Poetry Devotion: Why Our Salvation Should Send Us Into Battle

Here is my heart,

I see it Father, it's wounds are healed

many mending

but each is loved, battled for victory

and stolen away to You

What Joy! I bask, here

in this thought- in Your presence

and consider how merciful and mighty

is Your name, the butterfly eruption from my heart

Father, when I speaketh Your words from a redeemed

soul and dirty lips, for all that is in me, is unchained

all that fuels me-is joy 

inexpressible as the hope I clutch to

when the leaves above me color and lose their luster

fall to the ground and rot

Oh, Lord that was my fate!

Such destiny I deserve-

but You, Father, You caught me

And I shall fall no more without Your guiding hand

But, Father, my grateful heart is heavy-ed 

sore and turmoiled

the fallen are many and I am just one

a broken heart, Father

it lies within me, should I not run 

beneath the trees, bringing out Your hand to catch them

for they, I love, I cherish

If I must run for all my days, catching leaves as they fall, so be it

Sustain me, grant me support in my soles

Let me rest that those far beyond my grasp are 

not beyond yours

for Your strength endures and Your breath revives

Open my eyes that I may see the falling, open my ears

so that I may hear their cries and remember

My own, before I was captured in You

     How many days go by that you don't consider your salvation? Better yet, do you even remember the last time you let the realization that you were once dead and now are alive all because of Jesus, the blameless, spotless, pure, righteous Son of God died in your place? Look at all you have overcome! If you can't think of anything the least you can say is that you've overcome death itself. Wait, that was too nonchalant. Let me put it this way:

YOU, yes, YOU deserved to death. BUT, Jesus intervened, He stepped in front of your bullet, He infected Himself with the deadliest of disease, HE TOOK YOUR PLACE. You are ALIVE because of Jesus. 

Many of you may be saying," I've heard this message a million times, I get it." Well, I challenge you with this: What are you doing about it?

Because if you're anything like me, if the thought crosses my mind on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night I shoot up a thank-you-card-like prayer to God. "Hey, God, thanks for saving my life." But, it rarely rocks my boat when I leave that place of worship. A special song may come on and my heart, mind, mouth , and everything in me is praising and bursting with thoughts of acclamation saying "Yes! Jesus, You are wonderful and mighty! You saved me because I can't save myself! You rescued me from the pits of Hell!" And in that moment, there is no greater feeling, it's when I leave that place that my joyful, proclaiming heart becomes quiet. 

The truth of the matter is, the gospel saves. It saved me, maybe it's saved you, too. It's the only way, my friends, to life. It's the only way that I can endure hardships. It's the only way I can truly love, and serve others. It's the only way that I don't have to spend eternity breaking my back with blistered, charred skin and never a day of rest....

We've heard it all before, folks. But, when will we grasp the message enough as believers so much so that it sends us to our knees before the Lord begging Him for a commission to save people who are destined for Hell. I know, you know, we all know people in our lives that are. 

I get it, you may think this is harsh. I admit, yes it is. But it's the truth. Just like Heaven is for real, Hell is for real, too. And few of us live with this mindset. Our hearts should break over those who are in desperate need of a Savior. Remember yourself, your own salvation. Dwell on the freedoms you have found in Jesus alone and let it break your heart for the ones you know who are still living in chains. 

Lastly, we are all missionaries. Often times I considered only those who travel and uproot their lives to live in a foreign country to be missionaries and rarely considered myself a missionary. But, God has shown me that I have been placed in my mission field. You want to know where is it is? It lies in every step that I take in every moment of my day I am walking my mission field. Jesus has not called us to sit around and thank Him for our salvation. We are to thank Him and use it as fuel to our feet to get out there in the world, in the darkness and find those people who God has broken our hearts over. We are all missionaries, active hands and feet of Jesus. He moves and works through His people. 

The time is now. Go and be warriors of Jesus. Fight for hearts as Jesus fought for yours and let Jesus use you to further His kingdom. 

"But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' I have put words into your mouth. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord.
Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me," Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot, to build and to plant."
Jeremiah 1:7-10