Heb 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
There is a name which is above every other name, that name is Jesus. He is the brightness of God the Father and His express image. He upholds all things and He purged our sins and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty. His name is exalted above all others. Its at the name and in the power of Jesus that the worlds came into being. The stars shine in the heavens above and the sun burns with such intensity by the hand of the Lord Jesus. He is so high and lifted up that even a single tear from the Masters eye causes the oceans to blush. The sun is a mere flickering candle in the brightness of His glory. He holds the whole universe in the palm of His hand and by His power alone it is all held together. He is begotten of the Father and the Son of the most High. The angels all bow down and cry Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.
Lord Jesus, you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hand. Hide your face and the whole world is troubled, hold your breath and we crumble and die, look away and the world falls to pieces, we exalt you oh Lord on high. Everything that exists shall be rolled up and burned up in that day, but You Oh Lord remain forever. You are eternal, Your Word is eternal and you have invited us into the eternal Kingdom of our God. Tears of joy and wholeness rise in me, water from the saints that are deeper than the deepest sea. Only in this place of eternity do I truly belong, where the saints all gather around the throne and sing a glorious song. As far as the eye can see, like wheat gently blowing as one in the wind, you are surrounded by millions upon millions of those who had formerly sinned. Redeemed by Your glory and Majesty, redeemed by the Blood that you shed, we should have dwelt forever in the depths of darkness, but here we are before You instead. We shall sing of Your glory forever, and forever and forever and a day. And here where Your glory fills the temple, is the place we shall eternally stay.
Burdens are the celestial stairs
That surely lift me higher
For it's right there where I meet my Lord
Who shall take me through the fire.
Trials are the wings I need to fly
To fly to higher ground
I'll meet the Lord up in the air
To sing with choirs a heavenly sound.
Sufferings draw me ever closer
I am weak and He is strong
And in the depths of my infirmities
You shall surely hear my song.
It is the song of songs of Calvary
Where my Savior bled and died
And rose again three days hence
And now is glorified.
The daily crosses that I bear
To the world they seem a trial
But they sharpen me in the inner man
For they'll only last a while
Soon enough I'll breath my last
I'll lay down the burden of my soul
Then stand before the King of Kings
Where I'll be finally whole.
Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
What a magnificent scripture! The fullness of time had come and God the Father sent forth His Son, to we who were enslaved by sin and under a curse, and redeemed us to Himself. Shall we not boast? Shall we not shout from the rooftops about the cross of Christ? Look to Calvary and we see the magnificent sacrifice and victory of our Father in heaven through His precious sinless Son. The Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world has been crucified to us and we to the world! The way unto heaven was made and the road was paved with tears and sorrows and the gate was covered by His blood. Yet for those who find the way, in the Lord, it leads us to the very throne room of “our Father.” Rest on that a moment brothers and sisters “Our Father.” O precious God in heaven above, we, your children praise you as we cry out unto You. We glorify you today for we are astonished that we who were but slaves and captives and cursed, are now sons and daughters and heirs through Christ our Lord. Who could believe such a thing?
The captives have been set free! The curse has been removed! The slave has been taken from the field! We who dwelt in huts and caves and darkness have been taken to where the Master lives. And because our Lord and Savior Jesus lives, then we live. This life that I now live I live by faith in the Son of God. It is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me and the cry of my heart and soul that resounds down through the ages and across the heavens is “Abba Father.” My Father who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name. I have died to the law of my flesh that I might live a life of faith given to me by grace. O how sweet is the grace that saved us, and what a price was paid that we may call Him Abba. How could I ever return to the weak and beggarly elements of the flesh and slavery and darkness? Your marvelous light O God has set us free from the law of sin and death and the curse was removed from us by the bloody nails of Calvary and the precious flesh they pierced. O how we love Jesus, O how we love Jesus. He came for you, He came for me, He died and bled to make us free. He rose again and now He lives and by His grace, redemption gives. We, the redeemed of the Lord cry holy, holy, holy…. we cry Abba Father.
