WHAT IF?

WHAT IF

By Karen Sue Hale

What would happen if an army came

and conquered our country and changed its name?

Then suddenly all of the laws had been changed,

and it was now a crime to speak Jesus’ name?

What if they took our Bibles away;

made it a crime to worship and pray;

and we’d have to guard every word that we’d say?

Imagine it happened just yesterday.

Imagine the sorrow. Imagine the fear.

Perhaps you might muster at least one small tear.

Imagine we’re meeting in secret here,

afraid of losing the ones we hold dear.

How would we comfort each other tonight?

Who has a word that would help in our plight?

Do you know some Scripture? I hope that we might

encourage ourselves in the spiritual fight.

I hope that we have Scripture memorized.

I hope that God’s word is a part of our lives.

I hope we know songs and hymns line by line.

What we’ve stored in our hearts, God would now bring to mind.

What if this nightmare were reality?

Would there be enough hope found within you and me?

What if our bibles were taken away?

What if it happened just yesterday?

But you say, “This couldn’t happen!” And I pray it never will.

Yet I tell you there’s a great danger still…

What if the Christians just didn’t care?

They ceased to stand up. They ceased to be wary

of atheist creed and humanist teachers

and dozed apathetically before godly preachers.

What if the church were content to be

just one more wave on philosophy’s sea;

placidly drifting, not stirring the waves:

not cold, nor hot. “Lukewarm,” Christ would say.

What if we saw this sea full of sin,

then comfortably watched as our neighbors fell in?

What if we heard the Word preached each Sunday,

then promptly forgot it on the way to work Monday?

What if the church were really so dead

that the words of this poem drift over your head,

and you look at the next guy and say, “It’s his fault”?

Yet we’re all so lukewarm, we’re neither light nor salt.

Perhaps, it would be better if an army came,

made it a crime to speak Jesus’ name

and shocked us into the spiritual fight.
Please, brothers and sisters, pretend it could happen tonight. 

DO WE EVER WEEP?

Do We Ever Weep?

By Karen Sue Hale

Do we ever weep

For the nation that is falling,

For the children who are calling,

The teenagers now crying?

Some of them are dying

To find someone who cares enough

To tell them the word “no”.

Do we ever, ever weep

For morality that’s crumbled?

Do we have a heart that’s humbled?

On our knees are we now praying:

Or are those only words we’re saying,

Thinking someone else will care enough

To follow God and go?

Will we sit and watch

While our world turns from the Father?

Are we too lazy to be bothered?

Wait for someone else to tell them

‘cause we don’t think we can “sell them”

On the only One who cares enough

To die, His love to show.

Will we stay content

As church-time only Christians?

Never have a sense of mission

For the people out there crying,

For our nation literally dying

For someone just to tell them

There’s a Savior they can know?

Oh, I hope that we’ll rise up

From our knees where we’ve been praying,

Listening to the words God’s saying,

Marching forth that we might serve Him

(keep in mind we don’t deserve Him);

And we’ll share His plan with others

Everywhere we go.

WHO WEEPS?

Who Weeps?

by Karen Sue Hale

Written after sermon on Nehemiah 1 by James T. Draper

Who weeps? Who prays? Who intercedes?

Who, on his knees, to the Lord God pleads?

Who weeps? Who prays? Who cares today

That America has gone astray,

That sin runs rampant through our land?

Who will rise and take a stand?

Lord, You speak to me today.

“Rise and take a stand,” You say.

Teach me, Lord, to weep and pray,

Confess that we have gone astray.

Can an ordinary woman intercede?

I stand to follow. I know You’ll lead.

PRIORITIES

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The next few posts will not be directly from our study of the Gospel of John because we do not want to get to far ahead of where we are on the Bible study blog at www.preciousjewelsministries.org so enjoy a few poems while we get back in sync. (Susie and Susan)

Priorities

By Susie Hale

March 25, 1983

Often many different things

Are mingling in my brain;

And all the thoughts get jumbled up

Resulting in great strain.

There are so many sights to see,

So many deeds to do,

So many things I want to be

’ere my life on earth is through.

So many words I want to write,

So many songs to sing,

So many lives I want to touch,

Such happiness to bring.

Then I get in such a hurry

’cause my brain gets all confused,

And I cause myself such worry

Over time that I’ve misused.

But then is when I realize

I must take time to slow down;

And seek the One who’s in control,

Who makes the world go ’round.

To trust in Him to guide my steps,

To show me in His time

Which things should be priorities

To keep my life in rhyme.

So, if I’ll set the time aside

To go to God in prayer,

Hell straighten out my jumbled mind

And place His peace in there.

