Where Do I Make My Stand?
In an increasingly unjust world,
Is there a message of hope at hand?
When there is turmoil and all is swirled,
Unequivocally faithful we'll stand.
We can find joy no matter what may come.
When innocent suffer with great pain,
Is trust unshaken, do we succumb?
We hold to what's sacred, and don't blame.
When our prayers aren't answered as we'd wish.
And those deep in sin have all they need.
We will not of them judge or banish.
The Lord is separating chaff from wheat.
The pure love of Christ is our motive.
We've come to earth to prove we're loyal.
With full trust in the Lord, we must live.
Until death and glory crowns royal.
When we've been dealt blows that crush and grind.
Some become hardened, past feeling.
While others are softened to refining.
And become blessed with spiritual healing.
Each of us needs a storehouse of faith.
To rise above the troubles that surround.
Here we can draw from the well for strength.
Where we'll replenish faith and feel sound.
We need to be tried for constancy.
So where should each of us make our stand?
We can exercise moral agency.
To find joy everlasting and grand.
The Power to Change
Are there tears in me
For who I want to be?
Humbly in meek prayer,
I'll extend all energy.
With God's help I can abstain.
A new life I can obtain.
I will hold to the rod,
With my life close to God
Through His narrow paths I will trod.
Can these tears of mine
Cleanse all my soul and mind?
With the Spirit's help,
I'm Christ-like, with sins denied.
There's promise in Mormon's book,
The Spirit won't overlook.
I'll read it each new day.
And, hear what God does say.
Clean and brand new, for this I pray.
I've a new mission.
I have been commissioned.
I'll tell of God's love.
I will Help someone gain vision.
Through tear-filled eyes they can find
Their old sins are left behind.
I once was as a weed.
I now can plant His seeds.
With pure thoughts, I'll have nobler deeds.
There's a Force
The son of the morning was cast from God's presence.
The heavens wept o'er him and there was sadness.
He's practiced at persuading others to him.
He took with him a third of the hosts of heaven.
Now he's the bad force bent to destroy us.
He's ever expanding. He's ever devious.
He's smart from experience and not from skill.
His lies will blind men until captive to his will.
He seeks to be in control, his own purpose to fulfill.
He will try incitements and use deceitful ways.
Pretense and sophistries, he weaves in last days.
“All is well we prospereth, so all is well”.
He says as he leads man carefully down to hell.
Now he's a lion seeking whom he may devour,
Ever wanting glory, dominions, power.
We say “get thee hence, Satan, Imitator.
We refuse to hear your entreaties any more.
We pray for the day you're gone. And your dominions by force.”
The devil cites scripture, if it suits his purpose.
The more we draw to God; he's there to thwart us.
The minute the Saints revolt, what comes from God.
He'll take a hold and have us singing his ballad.
We need to be sober and vigilant this day.
As in the Lord's work we anxiously engage.
We can and do roll back bad input on us.
Through our brother and Savior, our Lord Jesus.
Through him we hold God's priesthood.
We hold God's powers in trust.
We're given gifts from God. We can have discernment,
If we live to obey all God's commandments.
Although Satan knows to sins' our tendency,
He has no real authority, we've agency.
He has no real power, unless we permit it.
A wicked spirits' bound, by law and limit.
We can resist him more than we now realize,
If we heed the counsel of those who do preside.
And allow the Holy Ghost to be our companion and guide.
A wolf in sheep's clothing, He's a thief in the night.
He'll send plagues and break hearts. He'll try to snuff life.
Yet, he needs our bodies for all they can do.
We can render him powerless, if we've faith to.
There is no soul that's safe. That he would not destroy,
For he has legions under his employ.
They are the masters of speech, and they whisp'reth.
“There is not a hell or a devil,” they flatt'reth.
Of this they'll persist to way beyond the umptieth.
We must warn young people of his sly devices.
Before they succumb to his vain entices.
He'll seek to divert them from their future path.
He'd like to hold us within his fingerless grasp.
We have our strong bodies to command him, “retreat”.
Resist him be righteous and then he'll flee.
He'll tell us there's no hope, once we transgress,
But, we've been given our agency to progress.
We can repent of our sins 'though they may be most grievous.
We can voice a warning sound against the devil
And against his angels, who mainstream evil.
On the saints, he will increase use of power.
As the kingdom of Heavenly Father grows stronger.
We believe that Satan's ever-expanding efforts
prove all the truthfulness of the gospel work.
We will need greater spirituality to perceive
his attempts to pacify and then deceive.
He will intrigue the naive. We can have wisdom or grief.
He'd love to destroy us. Mostly of our usefulness
in carrying the gospel into its fullness.
Yet, we have the still small voice for our stopping.
And if we don't listen, we'll fall to tempting.
This mechanism can't stay when we're weakened.
So, we need to help those who have lost this friend.
Heavenly father, please bless us, when we are weak.
And generously, please, forgive when we misdeed.
Help those in need of solace. And keep us from pride and greed.
Thou Who Knows Of All Suffering
Thou who knows of all suffering,
Please help me to love and to forgive.
When my doubts turn to murmuring,
And I dwell on the pain that I relive.
Till my heart grows so cold and so dim.
Please help me to change from within.
Please help me to forgive all men.
Please prompt me that I will keep my resolve,
And set my mind for when a tragedy strikes
That I'll pray hatred can quickly dissolve.
This I'll do before resentment spikes.
When I forgive, my thoughts will not distort.
And I won't folly through some retort.
