From Your Love

From the ashes, out of the chaos,
you have raised a mighty army.
Dust hardens to form high towers
and we raise our voices as swords.
But in you we are more than conquerors –
we are already living deep within you;
we have strength, we have glory,
we have victory in you, Lord.
Nothing –
Nothing can separate us from your love.
Nothing in all of creation
can separate us
from your love.

Risen

Brothers, do you not see that we are the risen ones?
Yes, we have entered into times of trial,
but these moments are temporary,
and the life we live in the Lord is eternal.
We are dead to the sins of our fathers,
dead to the sins of humanity –
indeed, we are dead to the sins that prowl our hearts.
Consider that through his crucifixion,
our pasts were nailed alongside him,
and we bled our sins into the wind.
Therefore we are held blameless on the day of his return;
we have died and risen alongside Christ,
so that we may live forevermore in his glory,
released from the hold of sin and upheld in God
through Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Long Darkness

Never have I known sorrow like the moment you abandoned me.
My cries were met with deaf ears
and my tears fell on barren soil.
I knelt in the long darkness
and wept in the quiet expanse –
why have you forsaken me Lord?
Your silence drowned out my wails
and your absence weighed heavily upon my head;
my worries numbered in the thousands
and my prayers in the tens of thousands.
Then you rose like the sun upon my soul –
like a shining star in the sky,
you dwarfed my every sorrow with your radiant power!
You came like the waves, as I knew you would;
you came like true redemption and built your fortress upon me;
you came and revived me so that I may
call upon your name
once more.

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What more could I ask of you Lord?
You’ve granted me love and the favour of your face.
Could I possibly be greedy enough to seek more
as I bury my face in your heart?
You cause the skies to rain grace upon my soul,
the ground to tremble as I shout your name.
Is your glory not enough for my thirsty spirit?
You give me peace and joy,
a heart filled with prayer.
How shall I demand more from the God of providence?
I love you Lord –
with all my words dead to me,
I can only say that I love you.
Thank you a thousand times,
and a thousand times more.

Forgiveness

Why is it that when we think of forgiveness,
we often think only of those that have wronged us,
rather than repenting for the things we’ve done?
We have all grieved the Holy Spirit;
are we blind to the dust that covers our faces?
None of us are blameless – not even one.
Shall we defiantly thrust our chins to the heavens
with fangs bared at God?
The Lord’s eyes are upon us;
our sins are shackles upon our feet
and pride is a black abyss over our heads,
blocking the shining face of the Lord.
Let us fall to our knees and kiss the ground,
lest his tears for us fall to the earth
and be lost in the dust.

Call to Repentance

We are all dust and the breath of the Lord is upon us.
Just as grass withers and the flowers fade,
so shall our flesh fall from our bones
and all our works become food for moths.
The Lord’s army will continue to march,
crushing dry bones underfoot
while we scramble frantically for our idols.
But if we turn away from our idols,
he will restore us.
He will breathe life into dust and cause hearts to trumpet,
and he will uphold us for an eternity,
for his word will be in us,
and his word lives forever.

Justice

Even should the world perish, let justice be done!
You are a lover of righteousness,
light personified –
should you speak the words,
may your prophets lift their swords
and swallow the wicked in final judgement.
For as your love overflows like oil upon our heads,
so too does your wrath appear like the night,
as inescapable as the darkness that we embraced.

Prayer for Mercy

You are the vine, we are the branches;
you’ve gathered all of the deadwood for your fire,
but there is still promise in us yet.
As surely as all flesh is grass,
not all grass calls for the flames of wrath.
Lord, heal us, restore us!
We implore you,
hear our cries and call back to us
as the morning dew answers the rooster’s crow.

Marriage

As a man reaching a quarter of a century, marriage is something that looms on the horizons of my mind. I’ve heard many things on marriage – some things that made sense to me, and some things that I didn’t agree. Perhaps by getting them down in ink, I can attempt to get some semblance of order.

Lust versus marriage is a funny issue. I’ve heard it said that if a man lusts, he should get married rather than living in the temptation to sleep around. While I definitely do not advocate sex before marriage, I don’t necessarily agree with getting married for this reason. Who is to say that lust will disappear with the act of marriage? Does the stench of refuse change drastically if perfume is poured on top of it? Is a gravestone no longer a gravestone if you paint it white? The Bible says to run from lust, not to tackle it sideways by getting married; should we not avoid relationships altogether until we conquer the issue of lust?

What of the problem of the “weak” versus the “strong”? Should one who is considered spiritually mature marry one who is not? I feel that this can only work in some circumstances. The word states that man is to be the head of the family; can the head lead if it is disconnected from the body? I believe that women should only marry men that are spiritually able to lead them. This isn’t necessarily to preclude a brother from marrying a woman if she is more mature; rather I mean to say that he must have time to mature, separate from the woman, in order to do so.

When is it okay to enter into a relationship? I believe that if you are not ready to marry due to financial, spiritual or whatever reasons, you have no business being in a relationship. If you are constantly tempted to break any of the Lord’s laws when together, you should exit the relationship. If you are in some way led towards a ministry or some sort of mission which will take all of your time, perhaps any and all distractions should be put on hold.

How would we tell our children any different otherwise? If they asked how your marriage came to be, how would you answer? Relationships were my greatest stronghold; I believe it should be our greatest victory.

The Guardian

I will be your guardian,
this immovable statue that watches over you still,
protecting the heart that I once knew.
I will shield you from a distance,
warding off the flaming arrows with a steel glance
forever etched into a granite countenance…
I will be your guardian,
this unmoving statue that watches over you still,
never again to know your heart once mine.