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 must 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 at hand
As on a firm foundation we stand
The Power to Change
Are there tears in me
left
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.
If I hold on to the rod,
With my life closer to God
Along His narrow path, I will trod.
Can these tears of mine,
found
Cleanse my soul and my mind?
With the Spirit's help,
be Christ-like, with sins denied.
with faith in God's word
The Spirit is then heard
to read it each new day.
we hear what God does say.
Clean and brand new, for this I pray.
I have a new mission
now.
I have been commissioned.
I will 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, with nobler deeds.
with Christ-like deeds
There's a Force- Aware of the Dark 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 prosper much, 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 minions 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 dark input upon 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 is safe. That he would not destroy,
For he has legions under his employ.
They are the masters of speech, and they whisper
“There is not a hell or a devil, what does it matter?"
Of this they'll persist panting, pretending to flatter
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 must flee.
He'll tell us there's no hope, once we transgress,
But, we have our agency, given to progress.
We can repent of our sins, even those most grievous.
We can voice a warning sound against the devil
And against his angels, who now mainstream evil.
On the saints, he will increase misuse of power.
As the kingdom of Heavenly Father grows but stronger.
We believe that Satan's ever-expanding efforts
prove all the truthfulness of the gospel work.
We will need great spirituality- the gift to perceive
Lest he attempts to pacify, darken, and deceive.
For he will intrigue the naive; but, when we confront him, he must leave.
He'd love to destroy us. Mostly of our usefulness
in carrying the gospel unto fruitfulness.
Yet, we have the still small voice for our ascending.
And if we don't listen, we'll fall to his tempting.
This mechanism can't stay when we are 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 us when we misdeed.
Help those in need of solace. And keep us from pride and greed.
Oh, Heavenly Father, guides us. Yes, lead
Our hearts to a place where Thee we heed
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 someone's retort.
I will seek Thee, for Thy love and comfort.
How oft I do not know, I am prone to sin.
Till I repeat an offense, yet from my past
I feel the warmth that is from my chagrin.
And I am reminded all my weaknesses are vast.
If I will falter and make sound 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 their deeper needs.
Help them seek judgment unto prison walls.
Where we can begin to plant in them seeds.
As they, also, have much pain to undergo.
For what price it takes to repent, even with woe.
Help me share with them the sweet peace that I know.
The Healing Power of ForgivenessThe Savior's Life Exemplified
The Savior's life exemplified
Through all his labors, sin was denied
Humble, He, even from the start
Being sole of purpose and pure of heart
For the last dispensation
He personally provides our education
From His hands we find the priesthood
Through the temple, understood
The pioneer saints laid for us a trail
Through hard labor and pain its tears still tell
They consecrated, for Zion, all they gave
Their path blazed with faith, though paved with graves
Two great temples, they pioneered
Though hated and feared by mobs who more neared
Laboring without shirt or even shoes
Only the best craftsmanship was sent and used
Midst hardships and sacrifice
They built up Zion, with a high price!
Day and night, their temples filled
Their vicarious work, was soon too stilled....
Their temples are an inspiration
Each measures sanctification
Laid to build up God's kingdom
And we receive more light and wisdom
For 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 are endless hosts
Receiving all man needs the most
We see unnumbered families
Surrounding alters for their sealings
In vision, we see those who are countless
Return often to work and bless
We see an army made up of youth
Being baptized, to give dead truth
Life, death, and the veil, separates
But in His temples, Christ awaits
He is there, in hallowed halls
And for each man, alive or dead, He calls
Great things for us are in store
May we prove faithful for evermore
May we help those who have now wavered
For all Jesus atoned, love showered
Press on not rearward, but forward
We have Zion to look toward
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 prepare for the day we will seek His embrace
Who, Who shall ascend into the hills
Here, where God's temple, holiness instills
To learn obedience and pledge to sacrifice
To consecrate our lives, and of chastity vow
To be dressed, as the newly fallen snow, in white
Purified with our families, to be sealed, then, as we bow
Here in the temple, the Lord's blessings endow
Who, Who shall ascend into the hills
Here, where God's temple, holiness instills
Little Things are the Big Things
To bring up a child in light
Requires heavenly insight
It requires instilling truth
To those, still in their youth
It requires we show them of their worth
How they have been cherished since before 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
No longer hearing the bird's song?
Who suffers in sins that they make
And feels, oft, they do not belong?
When Jesus said "
Why weepest thou?"
To Mary first seen at the sepulchre
He spoke to every weakened brow
With sympathy for how man's sobs occur
When we have sorrow, pain or remorse
Or feel overwhelmed- caught up in strife
We can walk in faith, in our called, true course
Along the good and bitter, the cobblestones of life
We face what is complex, found on life's walk
And though some have much, we see many have not
But as we reach deep into the bedrock
We find it is faith, that helps us 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, sin's darkness was closed up
Our Savior was pressed as though in a womb
Blood, sweat, and tears- came as He drained the cup
Then tried unto death, He escaped the tomb
The first words of the risen lord
Were for us, "
Peace be unto you"
This peace we all can afford
Beyond this world, He leads anew
Peace. sweeeet He awaits with healing in His wings
Be. ooooh It is ever according to His will
Still uuuuh The resurrection, love's ransom begins
"Peace be unto you" God's works to fulfil
James E. Faust
Ensign, Nov. 1996
Woman, Why Weepest Thou?
There's Joy to End All our Worries- Joy Dawns Bright in the MorningThere is joy to end anguished worries
The Lord's atonement has taken place
All iniquities, ails, and injuries
With His help, we have strength to face
Drowning, caught in sin, reeling
Their is strength we can borrow
When we repent there is healing
And deliverance from sorrow
Our Lord is equitiy, truth, power, and grace
Full of mercy and long suffering
He patiently waits, with grace in place
For when we seek His selfless offering
Each soul and body will be restored
And those who rose past tribulation
Washed clean in the blood of the Lord
Will, indeed, wear the robes of salvation..
Joy dawns bright, in the morning
Though there is much weeping through the night
Refining, we are finding
That we better reflect Christ's Light.
Part two to Woman, Why Weepest Thou?
Stand Up and Be Counted
Rise up and be counted
With high morals and purpose
With the Lord we have mounted
We pray, He can count on us
Rise up and search your soulBe identified as oneWho is immovable in his roleCome, be a follower of the Son
We'll reach a critical
Crossroad often- as there's strife
But, it's not too difficult
When we've the Lord in our life
Rise up and search your soul
Be identified as one
Who is immovable in his role
Come, be a follower of the Son
Humbly we show to all, just who we are
Love and light shines forth, in us
Through unseen strength and glorious power
Given of our Lord, Jesus
Rise up and search your soul
Be identified as one
Who is 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
