CHRISTIAN POEMS ABOUT SPIRITUAL GROWTH

By Maurice Dyson

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Guidance
Trust in the LORD with all your heart;
and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

Trust in Jehovah in all of your cares;
Lean not on wisdom your own;
Acknowledge Him in your daily affairs;
Make your discipleship known.

Honour Jehovah with all you possess;
Give Him your daily increase;
So will your barns be filled up with excess;
New wine will flow on your lease.

Withhold not good unto those it is due;
Give when you have it in hand;
Render no evil to neighbours with you;
Take a hospitable stand.

So will your life be a token of grace;
Others by this will be blest;
And when you stand before God face to face,
You will find mercy and rest.

 

Abiding
The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Deuteronomy 33:27

By faith we abide in the Lord,
Outworking the word we have stored;
Its purposeful witness is seen by its fitness,
With practice and truth in accord.

When Christ is at home in our heart,
Self-seeking and suchlike depart;
He is the solution for any intrusion,
If doubt or depression should start.

In dire situations we meet;
In blizzards or sweltering heat;
The Saviour is near us to strengthen and cheer us,
For Satan is under His feet.

 

Fruit
...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance.
Galatians 5:22, 23

A fruitful tree consistently,
Needs water, food and care;
The life we live and what we give,
Is born of faith and prayer.

The seed we share and fruit we bear,
May reach a foe or friend;
The fruit of love comes from above,
And has no measured end.

The fruit of joy in girl or boy,
Is more than happiness;
It has its source along a course,
Which God can only bless.

The fruit of peace will never cease,
With those who love the Lord;
Though wars may start they cannot part,
The bond that has been stored.

Longsuffering may often bring
God’s blessing in its wake;
A gentleness or soft caress,
Can soothe a grieving ache.

The goodness shared from hearts prepared,
Can help the poor and weak;
When faith is seen as pure and clean,
It causes men to seek.

The meekness borne by souls forlorn,
Comes from their inner strength;
With temperance and godly sense,
It goes to any length.

The Spirit-filled and Bible-drilled,
Bear fruit that all can see;
The fruit will keep as treasures deep,
For all eternity.

 

Assets
Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
Colossians 3:16

Assets are treasured possessions;
Items of value and trust;
Helping us through our depressions,
Till we return to the dust.

Assets are sometimes neglected,
Just like a suit we have worn;
Then when our sights are corrected,
Light is restored like the dawn.

Spiritual assets are precious;
Gifts we receive at our birth;
Always the answer in pressures,
Stressing their tangible worth.

Assets abound for believers;
Centred in One they adore;
Treasures that never will leave us;
Riches of Christ evermore.

 

Crowns
Do you not know that those who run in a race
all run, but one receives the prize?
Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown;
but we for an imperishable crown.
1 Corinthians 9:24, 25

Now royalty with bearing,
Have crowns upon their head;
The symbol they are wearing,
Remains till they are dead.

Yet crowns will be awarded,
To common people too;
With gifts they have not hoarded,
But shared in all they do.

A crown of life is mentioned,
For doing as we’re told;
For we are never pensioned,
When in the Saviour’s fold.

A special crown is waiting
For shepherds of the flock;
As they are elevating,
The Saviour and the Rock.

The humble and the fearing,
Who serve with faithfulness,
Will at the Lord’s appearing,
Be crowned with righteousness.

A crown of joy abounding,
Is shared by everyone;
Who with their praise resounding,
Rejoice in God the Son.

 

Maturity
That we henceforth be no more children,
tossed to and fro, and carried about
with every wind of doctrine…
Ephesians 4:14

Teaching on maturity
Is found in sacred writing;
Not just for our purity,
But for the war we’re fighting.

Growing is a learning curve,
While life is still persisting;
Straining every cord and nerve,
And anything worth listing.

Taking in the written word
Is only half the story;
If its use has not occurred,
It cannot count for glory.

Christians have a given slot
To minister to others;
With whatever gift they’ve got,
To edify their brothers.

