Love

Daniel and Christmas

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

In the book of Daniel, we read of a handful of God-fearing men who were taken from their homeland and were brought to Babylon to be trained for service to the king. Because of their devotion to the Lord, these men stood out from their peers in wisdom and understanding (Daniel 1:17-21), earning them high places before the king. The stories of how God used these men are extraordinary, so it’s no surprise that many of us learned these stories in Sunday School classes and Vacation Bible Schools growing up. Yet these stories are not just for children.

Continue reading →

Christmas

/ joethewaller / 1 Comment

The king was troubled in his soul
As news was told of kingly birth.
He spawned a plot to keep control,
Consumed with thoughts of his own worth.
But even in his selfish ploy,
He could not stifle heaven’s plan.
Despite the sons he did destroy,
He did not stop good news to man.
For God so loved the world.
For God so loved the world.
From long ago the Lord has said
That he would send a saving son
To stand upon the serpent’s head
And bring new life to ev’ry one
Who followed after Adam’s way
In breaking heaven’s holy law.
Messiah came to bring the day,
To rescue men from sin and flaw.
For God so loved the world.
For God so loved the world.
Though earth was lost in darkest night,
The souls of mankind dead and still,
The darkness saw a holy light
It did not, will not, cannot kill.
Now gone: defeat, despair, and death,
For hope and life and peace he brings.
He fills our lungs with living breath.
With triumph, ev’ry voice now sings:
For God so loved the world.
For God so loved the world.

Grace

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

Grace beyond what sinful men deserve
Grace that moves this salvaged soul to serve
Grace that opens eyes to truly see
Grace that works in love to pardon me
Grace that guides my steps toward the goal
Grace that takes the wreck and makes it whole
Grace that reaches further than my sin
Grace that opens fellowship again
Grace that knows the longings of the heart
Grace that causes hearts of stone to start
Grace that this, my life, is not a loss
Grace that gave his life upon a cross

image

Count It All Joy

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

Oh how quickly we abandon
Our morality and will
When, to our complete confusion,
Circumstances strike us ill.
Ill-advised is our rebellion,
Yet the rebel’s part we play:
From disciple into hellion
When the storm invades the day.
Can we not remember glory,
That our Lord has won the fight?
Do we yet forget the story?
Light has broken through the night!
Suffering is light and fleeting
When compared to Christ above.
No bereavement, bane, or beating
Breaks the grip of God’s great love.
Persecution serves to purge us.
Suffering now sanctifies.
We are bought by Christ’s own purchase,
Seeing now with open eyes.
Therefore, we count joy our sorrow,
Singing praise in deepest pain.
Should we face our death tomorrow,
Even this is wond’rous gain.

image

The Great Commandment

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Matthew 22:37-38

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
1 John 5:21

Question: Do I love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind?

Answer: No. I do not. Continue reading →

Unshakeable

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

The war is won, for one we are
With One who wore the whip and thorn.
He condescended from afar,
For Father’s glory being born.
Into a world that was His own,
For He created and sustains,
He came to claim His rightful throne
For He, in love and justice, reigns.
His own, however, knew him not,
Nor understood His holy name,
Devising their devilish plot
To stifle their salvation’s flame.
But God almighty reigns above
The wicked plans of wicked men.
He brought the victory of love
To light through mankind’s darkest sin.
The depth of man’s depravity
Was part of heaven’s perfect plan.
Infinity in brevity
Confounded ev’ry mind of man.
So do not think that God most high
Could ever fall to circumstance.
Your hope and help can never die,
So trust the Truth and dare to dance.
image

Redemption

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

Heading not his illocution
We have earned our execution
Guilty ‘fore the Father
Ev’ry son and daughter
But the Son, in God’s solution
Bore the curse of sin’s pollution
Breaking through the pother
Found the slave and bought her
Now the veil is torn asunder
Nevermore can Satan plunder
“Righteous,” now the heading
Freed is she from fretting
Heaven’s call in holy thunder
Fills her soul with fear and wonder
Bride adorned for wedding
Perfect love, the setting

A Prayer of Thanks

/ joethewaller / 2 Comments

Thank you for your grace in sending
Clouds and rain to cool the day.
Thank you for your love unending,
God who listens when we pray.
Thank you that your love is founded
Not in what this man can bring;
In your life my own is grounded.
Of the cross and grave I sing.
Thank you for a hope unfailing,
For a future sealed and sure.
When my soul this world is ailing,
By your Word I will endure.
Let me always seek your glory,
Yours the Name that reigns alone.
Use my life to tell your story
Till I stand before your throne.