​You are the God of Amen
Faithful and True
May I be Your steadfast witness
You are the God Who Sees Me
Who knows me and thinks of me
May I know You O Lord
You are my All Sufficient God
Perfect and Complete
May I walk lacking nothing
You are the Living and Resurrected Lord
Who died and rose again.
May I live as a new creation in You
You are the God Who Sanctifies
Holy and Exalted
May I stand out as Your chosen holy child
You are my Benevolent and Loving Father
Who gives good gifts to His children
May I exhibit your nature
You are the God of Peace
Who sustains me
May I thank you in every circumstance
You are the All Powerful God
For Whom nothing is impossible
May I do all things through You
You are the God of Love
Who gave Yourself to the world
May I love as You do.

A poem by Donna Campbell

If I seem like I’m in another place

I am, I have no scars, anxieties, or material cares

In my dream my genuine smile brings love and joy

I live in the separate world of my own inner space

And pain is also absent but all friends and love disappear

I’m terrified that this imaginary life could be destroyed

I’m dreaming of a different me with a better face

I know the false blue sky can’t answer my prayers

It can’t grant me beauty like that of Helen of Troy

Oh Lord, His truth crashes this imperfect façade

These scars are earned and make me stronger

His love envelops me and changes my heart

In His goodness and tenderness I am awed

He gives me hope and maybe I can hold on longer

But He says “Let go we will never ever part”

He answers, He gives, He loves, Oh my God!

In Him, my Lord there is nothing He won’t conquer

I’m awake and more beautiful than any piece of art

Lord, my God

I don’t have the words

I can only trust you

In your wisdom

In your knowledge

In your power

In your Love

My soul cries out

I don’t have the words

I can only depend on you

In your wisdom

In your knowledge

In your power

In your Love

You are my loving Father

My Sovereign

My Comforter

Thank you

I am weary and worn

You never tire










I am broken and torn

You lift me higher

You replenish me

You nourish me

I have nothing to offer

You fill me

Oh My Dear Father

You are my Rock

You teach me to walk

You free me to run

In your power

By the Son

You make me fearless

With Your Spirit

by Donna Campbell

I wallowed in poverty. I struggled in scarcity.

I closed my eyes and I cried out, “Give me more!”

But instead, You took my hand, opened my eyes,

and taught me the difference between need and want.

Flames devoured my belongings. Fire revealed my hardship.

I closed my eyes and I cried out, “Take me out of this suffering!”

But instead, You took my hand, opened my eyes,

and walked beside me.

Illness ate away at me until no strength remained.

I closed my eyes and I cried out, “Take away this sickness and make me strong!”

But instead, You took my hand, opened my eyes,

and gave me your strength.

I was desolate. I thought I was abandoned.

I closed my eyes and I cried out, “Take me out of this isolation!”

But instead, You took my hand, opened my eyes,

and revealed yourself to me in manifold ways.

You are with me through

the suffering,

the joy,

the poverty,

the plenty

the taking,

the giving,

the pain,

and the comfort.

You taught me to depend on You through my dependence.

You don’t take me out of the fire

You are my God through it.

You don’t make me rich

You are my God through my deficiency.

You are constant.

I am yours always.

You hold me in your hand always

And nothing can take me away.

You will never relinquish me.

You are always with me,

Emmanuel.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:11-13

Why do we feel the need to dull the sharp edge off the word of God? His Word is powerful! But when we dilute it or remove the parts that might be hard to take it is no longer the word. It is no longer truth. It is dull, inactive, and appeasing. It allows people to blindly walk to Hell while they are deceived into thinking all is well.

The word must remain intact and sharp. Piercing to the depths it does is painful but necessary. A surgeon can’t remove a tumor without cutting into the body and revealing the problem in order to remove it.
Recognizing our sin is painful. Realizing our need of Jesus is painful. The lies propagated with pretty little sayings cover the pain and make people think they do not need the Great Physician or lead them to snake oil salesmen instead and in either case, death.

