Your Faith Career (Poem)

Though many Christ-believers deny and even mock it,

And all non-believers may think it is total foolishness,

The Bible says to live by faith, walking in The Spirit, ¹

A crucial lifestyle aspect of what God calls righteousness.

That The Bible is replete with countless examples,

Of how, when, why and where this was done successfully,

Honestly, I doubt there can be any denials,

That they start with speaking one’s beliefs, emphatically. ²

Deep-seated beliefs spoken from a heart that is righteous,

And in-tune with The Spirit of the living God,

And that spawns corresponding actions that are not anxious,

Qualifies as faith that all Heaven can applaud.

So why do some believers today mock and denigrate,

What Jesus instructs us to do, and Heaven applauds?

With ‘name-it, claim-it, blab-it, grab-it’ slurs, they desecrate,

The walk in The Spirit that The Lord, Himself, so lauds.

Rather than filled with The Word that fuels our Spirit-walk,

Many of us are filled to the rim, even over-spilling,

With things that spew from culture, and dominate our talk.

What room is left inside for what The Spirit is revealing??

Could the reason well be our incredible impatience,

A ubiquitous malady in our world today,

Causing us to impugn what we all should reverence,

And thus miss out on blessings because we disobey?

Beware of these two things at which culture is an expert:

1. A keen ability your mind, heart, thoughts and words to capture.

Your treasure trove thus captured, you’ll become …culture’s convert!

2. Faced with resistance, an ardent ability to censure.

So never for a moment think that culture is inert.

As you ponder these points, for this be on the lookout:

Folks engrossed in culture becoming …cultural prophets,

Calling things that are not, before their pending breakout! 

On their prophecies, some act, and your actions solicit!!

The wise will see that’s the lifestyle Jesus says to display,

And He simply calls it living by our faith.

Why, when worldly folks do it, suddenly it is ok?!

Friends, now can you see, we’ve swallowed devils bait?!

Their trick is not to downplay how by faith to thrive,

But to change our focus on the motivating objects:

Away from everything from God’s Spirit derived,

To any other things, especially things He rejects.

So anyway you cut it, by God’s hook or devils’ crook,

All across the world, it is by faith folks are living, that’s clear.

The only major difference is whose advice they took.

C’mon! With this insight, reignite your …Godly faith career! ³

Why things we really believe for try our patience

~Faith and hope work together
~Hope shapes the mold for the substance of faith
~Faith is the spiritual ‘stand-in’ for that substance
~Patience is the yardstick and scale of faith
~You don't have any more faith than you have patience
~When patience runs out, your faith stops working
~Hope may remain, but is powerless
~Impatience is demonic pressure to get faith to fail
~Devils don’t care about what you hope for; hope is powerless
~They care a LOT about what you earnestly believe for
~God cares about both since they are fruits of your heart & soul
~God searches and tests your heart and soul
     (mind, will, emotions, intellect, imagination)
~If patience isn’t tried, what you believe for doesn't mean much
~God is faithful to His Word promises to the righteous in Christ 
~Rest in His faithfulness; stay in faith!

---------- 

¹ See: Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38. See also: Faith Talk (Poem)

² This is how God, through Jesus, created all things. It includes emphatically speaking within one’s spirit/heart as well as speaking verbally. 

³ And leave the results to Heaven!

Our Innate God-intention (Poem)

 

There is, I see, an inherent quality,

That deep within each one of us is born.

It is a strong desire to be royalty,

Some crown that only by us should be worn.

We men see ourselves as kings of our homestead,

Yet it is typically women who ‘rule the roost’,

The queens, ruling as if they’re kings instead.

Thus, at home, men may not get their …kingly ego boost!

At work, we often tend to aspire to be the boss,

Hiring, firing and deciding with authority,

Till we realize their health and lives are in chaos,

And that, for most, self-promotion outranks loyalty.

Socially, we want to be ‘the leader of the pack’,

Being looked-up to, respected and closely followed,

Till from the others we begin to get lots of flack,

Because by leaders, they are being overshadowed.

Yet born to rule, we still feel we are, instinctively,

Though with no crown to wear or throne upon which to sit.

Thus, we devise our ways to rule …insidiously,

Through devious schemes and tricks in our mind and spirit.

lucifer once wanted to replace God in Heaven,

Then as satan, he wanted to be god on the Earth.

