Season 7, Episode 7, God's Poetic Love

Poetry of Christian Faith

67, 7-7, SHOW NOTES & COPYRIGHTS, (July 29, 2022)

Today we are going to talk about love, God’s love and our love. Reading poems about love came to mind having written down the words of I Corinthians, Chapter 13, verse in a notebook after reading one night. I have been wanting to use this verse as the theme of a podcast ever since. As I prayed about the poems to use the word “Love “ was the center of my focus. So, I looked through the index of each book and found 6 poems with “Love” in the title. His Love!

Paul had been talking about some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as Chapter 13 starts. He ends with Verse 13:

“And now abide in faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (NKJV)

Our first one is from God’s Rhyme, pg. 13

LOVE

Love is a song

of not just how long

I have loved you

but of Your forgiveness thru

all I have done wrong

You are love

& how I love You,

my Lord, my Savior.

You, Jesus,

are love I can see.

Love is the warm sun

before each day is done,

that feeling inside

that is hard to hide

when walking with the Son.

You are love

& how I love You,

My Lord, my Savior.

You, Jesus,

are love I can feel.

Love, Jesus, is You

& all I can do

I know is give

each day I live

to those who need You too.

You are love

& how I love You,

My Lord, my Savior.

You, Jesus,

are love I can be.

Discussion:

Also from God’s Rhyme, pg. 25

BLESSED IS LOVE

Blessed are they

who love the Lord

thy God,

for they shall love

one another

& those around them.

We are commanded

to love God

our Father

with all our heart

& all our soul.

And after, to love

Thy neighbor

As we would

love ourselves

who are created

in the image

of our Creator.

Love with all

our hearts

& all our souls

as He did

who saved our souls

on Calvary’s hill.

Father, Son & Holy Spirit;

One & the same

for eternity.

Likewise, the Ten Commandments

Jesus said are one;

“Love one another

as I have loved you.”

The love that God commands

is the love He has given.

Blessed are we

who accept His love,

for we can return

the blessing.

Blessed are they

who love the Lord

for they, like God,

are love,

& love, like God,

goes on forever.

Discussion:

The last one from God’s Rhyme, pg. 31

We have read this poem on a previous podcast. And it fits into today’s podcast perfectly.

YOUR LOVE

Your love

fills my heart

at day’s

new start.

Your love

so fills me

I give thanks

to Thee.

Your love

fills my life

with children

& a loving wife.

You loved me

before I ever loved You.

You love me still

inspite of what I do.

You love me

& because You do

I try more

to deserve You.

Your love

shows me right.

In darkness

You are light.

Your love,

as only it can,

is so perfect,

more than man.

Your love

aways reaches

my needs.

I love you Jesus.

Discussion:

We have one from God Still Rhymes, pg. 103

LOVE

I can’t help but cry,

No matter how I try

As I wonder why

He was the one to die.

To endure the pain

That he may reign,

His love to give

That I might live.

At the cross

My life’s loss

Now forever lost

As he paid the cost.

There is a song about being

Before God in Heaven,

“I Can Only Imagine.”

Well, his sacrifice

For the sin of my life,

That I can never imagine.

The praying in the garden,

The emotional turmoil

The fears of man.

Then as the Son of God

Praying to the Father,

“Not my will, but yours.”

Man and Deity,

Knowing the end

He endured

The brutality of a Roman flogging,

The braided whip laced with metal balls,

Tearing through the skin

From shoulders to legs,

Exposing muscle, sinew and veins,

The human blood loss

On the way to the cross.

Weakened beyond thought and words,

Falling, as we should too.

A man named Simon

Took up Jesus’ cross.

Nails driven through His wrists and feet,

With excruciating pain nerves were severed,

Severed that I might be delivered

From the pain that is rightly mine.

Each and every intake of breath

An agonizing feat

To be repeated over and again

As he did exhale.

His human heart thirsting for blood,

Blood that was no longer there

Having been left on the trail,

Causing the heart of this man to fail.

The heart of God stopped

Because of me.

A sacrifice

That I might be forgiven

For the life I have been living.

His last words,

“Forgive them, Father”.

Because He loves me.

Reflection on Love

My daughter Emily showed me a book she was reading the last time I was at her house. The book is “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel. She had me read the chapter on the crucifixion. That chapter had a profound effect on how I viewed the crucifixion. I knew then that I wanted to write a poem about this. She has since lent me the book to read. So far I have reread the same chapter. I prayed before beginning to write that God would give me the words. He gave me the words and something else I have never experienced while writing – tears.

Discussion:

The next two are from Living In God’s Rhyme, the first one on pg. 41.

THE LOVE GOD GIVES

On his head thorns for a crown,

The thorns of my transgression.

Because he loved me I bow down

And profess to him my confession.

