|
The
Author is The Holy Spirit and I am just blessed to be the pen.
My name is Bob Gotti;
I live in New Jersey, USA; I began writing poetry in 2001 I
don't consider myself a poet, as my poems come right out of my prayers to God,
usually My
first poem was on Visitation, which is very dear to my heart, and after
posting it on poetry.com, I continued to use the 20 line format to post on
their site. With this one poem
published, I was moved to continue to post the poems that I truly thank God
for, as I am not a poet by trade, and give all the Glory to Him. My thoughts
at this point go to a beautiful song, by Nancy Steinman, where one of the
verses she says "Even my Praise comes from You", as she is singing
to The Lord. I just thank The Lord for guiding me and pray that my poems can
move people closer to The Soon Coming Kingdom. I
grew up as a non-participating Roman Catholic for the first 29 years of my
life. I was really turned off
from religious organizations at the age of approximately 20 when my cousin,
who had been involved heavily in drugs, got involved with the Jehovah
Witness. Although I never really
embraced all the men's rules in the Roman Catholic Church (Isaiah 29:13-15),
I believed in God. It was not my
cousin's initial involvement with the Jehovah Witness that pushed me away,
but the fact that he took his own life in order to 'See The Lord', as he left
a suicide note. It was not until
almost 10 years later, after I had been married for about two years when my
wife, who also grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, started to witness to
me. My first reaction was anger
towards my wife, as my cousin came into my mind. However, it was after my wife's
sister, who became a Born Again Christian, gave me a Bible, with much
hesitance at first, that I started reading the Bible for the first time in my
life. For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can
boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) After
reading the Gospel of John, my eyes were not only open to a Christ that I
never really knew, with the exception of simple head knowledge, but, also to
the fact that Christ himself said in John 3:3: "Now there was a man of
the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said,
"Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one
could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with
him." In
reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the Just
like Nicodemus, although I thought I was religious, I was totally
Ignorant of the Truth. Much to my shame, although I considered myself a
Christian, I did not even Know the difference between Jesus Christ and God,
and this or one of the illustrations below might be true of many in
church today: "Now,
brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this
is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying
that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your
sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and
that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus. He
must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as
he promised long ago through his holy prophets." (Acts 3:17-21) "In
the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people
everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with
justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by
raising him from the dead." When they heard about the resurrection of
the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you
again on this subject." (Acts 17:30-32) "I
thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me
faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer
and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in
ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me
abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a
trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst." (1 Timothy
1:12-15) The
Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and
follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come
through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot
iron. They forbid people to
marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be
received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good,
and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it
is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. If you
point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ
Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that
you have followed. Have
nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train
yourself to be godly. For
physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things,
holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a
trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and
strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of
all men, and especially of those who believe. Command
and teach these things.
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set
an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in
purity. Until I come, devote
yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to
teaching. Do not neglect your
gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders
laid their hands on you. Be
diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may
see your progress. Watch
your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you
will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:1-16) Therefore,
since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception,
nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the
truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the
sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are
perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that
they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the
image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and
ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said,
"Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our
hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:1-6) Christ the Wisdom
and Power of God For
the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us
who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will
frustrate." Where is the
wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not
God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the
world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the
foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and
Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to
Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the
weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. Brothers, think of what you were when
you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were
influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of
the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame
the strong. He chose the lowly
things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are
not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before
him. It is because of him that
you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is,
our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let
him who boasts boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:18-31) Wisdom From the
Spirit We
do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom
of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret
wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory
before time began. None of the
rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory.
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no
mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” but
God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The
Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts
of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one
knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the
world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has
freely given us. This is what we
speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the
Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not
accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
discerned. The spiritual man
makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any
man’s judgment: "For
who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we
have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16) Do
not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards
of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become
wise. For the wisdom of this
world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: "He catches
the wise in their craftiness"; and again, "The Lord knows that the
thoughts of the wise are futile." So then, no more boasting about men!
All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life
or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of
Christ, and Christ is of God. (1 Corinthians 3:18-23) In
Christ’s Love, Bob Gotti |