Fill me till I thirst no more
With living waters from above
Fill me till I overflow
And it manifests itself in love
Fill me with abundance Lord
That fills my very soul
Fill the deepest parts of me
And in the filling I'll be whole
Fill me with your presence Lord
Till it flows from the depths of me
Fill me with waters from above
That would fill the deepest sea
Fill me with Your glory Lord
For it surely fills the temple
Fill me with your power Lord
That keeps me strong but gentle
Fill me with Your Light O Lord
Burning brighter than the sun
Remind me of Your victory Lord
That on Calvary was sorely won
Fill me with eternal life
So I'll walk the narrow way
That leads to my celestial home
Where I'll forever stay
Last night was a sleepless night for me. There was two lines that came to me in my sleep. “I’m walking in the shadow of an already setting sun.” I knew if I did not get up, that these words would not be remembered in the morning. Typically when I write a poem, the Holy Spirit will give me a line that represents the meaning He wants me to convey in words. It’s not usually in the middle of the night. It was a struggle as I was so desperately tired, but eventually I got up at about 3am and went downstairs and wrote the lines. This morning it seemed clear to me what the Holy Spirit was saying. He was speaking to someone, perhaps many, who look at their lives or a particular situation and it seems hopeless. It seems no good thing can come out of this despite your desperate prayers. So, this poem/word is to someone who has specifically asked the Lord a question about what shall become of their desperate situation. The old adage “its always darkest before the dawn,” seems to fit here. There is a dawn coming, the sun will rise in your situation, but in the depths of the longest night it is often hard to believe. To you who asked the question of God, He says to you “the victory is already won, right now your just walking in the shadow of it.”
I'm walking in the shadow
Of an already setting sun
I'm walking in the shadow of
A victory already won
And in that victory I'll arise
O death where is your sting?
I'll stand before the Lord of Lords
And this is what I'll sing
Hallelujah hallelujah
Hallelujah to my King
Hallelujah hallelujah
O death where be thy sting?
Now I look back at the shadow
And the shadow is no more
It's been swallowed up in victory
As I walk on through the door
It's an open door to heaven
A door no man can close
For the one who holds it open
Is the one who took the blows.
I very rarely give the premise of a poem. Poems should speak for themselves. Poems can say a thousand different things to a thousand different people. A poet reaches into his heart and speaks of what he knows and presents a piece of his heart to others. What is common to him is common to humanity. When he expresses this, it touches others for they recognize that joy and pain and even agony that is common to all of us to one degree or another. Yet I would like to say a few words about this poem that I have written. It is my testimony of being saved. It is where I was. I had come out of my childhood a thoroughly broken human being. And long before my 21st birthday I had buried a son, been homeless, held my second son in my arms who had just been burned over 60% of his body with third degree burns, and suddenly I was gone. I had slipped away beneath the darkness. Into the depths of wrecked humanity. I “knew,” I would not leave this place.
And it was this “knowing,” that was the atmosphere of my own personal hell. It is impossible to convey this place of lost souls. I had walked out of the fire of my childhood and onto broken glass. And suddenly the mind is overwhelmed and you slip away. And so the poem describes a shaft of light that doggedly pursued me. I knew it was there, I ran from it. It was, of course, my Jesus. And he pursued me to the gates of hell. I cannot really describe my encounter with Him. It was an agony, for I could see myself. I, who would have destroyed every mirror in the world had to face what I had become in the incredible light of Christ. And right there I wanted Jesus to look away from me, I did not want this magnificent majestic perfect beauty of Holiness to look on something so deformed by sin. And yet He looked, despite my sin. “I love you.” And in a single moment, I was free. And so, the poem is about my journey to the light. If you know someone who is lost in the depths of darkness, maybe you could share this with them. There is but a single hope in Christ.
If my heart cries out, Lord will you hear me?
If I come to you, Lord will you see me?
What could be worse than the darkness where I stand?
To reach out through the darkness and discover there's no hand
The greater terror than the darkness of the night
Is to consider the possibility that there really is no light
To be so consumed by darkness that there is no way ahead
Is to walk in lockstep with the lost, to walk with the walking dead
Yet all along there was but a single shaft of light
That followed through the fire and was with me in the night
I ran and ran and ran from this but yet it followed me
Even to the ends of the earth and to the depths of the bottomless sea.
I had taken the wings of the morning and fled into the night
I had plunged to the very gates of hell, yet it kept me in its sight
Even in this darkness it still was light to me
I could sense that somewhere in this light I could yet be free
And so with trembling agony I stumbled to the light
I had ran with the forces of chaos and now I had no fight
So my heart cried out to Jesus "Is it true can I be free."
And in a single moment He was standing there with me.
And oh what an agony to to be this near to Him
I could see my lost humanity, that I was drowning in my sin.
And with my very last breath, He had indeed heard me
The light had come to take me home, the light had set me free.
You have been my shelter Lord..............
When the rain fell from the sky
When the rivers they ran dry
When peace had fled from me
You have been my shelter Lord, in the midst of the raging sea.
