He Helps Our Infirmities

Isn’t it interesting for the Christian

That his weakness is his strength?

And to prove it to believers

The Spirit goes to an enormous length.

It is said of the Holy Spirit

That he helps our infirmities,

Quite a strange way the Apostle puts it

But it is the believer’s reality.

In Romans 8 and verse 26

When our deepest needs we cannot state,

The Holy Spirit takes over

And those unspoken needs relate.

We communicate by words

But words can become inadequate,

It is at these most difficult times

When we derived the greatest benefit.

The Holy Spirit helps our infirmities

And he doesn’t say a word,

Just a sigh or groan the Word explains

And God demonstrates He has heard.

Has it ever happened to you

When you could not express yourself?

You stammered your way all through,

Your words just got up and left.

In the spirit it happens as well

We know not how we should pray

But the spirit comes to our assistance

In a most remarkable way.

What would you think of an attorney

That you hired to defend you

But he spoke in a peculiar language

Of which you didn’t have a clue?

That would be most disconcerting

And you would send him on his way

And appeal to the judge’s understanding

To let you come back another day.

  

However, in the case of the Holy Spirit,

God understands each groan or sigh

And anything that he asks on our behalf,

God will never ever deny.

Like Jesus, he is our intercessor

And he knows our deepest thoughts

He can best intercede on our behalf

Especially when we are most distraught.

I find it particularly amazing

The store we set by our prayers

When in actual fact, it is the Holy Spirit

That to the Father presents our cares.

It is he who helps our infirmities

With groanings that cannot be uttered,

Ought we not to give our Father the credit

For this magnanimous favour?

No more should we boast of our prayers

As though they are an “end-in-themselves”

But instead, thank God for the Holy Spirit

Who, in every born-again believer dwells.

Stewart Russell © January, 2020

Are We Really Serious?

 

Are we really serious

About a being called the devil

And that he prompts us to do wrong

Undoubtedly at our peril?

And are we equally serious

About a being we call God

That provokes the good there is

And whose beneficence we laud?

And what about those people

Who believe neither nor,

That simply live from day to day

Whether there be peace or war?

Every now and again I wonder

If we have not been fooled

And it is all a gigantic hoax

In which we have been schooled.

And what about our laws?

From where did they originate?

Who or what is responsible

For our moral or immoral state?

Concerning good and evil

From whence did these emerge?

If you really know the answer

Please tell it to me, I urge.

Could so many people be wrong

As it relates to these matters?

And if so, please tell me,

What is truth and what is chatter?

Must there be some intelligence

Who is ultimately responsible

And if so can we know for sure?

Is this really possible?

Does it really matter

What anyone truly believes

Since there is a seeming free for all

And we all do as we perceive?

Are we really serious

About the challenge we take on

Rising up each and every day,

Some of us even before dawn?

Are we really serious

To believe in nothing at all?

I dare say that is impossible

Ever since the original fall.

As ludicrous as it may seem

There had to have been a fall,

It is the only thing that makes sense,

Nothing else does at all.

Two powers for good and evil

Let’s take it from Act 2 Scene 1,

Act 1 unfolded in heaven

And now the battle lines are drawn.

The force for evil was established

And now operates in the earth,

Our fore parents fell for Satan’s ruse

And that affects every birth.

“Born in sin” the Psalmist puts it

As ridiculous as it may seem

And this inclination to do the wrong

Is what is clearly seen.

So easy, like drifting down stream,

Doing evil appears our default,

Upstream is out of our character

When evil we are called to halt.

Exploration, some may call it

Not that we are essentially bad,

But skirting the root of the problem

Always seems to make us glad.

Are we really serious

When we choose to believe a lie,

Especially one that makes no sense

And the truth we dare deny?

I ponder but for a moment

Only because so many won’t believe

But then I dare to trust in God

And His Word I receive.

All of life is but a thread of faith

Most of it lived out unconsciously,

From day to day we go our way

With confident automaticity.

We rely on things implicitly

And on human beings too,

We never question the pharmacist

When he tells us what to do.