I will seek Thee, for Thy love and comfort.
How oft I don't know, I'm prone to sin.
Till I repeat an offense from my past
And I feel the warmth that's from my chagrin.
Then I know all my weaknesses are vast.
If I will falter and make rules to bend,
Help me to admit and to not defend.
Help me to confess and to make amend.
Please help me to be the Lord's disciple?
Help me see how the Son suffered for me.
Help me to be a Christ-like example.
Help me to become all I'm meant to be.
Help me to value those with sound judgment.
Help me to improve how my days are spent.
Help me to forgive without postponement.
And of those who are hardened criminals.
Who avoid facing all their deeper needs.
Help them face judgment unto prison walls.
Where we can begin to plant in them seeds.
They, also, have much pain to undergo.
For what price it takes to repent with woe.
Help me share with them the sweet peace I know.
The Healing Power of Forgiveness
The Savior's Life Exemplified
The Savior's life exemplified
Through all his labors, sin was denied
Humble from the start
He, sole of purpose and pure of heart
For the last dispensation
He personally set up our education
From His hands come all priesthood
The temple is where it's best understood
The early saints layed our trail
Though hard labor and pain it entailed
They consecrated all they gave
Their path blazed with faith, though paved with graves
Two temples, they pioneered
Though hated and feared by mobs who neared
Lab'ring without shirt or shoes
Only the best craftsmanship was used
Midst hardships and sacrifice
They built up Zion, what a high price!
Day and night, their temples filled
Their vicarious work, was soon too stilled
Each temple is an inspiration
Each measures our sanctification
Here we build up God's kingdom
Here we receive more light and wisdom
Each new temple vindicates
The martyrdom of early saints
There's triumph for each giv'n life
For beatings, tar and feathers and strife.
In vision there's endless hosts
Receiving all that man needs the most
We see unnumbered families
Surround the alters for their sealings
In vision, we see countless
Return, there for others to bless
We see an army of youth
Being baptized, to give dead truth
Life physically separates
In our holy temples, Christ awaits
He' s there in the hallowed halls
And for each man, live or dead, He calls
Great things for us are in store
May we prove faithful for evermore
May we help those who've wavered
For them Christ's waited. He has favored.
Who Shall Ascend Into the Hills of the Lord?
Who shall ascend into the hills of the Lord
And stand in the beauty of His holy place?
From tithes and offerings, it's been richly splendored
Here there is peace and comfort and a new pace
Here we'll prepare for the day we'll see the Lord's face
To learn obedience, how to sacrifice
Consecrate our lives, and of chastity vow
We're dressed, as the newly fallen snow, in white
Here purified families are sealed as they bow
Here in the temple, the Lord's blessings endow
Little Things are the Big Things
To bring up a child in light
Requires heavenly insight
It requires instilling truth
To those while still in their youth
It requires we show them their worth
How they've been cherished since their birth
With care and with dedication
We show forth selfless consecration
Little things are the big things
They make us feel like we're kings
Like a Thousand threads of love
That's rich in colors from above
It forms a warm tapestry
That's passed down from ancestry
As a treasured legacy
Of one who showed tenacity
Jesus added silken thread
When He fed all fish and bread
Jesus added golden strings
Every time He did small things
His concerns were specific
All He did was terrific
With threads of faith, love and work
He sacrificed, He did not shirk
Woman, Why Weepest Thou?
Who is mourning, full of heartache
And no longer hears the bird's song?
Who suffers in sins that they make
And feels that they do not belong?
When said Jesus "Why weepest thou?"
To Mary first seen at the sepulchre
His words were for each of us here below
And, for all the way tears occur
When we've sorrow, pain or remorse
Or feel overwhelmed- deep in strife
We can walk in faith in our true course
O'er the rough cobblestones of life
We face what's complex on our walk
And though some have much, some have not
As we reach deep into the bedrock
We'll find the faith to do our lot
Our depth of belief is measured
In our gratitude for Jesus
When the atonement is treasured
We've greater courage and purpose
In the garden, darkness closed up
He was pressed as though in a womb
Blood, sweat, and tears- He filled the cup
He knew death, and escaped the tomb
The first words of the risen lord
Were for us, "Peace be unto you"
It's peace we all can afford
What's beyond this world leads us anew
James E. Faust
Ensign, Nov. 1996
Woman, Why Weepest Thou?
There's Joy to End All our Worries
There's joy to end all our worries
The atonement has taken place
All iniquities and injuries
With His help, we can face
When we're drowned in sin's we're dealing
The Lord has strength we can borrow
When we repent there is healing
And we are saved from our sorrow
Our Lord is equitiy, truth and grace
Full of mercy and long suffering
He patiently wants to embrace
May we partake of His offering
Each soul and body will be restored
And those who've risen above tribulation
Will be washed in the blood of the Lord
And will wear the robes of salvation...
Part two to Woman, Why Weepest Thou?
Stand Up and Be Counted
Rise up and be counted
We've high morals and purpose
With the Lord we've mounted
And integrity's in us
We'll reach a critical
Crossroad often- as there's strife
But, it's not difficult
When we've the Lord in our life
We can't hide who we are
As it shines from within us
We've unseen strength and power
That's given from our Lord, Jesus
Stand up and search your soul
Be identified as one
Who's immovable in his role
Come, be a follower of the Son
Stand Up and Be Counted
President Faust
New Era Aug 1990, 4
for more poems based on President Faust go to labels for faust or james e faust
0 comments:
Post a Comment