You have been my shelter Lord.............
When I just could not go on
When the night had lost its song
When I was down upon my knees
You have been my shelter Lord when you heard my anguished pleas.
You have been my shelter Lord............
When the wilderness sapped my soul
When I had lost control
When there was no way ahead
You were indeed my shelter Lord when you suffered died and bled
You are my Rock my strong high tower
My song of praise in the midnight hour
My holy place my tabernacle
You broke every chain and smashed every shackle.
Manna fall from heaven Lord and feed my hungry soul
Feed the very depths of me that I may walk on whole
Living waters flow through me and quench my raging thirst
For I am now redeemed by you, I who once was cursed
Speak to me when I am low, that I may rise again
Touch me in affliction Lord, deliver me from pain
Rend the heavens and come down and light the way ahead
For I have been delivered Lord, I who once was dead
Consume me with your presence Lord and cast out every fear
Lead the way through troubles Lord and dry up every tear
Lift my eyes to the cross once more that I might see the cost
For I was purchased by Your blood, I who once was lost
Speak but a single word to me it is not by bread alone
A vision of your majesty and the glory of your throne
The beauty of your Holiness your splendor is all I find
I see you high and lifted up, I who once was blind.
To be known by you sets my troubled heart at ease
It lifts me high above the waves, above the stormy seas
To be known by you fills me with such great desire
It overflows my flooded heart and puts out every fire
To be known by you means that I have been redeemed
Delivered from the guilt and shame and every voice that screamed
To be known by you puts a sword into my hand
To be lifted up from the battle-field that I once more might stand
To be known by you sets all my enemies to flight
And with the Word of God helps me navigate the night
To be known by you it is manna to my soul
For that which once was broken, you have now made whole
To be known by you will hold me in that hour
When all the world is crumbling, I'll be standing in your power
This I know in the depths of my heart to be true
That I am overwhelmed that I am known by you.
The more we are broken, and by broken I mean having the hardness of our hearts exercised by God Himself, the more we have eyes to see the glory. Many men know about the concept of brokenness in their heads and they often, by their head knowledge, try to break themselves. This is the worse kind of religious man. The man or woman who has glimpsed the perfection of God, like the prophet Isaiah, is crushed by His own unworthiness yet simultaneously swallowed whole by the glory of the Perfect God. It is two sides to the one coin, the unholiness of man and the perfection of God that touches man as by fire. God’s man “sees,” something, the religious man has never seen. We see our own imperfections in the light of His glory and it crushes us. We must be crushed. For what emerges is true fellowship. If it was just dying, many of us would do OK. I’ve never really had any particular desire to live in this world after being saved. I thought these thoughts on dying were virtuous, but in the plain reality of heaven versus earth, it’s only common sense. Yet, “the death of the cross,” is something entirely different. To be scourged and then to kiss the rod. To be beaten and then to bless the hand from whom the injury came.To kiss the hand that wounds us is to kiss the hand of God. To be so totally dismantled that everything you thought about yourself evaporates. He scourges, He breaks, He dismantles. He remakes us so that we can sit down with Him and the lowly and the contrite in high and lofty places. This is the narrow walk and few there are that find it.
I was born by the river
In a dirty ol town of hard livin
And that old river just keeps on running
And I know I just got to keep on forgivin.
That old river is fast flowin
But it couldn't wash away all the pain
For in the eddy's and the alleys
The gutters of life kept pouring down rain.
Cobblestones streets illuminated by full moon nights
Lamp posts silhouetted, sandstone chimney pots
The thing about this rain that never seems to stop
It soaks you to the bone and everything rots
As I flew a long long way from the valley
And left it far far and away behind
To the big sky horizons of a different world
Yet the valley was never far from my mind
Still the river flowed, still the rain fell
And even in this land of vast horizons
I was walking though the long deep valley
Looking for a world I could arise in.
And then a hand reached down through the rain
Through the misty darkness of cobblestone streets
Where the gutters were awash with pain
A new land came forward and the old ones retreat
Now the river keeps running through the valley
And the rain keeps fallin from above
Yet the sun has broken through the landscape
And has filled that old valley with its love.
