Exalting Him In Poetry and Prose

[vernecarty]

I would like to humbly request that this thread be dedicated to magnifying the Son of God. In poetry, prose, hymn and verse. Please add your favorite! May all who read here encounter only His matchless grace and beauty....
Here is my favorite:


Hast thou heard Him, seen Him known Him?
Is not thine a captured heart?

Chief among ten thousand own Him
Joyful choose the better part

Idols once they won thee, charmed thee
Lovely things of time and sense

Gilded thus does sin disarm thee
Honeyed, lest thou turn thee thence

What has stripped the seeming beauty
From the idols of the earth?

Not the sense of right or duty
But the sight of peerless worth!

Not the crushing of those idols
With its bitter void and smart

But the beaming of His beauty
The unveiling of His heart

Who extinguishes his taper
Till he hails the rising sun?

Who discards the garb of winter
Till the Summer has begun?

Tis’ the look that melted Peter
Tis' the face that Stephen saw

Tis’ the heart that wept with Mary
Can alone from idols draw

Draw and win, and fill, completely
Till the cup o’erflow the brim

What have we to do with idols
Who have companied with HIM?
 
G. Tersteegen

Verne

[Mark Kisla]

'Have you heard this tale - the best of them all-
The tale of the Holy and True'
He dies, but His life, in untold souls
Lives on in the world anew;
His seed prevails, and is filling the earth,
As the stars fill the sky above.
He taught us to yield up the love of life,
For the sake of the life of love.
His death is our life, His loss is our gain;
The joy for the tear, the peace for the pain.'

[psalm51]

"Grant, O Lord, that in your wounds I may find my safety, in your stripes my cure, in your pain my peace, in your cross my victory, in your resurrection my triumph, and a crown of righteousness in the glories of your eternal kingdom."      Jeremy Taylor

[MGov]

Earth's fairest flowers grow not on sunny plain,
But where some vast upheaval rent in twain
The smiling land ....
After the whirlwind's devasting blast,
After the molten fire and ashen pall,
God's still small voice breathes healing over all.
From riven rocks and fern-clad chasms deep,
Flow living waters as from hearts that weep,
There in the afterglow soft dews distill
And angels tend God's plants when night falls still,
And the Beloved passing by that way
Will gather lilies in the break of day.
                         _J.H.D.
Streams in the Desert (Sep 2 reading).

[vernecarty]

All that thrills my soul is Jesus
He is more than life to me
He's the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see!

I know I shall see in His beauty
The King in whose law I delight
Who lovingly guardeth my foot-steps
And giveth me songs in the night!

[sfortescue]

Day by Day

Every day, the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He Whose Name is Counselor and Power;
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.


Deuteronomy 33:24-29
And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.  Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.  The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.

Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.

Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

(Asher means happy.  This passage has the A B A B alternating structure.)

[vernecarty]

There is nothing that gives remarkable testimony to the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, like their uncanny ability to speak powerfully into the space-time course of events of our lives. I took great comfort from Psalm 74 this week. If you have been struggling over the state of the church of Jesus Christ, take heart...


  O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes on the thick trees.
But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right and? pluck it out of thy bosom.
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.

Psalm 74  

[vernecarty]

Love Found A Way

An Angel stood with flaming sword
At Edens's darkened gate
The frightened family faced the world
Now filled with Satan's hate
These fallen children God so loved
Were lost in fear alone
But love would spare no cost
To bring them home...

Love Found A Way
Love Found a Way
And Our Hearts Can't Hold
The Price Love chose to pay
All Hope Was Gone
Till Easter's Dawn
We Are Free Because
Love Found A Way!

Wayne Watson

[vernecarty]

Oh to be lke Thee!
Oh to be like Thee!
Blessed  Redeember, pure as Thou art.
Come in Thy sweetness
Come in Thy fullness
Stamp Thine own image
Deep in my heart!

Verne

[summer007]

Be still,my soul:the hour is hastening on When we shall be forever with the Lord,When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,Sorrow forgot,love's purest joys restored.Be still,my soul:when change and tears are past, All safe and blessed we shall meet at last..Katherina Von Schlegel.

[summer007]

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[summer007]

Psalms 45---Christ Fairer then the Sons of men.

[summer007]

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[summer007]

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[al Hartman]

     I received this verse in an e-mail:

 
What It Means To Be a Christian
 
 
        When I say "I am a Christian"... I'm not shouting "I'm clean living!"
I'm whispering, "I had been lost; now found and am forgiven."

When I say "I am a Christian".. I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble, and need CHRIST as my guide.

When I say "I am a Christian"... I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak, and need HIS strength to carry on.

When I say "I am a Christian"... I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed, and need God to clean my mess.

When I say "I am a Christian"... I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible; but God believes I'm worth it.

When I say "I am a Christian".. I still feel the sting of pain,
 I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say "I am a Christian"... I'm not holier than thou.
I'm just a simple sinner, who received God's grace, somehow.

                --author unknown