Future Songs

A couple of poems that I hope to one day turn into songs.

(Untitiled)

I believe Your mind exceeds all of man's wisdom,
Your power is greater than I can see or ever know.
Your ways are higher than the sum of all our knowledge,
You comprehend each minute act on earth below.

Your light goes forth to break the power of darkness,
Your love extends to the foolish and the wise.
Your compassions are new every morning,
You do not sleep, You never change, and cannot lie.

You are God, the Holy, Sovereign King eternal.
You give grace to the humble and strength to the weak.
You are greater than our finite minds can fathom,
Yet You reveal Yourself to all who seek.




When I Wake


When I wake with the morning,
There's a longing in my soul that will not cease,
When I wake in the quiet
Of the night, my heart cries out for peace.
When I rise to meet the new day,
I'm reminded that Your mercies never cease
But still I'm longing, still I'm aching
For the day when Your work in me is complete...

When I wake in Your likeness
And every remnant of my sin is washed away,
When I wake in Your likeness,
When my soul rests and I behold Your face.
When I wake in Your likeness
Earth's shadow dims as Heaven's glory fills my eyes.
When I wake in Your likeness
Cleansed and clothed in the righteousness of Christ.


- Copyright Heidi Robbins 2011

Dust of Earth and Breath of God

Dust of earth and breath of God.
Ingredients of a man which,
In the soul of the redeemed,
Cause the greatest
Disharmony.
Temporal fighting divine;
Wickedness opposing good.
Ingredients set in opposition
'Til the day the two are ripped apart,
And the divine is left in anticipation
Of the day when the dust itself
Will be made
Holy.

Nearer, Ever Nearer

"We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him" 2 Cor. 5:6-9 (ESV)

These verses have brought me great encouragement the past few days…
Walking by faith…living day by day…trusting…not seeing the outcome, but resting in the One who knows all. This is our calling. He is our prize. I pray that my great desire and overwhelming passion will be to please Christ, whether here on earth or in His presence for eternity.

Today I read this...

"Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." Romans 13:11-12 (ESV)

What hope and indescribable joy are contained in these verses! Salvation is nearer now than ever. I came to know Christ as a young child, and already I am twenty years closer to seeing Him; twenty years closer to being sanctified, glorified, and eternally free from sin…twenty years closer to standing in awe of the glory of my Savior and worshipping Him in a perfect body, with a perfect voice, in a perfect place, with fullness of joy. The very thought fills me with excitement and wonder.

Yet, a question remains…what have I accomplished in the last twenty years of walking with Christ? What will I do for Him with however many years I have left before He returns or calls me to my eternal home? Will I be found faithful? The time is short…"The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."

Renewed Vision

A couple of days ago I began reading a biography of one of the great pioneer missionaries, C. T. Studd. He was a man greatly used for the kingdom of God. Already various things about his life and testimony have impacted me, and I would like to share with you one quote from the book. Though a believer in Jesus Christ, as a young man C.T. was living for himself and the pleasures to be found in worldly fame. However, God touched his heart by reading a tract written by an atheist. An atheist, mind you. May it challenge you as it did me...

"Did I firmly believe, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion would mean to me everything. I would cast away earthly enjoyments as dross, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought, and my last image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness. I should labour in its cause alone. I would take thought for the morrow of Eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering. Earthly consequences should never stay my hand nor seal my lips. Earth, its joys and its griefs, would occupy no moment of my thoughts. I would strive to look upon Eternity alone, and on the Immortal Souls around me, soon to be everlasting happy or everlastingly miserable. I would go forth to the world and preach to it in season and out of season, and my text would be, 'what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?'"

Why is it that even though I possess a relationship with Christ, the hope of eternal life, and the promise of fullness of joy, that I can still get bogged down with the cares of this world and this temporary life? Today as I thought about this question it hit me...I lose sight of the greatness of the God whom I serve. Instead of focusing on Who He is, I focus on myself and let my problems seem greater than the God of the universe. How foolish.

Lord, help us to catch a vision, even a fleeting glimpse of Who You are. Help us grasp even the most minute understanding of Your infinite greatness, your unchangeableness, your fathomless mercy, and Your sacrificial love. Move our hearts to comprehend that we will never fully comprehend You. Let us see enough of You to understand our insignificance. May we bow in surrender and awe at Your holiness and perfection and may the glimpses of You that we grasp through Your word be enough to transform us and move us to serve You with our lives. Help us to understand just a fraction of Who You are…because if we do, we will never live the same. May we never trade the richness of imperishable treasures for the temporary comforts of earth and the passing pleasures of sin. You are everything and we are but dust. You are eternal and we are mortal. We are sinners, but you became sin for us. You are holy and we are being made holy by Your grace. May we walk worthy of You.

