trust

Fear and Faith

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

(Photo cred: Jeremy Poe)

My final destination is secured;
Tis fixed within my future by the pow’r
Sustaining all creation ev’ry hour.
And yet the days ahead appear obscured.
By pages and by principles applied,
May I perchance perceive the Father’s plan
(And thus pursue the path by strength of man
And live a life untested and untried)?
No. Faith is forged by following in fear,
Uncertain of the details of the road
Yet certain of the Master’s love and might.
Help me then, Lord, to listen and to hear.
Let me abide in thee in this abode
And learn to walk by faith and not by sight. 

Grief

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

Broken with no hope of being mended;
Focused on a chapter that has ended;
Feeling as if time has been suspended;
Captivated by the sudden stillness-
Life appears infected with an illness.

Pain, oh how much longer will you tarry?
Fear: oppressive fog around the ferry.
How much farther, Father, must I carry
Weakness, like a cancer in my being
Which corrupts the sights that I am seeing?

Deeply does the curse cause me to suffer.
With each passing day, the road feels rougher.
God, be my deliverance, my buffer.
I can not in my own strength endure this.
Must I suffer so much in your service?

Yet your promise holds, for you are working
All things for the good – even the hurting.
Keep me then, in test and trial, from cursing
You in your unfathomable wisdom.
Keep me focused on your holy kingdom.

Searching for God’s Will

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

God's Will image 10 10 16.jpg

Maybe you’re like me. When I see an article (or a sermon, book, pamphlet, smoke signal, etc.) on the topic of finding God’s will, I feel a sudden tinge of hope that the message might be “the one.” And, though you may have never defined it that way, you may very well have been searching for “the one” message as well. This one message, of course, is the message that will specifically answer your particular questions about what the future holds. No vagueness or generalities, this article would surely give you clear instructions to determine which decisions to make. Continue reading →

A Prayer for Rescue

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

a-prayer-for-rescue-image

Cleanse me lest I perish, Lord.
Purify my lep’rous skin.
Break these hands that hurt and horde.
Save me from the curse of sin.
Tame this tongue that tears apart.
Wreck this will that seeks its own.
Now ignite my lifeless heart.
[Present death, be overthrown.]
Turn your sword upon my soul.
Sever the deceiver’s hold.
Have in me the full control.
Shatter visions of fool’s gold
Till I learn to follow Thee,
Walking in your righteous way.
Grant me, Lord, the eyes to see.
I surrender all today.

Faith When Obedience Looks Like Foolishness

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

Faith, Walls, and an Unsual Victory.jpg

Allow me to set the scene for you.

Moses, the legendary leader of Israel, is dead. The wanderers have returned once more after forty long years to the edge of the promised land. Only the Jordan river lies between them and their inheritance. As Moses’ life drew to a close, a younger, God-fearing man named Joshua stepped up to claim the mantle as the leader of the people of God. Israel now stands on the cusp of a new journey, a journey full of war and grace. Continue reading →

Hope, My Soul, In God

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

Hope, my soul, in God.
Lift your head and have no fear.
Know, O heart, that he is here.
To this promise, tune your ear.
See his staff and rod.

Hope in his good reign.
Sov’reign over ev’ry sin,
His, the earth and all therein.
Ev’ry battle, he will win.
Trust him through the rain.

“Hope: the best of things.”
Devil, demons, try your might;
You’ve already lost the fight.
Darkness cannot kill the Light.
Peace and joy, he brings.