Note to reader: this is a "progressive-regressive" poem
which begins at the end and ends at the beginning. With
a helping hand from my Uncle Jack who is a family member
of POETREEMAIL and through a series of emails with him
this poem met with success. Enjoy!
From: Jack
To: Jeff
Subject: Re: I think we've done it.. (Re: BELIEVE)
Date: Sat, Jan 17, 2009 11:27 AM
SUCCESS !!
On 1/17/09, Jeff wrote:
Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts... Colossians 3:15
BELIEVE
Ask and believe you will receive,
An answer to your prayer;
All that you'll need,
And God's great peace,
Are waiting to meet you there.
Submit your mind,
Surrender your heart,
To the One Who created them both;
Don't be afraid, your life was well-made,
By the Author Who'll finish the story He wrote.
Ask and believe you will receive,
His merciful love for your prayer;
All that He is,
He came in Christ to give,
To all who believe in what He came to share.
JEFF/JACK
01.17.2009
For God so loved the world He gave to us His one and only Son,
so all who believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life.
see John 3:16
-- "Jack Pollock" wrote:
Yes, I noticed the rhyming problem. I just liked keeping it in the present
tense. Or perhaps the future tense: Who'll finish the story He wrote.
On 1/16/09, Jeff Pollock wrote:
Hi Jack, thank you for your suggestion, I like it. I'll have to work that
into a new version of the poem sometime. I was trying to find a word
to rhyme with both. Originally, I wrote the poem with three stanzas,
I probably should have left it at three. Using your suggestion I could
make it read something like this:
Submit your heart
Surrender your mind
Don't be afraid
Your life is well made
By the Author Who finishes what He writes
Before I broke it into four stanzas it read like this and I had in mind
causing the reader to think of Our Lord's last words: "It is finished."
_________________________________________________
BELIEVE
Ask and believe you will receive,
An answer to your prayer;
All that you'll need,
And God's great peace,
Are waiting to meet you there.
Submit your mind,
Surrender your heart,
To the One Who created them both;
Don't be afraid, your life was well-made,
By the Author Who finished the story He wrote.
Ask and believe you will receive,
His merciful love for your prayer;
All that He is,
He came in Christ to give,
To all who believe in what He came to share.
-- "Jack Pollock" wrote:
Hi Jeff,
For the 3rd stanza try:
Don't be afraid
Your life is well made
By the Author,
Who finishes what He writes.
Jack
On 1/15/09, Jeff wrote:
Dear Family and friends, here's a little something new for 2009 I scribbled
after reading an NLT devotional (also included) and you can see what's
new on one of my blogs (Fully Rely On God) by clicking on that link there;
I think Froggy has been posting behind my back again. Please do let me
know if you'd like to be removed from MY POETREEMAIL, seems I'll
pretty much write about anything I read concerning the Bible, uh, Praise
the Lord! but I am trying to regulate my mailings more this year. We'll see
how that works out. Oh, and there's something new at Poetry Heaven too.
A very special note to my big brother Joe, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! tomorrow,
I'll try to find you an appropriate E-card. It sure was nice to be with you
and the girls at Christmas! Keep me and Ev' in your prayers, okay? Enjoy!
Philippians 4:6-7
Paul wrote, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will
experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His
peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."
BELIEVE
Ask and believe you will receive,
An answer to your prayer;
All that you'll need,
And God's great peace,
Are waiting to meet you there.
Submit your mind,
Surrender your heart,
To the One Who created them both;
Don't be afraid,
Your life was well-made,
By the Author Who finished the story He wrote.
Ask and believe you will receive,
His merciful love for your prayer;
All that He is, He came in Christ to give,
To all who believe in what He came to share.
JEFFREE!
01.14.2009
"For God so loved the world He gave to us His one
and only Son, so all who believe in Him would not
perish but have eternal life." see John 3:16
Discover the NLT
A Fair Umpire
And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.
For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.
And always be thankful.
Colossians 3:15
The Greek word translated rule in this verse means "to umpire." The apostle Paul says that we should let the peace of Christ be the umpire in our lives. An umpire keeps the peace. He makes sure the game is played in a smooth and orderly fashion. God wants to give us an internal umpire who will keep us at peace even when everything seems chaotic.Only as we submit to Christ's control and authority can we experience spiritual peace. We may think all we need to do is to get away, but that is not true. We can't run away to get peace. It won't come from divorcing our spouse, giving our kids up for adoption, changing jobs, or living as a hermit on the backside of nowhere. Only when we submit our internal world to the lordship of Christ will we experience peace.If we really want God's peace, we should ask for it. A psychiatrist was quoted in the newspaper as saying that he could not improve upon the apostle Paul's prescription for human worry. Paul wrote, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7). Notice the order: first prayer and then peace. A cause-and-effect relationship exists in this prescription. Prayer is the cause; peace is the effect.If you and I are not praying, we're likely to be worrying. And worry is such a useless emotion and activity. Worry is the opposite of peace; they cannot coexist. Worry, like a pressure cooker, builds up our internal pressure with negative emotions and concerns. Prayer, on the other hand, functions like a safety valve. When life's stresses become too great and we feel like we are about to explode, prayer releases the stress and frustration. Everyone needs an unconditional listener to unload on and a fair umpire to call the game. In God we have the perfect embodiment of both roles. We can dump on him and know that he will not get stressed out by what we tell him. We can be confident that he will bring order and calm to our daily lives.
