Promises, Promises, Promises

Quote…I will do it for you…unquote

All you need to do is give me the vote

Right here in our manifesto is that note

When we sat to discuss that’s what we wrote.

Will you remember about the streetlight?

Did you note that corner with the bush?

Have you a record about the road repairs

And also the bumps to slow down the rush?

What do you plan to do about the crime?

‘Cause I cannot sit in my own patio

And enjoy an evening of relaxation

With stray bullets flying high and low.

I hope that you have not forgotten

That the man without work; he can’t get ‘nutten’

And all around things brown and rotten

It is so bad I have reached rock bottom.

I have been canvassing this whole area

And believe you me, I have seen your plight

And you can take me at my word

When we form the government we will put it right.

It’s getting late and I must move on though

In order to meet my quota I must be on the go

However, there’s something I want you to know

I do not make sport and all who know me will tell you so.

If I promise you that I am going to do it

You can guarantee that it will be done

The promises I make I take very seriously

That’s why I am out here in this hot broiling sun.

You sound like a genuine politician

I really believe I could take you at your word

You can be sure that you’ll get my vote

For you are the most sincere that I have ever heard.

Thank you so very much for your vote of confidence

I shall endeavour to meet your every need

Each promise is a debt that I will pay

And for the promised vote I thank you in deed.

  

Some years after during a chance meeting in town

I just want you to know things are still brown

This is the first time since we last spoke

More than four years since you got my vote.

I have called your office time and time again

I have even visited in the sun and in the rain

You were always out but soon would be in

I waited and waited till my patience grew thin.

I eventually stopped; I could see it was no use

I just put it down to the politicians’ abuse

At the time of election they beg for their votes

And by the time they are elected they lose their notes.

Oh they publish their appealing manifestos

With promises and promises and promises for so

But their delivery is appalling, this I know

And you are no different, just move and let me go.

I am so sorry that you misunderstood

But I made those promises intending to make good

But the government before really made a mess

And under the circumstances we’ve done the best.

What we thought we could do in a single term

Was really too much; that we have since learned

So we have decided in term number two

To do all those things that we did not get to do.

Promises, promises, promises are all you’re about

But a lot ‘o we ‘bout here promise to kick you out

And that’s a promise we intend to keep

The word is being passed around even as we speak.

I notice some preachers too join the politicians’ way

Making unfounded promises to enhance their pay

Implying that God will give you loads of cash

Just sow a money seed is the con artist’s thrash.

The records show that many were hoodwinked

That gave out of their need while standing on the brink

Awaiting the promised that never came

Believing they had given in Jesus’ name.

As a consequence there has been much fall out

As time and again persons fall for those preachers’ shout

Mindless of the con artistry in the pulpits about

They pay and pay but still experience drought.

Often it is put down to a lack of trust

When preachers fail to deliver and people fuss

Often too God is blamed when there is no gain

And these preachers get away with another falsified claim.

I want you to hear this now and hear it well

Our God delivers on His promises this I can tell

But first we must understand that this is a fallen world

This is the context I am sure you have heard.

For after our fore parents took of the fruit

That was the beginning of the sin-stained root

Everything was changed even man’s offshoot

Of whom the devil took advantage and began to loot.

But way back in the Bible in Genesis three verse fifteen

God announced a promise right there on the scene

That spoke of a coming Deliverer and Saviour Divine

And promised that he would come in the fullness of time.

Quite a long time passed before it occurred

But God’s timing was exactly as He planned

Wise men understood this promise as shown in the word

It’s time we understand it’s God’s timing not man’s.

Jesus is the fulfilment of the promise God made

When on him the sins of the whole world was laid

Crucified and buried but rising again

He demonstrated the power that makes good his claim.

Come unto him all ye that are heavily laden with sin

And find rest for your soul without and within

This promise is to all who His word would heed

It is he alone who satisfies our greatest need

Money promises that it will do it for you

Fame and popularity, they make this claim too

Power and control proclaim we will take you through

But life’s shipwrecks plainly show that none of these holds true.

For many found that when they had attained unto these

They still lacked something, for a time only they were pleased

And so they kept on searching for that elusive dream

As they were lured into scheme after scheme.

Promises, promises, promises and even more

From the politician to the pulpit, promises galore

Fooled, tricked, ensnared, entrapped, even hoodwinked

I called on all right here right now to begin to think.

The only One who has made good on all that He claimed

Is He who went to the cross and suffered shame and pain

Dying in our stead to bring us eternal gain

He that promised and has delivered, Jesus is His name.

Promises, promises, promises, everyone in God’s word is true

None are exclusive; they are for me and for you

For the richest to the poorest, for the high and the low

Just read the word of God and you’ll be sure to know.

God has never failed to deliver, no not once

Never mind the gainsayers and their useless taunts

He that has promised is faithful to deliver

You’ve tried the politician and the preacher; now try the real Caregiver.

Stewart Russell © 2015

Sooner or Later

 

The road was steep and winding,

The wind was harsh and blinding;

I thought I could cope

But clearly there was no hope

Though, in self I continue my striding.

I had long learnt I could depend on me;

I could see what others would never see;

I thought I knew it all,

All my life I had made the right call,

In my eyes, life was just a simple spree.

 

I never could in my wildest dream

Imagine before me the current scene

As I beheld the wreck;

Still I said, “Oh what the heck!

Can’t happen to me or any on my team.”

For I was a leader big and bold,

On all of life I had a huge hold;

I thought all was cool,

I would never be any man’s fool,

But sooner or later, the truth would be told.

 

  

Of one who knew all that’s in and without,

Who’d been here and there and all about;

No problem I’d say

Like the songster of old, I did it my way

But now I’d been rid of all the clout.

