The Gift of Faith

Poetry of Christian Faith

69, 7-9, SHOW NOTES & COPYRIGHTS,

Today we are going to read poems and discus where faith leads us. All of the poems are from Living In God’s Rhyme.

THE GENTLENESS OF FAITH (pg. 125)

Our faith is a reflection

That upon recollection

By those whose lives we passed.

Will see a love that lasts.

Our faith is not quarrelsome,

We speak in gentle tones

To those who do not know the Son

So they see the love he has shown.

His spirit may raise our voice,

Though never in anger, but in joyful song

Of a love that will make eyes moist

As the lost find that for which they do long.

Love is gentle in its forgiving

As shown by how we were living,

That as Christ redeemed us at the cross

So now we may live without the loss,

The loss of,

The love of his promise,

The gift of his grace,

That with Christ we will rise

When his call will end our race.

For God so loved us he gave his only Son

So we could join him and be the ones

To share,

To care,

To be there,

Anywhere

He calls,

Standing tall

So others hear

There is no fear

In God’s embrace

As the world we face.

Without love for others,

For our sisters and brothers,

Our faith is but mist in the air.

So how to the lost do we share?

Pray that our faith leaves no question

Of who God is and who we are in him.

May the gentle love of God

Be the gentleness of our faith.

Reflection on The Gentleness of Faith

I was led, or more likely I meandered, through four books before getting the inspiration for this poem. It came from 2 Timothy 2:24. “And the Lords servant must not be quarrelsome

But must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.” (NIV)

Discussion:

HIS WORD MAY IT LEAD US (pg. 63)

Matthew, Mark Luke and John,

Paul, Peter, Timothy and Jude,

Books and letters written

To show us the way to God’s love,

The love of his sacrifice,

The love of his grace,

The love he has for us,

The human race.

Jesus said,

Believe,

Be baptized

And spread the Gospel.

We should not only pray,

Pray every day,

For those who have not heard

His mighty saving word.

We should speak

So that we reach

Those souls we know

Of the gift we have received

So they will not be deceived.

We need to shout

To the world about

That Jesus saves,

He is what God gave

So the end will be better,

So it will not be bitter.

After Thoughts

As believers we can meet in clusters

So that faith and desire we can muster

That as we leave the room

We do not have a sense of doom

But the faith to share,

Share that we care,

That others hear

What we hold dear

To our hearts

So they may start

To see what they can be

That when with Jesus

They will be free.

Discussion:

THE RHYME OF GOD, THE RHYME OF ME (pg. 34)

There may be no rhymes

As in other times.

But it is not that the Lord

Has struck a lost chord.

(if he did it would be sung

as every church bell was rung)

His rhyme is his word,

The scriptures we read

Through which he plants the seed,

With hope that we have heard.

It is through his grace

That we see his face

In those we meet

And those we greet.

If we believe,

In us lives his rhyme

Forever in time.

He will not deceive.

Then I decided to write

About something right,

But got it wrong

Because it was me,

Me, just me, alone.

I can wander in this world,

Oblivious to all that is good.

I can try by myself

To lift myself up,

Up above the

Hustle without

The bustle,

And fail

Because the bustle

Of this world

Is the hustle

That tells me

All I see

Is all I need.

Then I awake from what I hope was a dream,

Hoping that all is not what it seemed.

I look in the mirror and see

The reflection of what I used to be.

What I used to be before

My Savior redeemed me,

Made me righteous in his eyes,

The eyes of his Father in Heaven above.

Every moment of every day I felt his love.

A love for me and those who surround

My life, who have oft times run aground.

I pray that what I dream

Is never real.

I pray that what may seem

Somewhat surreal

Is nothing more than a bad dream

From a bad movie scene.

As I live I pray that temptation

I turn over to my Savior

Who has conquered my sin

No matter where I’ve been.

When I turn my back

I lose my sight

Of what is wrong

And who is right.

May I focus my eyes,

The eyes of my soul,

So that to my sin I die.

He has mended the hole.

