll not

Fear says I’ll prove it

Faith says that’s rot

 

Fear says the water is rough

Faith says Jesus is my bridge

Fear says you don’t have a hope

Faith says don’t take note

 

Fear says the climb’s too rough

Faith says be glad it’s not smooth

Fear says smooth is easier

Faith says rough provides a groove.

 

Fear says you are hopeless

Faith says there is hope

Fear says not a chance

Faith says you can cope

 

Fear says stop while you can

Faith says reach for it

Fear says see you are slipping

Faith says be strong; don’t quit

 

 

Fear says you have another crisis

Faith says you have Christ

Fear says that’s too much to pay

Faith says Jesus paid the price

Fear says look down

Faith says look up

Fear says you don’t have enough

Faith says Jesus fills your cup

 

Fear says you are a loser

Faith says no you are a winner

Fear says you are fooling yourself

Faith says no Christ is my master

 

Fear says I give up

Faith says that’s your best choice

Fear says I’ll be back again though

Faith says I know God’s voice

 

Fear says worse is coming

Faith says Jesus too

Fear says he won’t be in time

Faith says even fear knows that’s not true

 

O ye of little faith is still some faith

Exercise it as much as you can

Thank God for the measure He has given to you

And let your will be one with His plan.

 

Stewart Russell © October 2017

 

“The Called”

 

 

What am I called to be?

How can I know?

You are called to be a Christian,

That’s for sure!

 

By whom am I called?

Is it the church?

The church is not a person,

Ouch, that hurts!

 

What am I called to do?

It’s not the same question,

To be and to do are not the same

By my comprehension.

 

Don’t mix up the two!

They are quite distinct,

You should never get drawn in

Before you think!

 

So, it is called to be:

Let’s get right back there,

We’ll get through this somehow

Don’t you fear!

 

Go to Romans chapter 8!

Start at verse 28

And if you are “the called”,

Therein is your fate.

 

It is not about doing,

But rather, it is a call to be

And it is clearly delineated

For you and for me.

 

 

Called according to purpose

The purpose of God,

Note the definite article:

It is “the called”.

 

That makes it a noun

Though the verb is implied:

What “the called” does

Is what the "to be" decides.

 

Whom God did foreknow

God also did predestinate:

Conformity to Christ’s image

Is the believer’s estate.

 

By the believer I mean

Any of the “born-again”:

Not them of physical birth,

But of the spiritual strain.

 

Born of the Holy Spirit

And indwelt by the same,

This is the “called to be”:

Aka born-again!

 

 

Whom He also did predestinate

Them God also called:

And these He justified

But this is not all…

 

For whom God justified,

Them He also glorified:

In His perfect foreknowledge

God did decide.

 

I choose to say no more

Than these verses say,

I dare not let my reasoning

Get in the way.

 

God’s knowledge is infallible

Whereas mine is flawed

I can only say what He says

Concerning “the called”.

 

“Called to be” is first

And determines what to do:

The fruit evidences “the called”

If in me and you.

 

Stewart Russell © October 26, 2022

 

A Critical Question

Permit me to be morbid

This one time

And ask you a question

To which I am inclined.

Have you come to grips

With your own mortality

Or “not me” is your position

Regarding your nether destiny?

For when you are dead

You will not know

It doesn’t matter who tells you

Be it friend or foe.

Death used to trouble me

Both day and night,

I was afraid to die

Death was my plight.

But as I got older

I have settled down,

I am now marching to life

Instead of the death drum.

I am still not ready to die

But I’m surely prepared

For I know it’ll catch up with me

So I’m not too scared.

I’ve made it right with God

Thus He’s in charge,

I’ve settled the question

Even if death looms large.

Have you settled the question

That pertains to your soul?

Don’t speculate with time

You may not grow old.

And if you are old

Then time is indeed short,

It may be closer than you think

For your funeral escort.

  

For some people

This life is all there is

And they don’t have the time

To spend on the afterlife quiz.

But there has to be something

More than this life,

There has to be something

Better than this strife.

Even with man

There are a purpose and plan

For the innovations

Which result from his hand.

When one examines

The masterpiece that is man,

It speaks of a Supreme mind

With an intelligent plan.

If the end of all life

Is just destruction and annihilation

Why create a masterpiece

That is bound for extinction?

With a sober mind

I beg you to examine

The biblical explanation

Regarding the beginning.

In the beginning God-

He’s the source, the life, the All,

In Him, all things consist

And any other is a wrong call.

He will demand an account

From both you and me,

This is as inevitable

As our pending mortality.

Permit me to be morbid

Just one more time

Death is certain should Jesus tarry,

To God’s purpose please be resigned.

Stewart Russell © April 2018

The Haunting Past

It is a fact and you will agree

The past sometimes gets in the way

Even in the Christian’s life

It can loom like the present day.

No doubt it has happened to you

Like it often does to me

That rather than moving forward

You are caught in your history.

Do not get me wrong

Frequent reflection is a must

But when it arrests your progress

It is just like a virus.

It will make you sick

It will start its havoc in the mind

Next it will affect your body

This is the order every time.

Positive reflection is beautiful

Negative!  Get out of there!

For before you know it

Your past will drag you back with fear.

Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 18

Is instructive in this light

“Remember ye not the former things”

With such is not your fight.

“Neither consider the things of old”

For they are in the past

God is reconstructing your life

Now you are in a different class.

The truth of the matter is

We can do nothing to change our past

The present should be our concern

And shaping our future God’s task.

Look again at Isaiah chapter 43

This time focus on verse 19

“Behold I will do a new thing.”

Surely God is at your scene.

“Now it shall spring forth,” says God

“Shall ye not know it?”

In the wilderness He’ll make a way

This is God’s reassuring edict.

We can trust the Lord on this

As a matter of fact on anything He says

And defying the haunting past

March forward in all His ways.

God is faithful to His promises

In fact God can never lie

And whatever He has promised

Not even the devil can deny.

So “Feeling down on your luck?”

Forever haunted by your past?

Time to let it go my friend

For you God has a present task.

It’s the purpose he has always had

And He wants you to walk in it

Learn the lessons from your past

But make God’s purpose your daily habit.

Stewart Russell © June 2018

Potential and Purpose

Potential and purpose,

The hallmarks of life

Are equally important

In life’s daily strife.

One’s given at the start

The other ongoing till death

Lives full of purpose

With intervals of rest.

The believer, chosen of God

With a purpose in view

Invested with potential

That purpose to pursue.

Procrastination and indolence

With diligence eschew

These are ever present

To hamper me and you.

The Apostle Paul an example

Potential in a vessel

Walked as God demanded

Amidst all of life’s hassle.

In the end he could declare

His purpose fulfilled

Potential used up

And none of it spilled.

An excellent spirit

Manifested in his work

Mindful of his purpose

With no thought to shirk.

An example to Timothy

And to all of us here

That potential is purpose

That is yet to appear.

For potential means nothing

Unless it is tapped

So that purpose ensues

Or else purpose is trapped.

 

For excellence is ongoing

With potential its furnace

God’s purpose our goal

Ensured by His grace.

Stewart Russell © 2016