We spill our gut to a counsellor

And in doctors we confide,

And without the slightest hesitation

We take what they prescribe.

Yet we question the Word of God

And deny that He even exists,

Falling headlong for the delusion

When in fact the truth we missed.

Are we really serious

When we say there is no God

But admit the devil made us do it

Aren’t we there and then, frauds?

As the cost continues to climb

On the things our hearts desire,

Don’t we recognize their futility

And our need for what we require?

Are we really serious

Exchanging the truth for the lie

And falling for the delusion

On which only fools rely?

Stewart Russell © November 2019

Drawing The Line

 

I remember an early Art lesson

It was about drawing lines,

They had to be straight and accurate

No ruler was used at that time.

The line was to be drawn at once

No ruler, yet by the rule,

And of course, back in those days

Teachers were not playing school.

Standards were strictly kept

Not much room for meandering,

The rule-book was the line of demarcation

With scarcely an excuse for overstepping. 

  

The lines were not blurred like today

They were kept with a steady hand,

However, somewhere along the way

We have misplaced that plan.

Instead, little today is absolute

There’s no absolute right or wrong,

I mean even at the highest level...

No disrespect to the Crown.

Even there the lines have been redrawn

Time and time again

Via legal calisthenics and manipulation,

From the reasonable to the insane.

Lines once steady and sharp

Are now painfully blurred,

How we could vacillate so unashamedly

Is nothing short of the absurd!

I fear for our very young children,

What will become of them?

What kind of world will they exist in

Given the extent of our problem?

What will be their right and wrong?

Will they even have a conscience?

Will they accept the biblical standards

Or walk the road of least resistance?

Will we continue to blur the lines

Even in the church

And misguide them along a perilous path

Blindfolded and precariously perched?

Or will we show them the line again

As drawn in God’s Holy Word

And describe to them the benefits therein

And ensure that they have heard...

By drawing that line for ourselves

And setting an example thereby

So that our children and children’s children

Would on that same line rely?

No overstepping of the line,

No navigating too near the edge

Less a slip or accidental misjudgment

Snatches them from the ledge.

The contrary waves are raging

They have encroached beyond the shore,

Now the tsunami is threatening

The lines are there no more.

Stewart Russell © November 2019

None of These Things

No sleigh rides for Barbados

We don’t have any snow,

No holly and the ivy

That too is a no show.

No Santa Claus white suit

Coming down no chimney,

How it doesn’t turn black

Is still a mystery.

No Santa reindeer

And no Rudolph’s red nose,

May be a donkey ride

That is as far as it goes.

No standing under mistletoe

To await a kiss,

And Santa kissing my wife

Would be taking a risk.

Yes, Christmas is coming

But no goose is getting fat

And we don’t have any penny

To put in anybody’s hat.

For since pennies disappeared

So have the cents,

And the only pence we have now

Is recompense.

No chestnuts roasting

On any open fire

Though at another time and place

We might have burnt a tyre.

However, given the danger

That this poses these days,

It would be better

To keep such fires at bay.

No white Christmas

Unless it is with white lime

And that used to be long ago

In another time.

No jingle bells or sleigh bells

As in the songs we sing,

No babe in a manger anymore

But good tidings still we bring.

Tidings of great joy

And goodwill to man

As we celebrate the fact

Of God’s redemptive plan.

No more hopelessness

For In Christ we have hope,

No more disillusionment

In this life we can cope.

We look forward to Christmas

With none of these things,

But we have the Christ of Christmas

And the joy that he brings.

Every day is Christmas

Once Christ lives in our heart,

If you are yet to know him

I suggest you make a start.

Invite him in right now

And Christmas will be every day,

For once he comes into a heart

He'll always be there to stay.

Stewart Russell © November 2019

News or Views?

 

News or views?

That is the question we face,

For once we get past the headlines...

Of the news, there’s just a trace.

We’ve become preoccupied

With views instead of news,

For more important than the news itself

Is the matter of people’s views.

 

It is not about what happened

But what one makes of it,

And if that one is important enough

That becomes our edict.

