With Arms Stretched Wide

In brokenness that I can’t hide

It’s You Jesus that I confide

In my walk it’s Your strength I need

When I break Your heart, it’s Your blood I bleed

Higher than mine is Your ways

From Your Word I do not stray

In my weakness I need You

It’s Your Word that I hold on to

Faith through grace is what I need

On the Cross Christ did bleed

His blood is the sacrifice that atoned for sin

Will I call on Jesus with the mess I’m in

Jesus Christ is the only way

To see Holy God on that day

If you are in need of grace

Or strength to help you in this race

Call on Jesus , He’s our friend

He’ll walk with us till the end

He sent His Spirit to be our guide

He loves us all with arms stretched wide

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved 2017

On That day

Life is like show and tell

Since the beginning when man fell

We show the world how we beat those odds

How we walked away from all them gods

Our life is like how we walk

More than the way we sow our talk

The way we talk is how we live

With strength from our Savior

grace we give

Our walk is meant to please our God

With Truth from His Word we are awed

With perseverance we remain steadfast

With grace from our Savior we will last

In the end we will receive a crown

In a place where there will be no frowns

Heaven is a place where there will be no tears

We will not have to hide or stand in fear

We will be giving our Lord all our praise

On that day the church he will raise

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved 2017

God Has Not Called Us To Fit In

God has called us out of darkness
And living our life in sin
We are called to be a chosen people
It’s His righteousness that we live in

We are called to be a royal priesthood
A people belonging to God
To abstain from sinful desires
To not live in the flesh that’s flawed

We are called to be a holy nation
Not living like the world
We are called to live separate
Than the world that’s coming unfurled

We are God’s special possession
That we might declare praises of Him
Again He called us out of darkness
That we might bring glory to Him

Once we were not a people
But now we belong to God
We have now received Gods mercy
To refrain from living like we’re flawed

1 Peter 2:10
9. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Gods special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10. Once you were not a people, but you are the people of God; once you had not received Gods mercy, but you now have received mercy.
© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015

Who Will Be My Rescue

Have you ever needed to be rescued? Myself, I haven’t, yet I have. I do not claim to have ever been in a tragic situation where I had to rescued by emergency personnel, but I have needed to be rescued from an addiction to methamphetmines that I was in for a great number of years. With Christmas nipping at our heals, it seems a perfect time to write about Who Will Be My Rescue.

2 Timothy 1:9-10
He has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10. but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

As I was praying, and searching, and asking to be led to a topic to write about, these verse’s just about leaped off the page. My spirit cried out with thanksgiving to have been rescued, not only from a life in addiction, but most importantly from my life’s choices to be separated from God all because choosing to live in sin. With the addiction came sexual immorality in various forms. A life that now I think about it must have just broke Gods heart. You might ask why I say that. To be honest I got saved as a youth and walked away because I thought God wasn’t hearing or answering my prayers. I had a wish list of things in my life that I wanted God to fix and when he didn’t perform like I thought he should I decided I could do a better job with my life and walked away. But throughout life I still considered myself to be a Christian. At that young age I really wanted God in my life but I wanted for him to fix all my problems too. Throughout life when ever I got in hot water if you will I would seek out a church to attend, or a Bible Study to go to, or just pray for God to get me out of whatever situation that I seemed to have gotten myself in to. A long story short, in 2005 my girlfriend had lost custody of her youngest son in a court battle to her ex-husband. As we were grieving the loss of her son and as I was missing him, I knew she needed spiritual guidance that I couldn’t give her. This was all my thinking. So I heard this voice go to church and there happened to be one just around the corner from her house. And we started attending. Two years later in a rather hot conversation I said if she would just go to church more and her response was that her and God had a relationship that maybe He wasn’t looking for her but instead He was looking for me and the she kicked me out and that’s when I needed to be rescued the most. I was completely broken, nowhere to go and had no one that I could call on. This was now 2009 in Portland, Oregon at the beginning of winter. That is when I knew that Christ is my only hope. I happened to be lost in unforgiveness between a lost relationship between my earthly father and me. I was at my mothers in Dallas, Texas and in the middle of the night one night as I was praying God spoke to my heart that I needed to forgive my dad. I didn’t see how because he was dead, God softly spoke how can I forgive you if you can’t forgive him. I hit my knees crying asking for God to help me forgive my dad. Today I stand forgiven and free not only from the bondage of unforgiveness but also free from the chains of addiction. But I didn’t do it completely on my own, God led me to the ministry of Celebrate Recovery. With their help and the help of the 12 steps and 8 principles Christ has freed me from unfogiveness and addiction and is in the process of healing me. Today with Christ and the help of CR I am learning to make better more healthier choices. I am learning to live a life that is pleasing to God.

