I am a work of grace.
As His grace is at work in me,
So I am empowered
To do His work –
Not a labour under Adam’s curse
But a labour of love,
Always bearing fruit.
In my imperfection
His grace is magnified.
In my obedience and love
His grace is glorified.
He only ever meets me
In His grace, and by His grace
He loves me as I really am.
But His grace is more
Than a way to be one with Him –
His grace changes me,
Shaping me in the form of itself,
Which is the form of the
One who IS Grace, the Son,
Full of grace and truth.
I am a work of grace,
And what has been begun
Shall be completed,
Then I too, like Him,
Shall be in the form of grace.
Category Archives: Selection
Shaped for thanksgiving
It is not an end
That I would receive
You, and all the things
You give to me-
The daily blessings,
The sustained life,
My identity, my purpose,
Provision which goes
Way beyond the material
But which always meets
My needs there too.
No, there is an end
Far more glorious
And satisfying which
Can be so elusive
To my misshapen heart
That only revelation
And the experience
Of knowing it true
Would bring to me
The deeper truth
Of the glorifying,
Perfecting, completing
End of how you
Have remade me.
This end is an end
As it is preceded
By your presence,
Your provision,
Your redemption
And sanctification.
At the culmination
Of these things-
At the consummate
Moment of fulfilment,
My heart reaches out
To you in thanksgiving-
The overflow of
Its infilling and the
Perfect end to the
Perfect process which
Confirms that I am a son,
And I have the Son’s life.
As I am shaped like Him,
As I am shaped for You,
So I am, like Him,
Shaped for thanksgiving.
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Col 3:17
“Give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”
Eph 5:20
Insurrection – resurrection
In my being,
Right there
In the centre,
In the darkness,
Lies a cold,
Hard, dead heart,
Which stands up
In weak defiance
And rebellion
Against the One
Who made me,
And loves me.
My lifeless heart
Confirming the truth
That I am dead
Through my
Insurrection.
The Father calls,
The Spirit breathes,
My heart awakens
To the beauty
Of the Son,
And as I believe
His grace moves
And that which is dead
Quickens to life,
And rises up
With strong conviction
And deep certainty.
My beating heart
Confirms the truth
That I am alive
Through His
Resurrection.
Because I live, you also will live
In the darkness
Eclipsing not just nature,
But drawing death
Like a cloak over
The Light of men,
Life is crushed,
Weighed down by
Hard, lifeless hearts.
Hanging there,
Hanging on, until
“It is finished”,
Life gives way
To the death
Which brings death –
The curse of ages
Which loves the darkness.
The lost call out,
Even in His dying hour,
“Jesus, remember me
when you come into your kingdom.”
The Life knowing that through His death,
He would have life and that life
Is life for all who believe;
As He had already spoken,
“Because I live, you also will live.”
Few gasps of life become fewer
As the darkness thickens,
The blood runs ceaselessly –
Draining the life of the one who is Life.
Ever trusting; “Father!”
“Into your hands I commit my spirit!”
If we share in His death, then
We share in His resurrection.
Wounds
Wounds
So deep, so long lying there as a space, a gap between us.
It’s you – your everlasting and eternal majesty,
My God, my creator, my life –
It’s you who meets me in that place of unknown pain
Where wounds so deep have scarred my soul,
And in my pain I have scarred you.
Yet you received it,
And on the cross your deep wounds
Are meeting mine now.
In the meeting of my soul with you, the wounded one,
Do I see my real pain,
And only in the overwhelming and crushing experience
Of the knowledge of your eternality;
In the face of this truth –
Your face which is The Truth,
Do my wounds yield to allow you in.
Come in Lord, come deep, and place your wounds on mine.
Let it be a meeting place, of your grace and compassion
With my scarred and damaged soul.
And there let me yield to you, to your mercy,
And so let me be healed.
With you and I in that place together,
I am healed.
Isaiah 40:27-31
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my
God”?
Have you not known? Have you not
heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he
increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall
renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like
eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
How do I call you Abba?
I long to call you Abba,
But I don’t know how.
I can form the word,
Letting it pass my lips
But how do I say it
Knowingly?
You made me.
You made me to know you
And to be known by you.
But how do I know you
As Abba?
To the praise and glory of Christ (that moment)
That moment.
That moment when everything will make perfect sense.
That moment when beauty and passion will dissolve into my being,
Changing me to receive more of you more fully.
That moment when all my desires will be instantly fulfilled by looking upon you.
That moment when nothing will be lacking and everything will be overflowing.
That moment when you will fill all space and time,
And all my senses will know your sweetness.
That moment when I will receive all that you promised me
Simply by being before you in your presence.
That moment that requires me to first die
So I can live with you in it.
That moment which you willed to be
That you might meet me there and fill it with all of you.
That moment which you let me glimpse
So I know it is coming.
How I long for that moment
When I will fully know that all and everything is
To the praise and glory of Christ.
Love pursued
Let my heart beat to the rhythm of your name,
Let it flutter.
One drop of your love is all I need,
One drop of your love will melt my heart.
This is my response, I will give myself to you.
I will be yours and you will be mine, I in you and you in me.
There is a Father’s heart
There is a Father’s heart that bears the pain of sorrow and grief.
There is a Father’s heart that breaks to see His own Son broken.
There is a Father’s heart that knows suffering as His own Son suffers.
There is a Father’s heart that cries the same tears as His own Son’s tears.
There is a Father’s heart that bleeds with the wounds of His own Son.
There is a Father’s heart that feels the pain of a mother’s broken heart.
There is a Father’s heart that cries out as His own Son cries out to the one who can save Him.
There is a Father’s heart that feels the darkness of the One who made Himself sin for us.
There is a Father’s heart that is torn as life is torn from the One He loves the most.
There is a Father’s heart that overflows with love for His obedient Son.
There is a Father’s heart that beats steadily and unceasingly even when His own Son’s heart stops beating.
There is a Father’s heart that is heavy like that of His own Son’s lifeless body.
There is a Father’s heart that forgives those who cause His pain.
There is a Father’s heart that was prepared to suffer the pain for our gain.
There is a Father’s heart that loves His Son and a Son’s heart that loves His Father.