But as gods on the Earth, The Lord created humans. 

Then Adam messed up, and depreciated our worth!

The Bible reminds us of our ‘god-intention’,

And Jesus pointed to this when He was challenged. 

So about this concept, what do you imagine??

The god-intention in us will never be expunged. ¹

This is what I perceive…

Long before The Lord God created the universe,

He had Earth as His primary focus, ²

As a stage on which we would audition, then rehearse,

For eternal roles as …royals lustrous. ³

He designed us after creating the angels,

But above them, lower than Himself -- man with no lack. ⁴

He adorned us with …nascent royal credentials.

Adam abdicated our throne. Jesus took it back!!!

But get this…

He’s not stingy, but offers our throne to us …again,

To serve Him and our fellow man as kings and priests unto Him,

During life NOW, and THEN in His Millennial Reign. ⁵

This is a fantastic offer from The Lord God, Elohim.

Accepting His offer, our rehearsals on Earth are revealed,

And one Day soon, as lustrous kings and priests we’ll be recognized.

Rejecting His offer, our reversal from Adam …is sealed

And The Lord is impugned, Whose judgment is now …pre-publicized. ⁶

---------- 

¹ Ponder: Psalm 82:6 and John 10:34. See: Ye Are gods! (Series)

² See: Isaiah 66:1, Matthew 5:34 – 35, and Acts 7:49

³ An angel confirmed this in Daniel 12:3. See: Look At Me ...Then (Poem)

⁴ See: Psalm 8:5 (AMP & YLT)

⁵ Confirmed in Romans 5:17, Revelation 1:6 and 5:10. See also: Reigning in Life

⁶ The Great White Throne Judgment: ‘Then I saw a great White Throne and Him Who sat on it, from Whose face the Earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and hades were cast into the lake of fire [hell]. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.’ (Revelation 20:11-15)

Working With Angels (Poem, Part 2)

See the series here

#1 Angelic Deployment, Employment and Unemployment

Sometime before the creation of man, angels fought a war.

Lucifer, son of the morning, wanted to be Heaven’s star.

He lost out. On Earth they fell, after in Heaven, they were trounced! ¹

When man was created, satan had an idea, and pounced!

He became Earth’s god, then deployed his troops against mankind.

God dispatched, then deployed His angels with man to align.

So the war, begun in Heaven, continues in our day,

Though satan won’t concede Jesus took his power away!

That happened when from His hellish grave He resurrected,

Then gave His great victory to folks He’d pre-selected. ²

To them, in a pre-death parable, this He did specify,

As written in The Bible: ‘Until I return, occupy!’ ³

On the Day of Pentecost, His Spirit filled their …inner void, 

To complement His angels, long ago dispatched and deployed.

Now, angels without, His Spirit within, we’re fully equipped,

For warfare, ensuring those devils He defeated … stay whipped!

At least, that was and remains His great plan for us,

But sadly, on His plan now there’s no consensus! 

Thus, His Spirit is grieved and many angels …unemployed, ⁴

And devils He defeated are quite frankly, overjoyed,

That many Christ-believers lack faith and zeal for Christ’s warfare.

We as His front line-of-defense, some are frankly …unaware.

Bible students will recall this is exactly what occurred,

When, fresh out of Egypt, Jews thought fighting giants …was absurd! ⁵

To convey His concern for the state many of us are in,

The Lord shared a story about losing saltiness within.

He then painted a vivid picture of our lukewarmness sin. ⁶

As a result, His first line of defense has gotten …quite thin.

We beg Him to do what He assigned to us. Obedience feigned.

Could this possibly be linked to His pending Millennial Reign? ⁷

Christ’s Spirit, working within, and angels, working without,

Hearken to His Word that from our lives and mouths should flow out. ⁸

When, with all aspects of worldly culture, we fill our soul,

Imagine what happens when on the battlefield we stroll.

If with His Word, we’re not being filled, and adding faith to it,

In spiritual warfare, pray tell, for what are we then fit??

The Christian life on Earth is our training day and ground,

Where we are tried and tested before being Heaven-bound.

When in His tests, The Lord allows the enemy to advance,

His Spirit and angels, arrayed in offensive stance,

Await our confessions-of-faith to spur their advance.