If you are broken or hurting or are in bondage to life’s hurts habits and hang-ups please seek Christ as your Rescue. Please don’t go through this Christmas Season alone or broken, thinking you have to go it all alone or that you have to carry the weight of life’s burdens all on your own shoulders. Pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you, to help you seek a relationship with Him and to help you seek Him to heal from the brokenness that is in your heart and your life then confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Romans 10:9

In Christ
Bart

Are We In Christ

I have a purpose with this write and it’s to get into your head. Chances are I already have. You have read the title or first sentence and are pondering what’s this guy got to say that interests me. My sole aim is to stimulate thought. If nothing else you read the title and walk away and think about what does it mean to be In Christ. But in order to know what it does mean we have to discover what it doesn’t mean.

What do you think if you are asked, Are You In Christ? Or what is your thoughts when let’s say you’re at a Bible Study and your discussing what it means to be In Christ? Here is what I think, and these are just my thoughts based on how Scripture affects me as I read Scripture. My initial thoughts when you ask me if I’m In Christ are; well I go to church on Sunday, I serve in Awana, I go to prayer meeting, or maybe I even sing in the choir, maybe I help out with the youth, or I’m a deacon, or I lead a Bible Study. You get the picture. Don’t get me wrong these are great things to do and ways to serve and are helpful and even necessary to build and grow Gods Kingdom, But are they really what it means to be In Christ. Now personally I believe they are components of being In Christ and serving is in a big way a component of being In Christ.

Here is my thoughts now as I write and discover and as I take the time to dig a little deeper. New Creation or New Creature: as in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here. Called or Calling: as in Romans 1:6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ., 1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ or Lord., 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 Brothers and sisters, 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. 27 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. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 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. 31 Therefore, as it is written; “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” Chose or chosen: John 15:16-17 Jesus speaking says “ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit-fruit that will last-and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command; Love each other.”,
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. In Christ says I have a Purpose: Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

We could go on like Bear Fruit, Set Apart. We are to live different than anyone in the world so that if someone sees how we are, how we live and how we treat others that our actions and speech draws them to want to know what makes us separate or different from others. People want to know why we are the way we are. That opens the door for us to share the hope that we have inside us.

Ephesians 2:10 says: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Somehow in my mind I think that In Christ is more than just serving. It has to do with how we treat and speak to others, how we react to a difficult or certain circumstance or situation. It has to do with Love, How we love our neighbor. In Christ is our identity, it’s who we are and how we identify with the world. He lives in us now let’s live In Him.

Bart
© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014

Why Do I Constrain God To A Box

Why do I constrain God to a box
Isn’t His Sovereignty what gets blocked
Thereby putting limits on His power
I often want help in less than an hour
When I put limits on our Holy God
It changes the focus in who gets awed
God is not designed to packed away
Then to be pulled out and put on display
God is not like any kind of idol
His Sovereignty can not be bridled
He is not made of wood, metal or gold
He is not like us humans that one day grow old
God is Holy for that He does say
It’s up to His children to follow His ways
When we follow His ways He remains to be God
And rightfully so He deserves to be Awed

 

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014

 

 

Consequences, You Mean To Tell Me There Are CONSEQUENCES !

I had a friend tell many years ago that I could do anything I wanted to as long as I was willing to live with the consequences, good or bad. There are good consequences as well as bad. They are all relative to the decisions and choices I make. For me a problem I have is I don’t think about the consequences all the time. Nor do I always think about what I’m going to say and do. Then there’s the fact that my actions and consequences affect not only me but they affect those around me as well.