John 9 - The Man Born Blind

Testimony of the Man Born Blind

By Susie Hale in 1983

I’ve a story to tell and I hope you will hear

Of the day in my life when the Savior drew near.

I was only a blind man begging in the street,

But then the day came when the Lord I did meet.

He spat on the ground, put the clay on my eyes.

Not knowing who he was, to my feet I did rise

To go forth and wash in the pool as he said.

I came back seeing! Even I who had begged!

My neighbors inquired how my eyes had been cleared

And took me to the Pharisees, their opinion to hear.

They asked me again how I received my sight.

I told them the same that I tell you tonight…

“He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and do see.”

But since they knew not the Lord, they would not believe me.

They called in my parents to question them, too.

But they said, “He’s of age. Let him speak to you.”

“This man is a sinner,” the Jews tried to tell me.

I said, “one thing I know; I was blind, now I see!”

They asked me again how he opened my eyes.

They had already heard it, so I asked him why

they would hear it again. Did they want to be

disciples of this man who caused me to see?

They said they followed Moses whom they knew spoke to God.

That they knew not from where Jesus was, I thought quite odd.

A marvelous thing the Pharisees didn’t know

The evidence of God this man’s works did show.

They rebuked me for teaching them and then cast me out

Of the synagogue forever, but ‘twas a good thing, no doubt.

For when Jesus heard it for lowly me He sought

Ad asked if I believed on the Son of God.

“Who is He, Lord, that I might believe?”

He said, “it is He that talketh with thee.”

I said, “Lord, I believe.” And I worshipped Him there.

For He was the Messiah, the answer to prayer.

And this is my story. I hope you have heard

Of the day in my life when I met the Lord.

CAN PRAYER BE ABUSIVE?

The disciples made an assumption that the man’s blindness was caused by sin, his or his parents’. Jesus shut them down immediately. I have been greatly encouraged by His reply that the man’s blindness had been given to him in order that God might be glorified through his testimony.

I was born with cerebral palsy affecting all four of my limbs but, praise the Lord, not my intellect. Many times well-meaning people while praying for my healing, have made the assumption that demons were at work in my body and started trying to cast them out. God and the devil cannot co-exist in the same vessel. God is my Father, so I knew that every time this was done, they were wrong. When healing did not immediately manifest, there was always a blame game where I was the one lacking faith, or having the presence of sin. Sometimes sin is the source of sickness, but sometimes it is not. When people pray judgmentally, the person being prayed for disappears and feels spiritually violated. It took me a long time to be brave enough to tell people in a loving way that they were in the flesh and needed to go back and discuss it with the Master. When someone comes to the altar for prayer, they are demonstrating faith. We need to be careful to encourage that faith which comes from God rather than accuse them of having too little faith. 

by Susan Slade

dedicated to Nick Vujicic, Jennifer Bivens, Brandie Nealey & Roxy Cisneros

THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

Set Free

by Susie Hale

I’ve been released. 
I am set free.

I am no longer a captive; 
my debt’s been paid for me.

Sin held me in prison. 
Death was my penalty;

But I’ve been released from death row 
‘cause Jesus died for me.

And even though I’m guilty, 
my pardon’s been approved.

Sin cannot contain me; 
my charge has been removed.

Jesus died upon my cross, 
my sentence carried out.

Because of Him, I’ve been released. 
I need not fear or doubt.

I need not feel defeated. 
Guilt will not step on me.

Christ controls my heart and soul. 
The Truth has set me free.

I AM THE LIGHT

I Am the Light

Jesus declares that He is the light.

His truth dispels the darkness of night.

Any sin that I might try to disguise

His light will expose, all is bare to His eyes.

But if I live openly not hiding from Christ,

Basking in radiance that Jesus provides,

If with my Savior, I daily abide,

He nourishes me; and, therefore, I thrive.

The rays of light penetrate through the trees to illuminate the forest floor and enable the green foliage to grow. Since I have surrendered my life to Jesus, the rays of His Holy Spirit break through the messiness of my life to continually draw me closer to Him. As I read the word of God, the Holy Spirit shines a spotlight on passages and makes me feel as if they were written with only me in mind. I am nourished by the scriptures, and the Light reveals anything in me that needs to be cleansed by His grace. Pray that the Light of Life, who is the Great I Am, will satisfy your hunger daily. Take the time to bask in His glorious light by praying, studying the Bible, and worshiping. This is how to thrive in your relationship with the Lord. Isaiah 61:3 “…that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” Pray the Lord will grow you up to be a mighty oak of righteousness!

