Good Intentions by St. Clair Adams

Good Intentions


The road to hell, they assure me,

With good intentions is paved;

And I know my desires are noble,

But my deeds might brand me depraved.

It's the warped grain in our nature,

And St. Paul has written it true:

"The good that I would I do not;

But the evil I would not I do."

I've met few men who are monsters

When I came to know them inside;

Yet their bearing and dealings external

Are crusted with cruelty, pride,

Scorn, selfishness, envy, indifference,

Greed - why the long list pursue?

The good that they would they do not;

But the evil they would not they do.

Intentions may still leave us beast-like;

With unchangeable purpose we're men.

We must drive the nail home - and then clinch it

Or storms shake it loose again.

In things of great import, in trifles,

We our recreant souls must subdue

Till the evil we would not we do not

And the good that we would we do.


Sola Deo Gloria

Can't by Edgar A. Guest

Can't

Can't is the worst word that's written or spoken; 

Doing more harm here than slander and lies; 

On it is many a strong spirit broken, 

And with it many a good purpose dies. 

It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning 

And robs us of courage we need through the day: 

It rings in our ears like a timely-sent warning 

And laughs when we falter and fall by the way. 

Can't is the father of feeble endeavor, 

The parent of terror and half-hearted work; 

It weakens the efforts of artisans clever, 

And makes of the toiler an indolent shirk. 

It poisons the soul of the man with a vision, 

It stifles in infancy many a plan; 

It greets honest toiling with open derision 

And mocks at the hopes and the dreams of a man. 

Can't is a word none should speak without blushing; 

To utter it should be a symbol of shame; 

Ambition and courage it daily is crushing; 

It blights a man's purpose and shortens his aim. 

Despise it with all of your hatred of error; 

Refuse it the lodgment it seeks in your brain; 

Arm against it as a creature of terror, 

And all that you dream of you some day shall gain. 

Can't is the word that is foe to ambition, 

An enemy ambushed to shatter your will; 

Its prey is forever the man with a mission 

And bows but to courage and patience and skill. 

Hate it, with hatred that's deep and undying, 

For once it is welcomed 'twill break any man; 

Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying 

And answer this demon by saying: "I can."

I found this poem to be very inspiring. I hope you do as well. Can't ought never to be spoken by any of us except in very few instances. Such as in the case of Peter, "We cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard." If we are unable to to do something for religious reasons, than our response should be one of resolve. "I will not."

Sola Deo Gloria

Proverbs 21:22-23

A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof. Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.    

Isaiah 35

Isaiah 35

¹The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.  ²It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.

 ³ ¶ Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.  ⁴Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.  ⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.  ⁶Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.  ⁷And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.  ⁸And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.  ⁹No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:  ¹⁰And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.   

(Praise the Lord all ye his people. Praise ye the Lord)

Sola Deo Gloria

The Mighty Man

Proverbs 16:32
    
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.



The Word of God defines for us what a man of God is. Too often we are blinded by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, the world's trinity. Too often we are dreamers of every wicked thing. Too often, we walk in the way of the world.



The Scriptures says, "It is better to meet a bear robbed of her whelps than to meet a foolish man in his folly," yet we continually go the way of foolishness and seek after the things of this world. We seek after earthly pleasures that will soon fall away.


I will make this brief, but I want you to pay attention to the verse above. I want you to take heed. We must rule our hearts or spirits with utmost care. Out of our hearts proceed every evil thing [Mark 7:21]. We must watch over our hearts with all diligence [Proverbs 4: 23].


Lately, I have been listening to sermons by a man named Paul Washer. God has greatly gifted him in the ministry. You can find his sermons on Sermon Audio. In his sermons, he makes the point that some of the people listening to him will someday be monsters in hell. This is very sobering. I would pray that this would not be the case with this blog. I would urge you to read my last post on the supremacy of God, if you doubt your salvation. You can find that post here. You cannot pray a prayer to ask God into your heart. You cannot look at your life and say, "I am a pretty good person." Just because you have a ministry or a blog that mentions godly things or you talk a lot about the gospel does not mean you are saved. In fact, just because you know you are a sinner in need of a savior does not mean you are a Christian. If you asked the devil if he were a sinner, he would admit to it.


In order for you to be a Christian, you must be bought of God by Christ. You must be purged by the crimson flood. No amount of works, no amount of love, no amount of prayers, would earn your right to go to Heaven. In fact, if you lived the most upright life, went to church, prayed often, you would still be worthy of Hell forever. However, God deserves no less even if your end is to spend eternity in Hell. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can save you.


I want you to understand that if you believe you can go to Heaven by your merits, you are terribly mistaken. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ [John 14:6]. I ask you now to repent of your sins with sincerity, to forsake your sins, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that He is adequate for you and just to forgive you your sins. You can then rest on the promise of God that he will forgive you. "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." [Isaiah 6:7]


"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..."[Hebrews 12:2a]


May the Lord grant you strength.

Sola Deo Gloria.