The Word Is Quick

  

 

I wonder sometimes

Whether we realize

That the life within the Word of God

Is not disguised.

 

I sometimes ask me

What does this mean

And I go to Hebrews 4:12 to observe

What can be seen.

 

The written Word

Is about the Living Word

And that this is the Lord Christ,

You have heard.

 

John in the Gospel

Starts out with this:

“In the beginning, was the Word.”

Sharp and crisp!

 

 

 

Explicit from the get-go

No need to interpret,

Take it just as it has been stated,

From eternity set.

 

A statement of fact

About the First Cause:

And that this necessary first cause

Had to be uncaused.

 

John echoed Moses,

It’s not a contradiction!

They both are citing the first cause

For all creation.

 

One singular causation

Definitely not two!

Go directly to John 1 and verse 1

And take in the view.

 

“The Word was God.”

Don’t you see it there?

Upon this fact hangs all that exists

Here and everywhere.

 

“In him was life”

There’s life in the Word!

Let that sink into your very being

Now you have heard.

 

 

 

In the beginning God

And so too, the Word,

Yet so many say this cannot be;

That it’s absurd.

 

The Word is quick:

Meaning that it is alive

And does not need one’s rhetoric

In order to survive.

 

Be careful not to add

Or even to subtract,

The Word needs no amendments:

It is eternal fact.

 

Be sure not to multiply

And definitely not divide

Unless we are using 2 Timothy 2:15

As our guide.

 

Study to shew thyself

Approved unto God,

A workman that needeth not to be ashamed,

Rightly dividing

The Word of Truth. 

 

The only dividing required

Is rightly dividing

And this one and only operation

Is the Spirit’s guiding.

 

 

 

Yes, the Word is quick

So, let us all stick to it

And let us also do like in Hollywood:

“Stick to the script”.

 

Stewart Russell © March 22, 2026

And God Said…

 

 

And God said:

Eight times followed by ‘let’,

Go to Genesis chapter 1 and see

If you’ve not done so yet.

 

From “Let there be light”

To “Let us make man”

Seven commands you will find

In His creation plan.

 

The seventh, however,

Was not a command,

Rather, God made the decision

To create man.

 

“Let us make man”

He was the crowning piece

Whereupon on the sixth day,

God’s creating ceased.

 

Seven times He spoke

Creation into being

However, on the eighth occasion

God did the forming.

 

 

 

Formed from the dust

And quickened by breath,

God offered to him eternal life

But man chose death.

 

And God said,

Ought to be the key

But Satan entered another

Rather craftily.

 

“Hath God said?”

Satan had countered

Which discombobulated Eve

And she floundered.

 

Floundered and fell

Ignoring what God said

And the moment they disobeyed

They both were dead.

 

“Hath God said?”

Only once in the Word,

Adam and Eve were diverted;

How absurd!

 

From “And God said,”

To Satan’s “Hath God said?”

To Eve’s erroneous “God hath said,”

The lie was fed.

 

God’s word was altered

By both Satan and Eve

To the extent she disobeyed God

Having been deceived.

 

Thus, many today

Are emulating Eve

And not heeding what God said,

Are being deceived.

 

Neglecting His Word

They are led astray

Or in the words of a famous song,

They do it their way.

 

 

 

What God has said

Is where we ought to be

And so, I reiterate as I conclude,

God’s word is key.

 

Let the Word of God

Dwell in each of us;

The Word that was personified

In His Son, Jesus.

 

Stewart Russell © October 24, 2025

 

Healing of the Nations

 

 

Healing of the nations

What really is it?

Let’s grab the Word of God

And pay a visit.

 

Forget all you have heard

Let the Word speak,

The knowledge you will glean

Will be quite a treat.

 

Revelation 22:2

 

In the midst of the street of it,

And on either side of the river,

Was there the tree of life,

Which bare twelve manner of fruits,

And yielded her fruit every month:

And the leaves of the tree

Were for the healing

Of the nations.

 

The healing of the nations

Via the tree of life

Obviously pertains to a time

When there is some strife.

 

You would recall

Adam and Eve’s plight

When they ate of the forbidden tree

And forfeited their right.

 

Their right to Eden

And all that pertained,

Placing the entire human race

Under sin's stain.

 

 

Cast out of Eden

And from the tree of life

But given the promise of salvation

And atoning sacrifice.

 

A ruggedly hewn cross

Became the tree of life

And the healing of the nations

No matter the strife.

 

Crucified thereon

Was the source of life,

Dying for all of earth’s peoples

Was Jesus the Christ.

 

It was divinely decreed

One must give up his life,

‘Twas for the sins of all peoples

Jesus paid the price.

 

Thus, healing the nations

As they turn to him

Recognizing he's the only remedy

For all earth’s sin.

 

Preaching of the cross

Is foolishness to some

But to every born-again believer

Salvation is come.

 

 

The cross is become

An instrument of life

Because on that cross of Calvary

Was Jesus sacrificed.

 

For the son of man

Had to be lifted up

And, as he said to his disciples,

Drink that bitter cup.

 

"Are ye able to drink?"

He once did ask

But not one of his disciples

Was up to this task.

 

There was no other

To pay the price of our sin,

Only Jesus could unlock the gate

And let us in.

 

The door of the sheep

And tree of life is he,

Only the middle man on the cross

Gives life eternally.