Reflection on The Rhyme of God, the Rhyme of Me

Someone once asked me at a book signing where the name God’s Rhyme came from for the first book. From Him I said, He is the Rhyme. Later I realized that I also had a poem in the book with that title. What a memory!

Discussion:

THE WONDER OF GOD’S WAYS (pg. 182)

God’s love is shown and Jesus is known

As the words of King David are heard

Many years after and many years before,

After the creation and before the resurrection.

In times of grace and in time of waste

God’s love for us never falters, never fails.

His is a love we may never understand,

While on this earth we are merely man.

David writes:

the LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger; abounding in love.

He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

(Psalm 103:7-12)

How can we on this earth understand this love?

We live our lives struggling for love

While we struggle at times to give our love.

We shake our neighbor’s hands with winter gloves.

If we have fear for the Lord, the awe and respect he deserves,

We have opened the door to our hearts to receive his grace,

If we truly believe and accept this and are not reserved

In our faith, he is faithful to forgive and remember never.

Be thankful that as Isaiah writes of God,

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways.”

declares the LORD .

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

(Isaiah 55:8,9)

Live in awe filled wonder and his voice will not thunder

Because of who he is, as we live, he forgives.

By faith through his grace, we have the gift to forever live

Through the death of his Son, who took upon himself our sin.

Be thankful God is who he is and always will be,

Be thankful God loves you and loves me,

Be thankful God created us in love

So by believing we will see him in heaven above.

God so loves us that he sent his only Son to die for our transgressions.

If his ways were our ways, we would still be dying in those transgressions.

Be thankful and accept his love, the gift of his son

So one day you will be with him when with this world you are done.

Discussion:

AN ETERNAL HEART (pg. 135)

Therefore we do no lose heart.

Though outwardly we are wasting away,

yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 4:16

As our years pass our outer body shows age.

In the book we write of life every year turns a page,

But with God every day our soul he renews.

The outside and inside present different views.

For our light and momentary troubles are

achieving for us and eternal glory

that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17

In the earthly life we live we will face

Trials and troubles that will test our faith.

It is in each trial and trouble that we find

An answer from God that is beyond our mind

To understand because his ways are not ours.

He loves us all for all time through all the hours.

The strength of our faith will grow

As his seeds God does sow,

Seeds of love for him in those who are meek

So that at all times, in all things it is him that we seek.

So we fix eyes not on what is seen,

but on what is unseen,

since what is seen is temporary,

but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18

It is only with God that we can look at the unseen

With the hope and promise that goes beyond our being.

We have the promise through Jesus, God’s Son,

That after our death, for eternity with him we will be one.

We live in a temporary state in these jars of clay

Knowing that we will be with God at the end of our days.

Through eternity and beyond we will be forever

With our Heavenly Father, we will live forever.

Discussion:

In the last few weeks I reread 1at and 2nd Corinthians. I find them to be very powerful in instructing us in how to live a Christian life.

AS WE CLOSE IN PRAYER, MAY WE CONTINUE IN PRAYER

Dear Heavenly Father we come to you in prayer as we end today’s podcast. Dave and I thank You for Your leading us through the day and into tomorrow. We pray that today has been pleasing to You and honors Your glory.

We pray for our listeners and viewers; for their needs, healing and the salvation of those who have not yet accepted the gift of Your grace by faith.

We pray, Lord, for this world in which we live. Father, as Christians lead us to proclaiming the gospel where ever we are. May we do so in a loving way. Lead us to the truth of the days we are living in. We pray for the nation of Ukraine and its people; its leaders, those who have fled the country to find safety, those who are still trying to leave the country and those who are staying to fight the invading army of their enemy. May their faith and determination be an example to the entire world.

Dear Lord, prepare us and our listeners and viewers for the coming week. We pray that it is You we live for and You who leads us. As we walk with you this week, may it be Your hand clasped around our hand so we may feel the grasp of Your love.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer.

Amen (4/3/2022)

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Living In God’s Rhyme ©2018 by Tim Carter

God Still Rhymes ©2019 by Tim Carter

God’s Rhyme ©2019 by Tim Carter