CHRISTIAN POEMS ABOUT SPIRITUAL OBJECTIVES

By Maurice Dyson

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Historical Trends
If My people who are called by My name
will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face,
 and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin
and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

When our histories are analysed and noted,
How the nations have developed up or down;
It is evident that what they have promoted,
Has propelled them to a crisis or a crown.

Every nation has a culture or tradition,
In accordance with the ethic they embrace,
There will likely be a civil disposition,
If the Bible has an overriding place.

There are lessons to be learned as time elapses;
There is nothing accidental or obscure;
When morality and decency collapses,
Then disaster is both imminent and sure.

Our Creator has recorded for His creatures,
Every principle of life we need to know;
If we follow very closely what He teaches,
He’ll deliver us in every kind of woe.

 

All Aboard!
Come thou and all thy house into the ark.
Genesis 7:1

Fact, faith and feeling;
Each its own appealing;
Like a train across a plain
Its carriages are drawn;
Fact is the driver;
Always the survivor;
Passing through with all his crew
Toward the happy dawn.

Faith is the tender;
Hearts that we surrender;
Following the risen King,
Who suffered in our stead;
Last comes the feeling,
Inner thoughts revealing,
As we rate our common state,
And travel on ahead.

Facts are recorded,
Travellers have boarded;
Every bind is left behind,
Forgiven and confessed;
Faith is attendant,
On the Lord dependant;
Homeward bound where life is found,
Among the risen blessed.

 

Light or Darkness?
And this is the condemnation,
that the light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil.
John 3:19

Let light be with all its hue;
Warmth and waters flowing through;
Man bestowed with spirit-life;
And a newly fashioned wife.

Everything was very good;
Plants and trees with lots of food;
Man could eat from every tree,
Save from one, exclusively.

Six days and the work was done;
Life was joyful, full of fun.
Meeting daily with the Lord;
Feeding on His precious Word.

Words of peace, whate’er He say;
Truth to relish and obey.
But if doubt and unbelief,
Then soon follows sin and grief.

Sin had entered long before
Earth became its seat of war.
Lucifer had sought the throne,
Occupied by God alone.

Sin was found within the heart
Of this creature sly and smart.
Pride was just a stepping stone
Till its fruit had fully grown.

Now this former cherub bright,
Cloaks himself with mystic light.
Called the father of deceit;
Source of every counterfeit.

As the ruler of this sphere,
With his rule of death and fear.
But his fate and doom is sealed,
When God’s children are revealed.

Are you on the downward path,
Leading to eternal wrath?
Or have you obeyed the truth,
Shouted daily from the roof?

Jesus said, I am the Way;
As He took our sin away.
He is worthy of our trust;
Do not put your faith in dust.

Man is dust, from this he came;
And his thoughts are just the same;
But God’s Word is firm as steel;
Make it yours like drink and meal.

Give God’s Word the highest place;
Then you will discover grace;
As the Spirit makes you whole;
Building up your mind and soul.

Jesus is the Living Bread;
Feed on Me is what He said.
Souls of men can never rest
Till His peace is manifest.

If you should be at a loss;
Simply kneel before His Cross;
Offer up your simple prayer;
Grace and truth are waiting there.

God will come and dwell within;
Take away all former sin;
By His Spirit to impart
Righteousness within your heart.

Praise our holy risen Lord;
Praise Him with the saints, adored.
Praise the Father, praise the Son;
Praise the Spirit, Three in One.

 

Love
But earnestly desire the best gifts.
And yet I show you a more excellent way.
1 Corinthians 12:31

Though I speak with tongues of men,
More than I can tell;
Though I have prophetic skill,
Knowing truth as well;
Though I give my goods away,
So to feed the poor;
Yet do not have virtue-love,
There can be no cure.

Though I have implicit faith
With a firm belief,
So that I could move a mount
To an ocean reef;
Though I be a sacrifice,
Sentenced by a court,
Yet without a heart of love,
It can profit nought.

Love is kind and suffers long;
Never is provoked;
Seeking only what is good;
Not with envy cloaked;
In distresses, comforting,
When resources fail;
Drawing strength and providence
From within the veil.

Whether there be prophecies,
They will pass away;
Whether there be gift of tongues,
They will have their day;
Whether knowledge is perceived,
It will surely cease;
Each will have its role achieved,
At its due release.

