Offence is a shady friend

With no love lost

Like a slither of ice 

Melting away into a wasteland

Empty and meaningless

The close companion to offence

Resentment

When full blown

Leaves nothing but bitterness

Bitterness knows no end

Like a raging fire

Leading to defilement

All who draw near and touch this root

Are poisoned by its fruit

Jesus is the rock of offence

Fall on Him who was broken

So every offence can be broken off

Rendered powerless under His grace

With no shame to be found

I’ve heard it said
“It’s a means to an end.”

What if God sees the means as the end

And the end as the means

That faith is the process and journey

Both the means and the end

Seeing God

From beginning to end

Knowing Him

Becoming like Him

He is the means and the end

As He is the beginning

Impossibilities stand in the way

With full resistance

Full stops and brick walls

Like a mule

They stubbornly dig in

Absolutely no way through

Except through faith

Faith removes mountains

Doing the impossible

Nothing is impossible for God

Just believe

Grace came

Set my feet on a Rock

The storm raged but

Here I stand on solid ground

Shaking upon the unshakable

Moved by the mountain mover

Alive

To tell my story

Of life and death

The story of my Great Redeemer’s love

Here I stand

My feet on the Rock

Arms outstretched

Raised to the heavens

Giving praise to the Rock of my salvation

Jesus 

Living in a fools paradise

Where satisfying the senses 

Becomes the only reason

No vision of the future

Or what it holds

Just here and now

All restraints cast off

Into an abyss of defiled pleasures

So it is for the hedonist

Who turns His back on God

And finds he is empty

Though he thinks he is full

An explosive faith

Steadfast

Never giving up

Not driven along rails of belief and unbelief

Doubt or fear

Having assurance

Knowing 

As certain as the sun rises and sets

Whether I’m inside or out

I know it’s there

Just like the air I breath

I know the Creator

My Maker

He is my rock

My salvation

He holds all living things

In His hand

I believe

Therefore I am safe

In His hand

Pride knows no limit

It feasts at every table

Its invited to

Like a glutton

It gloats over every morsel

With a constant lust for more 

Like greed

Its insatiable

Never satisfied or ever will be

Pride always goes before a fall

So when you fall

Cry out to God

He always lifts up the broken hearted

Who are bowed down in humility

Then takes them into His resting place 

This is my call

To believe

That Christ has given me

The only way to God

Through His death

Atonement

And resurrection

My faith lived out in the world

Will be an offence

To one 

The stench of death

To another

The fragrance of life

This is my call

This is what I believe

The world 

Wants to put you in a straight jacket 

Silence your voice

Reduce you to mediocrity

Where things engross you

Tangle you up

Choke out the true seed
Hearing His word

Planted deep within

Knowing His voice

Speaking over you

Saying
You are born of God

Born of my Spirit

Living in you

You are mine

Paid for in full

Through the blood of Jesus

You belong to me
The things of the world

Diminish

This is the victory

That overcomes the world

Our faith

The knowledge of my poverty

Brought me to the frontier 

Of true riches

Seated me in mercy

Anointed me with joy

Now grace flows over me

Pointing me toward

A front seat view of heaven

Where You are seated on the throne