We must have integrity:
The armour God provided;
Satan has a strategy
To get the saints divided.

We can reach maturity
By incremental stages;
Blest with a gratuity
That lasts throughout the ages.

 

Absolutes
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Colossians 2:8

We speak of relativity
As setting up a measure;
With everyday validity,
In politics or pleasure.

Yet in the sphere of absolutes
There is no such distinction;
For anything with human roots
Is destined for extinction.

As men debate events today,
They say in their perceptions,
Our standards are in disarray,
With very few exceptions.

For human laws are formalised
By endless legislation;
Yet they are never normalised
With so much agitation.

The absolutes are not of man,
They predate his existence;
His rudiments since time began
Betray his inconsistence.

The absolute is in the Word,
The written and the living,
The word of Christ is where it’s heard:
The Saviour all-forgiving.

We must embrace the absolutes,
As oracles have stated;
There are no valid substitutes
In what is circulated.

Philosophy is glorified
In every street location;
And yet it will be set aside,
At God’s evaluation.

 

In the Spirit
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit,
if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Now if anyone does not have
the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Romans 8:9

Now we need to be sure,
With our knowledge secure,
As we talk about spiritual meanings;
For we cannot dilute
Any truthful dispute,
Just to satisfy personal leanings.

For a factor we guard,
Not demanding or hard,
Is the teaching we learn from the Spirit;
For it has been supplied
By the One at our side,
For the kingdom of God we inherit.

Now in all our affairs,
Be they sorrows or cares,
We can turn unto God or to others;
But the One who is Light,
Who illumines our night,
Has the wisdom not found in our brothers.

It is true we concede
We can’t solve every need
That we meet in our daily relations;
Yet we say, nonetheless,
It is fruitless to guess,
For the answers are not speculations.

We can profit by prayer
And the principles there,
For the Spirit gives true inspiration;
We can then rest assured
That a wrong can be cured,
If the heart has the right preparation.

So the summary line
With a holy design,
Is to lean upon God and His treasure;
For He will not deny
Any genuine cry,
If we live for His name and His pleasure.

 

Into Battle!
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:4

With Bible in mind
And lessons we find
We should be equipped for the warfare;
With armour in place
And resolute face
We use from the text what we saw there.

Our weapons of war
We study and store,
The Word for attack and defending;
The foes that we fight
Like those in the night
Are evil with malice unbending.

Our Captain and Guide
In whom we abide
Goes into the battle before us;
For so long ago
He vanquished the foe,
And ever is near to restore us.

Our brethren abroad
Have wielded the sword:
The word of the Lord as commanded;
Wherever a soul
Is seeking a goal
Believing is all that’s demanded.

 

Due Time
To every thing there is a season.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

There is a due season
For every event;
A heavenly reason
For which it was sent.

A time for conceiving;
A time to give birth;
A time to be grieving
Those gone from the earth.

A time to be sowing;
A time to uproot;
A time for the growing
And bearing of fruit.

A time for the healing
Of troublesome pains;
A time when ill-feeling
No longer remains.

A time for destroying;
A time we should build,
With friendship enjoying,
And duties fulfilled.

A time to be weeping
With others who mourn;
A vigil in keeping
When hearts are forlorn.

A time to be merry
When spirits are high;
As hatchets we bury
Are gone with a sigh.

A time to be clearing
The rocks and the stone;
A time that is cheering,
For work has been done.

A time for embracing;
A time to refrain,
A time for retracing
Our steps back again.

A time to be gaining;
A time when we lose;
A time for explaining
Our logical views.

A time to be rending
A garment outworn;
A time to be mending
A fence that is torn.

A time to be silent;
A time we should speak;
When voices are strident,
A time to be meek.

A time to be loving;
A time when we hate;
A time for not proving
A heated debate.

A time to be warring;
A time when there’s peace;
A time for restoring
A soul ill at ease.

For all God created
Is good in its time;
Just as He has stated
In language sublime.

He set thoughts eternal
Deep into our hearts;
With kindness paternal,
That never departs.

There is a conclusion,
For time slips away,
Amid the confusion
We meet every day.