Isa 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
William Cowper, in his famous hymn “God moves in a mysterious way,” writes “Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.” Even when God is angry with His people, His plan is moving forward. We can trust Him in all things. His ways are higher than our ways, He sees it all, we see a snapshot. And in that snapshot we often only see the dire circumstances that surround us, but of course there is an unfolding plan that will not change. “His purposes will ripen fast,unfolding every hour.The bud may have a bitter taste,but sweet will be the flow’r.” There is a bitter taste in the world today brothers and sisters, no doubt, but the sweet smelling aroma of His presence is with us still, in the hearts of His saints. No matter how bitter the hour, how pleasant is our Lord and God who holds us and sustains us in the midst of it all.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.(Rom 5:1-2) We rejoice in the hope and the glory of God. God is our salvation, God alone is our strength. His strength and power and and glory are without beginning and they have no end. They are inexhaustible. Therefore, brothers and sisters, because of this great truth we shall draw near to Him with great Joy and draw waters from these inexhaustible wells, the glorious wells of our salvation. As the land is ravaged by drought, we who are found in Him shall never thirst as we draw near to Him. “Deep in unfathomable mines of never failing skill He treasures up His bright designs and works His sov’reign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head.” Thank you for the rain Lord, thank you for your refreshing waters that water the very depths of our souls.
For the last six months, I have suffered, almost non stop, from two pinched nerves. I have lived with chronic pain, but this is something “special.” Please, and don’t be offended by this, but please do not comment on the pain, my condition or express sympathy or remedies. My interest is in an analogy. The moments when, for no particular reason, there is no pain. It is overwhelming and quite emotional as I revel in the short window. The heavens seem to open up and I am surrounded by such satisfaction and appreciation for “normal.”
It occurred to me how much this experience is like the presence of God. That moment when all of a sudden and entirely unexpectedly my Lord is with me in His manifest presence. How, all the noise of the world just seems to melt away and I am in my “normal,” place. A place of no pain, no sadness, a place of radiating overwhelming beauty. I know it won’t last but I only know that afterwards. For eternity is always eternity even if it’s only for a moment. One day, one day soon, eternity will be moments no more.
I will wait for Him.
If I had to wait a thousand years,I would wait for Him. He is my all in all and I am swallowed whole by wholeness and it changes me. The world grows ever dimmer and the bright impenetrable light of His soon coming, beckons me. It calls to the depths of my spirit. I learned a long time ago that even if all the heavens above me are covered by clouds, that above those clouds there lies an eternal blue sky. And every now and then, the clouds part and a shaft of light engulfs me and renews my spirit and warms my soul.
Job 2:3……….. and still he holds fast his integrity.
We see here the progression of God’s truth about Job and the exposing of the lie of Satan. Job has just lost every single possession he owned in the world. All of his children had just been wiped out. And when he hears of this he famously replies ” naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return : the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” I want to suggest that this is the high water mark of service to the God that we love above and beyond all other things. God himself says, that even after all these things “still he holds fast his integrity.” God is impressed with His servant and we see this only makes the Devil angrier. The love of God for His servants and their love for Him, even in the face of terrible loss and tragedy only makes the enemy of our soul even angrier.
Have you suffered loss brothers and sisters? Can you say with all of your heart “blessed be the name of the Lord.” This is what Job says in the midst of worshiping His Lord. To be supernaturally enabled to walk this kind of walk we must have eternal vision. We must have glimpsed something of His majesty and His glory. This is no mere stoic behavior in the midst of profound loss, this is love and glory and majesty and vision. It is not natural. If it were natural and all we had in this world were the things of this world then we would join with Job’s wife and curse God for our losses. No brothers and sisters, this is supernatural. For those who have eyes to see what the Spirit sees, we see a magnificent eternal horizon set ablaze by the impenetrable light of Christ. Remember this. The very thing that God commends, that Job still holds fast to his integrity, is the very thing his wife challenges. She says to him “do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die.”
Remember brothers and sisters, oftentimes those who are closest to you, whether it be your friends or a loved one, may be the ones who challenge you the most. For in the end, it is but you and God. This wilderness that to one degree or another every saint finds himself in, is the testing ground. It is about identity. How will you come out of the wilderness? Jesus’ identity was tested in the wilderness by the devil himself. Your identity will be tested to by the same enemy. In the end, we are identified by who we serve and who we love above all other things. This wilderness will identify if you love God above all other things. Will you hold fast to your integrity? In the deepest depths of the darkness will you “fall down and worship God?” The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Even if He slay me, yet shall I trust Him. This is the finest gold forged in the hottest furnace. This gold will adorn the temple of God not built by human hands.