Laziness: The Subtle Enemy

Recently I have been reading a fantastic commentary on the book of Hebrews as part of my devotions. (Insert nerd joke here). In all seriousness, Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul by R. Kent Hughes has been incredibly challenging and thought-provoking. Please allow me to digress for a moment and further my status as a nerd by encouraging you all to try reading something new (like a commentary) to shake up your reading "ruts". The new things you discover may surprise you!

Back to my main point...the other day I read the portion about Hebrews 6:11-12 which states, "We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."

The challenge here is to "show diligence" in our relationship with Christ. Hughes states "Spiritual sluggishness is a danger that looms over all of us if we do not work against it..."

He then quoted from the book The Seven Deadly Sins Today, by Henry Fairlie and his chapter on sloth:

"Children are too idle to obey. Parents are too sluggish to command. Pupils are too lazy to work. Teachers are too indolent to teach. Priests are too slack to believe. Prophets are too morbid to inspire. Men are too indifferent to be men. Women are too heedless to be women. Doctors are too careless to care well. Shoemakers are too slipshod to make good shoes. Writers are too inert to write well. Street cleaners are too bored to clean streets. Shop clerks are too uninterested to be courteous. Painters are too feckless to make pictures. Poets are too lazy to be exact. Philosophers are too fainthearted to make philosophies. Believers are too dejected to bear witness..."

The portion that most challenged my thinking was this: "Today's culture has come very near to making a religion of sloth. Carried to the ultimate, it separates us from God because it erases caring. Humanly speaking, apart from the mysteries of God's sovereign workings, more souls perish from sloth than from outright disbelief."

How sobering. How often am I tempted to give in to sloth? Do I allow myself to be satisfied with doing what is "sufficient" instead of striving for what is excellent? Do I pass up opportunities to share Christ or demonstrate Christ to others out of passivity?

My prayer is that I would live a life of diligence in each and every area. After all, life is too short to waste, souls are too precious to go unheeded, and eternity is too imminent to be ignored.

Cranial Epiglottis

Chances are if you are a member of the human race something similar to the following has happened to you. You are engaged in a normal conversation with a family member, friend, or maybe even making small talk with a complete stranger in a grocery store, when out of nowhere, it happens. A thought forms and before your conscious brain has time to react, your mouth has conveyed the thought into spoken words, words that hang in the air in all their shining lack of brilliance, insensitivity, or downright unkindness. You stand in the awkward silence, wishing to retract them, but finding it far too late. Only a sincere apology, time, and a good dose of humility will begin to undo the damage caused by a thoughtless 'slip of the tongue'.

As I pondered this uncomfortable phenomenon known as 'open-mouth-insert-foot-syndrome' a fascinating idea suddenly struck me. Do you all remember the little body part we possess called the 'epiglottis'? This ingenious flap of cartilage has a very important function. In the action of swallowing it covers our windpipe to stop food or drink from entering and effectively preventing us from choking or drowning. The beauty of it is that this action is totally involuntary on our part. We don't have to think, "Ok, now I need to close off my trachea," each time we swallow, it just happens!

Wouldn't if have been great if God had created us with a cranial epiglottis? An organ that effectively shuts off communication between the brain and mouth whenever an insensitive, sinful, or stupid comment is about to escape between our lips. Instead of opening my mouth and doing some permanent verbal damage, my cranial epiglottis would spring into action and shut down the brain wave carrying the message to my mouth.

For a brief moment I lamented the fact that this wonder organ does not exist in reality, but then I realized that, as a believer in Jesus Christ, I do possess a cranial epiglottis of sorts…it's called the Holy Spirit.

God's Word promises that all those who trust in Jesus Christ receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." (Romans 8:14)

His Word commands us to walk by the Spirit. "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)

His Word commands us to watch the type of speech that comes out of our mouths. "Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving." (Ephesians 5:4)

May our prayer be the same as that of King David…
"Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!" (Psalm 141:3)

(There's nothing like a Biblical prayer for a Holy Spirit guided cranial epiglottis!)

May we all pray for the power to walk (and talk) in the power of the Spirit today.

Two Thoughts

Tonight I simply want to share with you the thoughts found in two poems written by Amy Carmichael, a passionate woman who served the Lord in India for most of her life. May these words cause us to pause and consider the truth...and may the prayer of our hearts be the same.

Come, Lord Jesus

Because of little children soiled,
And disinherited, despoiled,

Because of hurt things, feathered, furred,
Tormented beast, imprisoned bird,

Because of many-folded grief,
Beyond redress, beyond belief,

Because the word is true that saith,
The whole creation travaileth--

Of all our prayers this is the sum:
O come, Lord Jesus, come.


Make Me Thy Fuel

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified,
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointements tire,
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.