For we prophesy in part,
Till it is complete;
Knowledge has been written down
For the life we meet;
When I was a little child,
I had childish ways;
But when I became a man,
Such were bygone days.

In a mirror we observed
Much as we could see;
Now the Scriptures have been set
For eternity;
So abideth faith and hope,
Love, and what it brings;
But the greatest gift is love,
With the King of kings.

 

Options
Choose you this day whom you will serve.
Joshua 24:15

Options happen as we grow,
First we won’t and then say no;
Self so often takes the stage;
Infants howl as in a rage.

Options as we go to school:
Keep the peace or break the rule;
Discipline must first be learned,
Or we get our fingers burned.

Options as we choose a mate;
Courting couples stay out late;
They must learn to be a friend;
One that lasts until the end.

Options last until we die;
Hope is vested in the sky;
We must choose the Master’s path,
Or we face eternal wrath.

 

Partnership
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
Amos 3:3

Light cannot combine with darkness,
Nor can joy relate to starkness;
One excludes the other as we know.
There are lines of demarcation,
That exclude a close relation,
And if we should cross them there is woe.

Partnerships on earth are vital;
Each one has its own requital;
There will be a payment good or bad.
In the course of life’s arrangement,
Friendship can become estrangement,
All because of truth it never had.

When we have the Lord’s salvation,
There is less participation
In the things we did when we were lost.
Now we have His word to guide us,
And a Friend who walks beside us,
There can be no breach without a cost.

Any time we may be walking,
Hard at work or simply talking,
We can have communion with our King.
Jesus Christ our Lord Creator,
Is the final Arbitrator,
At the final judgment He will bring.

 

Penuel
I will not let You go unless You bless me!
Genesis 32:26

As Jacob’s personality
Was spelled out by his name,
He would not rate enormously
In any hall of fame.

He started as a younger twin
Who clutched his brother’s heel;
Then later he supplanted him
With just a common meal.

The blessing which he stole away
By lying and deceit,
Did not affect his earthly stay
Till he had met defeat.

When Jacob came to Penuel
As circumstances led,
His name was changed to Israel:
A prince with God, instead.

For when he met the greater Man
Who touched him on his thigh,
His life took on another span
Not seen in days gone by.

We each must face our Penuel
Before this life is through,
Or else we face a lasting hell
Which nothing can undo.

 

Pilgrimage
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
that I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:11

Blessed are the undefiled
Who walk a godly way;
Blessed are those reconciled
To what the scriptures say.

God has given clear command
That we should keep His word;
In it we must understand,
His will is there declared.

By what means can any man
Be clean in all his ways?
Ever since the world began
Default has ruled his days.

There is just one remedy
For such a sad estate:
That we daily search for Thee,
For sin is at the gate.

Open Thou mine inward eyes
To see Thy wondrous law;
So that I may realise
The truth as ne’er before.

For Thy word I have received,
And hidden in my heart;
That Thy Spirit be not grieved
By sinning on my part.

Take all lying from me Lord,
And grant me saving grace;
Let Thy wondrous word be stored
For anything I face.

How I love Thy perfect law!
On this I meditate;
Teach me how to love Thee more,
And sinful ways to hate.

Let my cry come unto Thee,
O let my prayer be near;
Make my heart Thy sanctuary
 Imbued with godly fear.

Like a sheep I’ve gone astray,
From Thee I’ve turned aside;
Bring me to the pilgrim way,
 And ever be my Guide.

 

Prayer
Pray without ceasing.
1 Thessalonians 5:17

The subject of prayer,
As left in our care,
Is vital for spiritual action;
The Scripture portrays
The power it conveys,
If offered for God’s satisfaction.

It often begins
By naming our sins;
Believers alone have this standing;
But those who ignore
The Lord and His law
Will answer to what He’s commanding.

The Lord knew the need
To oft intercede,
As still He is doing perfectly;
Ascended on high;
Unfailingly nigh;
Desiring we walk circumspectly.

Our prayers will be heard
In line with His word,
For they are the means of communion;
Our everyday need,
In word or in deed,
Are met by this wonderful union.

 

Queries
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame
of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD,
she came to prove him with hard questions.
1 Kings 10:1

Have we got a query?
Are we getting weary?
Maybe we have got a heavy load;
Christ is our solution;
Faith our contribution;
He has paid the debit that we owed.