Freedom is totally unconfined
And surely break the cords that bind
It set me adrift in the midst of an endless sea
It swallowed and consumed me, now I am surely free
Freedom is the reason that He came from up above
Freedom is His work and the consequences of
The Fathers love and His desire to set the captives free
And every saint in all the earth shall surely all agree
That freedom is the narrow path as wide as the Fathers heart
And freedom is the cords of love that never comes apart
It is the mighty rushing wind, an unstoppable incoming tide
It is the depths of the Fathers heart, the place where I shall hide
The Kingdom of God, my heart cries out, and calls it freedom land
It is the solid Rock in a sinking world, where I forever stand
It is the air I breath, each beat of my heart, which He gave unto me
It is nail pierced hands and wounded side that set my spirit free
Calvary alone attests to the work that Christ Himself has done
And to freedoms glorious victory that He alone has won
Who could have ever known that to nail Christ to a tree
Would destroy the power of bondage and set the captive free
When all the leaves have faded
And fallen to the ground
I pray the trees still standing
Right there on Holy ground.
When everything is stripped away
And we stand before the throne
And we have no earthly covering
but the Blood of Christ alone
We'll see what only God can see
And where it had begun
On the wretched bloody battle-field
Of Calvary there, was won.
The Blood He shed for you and me
It covers everything
And though we stand there naked
There stands our Christ the King
And there we'll know as we are known
White garments dressed before the throne
There'll never be another fall
For the Blood of Christ it covers all.
When I tell people that I am going home to Scotland, many people say, innocently enough, things like "oh that must be really nice, I wish I was coming with you, you are so lucky." I usually just nod and smile. How can they know that Scotland to me, in great part, is the land of my lost childhood. The land where I buried my son, where I almost lost another. Some of the darkest years of my life were swallowed up by alcohol and drugs, lost in oblivion, in the land of my birth. And yet I do love it. I love the people. I love the mountains and the valleys and the river that ran through my valley, the River Clyde. It is emblazoned upon my mind. Here below is a poem I wrote which might give you a better understanding of what it means for me to "go home." I wrote it to the fallen pieces of my heart that I left behind so long ago. I am sure many Americans could relate to this, it would just be the their own small town, the place of their birth.
The battleground.
I'm now going back to the battleground
To see if the pieces of my heart can be found
I left them where they fell so many years ago
In the midst of a perpetual winter, underneath the falling snow
I want to gather them up and tell them where I've been
Of the sunshine that I've walked in and the glory I have seen
A land so far from this place, that dwells on higher ground
Far removed from the frozen land and from the battleground
And so to all the pieces that I had to leave behind
I have a brand new heart and a fully restored mind
Amidst the flame and fire of the battles long ago
Ive come to show you something of what it means to grow.
The heart that's cut to pieces and memories departed
He came to raise you up again and heal the brokenhearted
He'll take from all the ashes, and there beauty shall be found
Where once was broken pieces amidst the battleground.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Death is swallowed up in victory. There are many kinds of death just as there are many kinds of victories. There is of course physical death and for those saints who have the victory, then every aspect of death’s power are swallowed up by the life of Christ. For we know that because He lives then so shall we. The darkness of this world shall be swallowed whole by the light of Christ that is brighter than a thousand suns.
There is also death to self and every aspect of self. This is harder than dying a physical death. For it comes not once but a thousand times a thousand times. We die daily is not exaggeration. Death to desires, death to wants, death to ambitions, death to the flesh that never stops trying to press forth its “rights.” Death to rights, death to what belongs to us. Death to what should have been and to what could have been. Many of us may not fear physical death and in fact we may desire it, but there is no one who stands unmoved to the death of self. Only by living in Christ can we die to our-self. Only by knowing Jesus can we know victory.
And because we “know” Him we have already been touched by the glory of His light. Can you feel it’s glow even now deep within your heart? It burns at the center of who we are. There is life in this light of God. There is power and there is victory and because there is we can say with full authority to death- where is your sting? Oh grave where is your victory? You have been defeated and you have been swallowed whole. The victory belongs to Jesus. His very life is our victory and His eternal throne means that our victory is eternal.
Rivers of grace and oceans of love
Is always sufficient is always enough
The heavens shall open and rain down on me
I who was captive now gloriously free
It raises me up to where I belong
That which was weak, is now very strong
This river of grace, this ocean of love
Takes me to places I've never dreamed of
I found the Father without any chart
And Jesus His Son to the depths of His heart
Now Only in thee can I ever abide
In the cleft if the Rock, I forever shall hide
Rivers of grace and oceans of love
My glorious Jesus is more than enough
The heavens wide open rains down upon me
No longer a captive just gloriously set free.
A Call To The Remnant 