Grief, a Thief (Poem)

See the Grieving and Mourning series here

To dear friends who are deeply into grief,

I pray their sojourn in it will be brief.

It’s not because, for them I lack sympathy.

It’s that, for them, I perceive …Christ’s empathy!

Because to loss, grieving is a natural response.

In significant loss, we may find grief has ensconced.

Once it has settled into a ‘cozy cove’,

Across other areas of life, it may rove.

Here’s something with which we can identify:

A comfy focus on ‘Me, Myself and I’. 

The spirit of grief knows about this human trait,

And makes sure that, of such, we will have a FULL plate!

Daily, hefty servings of ‘who or what I’ve lost’,

Will eventually, your Christian joy exhaust.

What might The Spirit of Joy in Christ think,

When by ensconced grief, His saints are hoodwinked??

Throughout The Bible, The Lord promises, then He demonstrates, 

That in ‘Goshen-effect, difference-making’ acts, He elates!

He couldn’t act when, from Goshen, Jewish slaves were absent. ¹

So for Christians, what is our ‘Goshen equivalent’?? 

I believe it’s faith-based JOY that’s inexpressible, ²

That never quits in circumstances, unbearable.

If in significant loss, in joy we can’t abide,

Might The Lord’s Goshen-effect acts for us …be denied?? ³

If by trials of our faith, patience is induced,

Please tell me, what do trials of our joy produce??

Since FULLNESS of joy is …in The Lord’s presence, ⁴

Where are we, when our joy …has lost its puissance??

While grief is an initial, natural response to loss,

The spirit of grief wants to hang around, dig in and boss! 

Let’s learn to beat this spirit of grief at its own game!

Staying in JoY, denies its roots any place to claim.

Ponder these ‘fertilizer-to-fruits’ questions:

--Could a sustained focus on what I have lost, how I am impacted, and what am I to do now, possibly be the fertilizer the spirit of grief uses to distract our focus away from our peace, joy and hope in Christ, toward the deceptive, selfish cares of this temporal world??

--Could deep, protracted grief and mourning, possibly be the fruits of shunning The Lord's advice, through Paul, in Philippians 4:8-9??

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¹ See: The Goshen Effect (Series).

² See: 1 Peter 1:8.

³ In the New Testament (NKJV), faith is closely allied with Joy 6 times -- spiritually, the number of incompletion or imperfection. To you, what does that signify?

⁴ See: Psalm 16:11 and Acts 2:28.

Missed Insights from Jeremiah 9 (Poem, Part 1)

See the Missed Insights series here

 

This is my absolute favorite Bible passage.

In beaded Morse Code, my bracelet ‘transmits’ the message.

As I began to write this rhyme, The Lord intervened,

To say, His command, everybody has contravened,

Both directly and indirectly, in life, routine.

Thus, I STOPPED to ponder and to hear …what did He mean??

Knowing we humans are a very proud species,

To His reference to ‘directly’, I agreed!

But how have we all indirectly contravened??

He turned my attention to His creation scene,

And to His iterative use of the word, Let. ¹

I quickly understood His ‘everybody’ point!!!

Ponder this:

When He said, Let, while He was creating,

To whom or to what was The Lord speaking??

In all His commands, the objects are clear. ²

To His voice, implied subjects tune their ‘ears’. 

All things, spiritual and physical,

Obey His voice to seek His approval.

That’s true, but with one exception – HUMANS!!!

Though at the apex of His creation,

In His personal image we’re designed,

With The Lord’s voice, we are all …NOT ALIGNED!!! 

Thus, we don’t see us in His ‘Let’ commands.

Keep reading so my point you’ll understand. 

You see, Friends, WE are the implied subjects,

In what verse 23 above directs.

The wise, mighty and rich are the objects.

Though us all, the spirit of pride infects,

Who among us are the most infected??

To them, The Lord’s deep angst is directed.

So why to us who are not wise, mighty or rich,

Is responsibility implicitly hitched??

What influence have we, individually,

Also possibly together, collectively,

To affect The Lord’s ‘Let not’ commands, over those,

Who, full of pride, will earn His harsh pride-judgment blows??

Our first, and most prominent influences,

Should be our ‘demonstration effects’ graces.

To all, our lifestyle examples speak volumes.

Forget such effects if, like theirs, our pride blooms,

Or if we embrace envy, the opposite.

In both of these sins, we’ll become …indurate. ³

Otherwise, how can we respond faithfully,

To The Lord’s commands given implicitly?

His saints should testify, prophetically:

--Of how we were delivered, powerfully, 

From The Lord’s promised judgments on sins of pride,

--And with repentance, His Grace won’t be denied. 

‘Yeah, right, J!’, rolling your eyes, as I envision.

I’m just the messenger, with the same reaction!

But I’m ‘judgment smart’ enough, this truth to have learned:

With His direct or implicit will/Word, He’ll return,

More Grace, and with no repentance, then His judgments.

