Category: Christian Poetry

Poetry Sunday-God’s Song of Love

 

Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing   Zephaniah 3:14-17

God sings over us    Zephaniah was written to the nation of Israel during a time in which they had forsaken God.  It was a call to repentance as King Josiah reigned.  King Josiah had found the books of the law which had been ignored by the people and upon reading them wept bitterly—humbly He worshipped God and lead the people into a revival.  Zephaniah also preached a revival song in which he declared that God would in mercy call forth a people of His own.  His Love would provide the way of salvation.  The Mighty Warrior who was foretold of is Jesus Christ.  He would come with such Glory and Grace that all who believed would humbly bow before His throne of Grace—their sins forgiven.  The power and the might of my salvation is firmly held in God’s Mighty Powerful Love—He will sing a song of joy over me.  He it is that cradles me in His arms of love.  I can rest assured in His Arms of love through any circumstance.  He will finish all that He has started in my life.  Cradled safe in His Arms of Love, I am filled with Joy, Hope, and Peace.  I hear His voice singing over me His precious lullabye—victory’s song. 

God’s Song of Love

by Effie Darlene Barba


I fell before your precious throne

With broken heart so all alone

My tears were falling like the rain

And then I heard this sweet refrain


CHORUS

I have loved you before the dawn of time

Desired to give my joy sublime

My love held tight

By my own might

Come, dear child, I’ll hold you near

Wrapped in my love there is no fear

Cradled tight within my arms

Safely kept from this world’s harms

I’ll sing my song of love for you

Your hope and joy I will renew


Amazed by grace, my hope did grow

Enlightened heart his love doth know

All fear now gone, I rise to run

For I am God’s dear precious one

As He sang


CHORUS

I have loved you before the dawn of time

Desired to give my joy sublime

My love held tight

By my own might

Come, dear child, I’ll hold you near

Wrapped in my love there is no fear

Cradled tight within my arms

Safely kept from this world’s harms

I’ll sing my song of love for you

Your hope and joy I will renew


So, as I walk this journey here

I’ll love and live without the fear

For I will stand with faith so strong

Because for me He sings this song

CHORUS

I have loved you before the dawn of time

Desired to give my joy sublime

My love held tight

By my own might

Come, dear child, I’ll hold you near

Wrapped in my love there is no fear

Cradled tight within my arms

Safely kept from this world’s harms

I’ll sing my song of love for you

Your hope and joy I will renew

©Effie Darlene Barba, 2015

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post.  I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Poetry Sunday- Redemption is Mine

 

Hope, Love, and Joy fill my life because of God’s Grace.  Redemption purchased my heart and throughout all the years of my life, God chose to step by step transform my heart.  He has taught me of Him.  He has taught me of love.  He has shown me Joy. 

 

Inspiring light

 

Redemption is Mine

by Effie Darlene Barba


Redemption is mine

Oh what can it mean

Purchased as His

Washed and made clean


Tremendous the price

He paid for my life

When all that I did

Was cause him such strife


How wondrous the thought

I have been set free

My chains are now gone

Oh such jubilee


Embraced by His love

His Joy fills my heart

E’er in His presence

No way to depart


Oh how can I not

Give all that is mine

To follow His will

His Glory to shine

©Effie Darlene Barba, 2015

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post.  I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Poetry Sunday: I’d Traveled Far

 

 

My life’s journey has lead me to so many places and so wondrously has allowed me to meet so many amazing people along the way.  Today’s poem, I wrote in October 2013 as I was preparing to leave Orlando and move to Columbia, Missouri.  In 2003, I had left Springfield, Missouri to go to Orlando.  I was uncertain why God had sent me to Orlando; yet, I with some hesitation had gone.  Some many dear friends I met every step of this journey—so many have been beacons of light sent by God to guide me. 

overflowing joy

 

 

I’d Traveled Far

By Effie Darlene Barba

 

I’d traveled far across this land

Unto the eastern shore

Uncertain of what God had planned

Alone, I stood once more

I’d heard Him bid for me to go

Twas all I needed know


And then I saw, as time did pass

His plan begin unfold

I had been placed within His class

To learn His love untold

And as I saw His Glory Shine

His joy, His love now mine


I met dear friends along this way

That helped me as I grew

And others stumbling blocks did lay

God used to guide me too

That I might see His Grace His might

With Christ my guiding light


And Now I know that I must go

To leave these all behind

I wonder if my life did show

A Glimpse of God’s dear mind

And did my life His Glory shine

Within this mirror of mine


Oh, Lord I have this one request

When memories of me rise

That they might see how I was blessed

Your Grace my greatest prize

You took this broken, selfish heart

To fill Your Love Impart


So, can you Lord, use all I’ve done

Though blend of good and bad

To point them Lord to your dear son

His Grace, His Love did clad

A simple person such as I

With righteousness on High

I don’t usually include a song on  Poetry Sunday; but, today I shall.  The song I think so clearly speaks of my life’s journey is Call it Grace.