O my LORD

You are Sovereign

When pain takes over

When weakness presses me

When illness still me

I trust you

You give me comfort

Through the hurt

Through the malaise

You are Sovereign

Through the joy

Through well-being

Through strength

You are Sovereign

You give me faith

You fortify faith

I will trust you

When you heal

I will trust you

When you discipline

I will trust you

When you give

I will trust you

When you withhold

I will trust you

When you take

I will trust you

You are Sovereign

All for your glory Lord

By Robert Gordon

Father God in the highest of the heavens holy is your name, and holy you are here we are on this earth as daughters and sons of God. You put all things in their place, all the things you've made, were made through Christ my Savior. And all things hold together by the word of his power. 

As I reflect on your goodness, on your mercy, on your love, on your grace, I feel indebted to you for the rest of my life because of how good you are to us. For everything that you have already done for us we should be eternally grateful but you don't stop there and you continue to work and to mold us, and to bless us, and to love us, and to grow us to be more and more like your Son. You also give your Spirit without measure, you give good gifts to your children all of the time, you lavish us with your love through your Holy Spirit.

Who are we to deserve such mercy and grace from the all-powerful God and Creator of the world? Who are we to deserve such attention in our finiteness?  Who are we to deserve such a sacrifice to be made by your Son on the cross who took our shame and took our sin and paid the price for all of those who confess him as their Lord and Savior? Who are we to petition things from you who has already given everything, including his one and only son already, who are we to ask for anymore? But only a God as good as our Father who continues to hear our prayers and to take our requests.  But one thing we do is to make sure that we give you praise, and adoration, and honor, and glory that is due to your holy name Father God we lift up our hands and we close our eyes and we lift up our souls to you God because you are good. You are more than good, you are great. And you are more than great you are superbly awesome God. And we love you. Amen. 

Perhaps it is because I am on a social network called Tsu http://tsu.co/DCBooks where people are often quoting scripture and people and encouraging one another to be better people living happier lives that this is getting my goat. I see it frequently.
I am almost always sick. I have several small medical problems that I cannot get treated and so I am often dealing with symptoms of pain, fatigue or malaise. People pray with me all the time for healing, and for that I am so grateful. But often those same people quote a line of scripture to declare that I will be healed. And if I didn’t know scripture I would be devastated because of it. I would think I was failing my Lord and that He didn’t heal me because I was doing something wrong.

The line they quote is “by His stripes we are healed.” It comes from Isaiah chapter 53 verse 5. The entire verse reads,

“But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.”

He (Jesus) was pierced for our transgressions, our sins. He was crushed for our iniquities, our sins. Upon Him was the chastisement, the punishment, that brought us peace, a restored relationship with God. And with His wounds we are healed, made whole. Why would the rest of the verse speak of removing sins and restoration with God and this one line talk about illness? It doesn’t. It is still in the same sentence of Jesus punishment bringing us to peace with God talking about that relationship. Jesus wounds were made to heal or restore our relationship with God. It is a spiritual healing, not a physical one.

God does heal physical illness, but not all illness. I have seen wonderful and miraculous healings. But He has reasons for letting some people have physical sickness and weakness. Look at Timothy. He suffered some sort of stomach problem. Paul didn’t chastise him and say, “Christians shouldn’t be sick!” He offered advice for alleviating the symptoms. He did this while he told him not to judge harshly the elders, or assume anything based on partiality. Timothy was leading a pure life and that and lend itself to legalism, self-righteousness, and bias. Paul encouraged him not to let that happen by adding some health counsel. 1 Timothy 5:22-23 reads,

“Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.23 (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)”

Paul himself suffered from something, we are not sure what it was but God allowed him to suffer with it in order to keep him from becoming prideful since he had been caught up to the third heaven and seen things no one else had or has. (2 Corinthians 12:1-10).

I hate being sick. But when you take scripture out of context and misuse it to claim promises that do not exist it hurts me. If I didn’t know God, and know scripture, hearing that misguided phrase would make me try to figure out what to do to get on God’s good side. It would make me try and be good enough for God and I would miss the beauty of the truth of Jesus.

Believer, do you love the way God loves? Do you love others as Jesus loved you? Jesus loved you by laying down His life and paying the price for you to have eternal life. Revelation 21:6-7 tells us what He did.

“And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

But for those who do not believe and accept that awesome gift, there is another end. Revelation 20:15 says,

 “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

If you seek God’s will and love people are you really going to be okay with them running toward eternal damnation?