It’s Happening Again

 

 

Here I am again

With this longing to write

But as has happened before

Nothing’s in sight.

 

Nothing on the horizon

Or even beyond,

Maybe I should stop here

And be gone.

 

But it’s a challenge

That I must overcome,

Some idea will come along

Before I am done.

 

Writer’s block?  Nah!

There are so many topics,

I just want to move away

From what is habit.

 

 

I just came on an idea

Let me see if I can work it,

When I have expressed it

Then you can edit.

 

Is God still doing

Or has God already done?

I’d love to have your thoughts

On this precise one.

 

God is a planner

All can see this is a fact,

Having set things in motion

Why would He look back?

 

As though He is man

And does not know in full

Thus, has to make adjustments

Like ordinary people.

 

God who is proactive

Has put everything in place,

No fallaciousness in Him

No, not a trace.

 

 

God’s will be done

As the prayer clearly states,

He alone already knows

What is our fate.

 

As said in another place

All’s history in God’s eyes,

That He knows everything

Is no surprise.

 

God doesn’t have to do

Having already done,

Battles past present and future

He has already won

 

The doing is the Spirit’s

As he directs to the cross,

Another tick in the Book of Life

For no longer lost.

 

It is happening again

Across the whole wide world,

Not my occasional block

But the Gospel is heard.

 

 

Another checked off

That has come home,

Calling safe and election sure;

Nevermore to roam.

 

Stewart Russell © January 16, 2024

 

Seen in the Old Testament

 

 

My wife was barren

And we had not a child,

In the day that we lived

She was greatly despised.

 

But all that would change

When the angel appeared

Though for my wife

It was particularly weird.

 

She related it to me

What the man of God told,

To us having a child

Would be a joy to behold.

 

So, I intreated the Lord,

Let the man come again

And he answered my prayer,

It was not in vain.

 

I inquired of him

How we should order the child,

His instructions were precise

And we willingly complied.

 

I invited him to lunch

Which he politely refused

Then I asked him his name

But he was none too enthused.

 

He asked why I should know

Seeing it was a secret

So, I offered up a burnt offering

To show my respect.

What I saw next

Caused us to fall to the ground,

The man ascended in the flame

And was no longer around.

 

With that I knew

It was the angel of the Lord

“We shall surely die,” I said,

“For we had seen God.”

 

My wife disagreed

Since the offering was received,

And the things he had told us

We definitely believed.

 

We saw him too

We knew it was the Lord,

Face to face we saw him

Indeed, it was God.

 

In the form of His Son

As the Lord, Jesus Christ,

He appeared on to us

And that really sufficed.

 

One of the many times

In the Old Testament

We were privileged to see the Lord

And we were content.

 

If a man looks on God’s face

He would surely die

But Jesus is the firmament,

On him we can rely.

 

“If a man has seen me,

He has seen the Father.”

These words of Jesus convey

No need to bother.

 

 

Even as the firmament

Protects us from the sun

We are shielded from God’s wrath

Because of His Son.

 

They saw him too

Moses, Manoah and others,

And when they did

They also saw the Father.

 

Stewart Russell © February 2020

 

If not Jesus, Who?

 

 

If Jesus cannot save his sheep

Tell me, who can?

Doesn’t it sound a little ludicrous

Considering salvation’s plan?

 

The preacher certainly can’t

Nor the dedicated pastor,

The evangelist can preach forever

But he is not the Saviour.

 

The prophet can prophesy

And the counsellor can assure,

The apostle may stir the people

But can’t open heaven’s door.

 

It is true Jesus waits to enter

And the sinner must open the door,

But it is the Father that draws:

No less and no more.

 

It is the Saviour, Christ Jesus,

That effects our salvation

And in concert with God and the Spirit

Completes our redemption.

 

None can come to the Father

Except through the Son

And them that come to the Son,

The Father draws every one.

 

 

 

So, if Jesus cannot save,

Tell me in all seriousness, who can

When it is Jesus that died

To effect redemption’s plan?

 

Nothing is impossible with God;

That is, nothing that He wills,

And anything that He has done

He is able to do still.

 

None that comes to Christ

He will ever cast out

And His word is eternally reliable

And this is without a doubt.

 

None that Jesus saves

Can in no wise be lost,

He paid sin’s price on Mount Calvary

On that middle cross.

 

There were other crosses too

One to the left and to the right

And one of the thieves hanging there

Received his spiritual sight.

 

 

Imagine him calling on Jesus

Minutes before Jesus died

And there receiving eternal life

From Jesus, the crucified.

 

If not Jesus, who can?

There is none other who can,

Only Jesus can unlock the gate

To let in a penitent man.

 

Such a one shall not perish

But has everlasting life

And the Father gives this assurance

On account of Jesus Christ.

 

  

Stewart Russell © February 12, 2022

 

Of Bread and Crumbs

 

 

If it tastes as good as it smells

It’ll take just a crumb,

Just a crumb or two to prove

My assertion is not dumb.

 

The crumb tastes no different

From the entire bread

And if I couldn’t have the loaf

I’d have a crumb instead.

 

Or maybe two or three

As they fall from the table,

After all, bread is the staff of life

That means, it’s a staple.

 

And so, she approached Jesus

With her critical request,

She wanted healing for her daughter

That was not at her best.

 

At first, he ignored her,

At least, that’s how it appeared

But she was persistent

About her daughter’s welfare.

 

The disciples were annoyed

And wished she be sent away

And the answer Jesus gave to her

Said it was not her day.

 

He had come to Israel’s house

And she was of the Greeks,

Most would have gone away

But she continued to speak.