 

©Effie Darlene Barba, 2015

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post.  I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

 


Poetry Sunday—A Mother’s Prayer

 

I searched through my archives of poems written and felt drawn to post this one.  I wrote this several years ago when one of my children had come to me with their heart broken by love.  My heart crushed with their sorrow; yet, I knew that God’s plan was never wrong.  His plan was to bring them good—even through the sorrow.   All I could do was listen and gently say, “You may not understand now; but, you will.  God’s love for you only allows what is good.  Wait, you will see—out of the ashes of this horrible pain will come His Joy into your life.” As a mother, my heart wishes that I could bear the pains of this journey for them.  I would rather be ill than to watch them suffer.  A thousand times, I would prefer my heart crush in place of theirs.  I know the same is true of you Fathers out there.  Truly, this prayer could be that of a Father as well.  I do not know why God drew me to this poem today.  Perhaps it is for you—to comfort your heart. 

My Children and I-1982

1982 Me with my 3 greatest Joys of this life

 

A Mother’s Prayer

by Effie Darlene Barba


There is no pain so great, so deep

As when I see my dear child weep

When sorrows come or dreams are dashed

Their broken heart; their hopes are crashed

The wrenching pain cuts deep my heart

I fear that it shall rip apart


My tears pour down like searing rain

I cannot bear to see their pain

Oh Lord, dear Lord for this I plead

Please let me take their bitter reed

This is my prayer both day and night

Give me their pain and they delight


And then I felt your arm’s embrace

And saw the tears upon your face

The tenderness within your eyes

Had made me pause and realize

That you had felt my pain before

As your dear son my cross had bore


How great the pain you felt that day

My sin upon your son did lay

Your love for me, the guilty one

Endured the pain and watched your son

Bearing the wrath that sin demands

Rejected, beaten, nail pierced hands


And so, dear Lord, help me to see

Your plan for them as was for me

To drive them deep within your arms

Away from all these worldly harms

That they may hear Your Joy-filled song

Sung over them amidst the throng


In You their life remains secure

Your love for them is ever pure

And gentle eyes become their gain

The wisdom, hope that’s born from pain

And points their eyes to always see

Glorious Grace- Eternally

 

This I know.  God loves my children even more than this human heart is capable of and I can trust His plan for their lives.  His Grace and Love surrounds them—He will be their Joy.  He will be the strength that carries them through the storms of life.  He will be their light through their darkest valley.  On this I am sure.   

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post.  I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Poetry Sunday—The Grace in Which I Stand

The Grace in Which I Stand

Do you ever awaken some mornings and suddenly you feel the crushing weight of all your own unworthiness before God?  You look at your own failures and they loom before you, overshadowing and clouding all of who you are.  Those thoughts cause your hope to crash down around you, like thousands of pieces of fine crystal scattered at your feet.  You fear that if you step forward the pieces of glass will cut your bare feet into shreds; yet, you know the truth is God sent His Son to bleed and die to cover all your sins.  God did not leave Him there.  Indeed, Christ rose up from the dead and broke the chains of hell, death, and damnation forever to all who believe in Him.

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In 2010, I wrote a book entitled “A Broken and Contrite Heart” that pleads God’s response to His children when they are faced with their own failures and sins.  There is nothing in my life that ever took God by surprise.  When He chose me He knew every time I would fail Him.  Neither does He wish I stay there grappling in the muddy mire.  Instead, He reaches forth His mighty hand to pull me out and as I cry forth, “How can you still love me after all the times I have failed you and this heart which can never fully love you as it should?”  His response, “Sin, child I do not see any sin—(as He looks through the blood of Christ which covers me).  “Come, child there is work to be done”  as He removes the last bit of mud off of my feet.  That is Grace, my dear friends—the same grace that David and Peter so richly proclaimed.  Each chapter of the book-“A Broken and Contrite Heart” ended with a poem-written by me and for me.  Today I needed to return and read what I wrote then as the final poem of the book—a reminder of who I am in Christ.

The Grace in Which I Stand

 

Oh feeble heart, Oh fragile soul

Where is the hope on which you hold

With all the failures of your past

Where is the faith to make you bold

Where is the faith to make you bold

 

There was a King though blameless He

That came to pay my penalty

And in that act He set me free

To follow Him in liberty

To follow Him in liberty

 

It is His love that drew me out

And in His Grace I shall not doubt

That He who started this work in me

Will finish it with a Glorious Shout

Will finish it with a Glorious Shout

 

One day the finished work be done

That I might look then like God’s son

Sifted, shined just like pure Gold

As Glory shines forth, Glorious One

As Glory shines forth, Glorious One

 

And in this hope my faith conformed

I know my life will be transformed

I stand upon this future grace

So for His work my passion warmed

So for His work my passion warmed

 

So in this faith I firmly stand

That formed in me as God had planned

No force on earth can shake me free

My future held by God’s great hand

My future held by God’s great hand.

[bctt tweet=”Oh feeble heart, Oh fragile soul Where is the hope on which you hold”]

It is in His power and might that I continue to battle against sin and though I may not win every battle, I know the victory is mine–Jesus won the victory.  I may not yet, but one day I will one look like Jesus.  It is that truth that gives me hope once more and causes me to rise up above the ashes of my life to stand boldly filled with hope and His Joy.

 

From my Book, A Broken and Contrite Heart published 2010.

[Available at http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Products/SKU-000465106/A-Broken-and-Contrite-Heart.aspx

And if you still don’t understand, please watch this video of the incredible hymn “Upon the Throne of God” with excerpts from the movie about Martin Luther included.

 

© 2014 Effie Darlene Barba

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to any brands, products or services that I have mentioned with the exception of my own book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides regarding the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”