If then, from our mouths, fears, doubts and nervous prayers come out,

No doubt, the enemy will be free, our lives will rout! ⁹

Friends, if to your notions of love, you feel my poem does not sync,

Please know this: 

I don’t want to be on the front line with you as a weak link!

Neither do I want to be in a ‘hot war’ with you lukewarm!

Revelation 3 says what’ll happen when we fail to perform.

If both Jesus and I have such concerns,

What might His Spirit and angels discern??

---------- 

¹ See: Revelation 12:7-9, Ezekiel 28:11-17 and Isaiah 14:12-15

² See: Matthew 28:18 and Ephesians 4:9

³ See: Luke 19:13 (KJV) and Album 9: Occupy! (Lyrics & Video)

⁴ Either unemployed, under-employed, or possibly both in various areas of our lives.

⁵ See: Numbers 13 and14, then weep for us today who are like the Jews in the wilderness way!

⁶ See: Matthew 5:13 and Revelation 3:14-22. See also: Laodicean Lackadaisicalness (Series)

⁷ Could Christ’s Millennial Reign, during which He will occupy Earth with His then immortal saints, in part, be because of our failure to occupy Earth with the help of His Spirit and angels??

⁸ See: Psalm 103:20-21. Paul reveals Jesus is ready to judge evil in the Earth when our obedience is fulfilled. (2 Corinthians 10:6) This is a counterpart to 2 Chronicles 7:14. In both these verses, Jesus holds Christ-believers responsible for the quality of life on Earth. Imagine that!

⁹ See: Jeremiah 17:10

Working With Angels (Poem, Part 1)

See the series here

Global migration patterns over thousands of years,

Resulted in a …plethora of national diaspora,

Folks who left their homelands for family and careers,

And settled in new lands to begin their …new life agenda.

In some lands, they’re greeted with cheers; in others with jeers.

It’s always challenging to blend into their …new life arenas.

During the U.S. election in the year 2020, 

A preacher strongly called for angelic help …from Africa,

To help her favored candidate retain the presidency.

The Lord did not concur in her political agenda.

While her strange antics were mocked the world over, quite heavily,

They unveil misconceptions of …the angelic diaspora! ¹

Angelic diaspora?! Pray tell, who might that comprise?!

From where did they migrate, and where did they resettle?

Where are they greeted with jeers, and elsewhere with cheerful cries?

With what new agenda and challenges do they wrestle?

With us humans, do they communicate and fraternize?

For answers to such questions, let’s turn to …The Bible.

Hebrews attests God created all things for and by Jesus.

This includes the angelic hosts, created before mankind.

He created them to serve The Godhead and folks just like us.

A third rebelled, fell to Earth, and lost their lofty roles divine.

Some who rebelled again are locked up in a prison, keyless!

Some who didn’t rebel were dispatched to Earth,

to the righteous assigned. ²

Of the two groups to Earth assigned, one’s doing a bang-up job,

As among all their assignees, sinful deeds are preferred.

Of the other group, I wonder if their joy has been robbed,

Because of their assignees’ …angelic notions absurd--

Like about their gender, size, hair/skin color, and their job.

What non-sense about good and evil angels have you heard?! ³

 

The Lord assigns His saints as Earth’s spiritual salt,

To help retard both the rate and extent of degradation.

Let’s explore four principal things from His wisdom vault,

That we should know about our …human-angel coalition.

If in Jesus Christ you are an all-grownup adult,

Check to see if your angelic notions may need revision.

        #1 Their Deployment, Employment and Unemployment

        #2 Their Preference, Proclivity and Responsiveness to ‘Saltiness’

        #3 Their Preferred Means of Communication

        #4 Their Roles in Binding and Loosening

Let's unpack angels' preferences re. these points.

---------- 

¹ Paula White-Cain, Christian pastor and spiritual advisor to Donald Trump. See: Angels from Africa

² The triune Godhead: God, The Father; God, The Son Jesus; and God, The Holy Spirit, three personalities in One. Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 2:10 and Proverbs 16:4 confirm all things were created by and for Jesus Christ. See also: Is Jesus God (Series) and Human's DNA Hacked (Poem)

³ See: Who is Mightier? (Poem)