Before time elapses,
With death at the door,
Beware lest it traps us
And time is no more.

 

Progression
So teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

Absolutes are paramount
In the way we think;
Bringing us to full account
As we near the brink.

Christ is waiting at His Throne,
At the Judgment Seat;
Don’t be left out on your own;
Rescue is complete.

Each of us must make a choice,
Time is running out;
Forasmuch the sacred voice
Comes before the shout.

God has given us His Son
As a sacrifice;
He pronounced the work well done,
And it does suffice.

In this life we live on earth,
Light has come our way;
Just as when our mortal birth
Sparked a Coming Day.

Knowledge comes by increment
Through the misty gloom;
Lighting up the soul’s content,
If we give it room.

Many vain philosophies
Infiltrate the air;
Not bereft of subtleties
Till they are laid bare.

Often we are mystified,
Knowing what is true;
Precepts can be verified
And be brought to view.

Questioning a stated fact
Must be kept in line;
Reason cannot counteract
Truth that is divine.

Social issues, sentiment,
Must not hold their sway;
Truth is ever God’s intent,
Welcomed every day.

Unless we are reconciled
By the sacred blood;
Vanity, however styled,
Cannot count for good.

When the Judgment Day arrives,
As it surely will,
X-ray surveys of our lives
May incur a chill.

Yesterday will be in sight:
All our bygone days;
Zeal for what is true and right,
Honours God always.

 

Humility
Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time:
1 Peter 5:6

The subject of humility
Is always relevant;
When faced with rank hostility,
And reasoning is spent.

In Zephaniah’s bold address
We read about the meek,
That they should seek God’s righteousness,
As all of us should seek.

In any real predicament
That calls for due restraint,
It should be always our intent
To pray and not to faint.

Humility or humbleness
Prefers the lowly place,
In light of God’s true holiness
We bow before His grace.

 

Sanctified
Sanctify them by Your truth.
Your word is truth.
John 17:17 

The upper room discourse,
In John as we read,
Is always a good source
Of spiritual feed.

Containing the basis
Of things we should learn;
A leading oasis,
Whereby we discern.

It starts with foot washing,
Because of our walk;
We need to keep watching
The way that we talk.

For our conversations
Reveal who we are;
In real situations
At home or afar.

The Lord in His teaching
Spoke simple and clear,
With concepts far-reaching
For those who would hear.

He knew His departure
Was patently nigh;
His teaching would ensure
Their standing thereby.

At last there is written
His sanctified prayer;
Our Lord who was smitten,
In which we all share.

 

Recognition
Desiring to be teachers of the law;
understanding neither what they say
nor the things which they affirm.
1 Timothy 1:7

The teaching of Scripture
Both solid and whole,
Must always be surveyed
In light of its goal.

To whom it’s intended
Is always the key:
Contextual distinctions
As set by decree.

In quite simple language
They fall into three;
In light of salvation
As leaves on a tree.

The Mosaic Law Code
Is only for Jews:
The nation as chosen
With all of their dues.

The Grace-Given teaching,
Is now in accord,
For people now living
Who trust in the Lord.

The third noted doctrine,
As from Abraham,
Is that of the Kingdom
Which yet is to come.

To have these perspectives
Transparent and clear,
Will guard us from errors
Unduly severe.

 

Marching On
That you would have a walk worthy of God
who calls you into His kingdom and glory.
1 Thessalonians 2:12

To walk with the Lord is essential,
For He has illumined our way;
So doing we reach our potential,
When clothed in His battle array.

We start on the path He commanded;
The gospel of God, our belief;
Without it our visions are stranded,
With nothing to bring us relief.

The armour is ready provided;
Our loins with the truth girt about;
And as by the Spirit so guided,
The foes of our Saviour we rout.

Thus praying with all supplication,
And vigilant watching withal,
Our sword there for every occasion,
Before which our enemies fall.

So let us be strong and courageous,
With Jesus our Captain and Guide;
His reign will persist through the ages;
His love will forever abide.

 

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