Let’s aim for more of His Grace, through obedience. ⁴

~~~~~~~

Indeed, we have some influences on the wise, strong and rich.

If not, The Lord would not have made us His …indirect subjects.

Stay tuned for Part 2

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¹ See: Genesis 1:3-26.

² Quick review: The subject(s) of a sentence is/are whatever or whomever is taking the verb action(s) on the object(s). The object(s) of a sentence is/are whatever or whomever is receiving the verb action(s) by the subject(s). Thus, the objects of verse 23 are people who are wise, mighty and rich in life. Did you think these people were/are the subjects of The Lord’s ‘Let…’ commands?? I sure did, until…

The objects of verse 24 are anybody who is inclined to be selfishly prideful, rather than prideful about knowing The Lord, and His works in the Earth.

Throughout The Bible, He is typically very clear in identifying the objects of His discourses and commands, but from our perspective, He’s not always clear regarding the subjects. Clarity of His unstated subjects comes as we examine the immediate context of His statements, in light of the broader, spiritual context of The Bible.

³ Indurate – hardhearted, obdurate, stubborn, unfeeling. Since pride is all about what ‘I’ have or have achieved, and envy is all about what ‘another’ has or has achieved, classically, envy is the spiritual opposite of pride.

⁴ Whether we repent or not, The Lord’s response is always more Grace, that is until Grace’s cloaked expiration date for a person, family, company/corporation, society, nation, and __?__, has expired. That's 6 recipients of His Grace. Since 6 is spiritually the number of incompletion, and some may say the number of imperfect man(kind), can you guess what is/are the missing recipient(s) of The Lord’s Grace and Judgments, purposed to achieve Righteousness??

Faith, Which Letter Significant? (Poem)

See the Faith and Pride series here

‘…when the Son of Man comes,

will He really find [persistent] faith on the Earth?’

(Luke 18:8)

Since The Lord departed Earth, faith has been on His Mind,

Perhaps since during His time here, He witnessed so little.

Yet He declared, ‘Against My church, hell’s gates will not prevail.’ ¹

To you, does it seem to strong faith, we are not inclined??

For example, what is your ‘persistent, strong faith’ level?

Have you noticed, devils upped their game, our faith to assail?

In these post-pandemic years, Christian faith is on the wane,

Just as Paul twice predicted toward the end of this age. ²

His predictions, and this reality, give us a choice:

To join many on the lukewarm and apostasy train,

Or enhance our faith before The Lord turns His ages page’. ³

On this choice, devils would love for more of us …to be poised.

While pondering this issue, I asked several friends,

‘To you, what’s the most significant letter in ‘faith’, and why?’

Spiritually, I believe words ‘mean much more’ than they mean.

Jesus said His words are spirit, and life. That’s a blend! ⁴

Words we speak are also spirit, but mostly …death on the fly!

So from the word, faith, I was curious what some friends might glean. ⁵

Two chose F as their key letter, showing trust in Father God,

Whose Son’s family and fellowship are their life’s cornerstone.

Two chose T, representing knowing Truth, a faith by-product,

And the cross on which Christ was nailed, [with Father’s strategic nod].

Faith in His sacrifice is a prerequisite and keystone.

Two friend chose A for asking, then boldly acting, all doubts bucked!

Another friend chose H for hope, which Godly faith generates.

Two chose I, the balancing middle letter, the fulcrum,

One for her personal responsibility to ask,

The other for it’s and is, noting what those words indicate:

Folks who think it’s their faith, forget where Godly faith comes from.

Others think faith creates, but it only ‘sees’ what is [masked].

Voila! This last friend’s perspective mirrors mine, exactly!!!

Here’s the lesson The Lord has anchored in my soul deeply.

I chose the letter I, signifying imagination.

Our spirit and soul twins, our immortal duality,

Are uniquely equipped to ‘see’ beyond reality.

And that which we choose to ‘see’, attracts The Lord’s keen attention!

The Bible cites the word, imagination, 25 times,

Spread across 3 ages of human history.

In not one of them is this word used in a positive light! ⁶

The word, faith, is only cited twice in the 2^nd age times--

Once each in Habakkuk and Deuteronomy.

‘…The just shall live by his faith’, The Lord told Habakkuk, to write. ⁷

With His sacrifice pending, Jesus altered that focus,

When He told His fig tree awed disciples, ‘Have the faith of God.’

I prayed about and pondered this distinction, then concluded,

Before we could have God’s faith, Christ’s sacrifice was a must!

We 3^rd age believers are thus endowed with the faith of God!

Ergo, believers who rely on their faith, are deluded. ⁸

Since spiritually, words ‘mean much more’ than they mean,

To words with an odd number of letters, I am attracted,

Focusing on their middle letter, their balancing fulcrum.

When I perceive plausible intersections that seem,

To link with Bible themes that are strategic and protracted,

I slow down and tune my ear to hear what, from The Lord, may come.

At the fulcrum of faith, imagination intersected.

Uniquely equipped to ‘see’ beyond reality,

Imagination sketches what is not seen, but is.

Beliefs are birthed, and in them, the fuel of hopes is injected.

Hopes shape molds for the substance of faith to fill fully.

When we patiently do our parts, The Lord does …His biz.

F.A.I.T.H. Acronyms

Fully Assured, I Trust Him.

Fully Anticipating It To Happen.

Forsaking All, I’m Trusting Him.

Father And I Together, Harmony.

Father Always Inspires The Humble.

Faithfully Anchoring In (T)His Harbor.

Faith Allows Imaginations To Happen.

Forwarding All Issues to Him/Heaven.

Framing All Imaginations Through Him.

Father’s Amazing Imaginations Trigger Hopes.

Ponder this:

Faith uncloaks the substance of hope.

The quality of your life is the harvest of your imagination.

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¹ In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus makes this affirmation, based, not on Peter, as some may think, but on the spiritual revelation that He is The Son of God, The Messiah. 

² See: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 and 1 Timothy 4:1.

³ The next historical age will be the tribulation age. See: Human History Ages (Series).

⁴ See: John 6:63.

⁵ Death on the fly signifies spiritual death. I posed my question to 38 friends. The Lord inspired 8 to reply. Thanks very much to you whom He inspired.

⁶ Check out what the KJV Bible says about typical human imaginations. In most other versions, the word, thoughts, is substituted for imaginations.

⁷ See: Habakkuk 2:4.

⁸ See: In vs. Of - A Prepositional Detour, Faith Hijackers (Poem), Faith and Pride (Series) and Faith Author, Finisher and You (Series).