 

Matthew 28:19-20

 

Go ye therefore,

And teach all nations,

Baptizing them in the name of the Father,

And of the Son,

And of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things

Whatsoever I have commanded you:

And, lo, I am with you alway,

Even unto the end of the world.

So let it be. 

Stewart Russell © February 27, 2025

 

Weapon of Deception

 

 

Satan’s greatest weapon

Is not the power we think

But the lies he fills our heads with

Thus, causing us to sink.

 

God is not God, he tells us,

In fact, there is really no God

Save Satan himself, he conjures up;

Any other is the fraud.

 

Hence, the myriad cults

With their partial truths

Quoting the very Word of God

For their infallible proof.

 

Add to this, the occult,

Displayed in multiple forms:

From obeah to dark phenomena

Fast becoming the norm.

 

Then, the gender fluidity

That’s definitely on the rise,

No longer needing to hide away

In shadowy disguise.

 

 

But out in the open spaces

Both public and the church,

Having the backing of Parliaments

And religious experts.

 

 

 

Where once overt bullying,

Now wooing subtilty

Targeting straddlers of the fence

With obvious gullibility.

 

Infiltrating academia

With increasing scientism

Ignoring established scientific laws

With dubious generalizations.

 

The weapon of deception

In Satan’s repertoire

Of half-truths and alternative facts

Generated by the hour.

 

 

Though bound he is loose,

Chained, but having reach

Like the seemingly ferocious dog

That barks and bares his teeth.

 

Thus, added to deception

Is the phenomenon of fear,

In itself another deceptive strategy

Like a dog with teeth bared.

 

For though there is danger

That is ominously clear

There is still that mysterious pull

And the victim draws near.

 

Like the edge of a cliff

Hidden by over grown bush,

Next, we hear the startling scream

And then comes the hush.

 

 

The weapon of deception

Also known as cover-up,

The fly, caught in the spider’s web,

Is now out of luck.

 

All Satan has in his arsenal

Is the weapon of deception

But it is enough to blind so many,

Luring them to destruction.

 

Stewart Russell © February 7, 2025

 

Besotted

 

 

Be not drunk with wine

Wherein is excess

But be drunk in the spirit,

Do note the common ‘s’.

 

There are many spirits

And we are advised to test them,

To ignore such counsel

Is to invite a problem.

 

But what is our compass

For testing these spirits?

Getting into the Word of God

Must become our habit.

 

And this, especially so,

Given the current trend

In which lots of silly practices,

Some stoutly defend.

 

Besotted by charisma

And charismatic leaders

Many pursue the highly emotive,

Flirting with danger.

 

Besotted with the unreal

With the real suppressed,

Having an extra-biblical revelation

Failing the biblical test.

 

Besotted by another spirit

Unlike the Spirit of God

And engaging in behaviours

Akin to a brawl.

 

 

 

Caught up in a stupor

Like they are really drunk,

Often in uncontrollable laughter

Sometimes out for the count.

 

 

Dramatics and theatrics

Lured by the devil’s tricks,

Besotted by spiritual epilepsy

Also known as fits.

 

Besotted and empowered

And feeling especially bold,

Yes, but drunk in some other spirit

And surely not in control.

 

Going after an experience

And ending up being “stoned”

Just like on drugs and narcotics;

But in another zone.

 

Keep it simple, I’d advise,

Besotted is being absurd,

Knowledge trumps experience!

Let us live by God’s Word.

 

Stewart Russell © May 27, 2024

 

Why?

 

 

Why do we yet pray for that

Which we have already received?

Is it because, in fact,

We really do not believe?

 

If the Word of God says

That we already have it,

Why do we continue to bombard heaven?

Is it just out of habit?

 

God has given us, we are told,

All that pertain to life and godliness

Yet for these very things

Our prayer is rather ceaseless.

 

Is it because, I ask again,

We are acculturated by rituals

And like the many other religions

Must function as such people?

 

Does God not know

And has He not put in place

All that His redeemed children need

According to His wonderful grace?

 

So then, why do we beg

And why do we beseech

As though God needs a timely reminder

Of that not within our reach?

 

Is He a god like Baal

Whose prophets had to bellow,

And cut themselves until the blood gushed

And still Baal was a no-show?

 

Does God sleep

Like apparently Baal did

Causing Elijah to mock his prophets

When he did not do as they bid?

 

 

Why do we yet pray

As though we are in disbelief

And feel that much praying is our effort

To help God bring relief?

 

Why do we remind Him

Like He has a tendency to forget

And if we do not get to Him in time

We might in fact regret?

 

It appears God only supplies

If we plead and beg and beseech

And it is to those only who do this well

Is what we practice and teach.

 

Hence, why would we pray

For the same things over and over

Under the guise that even for God

The enemy is no push-over.

 

Why do we pray so fiercely

As though trying to convince God

If only we only we could get Him to see,

He would respond to our call.

 

Why do we harp about numbers?

Do numbers matter to Him?

Are not all of these signs of unbelief

And isn’t unbelief sin?

 

 

Why do we say we believe

And then pray as if we do not

Yet, still hoping like the Pharisees

God will give us our lot?

 

Our prayer is full of worry

And saturated with and anxiety

And it screams from hilltop and steeple,

God is not hearing me.

 

For it seems He does not answer

Hence, we pray again and again

And like the prophets of Baal on Carmel

We seem to be praying in vain.

 

Why do we not believe

We have that for which we pray

And why do we pray for the same things

Each and every day?

 

Stewart Russell © March 19, 2024