Now the road’s long, it’s hard and tough,

Nothing’s in my favour, all is rough;

My team’s all gone,

I’m alone and forlorn

Suffering much rejection and open rebuff.

Warned about my self-confidence,

My self-esteem and self-reliance,

God did not matter;

His words were mere noisy chatter,

To me there was no chance of conveyance.

Sooner not later I saw my wrong,

The evidence crowd me like a throng;

Couldn’t hear God speak,

Won’t renege of my unrepentant streak

Of regarding a Christian, the world’s greatest clown.

Sooner or later this could be your prediction,

God offers redemption but your intent is rejection;

Come before ‘tis too late,

Come while God’s prepared to wait

On those who continually spurn His salvation.

 

 

Tomorrow’s sun may never rise,

The future’s beyond what any could surmise;

God alone knows the outcome,

You may never see the rising sun-

Its radiant beams may not again bless your eyes.

Come while it is still day,

Come before the night, no longer delay;

Come, you never know

What this unpredictable life may bestow

Accept the challenge to walk the Savior’s way.

 

For sooner if not later your sojourn will cease,

Your time will run out, the end of your lease;

You will look back with regret

At the Saviour you reject;

And cringe at the thought of eternity without peace.

Stewart Russell © 2007

Trust: the Highest Virtue Proverbs 3:5, 6

   

 

Trust is the command given from the Holy Word,

It’s given loud and clear; haven’t you heard?

It rings in our ears; it’s the greatest praise,

It springs from the heart as our hopes are raised.

In the Lord is the connection esteemed,

It’s through the Lord that all were redeemed;

Nothing else matters as in Him we recline

And to His will we purposefully resign.

With all thy heart is the commitment required

To grow in Christ and daily climb higher;

Not shirking in duty and from the fray having withdrawn,

But committed to the Spirit through the night till dawn.

And lean not to thine own understanding, heed!

This caution especially regarding the life we lead.

For many have been deceived and led further away,

Carried on wings of selfish desires that led them astray.

In all thy ways is the completeness I see,

It’s only in Jesus we experience true liberty;

With our eyes on Him in everything we do,

Safe harbour will be ours for the Bible is true.

Acknowledge Him is the connection I repeat;

Trust in any other will be sure to bring defeat;

Great men have lived and great men have died,

Jesus is alive forevermore it’s in Him we abide.

And he will direct thy path is the direct consequence

As we submit to Him with diligence and patience;

There is no other recipe for success in the here and now,

It will work for eternity, it’s a wonder! I say WOW!

 

 

And so having heard the command to trust,

Make good the connection in the Lord, you must

With all of your heart is the commitment to pursue

Lean not to thine own understanding is the caution to you.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him the completeness of trust,

And He will direct your path the consequence of the just.

Stewart Russell © 2012

Discovering the Heart of God

Let us begin at the very start,

Everything flows right from the heart,

Out of the heart the mouth speaks,

Out of the heart every passion leaks.

So with this focus imprinted on our mind

We’ll take a journey to see what we find

As God uses marital imagery

To demonstrate to all His intimacy.

For after all the church is that bride

His Son has chosen to be at his side

Having paid for her an infinite price

On the cross of Calvary there sacrificed.

In His delight we should readily share,

His passion and purpose should be our care,

To do His will should be our resolve

And around His plan our will should revolve.

The heart of God is divinely fashioned

Revealing to us His endearing passion

To save a wretched world lost in sin

And bring His prized creation back to Him.

‘Twas the reason His only Son came

And died for those who’d call on his name,

In this God’s mission would be realized

To save the world, His eternal franchise.

Man created He in His own image

But Satan and sin did untold damage

Moving God to give up His only Son,

Praise God today that task was done!

“So what is the heart of God?” you ask,

It’s clearly defined not covertly masked.

God in Christ the world did reconcile

A heart of love expressed to the defiled.

God is passionate about every one of us

Not just the sheep that have come to Jesus

But also those that are yet to make that claim

Who will one of these days believe on His name.

  

Not only the Jew but the Gentile too,

Red, black or white means me and you,

His passion transcends colour and creed

And class structures caused by human greed.

If we His children must Him imitate

Then God’s own passions we must emulate

Portraying a love for a world that’s lost

Telling them of the Christ of Calvary’s cross.

“Where’s the heart of God?” you ask again,

Where can I find its transforming flame?

On the pages of Holy writ ‘tis clear to see

And easily accessed without price or fee.

For freely received ought to be freely give,

A witness from the lip and of the life we live,

A testimony of the one we call our Saviour,

A service to Him and not of humdrum labour.

Should not a bride’s duty be to her groom?

So should ours be to him who is coming soon.

Occupy till I come was his loving command,

In lip and life maintain a righteous stand.

With oil in our lamps and with oil to spare

We can both be bride and guests at His affair,

The cry is heard that the groom is on His way

Let’s shout it out too and no longer delay.

For we must be about our Father’s business;

This Jesus demonstrated in every given test

So that we too, his church, must give our best

And having done our part He’ll do the rest.

Our mission to the unsaved doesn’t change,

Wherever we are is its extent and range,

That mission is sharing our faith with another,

Even the nuisance that is a constant bother

For the night comes when no man can work,

So while it is day not one of us should shirk

In carrying out the command given by our Lord

To tell them of his love as written in His word.

The harvest is in plenty but the labourers few

Which one of us is absent?  Is it I?  Is it you?

A little introspection, a finger pointed at me

And the answer to that question is as clear as ABC.

If discovering God’s heart is really our quest

By this time we should have met with some success-

God’s heart and his passion is one and the same

And he who wins a soul is wise, Glory to His name! 

Stewart Russell © 2015