Her beauty dignified

Her beauty dignified
Clothed in the Lord's Love.
Angel above gaze
At the purity of her ways,
And the devil constantly
Murmuring that God should
Remove his protection from her.
So He did, and every calamity
Fell on her save death.
But she had read the book of Job
And knew of the trials of Paul;
She gladly said in her awful situation
'What can separate me from 
The eternal sweet comforting
Love of Christ?
Nothing at all!
By grace, I was given all
And it is just for the glorious Creator
To take it all away!
I may mourn now
But it is only for a time.
Yea these momentary pain
Are not worthy to be compared
To the eternal glory to come.
O, take my soul Lord if
It pleases you; take it to thyself.
And if this measles and misery 
Is the rest of my life's portion
I will praise thy name
And will sweetly die in my poverty
Knowing that this was the means
To bring me home to my beloved Christ.'

K.Oni

Her beauty I admired for long

Her beauty I admired for long
Never once thinking
That she shared my joy!

K.Oni

Friendship

Friendship
A beautiful melody
When perseverance is the
Heart that hears,
The broken strings
And love and forgivness
Unite the chords
Into a symphony
Of tears and joy -
But seeking must be
The initiative will,
Like two doves in the
Warmth of spring.

K.Oni

Miscellanies 113

O may I not leave off prayer, O to my shame how I have left off prayer. O to pray, to pray, to pray. O how I was long in this sweet delight wherein the sweetness or the misery of my spirit, I would seek him out, delighting in His word. But the more holy my heart was, the more holy my duties were, I became a man of sorrows. My heart was filled with misery for the lost, and there was anguish in my heart that the sweet all-powerful and beautiful God, was not worshipped. To forsake this forlorn heaviness, I would leave off my holy duties, which includes bringing Christ in every sphere of my life, that I would then drink in the pool of the world, that is to starve my soul from the word and prayer, which then made me forget the lostness of the world but also made me miserable, because my heart thirsted for the sweet love of my life who is Christ Jesus, the king of glory. Oh, this pleasing pain to always seek his kingdom and righteousness.

K.Oni

Miscellanies 112

I must now indeed set to mortify my sins with all great seriousness and diligence. For as I look over the last ten years or so, I have in certain seasons mortified those sins which easily entangles me - but not with so much a great consistency. It is no good if the fire is put out in the forest but the spark remains. Because the spark is neglected, it will soon rise again and burn. So it is with me if I do not entirely kill my sin. Oh, I have been careless with my heart and also neglected the pursuit of my Joy in Christ, for it is in this, yea in seeking first his kingdom and righteousness that I savor him and in obedience bring him glory. This also brings me to reflect on my lack of obedience in many things. I should have been smarter than I am now and more advanced perhaps if I was more careful with what I was given. But disgracefully I squandered it just as with many a thing and at present feeling like the foolish servant who buried his only talent rather than investing it. But today, yes as it is today, I am to repent of all my evil deeds and fling myself on the mercies of God, for his love towards me never fails.

K.Oni

I am not to lie to you

I am not to lie to you, I am not to lie. In all things, I must speak the truth and that includes when I talk about my feelings. Of course, I must be wise about these things but in being wise, I must not lie.

Paul writes in Colossians 3:9 'Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.'

Indeed I must not lie to my fellow Christians which also implies I must not lie to anyone at all. O how I have fallen short, how I have miserably fallen short!

But I do not despair because my disposition is one of repentance and a willingness to put off my old self and to live in accordance with my new nature. Indeed God's mercies are renewed every day and they are sweetly and kindly renewed towards me.

If it is indeed how I feel, I must say it. If I have great difficulty in believing any of God's promises, I must not lie about it but express the truth of my feelings about it. I must not indeed be a hypocrite about these things. I must not say to others that I am praying when indeed I am not.

I am not to lie about God's revealed truth but I must be sensitive about it. If I see a brother or sister in error concerning a doctrine, I must not shy away in correcting them in the spirit of love and gentleness in as much as it is my place to do so. I must not soften God's difficult truths for the sake of feelings but I must be wise. If it is an outsider, I must pick my fights. It is worthless to throw pearls to swine. And by swine is meant someone who does not have an open heart and is very obstinate. I may as well keep my mouth shut than to be abused!

I must definitely not lie to God. O what a foolish thing! He sees and hears all and He knows the thoughts of my heart. So I may as well be before him as an open book and read accordingly as it is revealed. Help me Lord, Help me always be truthful!

K.Oni

I must put these all away

Have I any anger in my heart that is not righteous anger? I must put it all away.

Have I any wrath in my heart that is not righteous in any way? I must put it all away.

Have I any malice in my heart? Oh, I hope I do not. But if I do I must put it all away!

Have I caused any slander towards any in humanity? Or am I thinking of slandering somebody? I must put it all away.

Has there been any obscene talk coming out from my mouth? I must cease immediately and if it is stored in my heart for out of the abundance of the heart, one does speak then I must put all obscenity far away from me.

All these evil things that are from the flesh, I must violently kill them and put them all away. I ought to bury them and bid them an eternal adieu!

K.Oni