RIVERS OF LIVING WATER

Rivers of Living Water

A river, even a quiet one, is in motion. It flows either gently or like the one pictured rapidly over rocks and around trees. The point is that it is not stagnant. The Holy Spirit flows through the life of a believer. He does not stop at quenching the thirst of the believer but flows in and through that person to influence others. It is an evidence that Jesus has taken a stagnant, smelly life, and make it fresh and new. Let the River flow!

Living Lord, let Your life-giving presence flow through me,

Indwelling Spirit, spring forth from me as a teeming river.

Vitality that lasts eternally is found only in You, Jesus.

Inspire a servant’s heart in me to lead others to drink You in.

Nurture and preserve a Christ-like mind and actions in me.

Gratitude pours from my lips, as You quench my thirst forever.

Willingly You gave Your life, Lord, to cleanse me from all sin.

Accepting Your gift of salvation was thereby made possible.

Therefore, I am made fit for the home You prepare for me in Heaven.

Eagerly, I await the day I see the source of Living Water face to face.

Rivers of living water continuously supply me with Your grace.

BREAD OF LIFE

Bread of Life

 Blessing from Heaven, the Bread that came down.

Jesus’ proclamation of this did astound.

His blood their drink, His flesh their bread,

the people just could not grasp in their heads.

They did not yet know He had come to die

to pay for their sin, on the cross lifted high.

Manna incarnate as the Son of Man,

born of a virgin to carry out God’s plan.

The Bread of Life for those who crave

to be filled with the only One who can save.

He satisfies the deepest need of the soul

To be freed from sin, made complete and whole.

ETERNAL LIFE

Eternal Life

Eternal, everlasting, unending – difficult concepts to grasp.

Terminal illness not ending in tragedy – a promise to clasp.

Eternal, forever, boundless – the joy to be found in our Lord.

Remember eternal is a two-sided coin according to the word.

Never-ending, unremitting, continual pain for unbelief.

Always suffering, no light of love, a state of constant grief.

Look at your life, see your sin. If you haven’t already, turn to Him.

Life unceasing in perfect peace, can be yours by trusting in Christ.

Invited by His Holy Spirit, His gift extended to save your life.

Father, please draw my loved ones to You, to be in Your love abiding.

Eternal, enduring, continual - no more death, in Heaven residing.

Father, thank You that You saved me by Your grace. The words “Not Guilty” ring in my ears, and I realize that my death penalty was paid by Your Son, Jesus. Eternal life began for me at age 15 as I surrendered to You, and I look forward to dwelling in the house of the Lord FOREVER!

NEVER THIRST AGAIN!

NEVER THIRST AGAIN!

The woman was embarrassed to be at the well;

For whenever she went there, ugly gazes fell

As the other women judged her filled with scorn.

So she drew water at noon instead of cool morn.

When Jesus offered water to never thirst again,

She jumped at the chance to avoid those hens.

Then Jesus revealed He knew about her shame

Even though she didn’t even know His name.

She thought He was a prophet, but He was Christ

And declared that truth to her, changed her life!

She ran to tell the townspeople Messiah was there

And started an awakening because she shared.

When you cannot get water by yourself, and you must depend on others to bring it to you and assist you with drinking it, there are many times you feel like you have cotton in your mouth. You keep hoping some saliva will moisten your throat until you can get the attention of the person who will bring you something to drink. A person cannot live long without water, and I am totally dependent upon others to meet that need for me. 

Are you thirsting for something deep within yourself? Are you spiritually dry? Jesus is the only One that can quench this thirst because He is the source of Living Water. When you trust Him, His Holy Spirit is the spring of living water that wells up inside you to eternal life and flows our through you to others. There is no reason to remain empty and dry. Jesus is willing and able to quench your thirst for God. 

THE LIGHT

The Light of the world is Jesus, the perfect Lamb who frees us.

Heavenly Light who pierces the darkness and cannot be extinguished.

Eternal Offspring of God radiating the majesty and glory of His Father.

Lovingly lights the road to the Father by giving us the lamp of His word.

Illuminates everything that separates us from truth and life with Him.

Grants us grace through faith to be brought from darkness to light.

Honors us to become like a full moon reflecting His Sonlight.

Truth embraced assures a place living forever in the light of His glory.

If you grew up in church as I did, you probably memorized John 3:16 and maybe John 3:17. We all love to remember that Jesus died to save all those who believe and trust in Him. However, we do not like to hear about the other possibility. Light is a marvelous thing if you do not mind being seen. However, if you are not looking your best, you may want to avoid the spotlight. The only way we can have nothing to hide from God is to surrender our lives to Jesus and allow His Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out. Jesus is a spotlight shining down on us. Do you feel a need to run and hide in the shadows, or can you confidently stand in the Light because you have been saved by God’s grace?