An all knowing God who created all we know,

Knowing the good and bad seeds we would sow

Still breathed into each one of us life,

Knowing that he one day pay would the price.

I wonder as I write these stanzas of words

Why, if he knew we would become a herd

Of wandering sheep,

His word he still keeps.

Though he knew our sin, our wandering ways

His love never wanders, the same it stays.

Yes, he is a just God who will punish

The unrepentant who refuse to believe.

But his love is always there

When we are ready to share,

To share in his reign,

That removes our shame.

He is a just God,

A righteous God,

He is a God of love,

He is a God of glory.

The Holy love of God

Forgives, it gives

Hope and blessing,

Joy in our sadness,

It lifts us up

As we share the cup,

The blood of his covenant

With the lost remnant.

From us he deserves

Our constant praise

As he preserves

Our living days.

And sometimes I wonder

Why he gave us free will

Knowing we would wander,

Knowing he would love us still.

His ways are not our ways.

Thankfully we should pray

A prayer of thanksgiving

That with him we are living.

Knowing all, who would hear his call,

He prepared for those who believe

That he alone is Holy in Glory,

A promise at the end of the story.

It is a story of his love,

The pain of his love,

The magnitude of his love,

The forgiveness of his love,

And the hope of his love.

He sent Jesus to deliver the message,

To pay the price to make us right,

To show the way, to open the door

That we may forever live in his sight.

Thank you, Lord

For your love for me,

Your love for my neighbor.

Thank you, Lord,

Thank you for eternity.

Discussion:

Our last poem is found on pg. 119 (LIGR)

FOR THOSE HE LOVES

There are words of our feelings

And words for our healing.

There are arms that embrace

As life’s threads we lace.

For him his life was more than touched,

It was ravaged by cancer,

An ugly uncaring disease

For those it reaches out and touches.

But somehow through all of the pain,

When all around the skies just rain,

Though not knowing the future

There always was hope in love.

It was in a book about a young boy

Who was born inside out.

The story told of his growing from toys

Of childhood to the toys of his children.

There was love in a poem on a brown paper bag.

There was love in the air that made him aware

That with this girl he could not let time drag.

The love she gave him was all he wanted to share.

There were children, not one but five,

So every day he knew that he was alive.

Family, oh the love they would give

Each and every day he did live.

The story continued through the love of sadness,

When life gave those who were there at his birth,

When it was their lives that were turned inside out,

When happiness and hope appeared much less.

First one, then the other,

Married for so many years

They suffered together

As others watched through tears.

Surgery the first invasion for both.

Then the invasion to their system

Of perhaps lifesaving drugs.

Then the burning sensation

Of man’s treatment of radiation.

All ending, all ending at the end.

The amazing part of the story was

The continuation of love that surrounded

Those sick and those tired watching the sickness.

The rhymes were there though written

With different words, in different lines.

The chapter on cancer ended, the story went on.

The author of life had healed the broken hearts

With words of hope and his blessings of love.

That inside out boy was made right

By the love of God and his sight

Was restored so that he might

Continue his life in God’s love.

The story is one of love.

Love for others, love for God

And the love God had for them all

As he continued to heed God’s call.

God’s rhyme is everywhere,

In the good, the bad of all we see and do.

His rhymes are always there

If we are open, not just to what it is he can do,

But believing he will always care

Discussion:

AS WE CLOSE IN PRAYER, MAY WE CONTINUE IN PRAYER

Dear Heavenly Father we come to you in prayer as we end today’s podcast. Dave and I thank You for Your leading us through the day and into tomorrow. We pray that today has been pleasing to You and honors Your glory.

We pray for our listeners and viewers; for their needs, healing and the salvation of those who have not yet accepted the gift of Your grace by faith.

We pray, Lord, for this world in which we live. Father, as Christians lead us to proclaiming the gospel where ever we are. May we do so in a loving way. Lead us to the truth of the days we are living in. We pray for the nation of Ukraine and its people; its leaders, those who have fled the country to find safety, those who are still trying to leave the country and those who are staying to fight the invading army of their enemy. May their faith and determination be an example to the entire world.

Dear Lord, prepare us and our listeners and viewers for the coming week. We pray that it is You we live for and You who leads us. As we walk with you this week, may it be Your hand clasped around our hand so we may feel the grasp of Your love.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer.

Amen

4/3/2022

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"If you give Him the times As you live His word rhymes "

"We are the King’s kids and you’ll never get rid of us because we are His with Jesus."

If you give

Him the times

As you live

His word rhymes

And don’t forget, “We are the Kings kids and you will never get rid of us for we are His with Jesus.”

Living In God’s Rhyme ©2018 by Tim Carter

God Still Rhymes ©2019 by Tim Carter

God’s Rhyme ©2019 by Tim Carter