Check the Bible story;
Starting out from glory,
He became an undisputed man;
Preaching to His nation;
Offering salvation;
Lord of all before the world began.

Openly rejected;
All the while protected,
Till the day arrived by evil hands;
Censured and forsaken,
When our sins He’d taken;
After keeping all the Law’s demands.

Have we got a query?
Is our vision bleary?
Jesus Christ is risen from the dead;
At His soon appearing,
Angels will be cheering;
We will answer every word He said.

 

Reason
Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet,
 they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson,
 they shall be as wool.
Isaiah 1:18

Reason should not be discarded,
Whether the gospel is true;
Factors we have not regarded,
Could bring the whole into view.

We can’t deny we are guilty;
Cursed with the deadliest ill;
If any channel is silty,
Onward progression is nil.

Truth has been given to serve us;
Conscience is witnessing too;
Prisoners waiting and nervous,
Know that a sentence is due.

Truth is not feared or offensive,
If we have followed its path;
But if it’s deemed reprehensive,
There will be imminent wrath.

Reason is never outdated;
No one should have any qualms;
This is a theme illustrated,
Featured in all of the psalms.

So let us reason together,
Whatever state we are in;
Reaching the end of our tether,
Jesus can save us from sin.

 

Reflections
Be holy: for I am holy.
1 Peter 1:16

A mirror gives the view of our reflection,
For nothing can exist without detection;
We cannot change the image we are seeing,
Nor alter any facet of our being.

The Bible is a mirror through its pages,
And recognised as such throughout the ages;
It tells us how the Lord Creator sees us,
And how we have been reconciled in Jesus.

It stipulates the terms of our salvation,
That makes a human soul a new creation;
And anyone who sees himself reflected,
Can rest assured his mind will be affected.

A woman looks into a glass directly,
To see if every detail fits correctly;
A man is neither diligent nor fretful,
He looks and then he goes away forgetful.

We should peruse the Word and not forget it;
By doing so we never shall regret it;
It shows us what we are and what is lacking,
And gives us God’s solution with His backing.

The Perfect Man was looked upon and handled,
By fishermen in simple dress and sandalled;
He is the image of the One who sent Him;
And we by faithful witness represent Him.

 

Regeneration
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.
Romans 8:13

The doctrine that is called regeneration,
Determines our eternal destination;
The death that was imputed to our forbear,
Remains in everyone as was before there.

Our spirit must be subject to renewal,
Which sets in train an unrelenting duel;
The flesh and spirit start upon their warring;
A conflict that we cannot be ignoring.

We cannot please the Saviour from our nature;
Regardless of our eagerness or stature;
Regeneration happens in a second,
When with the Lord of glory we have reckoned.

 

Religion
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this:
to  visit orphans and widows in their trouble,
and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
James 1:27

Religion demands definition
Regarding its social position;
Its various gods
May set it at odds
With those who believe in a mission.

Religion must have a Redeemer:
Someone who is real, not a dreamer;
A Person revered,
Accepted and feared,
By those who will stand at the Bema.

Religion with all its possessions
May bring or encounter obsessions;
Its goal must comply
With orders from high,
Contained in redemptive expressions.

Our God is both living and human;
His birth illustrates He is true man;
The Cross is the place
He took our disgrace;
Believing will make us a new man.

The Lord Jesus Christ will assess us:
To see if we died as transgressors;
If we are not found
On Calvary’s ground,
His verdict will ever distress us.

 

Revelation
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
because what may be known of God
is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
Romans 1:18, 19

We all have received revelation
Repeated by day and by night;
The witness of God in creation,
And knowing the wrong from the right.

Awareness of God as Creator
Is common, as anyone knows;
That He is the One who is greater
Is known by a child as it grows.

Our God has implanted within us,
A moral and sensitive mind;
Because we are evil and sinners,
Our thoughts are not clearly defined.

Degrees of progressive unveiling,
Are part of our spiritual food;
For Christians who study unfailing,
Redemption is well understood.

The Bible gives knowledge specific,
Of truth that is settled and sealed;
Rejection of Christ is horrific,
In light of the knowledge revealed.

We firstly decide from our conscience,
That God is almighty and real;
But should we assert this is nonsense,
Our fate we most certainly seal.

As God is both real and revealing,
He always will answer our call;
It does not depend on our feeling;
The issue is faith after all.

 

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