ATTESTING TO GOD'S GRACE

Purposeful work
stares into the eyes
of a broken heart;
Persistent ears
position themselves
to be able to hear;
Preserving hope
lies beneath
a consoling tongue,
and true forgiveness
can only be found
through unfailing love.

Is there anyone who possesses these qualities?
If they exist, then I need them to be around me.
Because I am human, I make mistakes.
True fellowship can only happen under grace.
I am sinner, through and through,
flesh desires are always pulling at my ear.
Even when I set my mind to withstand,
I somehow trip, and mess up the plan!
This seems to happen over and over again,
even when walking as a Spirit-filled Christian.
I try my best to be honorable and true,
but sometimes I make mistakes, and act like a fool! 
My goal is always to be like Christ,
but sometimes I'm deceived and fall into lies.
Righteousness is what I aim for,
but Sin is persistent,
and He allows seems to be knocking at my door!
No matter how many times I tell him to go away,
he seems to come back the very next day!
But usually, his appearance has changed,
He is a pro at hiding himself in various ways.
Without my knowledge,
he appeals to my personal desires,
I don’t even realize he comes to entice what my heart desires!
I am getting better at understanding myself,
and when I recognize Sin, I slam the door right in his face.
But there are times, I unwittingly let him in,
not even aware I've given up my rights to him!
Ugh!
I’m a foolish slave to sin!
This is why I must have the precious blood of Jesus!
God revealed this to me, through the Old Testament.
Humans can’t possibly obtain righteousness on their own!
We can't even follow his first command,
to love our God, and God alone!
There are so many shifting sands,
in this world, known as "the wilderness."
There are so many holes to fall in,
in this land where Satan rules as prince.
Opportunity is always knocking at our door,
because Satan knows exactly what sin
our heart wants to explore. 
This is plight of living in this world,
it's a miserable battle, full of trials to endure!
But if we hold fast until the finish line, 
we will witness the most glorious light that ever did shine.
It will be like climbing to the top of a mountain,
and feeling the joy and peace that comes
from overlooking the land.
We gain such an honest perspective,
when we look out and see what we live in.
But it will be so much better than this,
because the God's land will be totally different.
HEAVEN
I don't even have the thoughts to understand,
or to give human words to this glorious land!
But I know that colors will abound,
and praise and worship will be the sound.
Majesty and beauty is all I can see,
when thinking of this vision of eternity.
But for now, in this time of temporary,
I must endure through the suffering.
I do know
that I have a King,
who gives me protection under his covering.
Every time, I make a wrong choice,
He covers my stain and makes me pure.
This is what his grace does,
it covers my evilness with his love.
There is nothing in me that is good,
even when I try my best to do as I should. 
It is only through the Father's Son,
that I am made righteous through Yahweh's blood.
Do you remember the Jewish father, Abraham
who was willing to sacrifice his legitimate son?
He was willing to shed the blood of the son he loved,
to express his faithfulness and enduring love
to God above.
But human blood is not what it would take,
to eternally wash our sins away.
A much greater sacrifice had to take place,
to begin our purification process.
Acceptance - through the blood of Christ
is what is needed to set us in place.
From this position Holy Spirit enters in,
and begins the process of sanctification. 
This is how our King prepares us to enter his Kingdom.
A place of purity, devoid of sin.
Yes, only the blood of the Lamb would suffice,
to bring us back into reconciliation with him.
I can not even comprehend,
that Jesus is the Priest, the Prophet and the King!
How can it even be that he is the Lion, the Lamb
and the Genesis of all that is redeemed?
It’s so far over my head, 
for my minute thoughts to understand!
This is where my faith must come in,
despite what I see, I believe in him.
I can't begin to explain this freedom.
To trust that his grace is sufficient to cover my sin!
This is what I see when I look into the eyes of men,
a purposeful work staring into the eyes the brokenhearted.
May my ears be in position to hear,
the brokenness through their bitterness,
Help me to preserve hope through a consoling tongue,
and offer forgiveness through your unfailing love.
This is not something I can do on my own,
it's only through your Spirit
that the your proper response is found.
Grace has always been your plan.
Forgiveness in Love
is the only thing that can fill broken hearts
characterized by canyons.
Perhaps this is what you mean by
"thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done, on earth as it is Heaven."
Pure forgiveness is not characteristic of any human.
If only we could forgive in love like Him,
we would not constantly trip over our sin!
Every time we point and judge,
we show another hate instead of love.
Over and over again, you forgive us,
you blot out our sin 
as far as the East from the West!
And yet, we rationalize our right, to accuse another
who is in the ring of the same fight!
Can you imagine if we lowered our fist against man,
and built our armor of God instead?
What would happen?
My guess our fellow man would come in,
and begin to hit us over and over again.
We would take a lashing, that's for sure!
Just like Jesus did to save us from this world.
Not us though.  This is not our way.
We defend ourselves every step of the way.
No one is going to take advantage of us.
Because in ourselves is where we put our trust!
Oh God, help us!
We are so wrapped up in our sin.
It entangles us from our head to shins!
When we should be stomping on scorpions,
we step in this quicksand, and dig our heels in!
And perhaps our greatest quicksand,
is not the forgiveness of a fellow man,
but the forgiveness that is needed within.
Forgiving yourself, it is the hardest thing to do,
especially when you believe that your heart is true.
When sin comes to light, all is exposed -
and our natural reaction is to run back into our sin hole.
We cover it with pride, and make excuses to blame,
or we internalize the pride and become overwhelmed by shame.
Ugh!
These sinful mistakes are the hardest thing to take!
The truth is, humility is the only way!
There is nothing about me that can give grace.
I am only human, so full of disgrace!
Even when I don't want to hurt someone,
my nature is to consume or expose those that I love.
This is a punch that can be hard to recover from,
but if I receive it, I will be more prepared to show you love.
This is super hard for me take - 
coming to terms with how often I eat Satan’s bait!
These are the mistakes that all Christian's make!
My only hope is to attest to God’s Grace!

Romans ‭3:10-26
“As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.
No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.
All have turned away; all have become useless.
No one does good, not a single one.”
“Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their tongues are filled with lies.”
“Snake venom drips from their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
"Destruction and misery always follow them.
They don’t know where to find peace.”
“They have no fear of God at all.”
Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given,
for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses,
and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.
For no one can ever be made right with God
by doing what the law commands.
The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
But now God has shown us a way
to be made right with him
without keeping the requirements of the law,
as was promised in the writings of Moses
and the prophets long ago.
We are made right with God
by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.
And this is true for everyone who believes,
no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Yet God,
in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight.
He did this through Christ Jesus
when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin.
People are made right with God
when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life,
shedding his blood.
This sacrifice shows that God was being fair
when he held back and did not punish
those who sinned in times past,
for he was looking ahead
and including them in what he would do in this present time.
God did this to demonstrate his righteousness,
for he himself is fair and just,
and he makes sinners right in his sight
when they believe in Jesus.”