Daily Devotional January 7 - A Story Of A Life

 Note: This makes a great congregational reading with one person reading the poem and one person reading the scripture

A story of a life

When I try to think about how great God is
I am drawn to think about what is made
about the heavens and the fields and the streams
the flowers, the clouds, the sun and shade

Psalms 8:3-4
"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?"

I think about koala bears and bumble bees
bengal cats, a peacocks flume and bonsai trees
Just one look at where I live and I quickly see
the ocean with all its wonders, made just for me

I see the calm, the storm, the darkness and the light
all made for me for day and night
Not one thing missing for all to complete their tasks
And for each of them to work again I need not even ask

Matthew 5:45
"for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

I think about the things I cannot see, like love
and breath, eternity
The intrinsic things that bring me hope, that make me cry
things I save just to capture sentimental value, things you cannot buy

I think about my friends and family and all the things God did for me
I think about the many days God paid my debt and many ways
How God would substitute Himself, even when I was wrong
So I could have a chance at life to find my way along

Philippians 2:12-13
"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

When I think deep I have to thank God for all that God has let me see
For eyes that can see beyond what I have done with me
For God has made a work of art that I have feigned, a work of man
God put His best in me and I a lessor plan

God filled my life with paid for treasures
As I collected worthless trinkets
Piling one upon another like a junkyard piles worthless cars
That's what happens to a man when he can't see real far

Matthew 6:21
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

I can't help but be in awe, that God consents to let me think, on Christ, the very Son of God
And just as profound is when God listens to my wails
when truly me is what is most on my mind,
God's mercy never fails

1 Chronicles 16:34
"O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever."

And God allows me entrance in a holy place where angels dare
the place where nothing lasts that God did not bring there
That I should then endure to live having tasted holy ground
and live a lessor way of life than this life I have found

Exodus 3:5
"And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."

And found I did what was not lost, not of my own
But at His cost
Because of what God did for me
That's not why God made the tree

But we have not been faithful with
the little that we have
More oft than not, we fall short in our walk
And forget where we've been even when it's not dark

We openly search for what we think we deserve
for our current self and not eternity's best
When what we find and amass, overall does not last
And we leave unopened our real treasure chest

For we have not found truth to have present worth
As we have money and things we strive for hard
For we think we are better for the toil
And more worthy if we're marred

That way when things don't go right
We can blame God for not giving to us
What we think we should have, saying quite ungraciously
Why hast thou made me thus?

Romans 9:20
"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?"

When I try to think of how great God is
I have an enemy that dances and sings
And does all kinds of things to distract me for a season
And I have been fooled before, when what I thought I saw would be good for me, I know now was just an illusion
But at every turn when I turn toward God's place
The enemy still supplies confusion

James 3:16
"For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."

I thought that once I had found my place in the heavenlies
I could rest for a while
But I find I still seek refuge in the things of the world
And I find that they are still filled with guile

1 John 2:15
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

There must be an answer that I can understand clearly
As to how to be here and at the same time be there-ly
For certain I've found that without God to assist me
I stand no chance at all but to be utterly bliss-ly

I have found a place where the words are not empty
Where there's power just in the hearing me thinking
Because the source of these thoughts are not mine at all
And neither do they mimic the fall

The Word of God has resonated a wave
that changes the way this man does behave
And yet the way I behave falls far short of the Word
God pardons me just because I have heard

Oh how I would like to write a song that when sung
Men and women would repent of the evil they've done
But to write such a song in itself shows how vain
We've become when we seek promulgating our own name

When we could settle all disputes with a word
Telling others about the One we have heard
And not telling them as if we had to explain
But speaking as one called to proclaim

Mark 16:15
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

In the depth of God's mines
I am spending my time
and I'm sensing a spiritual pull
I've decided to dig deep for new gems
That I have learned come only from Him
until my bag is full

Not so that I can be rich for myself
But so I'll have something to give
For what I can do with my own mind's mine
is not enough to go around
But even the smallest facet from God
is enough to buy holy ground

Matthew 13:45-46
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:  Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."

In the past I planted seeds of faith
not giving much heed to the soil
thinking that good crops came about
equivalent to man's toil

But toil and sweat doesn't grow healthy fruit
The soil must be watered and nurtured by God
For I have planted many seeds
and I have harvested many weeds

When I try to think how great God is
I think about how God first called out my name
That before I was born and before I said yes
God had already paid for my shame

1 Corinthians 6:20
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

There's too many things that contend for my time
As I pass quickly through this life - There's something fresh on my mind
That I should look to please God daily
And not live my life sparingly

Thank God for the moments when I get to see me as I am
A son of God - joint heir with Christ and not just a man
One who was chosen to spend life with God
I shall never again give sin a light nod

I shall stand firm and resolved to bring God in my life
In my family, my home and business alike
I shall make sure my calling to find why I am
By listening carefully to God in my inner man

Ephesians 3:14-16
"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;"

I shall pray for myself and pray for my friends
I shall look to the God who consistently brings
Good things from above as the Father of lights
Who has already paved a way for our flight

Don't think I'm not pulled from my calling each day
There's hardly a moment when I'm not tested by my nature giving in to a lessor way
But I've decided to say yes when the Spirit calls out
I've decided to practice faith, not doubt

I've decided to read the Word and believe and believe
and believe until my believing receives
And I've decided to receive what was made just for me
That's why I must listen to the Spirit, you see

So why would I try to convince another
Of the experience I have found that took too much time
Because I don't want to see my brother
Leave as many valuable years behind

I don't want to waste another minute of life
Where I am not attentive to God's voice
And as I share with others what has happened inside
I share my final choice

See I dont want to go through more of the same
More years of gathering in crops that are ruined
More years of being just a little late
More years of saying I wish I had done it differently
More years of sowing sparingly
More years of doing nothing daringly
Counting down as life loses its luster
Trudging through life as if walking through quicksand
I found out there's a better plan

The words that I speak can hardly express today's mission
Of proclaiming how your life started with vision
A vision God had when He called out your name
That vision God had/has, has not changed

When God made the earth and all that is in it
He thought about you and what you could do with it
God knew about your days of sadness and pain
And God knew of the blessings that would come your way

God saw down the road a piece and made you a path
That as hard as it seemed it was, is not full of His wrath
For what God foresaw, when He foresaw you ahead
He saw that at one point He would stand in your stead

Because God saw when you and I would turn from His ways
And God could have rightly cast us away
But not like you and I, God's forgiveness is better
When God forgives, He forgives forever

Psalms 103:12
"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."

We can't go back and fix our past
God doesn't want that from us
That's why when God forsook His own Son
It was to cover up what you and I have done

But today and tomorrow we have a chance to redeem
And to live out our life it as it was made - God breathed
To reflect our origin having been born again
To live out tomorrow above the auspices of sin

Romans 8:15
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

Never again accept second best for your soul
When all that God made is available and free
God doesn't want His children to live like the world
God wants us to live out our life with decree

Take heed to these words and follow the wise
To decide to make today the day we decide
That without reservation we will give God our best
And put a stop to putting God to the test

I was thinking, what words could I say
That could bring you and I to a place we could stay
A staying place where there's power
A staying place where there's power for more than an hour

So I leave you with this word to ponder
Your hopes and your dreams are considered each day
By a God that knows how to bring them your way
And there's no better day to get started than now
to trust in the Lord - and let the Lord show us how
By doing so we give God the glory
A Story of a Life - as life is the story

1 Timothy 3:16
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."