No misuse of the word edict

Since cases are fought in the news

And the sources cited therein

Could determine our own views.

The news used to be the facts

Trustworthiness was the goal,

But I am now beginning to believe

That even that we have sold.

 

Everything has its price

There is nothing that cannot be sold,

In the past we used to be subtle

Today, we’ve become very bold.

Con-artistry is the norm

It is the expected way of life,

The gains are financially satisfying

The collateral damage is strife.

The news is what it is

But the views are what stand out,

It is how we sensationalize it

That gives us reason to shout.

A defeat is also a win

Though not for the team that lost,

But in the case of warfare

To both it is a horrific lost.

Hence, the tampering with the news:

What do the pundits say?

State but little of the facts

And let the views hold sway.

“A child was killed to day

The teachers were on strike,

If the teachers were at their workplace

That child would be alive tonight.”

Two facts are stated here

In fact, these are two news items,

But notice how they are combined

And therein lies the problem.

The first is the lost of a life

The second is an industrial protest,

But the view as expressed in the news

Could lead to civil unrest. 

This view could eclipse the news

And cause tremendous fallout,

The cause of the child’s death were the teachers,

Of this there is now little doubt.

The children they are charged to protect

They have left without their supervision

And this deplorable neglect of duty

Has brought a nation’s derision.

Local, regional, and international

FOX News or CNN

It does not matter the news carrier

The views in the news is the problem.

Stewart Russell © November 2019

Take Refuge Until Menace Parts

Having storms you cannot handle?

Take refuge until menace parts,

Don’t stress yourself hitting back

It is likely to destroy your heart.

Made a bad choice and now regret it?

Take refuge until menace parts,

It is better to seek safe shelter

Than expose yourself to the menace’s darts.

Experiencing nightmares day and night?

Take refuge until menace parts,

For when the menace goes

You shall soar like the lark.

Time is dragging on and life is drear?

Take refuge until menace parts,

It won’t last forever, you can be sure,

The end always comes after the start.

Ordered an apple but received a peach?

Take refuge until menace parts,

The blindness will disappear

Once the light has dispelled the dark.

Topsy-turvy world more down than up

Take refuge until menace parts,

It is time to think of your safety

When you see the first lightning-spark.

Now wondering when it really changed

What once used to be a stroll in the park?

Now is not the time for reminiscing

Take refuge until menace parts.

Take refuge until menace parts

Next time use your brain and not your heart,

Keep your eyes open; be on the alert,

Don’t wait for tomorrow to make a start.

Take refuge until menace parts

This is a timely message for today,

It is what it is, I often say,

Hence, when it happens you can’t keep it at bay.

If I had known is often had known,

Since it had been known from the start,

So all you can do until the season is passed is,

Take Refuge Until Menace Parts.

Stewart Russell (c) December 2019

Thanksgiving In Advance

2020! Here it is!

And the first item on the list…

Thanksgiving in advance

For God’s new-year gift

We thank you, Lord

For this new brand year

In this twenty-first century

And its third decade

From the year 2000

To this point we have come

Thanks for our guiding Light

Jesus your Son

Thank you too

For your transcendent love

That we daily receive

From your throne above

For your faithfulness

In ways seen and unseen

Every day without failure

On its surety we lean

Thank you for family

And for friends

And for the blessed Holy Spirit

On whom we depend

For every poem in 2020

And the wisdom to write

And for every single reader

Be it day or night

We thank you, Almighty God

For your special Gift

That guides and succors us

And mends every rift

For the many blessings

Which will come our way

And how they will come through

Whenever we are dismayed

  

For the promise of guidance

As we navigate this year

And for faith to overcome

Our inevitable fears

For solutions to problems

Which confront our land

For solutions that will come

From your Almighty hand

For the gift of life

And the fact of awareness

And, that in every peril

We will sense your nearness

For indwelling us

Through the Holy Spirit

And for holding our hand

In your never-failing grip

2020 has come

Yet another milestone

Thank you God for confidence

To face the unknown

Thanksgiving in advance

That’s the first item on the list

For the myriad ways

In which our God will assist

Stewart Russell © January 2020