 

 

Ignored the first time

Abruptly brushed off the second,

This time she knelt and worshipped him

Hoping something would happen.

 

The answer Jesus gave her

To me seemed rather harsh

And I must confess if it were me

I’d surely have gasped.

 

Did he call her a dog?

Goodness gracious, but why?

Then again, that he needed rest,

None would dare deny.

 

After all, he was human then

And could crack under strain

And people just kept on coming

Again, and again.

 

This may have been so

For the disciples and all others

But in the case of Jesus

It was a different matter.

 

 

A lesson was truly unfolding

For them and for us,

It was what great faith looks like

As one responds to Jesus.

 

This woman was focused

And to me this is clear

As she demonstrated to all and sundry

A faith greater than her fear.

 

The bread was not for her

The disciples would have said,

And Jesus mirrored their feelings

As the woman pled.

 

You would recall that they said

To send her away

But what hope would she have had

When Jesus is the way?

 

If they learnt the lesson then

I really cannot tell

But Jesus commended the woman

And made her daughter well.

 

She had had a demon

But didn’t we all

Until we put faith in Jesus Christ

And were drawn to God.

 

One way to God the Father

And it’s through Jesus the Son,

For both Jew and Gentile

In one predetermined kingdom.

 

Herein is the lesson

Re the lost house of Israel,

In Abraham’s seed all will be blessed

Meaning all earth’s people.

 

Of Jews, Gentiles and Greeks

And of Syro-Phoenicia too,

Like this woman and her daughter

And like me and you.

 

Jesus commended her faith,

It was of the persistent type

But understand Jesus did the healing

Not some emotional hype.

 

While faith is important

It does not replace God,

God must always be faith’s object,

Beware of Satan the Fraud.

 

 

The bread was for the children

But not merely the Jews

And this miracle sent this signal

Though many Jews refused.

 

They that come to Christ

He will in no way refuse

And it matters not their ethnicity

Be they Germans or Jews.

 

Despise not the crumbs

They’re the same quality as the bread,

I believe not a crumb was wasted

When Jesus thousands fed?

 

Jesus is the living bread

That came to us from heaven

And they that live by his every word

Are eternally forgiven.

 

Stewart Russell © April 29, 2024

 

One with Eternity

 

 

God is one with eternity

Neither came before the other

Neither had a beginning

So no need to bother.

 

God is the eternal being

So are the Spirit and the Word,

None of the three was created

And that is not absurd.

 

In the beginning was the Word

And the Word was God,

So was the Holy Spirit:

The Trinity they are called.

 

Co-essential and co-eternal

Are attributes of all three,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

The Blessed Trinity.

 

It is not easy to grasp

But the concept is strongly implied,

The Trinity is Bible based

And cannot be denied.

 

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Constitute the Eternal One,

These three coexist in eternity

Unlike the gods all gone.

Who made God

Is the question that many pose

Thinking God must have had a beginning

As their argument goes.

 

Then He would be less than God

That we see in the Holy Word

And just like idol worshippers

We too would be absurd.

 

To create an idol and worship it

Is nonsense to the height,

It’s like the blind leading someone

Who still possesses his sight.

 

However, God is the Eternal One

Thus, one with eternity,

He is one but yet three

As expressed in the Trinity.

 

I confess my limitations

And so, I cannot explain,

But if I could, I would be God

And only One can make that claim.

 

That’s God and God alone

Elohim, Jehovah, Yahweh,

The I AM THAT I AM

As Moses was told to say.

The Eternal One

And one with eternity,

Creating time and space and matter

The universal Sovereignty.

 

Not constrained by time

Or contained by the depth of space,

Not defined by earthly matter

Or by the human race.

 

In His image created He them

But He Himself was not created,

The Eternal One is He

Just as the Bible stated.

 

Three-in-One I must repeat

It needs to be emphasized,

The Lord God Jehovah is one God

And there is none besides.

 

One with Eternity

 

Stewart Russell © November 27, 2021

 

I know A Man

 

I know a man who died

Having made out his will

And today he is forever alive

And he executes it still.

 

A will becomes active

At the benefactor’s death

And he knows absolutely nothing

Since he is at rest.

 

He knows not

If his request is honoured

Since he has been interred

And is six feet under.

 

He makes up the will

But cannot execute it,

Somebody that he has chosen

Directs its edict.

 

This is the norm

As it relates to any will,

It happened in the distant past

And is occurring still.

 

Well, with one exception

And this is a fact,

A man was actually put to death

And he came back.

 

He had made out a will

And put it in his father’s hand

And he returned from the dead

As was his father’s plan.

 

 

He is the testator

And also, the executor,

The author of eternal salvation

And my Saviour.

 

I know a man who died

Having made out his will

And today he is forever alive

And he executes it still.

 

The whosoever will

He has included in his will

And invites all to come to him-

Come now as he bids.

 

Everyone that does

Instantly becomes an heir,

An heir of eternal salvation-

The Bible makes it clear.

 

All because one man

Wrote and executed his will,

Jesus is that testator in whom

His will is fulfilled.

 

 

I was dead, he says

But am alive forevermore

And if one seeks eternal life

I alone am the door.

 

If any man enters by him

He shall be saved,

This is the promise to all

Who eternal life crave.

 

I know a man who died

Having made out his will

And today he is forever alive

And he executes it still.

 

Yes, Jesus bequeathed it

He died to enforce it 

He ever lives to ensure it:

Salvation's edict!

We are his beneficiaries

He is our benefactor

Signed with his shed blood,

Jesus, our Saviour.

 

Stewart Russell © March 7, 2024