Where I’m going with this is that while I was sick in the hospital I took the time to reflect over my life and have came to a conclusion that all my life’s choices didn’t cause all my medical problems. Especially knowing that they started out genetically as hereditary. But the fact that I chose to drink and consume drugs most of my life didn’t help matters any, and I will own that. See most of my life I drank and lived as if there were no tomorrow without a care in the world, not thinking there would come a time when I will need a good immune system and what major organs I have will need to function correctly. This infection that hospitalized me 6 weeks ago has been an ongoing infection and all the strong long term antibiotics is what eventually shut down my kidneys. But in a real time sense the choice to live the life style that I chose for most of my life and not taking good care of my self hadn’t helped my health any either. I know how does this all tie in to a life as a follower of Christ. That’s a good question.

In the Bible there were/are consequences for not obeying Gods commands and there are consequences for sin. God doesn’t and hasn’t changed and there are still consequences for sin and disobedience. Consequences may vary and they may not be immediate, but that doesn’t mean I have escaped any them. The one thing as a believer that I escape is eternal death caused by sin and this can not be earned by any way. Eternal life is only a gift of God. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ, and Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus or Lord.

I know there might be a disconnect in relating all of this together, but some might be able to. God loves all mankind and doesn’t want anyone to perish, but the consequence for sin is death. However the consequence for disobedience is discipline and sometimes the discipline is God pruning me or molding me to the image of His Son Jesus Christ. As for some of my long term consequences, I consider them like a thorn.  They keep me focused on seeking the Lord.

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014

Are You Alone Or Set Apart

Are you alone or set apart
Do you sit and stare with an empty heart
Have you been betrayed by an old friend
That tells you lies and that you have to blend
Do you blend with the world and God
Do these lies tell you that you’re flawed
Does this old friend steal your joy
And treat you like a broken toy
So here’s how to be set apart
Just ask Jesus to come into your heart
Then start reading the Word of God
One day you’ll find that you’re awed
Then start obeying Gods commands
He alone will teach you how to firmly stand
It is Jesus we learn to imitate
It’s your heart He renovates
Don’t forget to confess your sin
Convicted by Gods Spirit who lives within
No longer think you’re flawed
Because now you’re a child of God

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011, 2012 and 2013

He Suffered For All

The Lord, He suffered for all
With that He sent out a great call
When He knocks what is my response
To seek His will, that is all I want

It is my desire to let Him come in
Change my heart so less I do sin
Now that Christ lives in my heart
It’s His death that gave me a new start

His Spirit is who convicts me of sin
With a repentant heart each day I begin
Confessing then His forgiveness I now ask
Breaks the bondage, step away from the mask

Step into service, for this is my prayer
Serving God for me helps remove the layers
I’m obligated to Christ because of the freedom He gives
I’m devoted to Christ because His grace allows me to live

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011, 2012 and 2013

Related articles

• How to avoid sin. Where light exists darkness cannot. (dcshelton.wordpress.com)
• Redeemed Through His Blood, Evans Olang (magnifyhisword.wordpress.com)
• Saved by Grace (poetsareus.wordpress.com)
• It is Christ and Christ alone (motherlandhomewaresblog.com)

 

No Other Way

This poem is a collaboration with my wife.

No Other Way

For Christ I’m a prisoner in chains
Through His Blood I have hope that remains
In my heart my desires have changed
Through His love my life got exchanged
His Word is what guides my way
His conviction helps me to not stray
Seeking humility keeps me on the right track
That’s because the devil is always on the attack
Sin is what separates me from God
Because of sin my nature is flawed
Forgiveness of sin comes through grace
Sanctification is a process in this race
My God I love with my whole heart
That’s because Christ on the cross gave me a new start
My God will not lead me astray
With Him there is no other way

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011, 2012 and 2013

Related articles

• Prayer brings us into contact with Christ who is within us – Fr. Matta El-Meskeen (sayingsoftheorthodoxfathers.wordpress.com)
• “Sanctification is always a return to justification” (bentramper.wordpress.com)
• Is There No Forgiveness For Intentional Sin? (askthepastors.wordpress.com)
• SANCTIFICATION: Both the Battle and the Victory are Ours! (regenerationandrepentance.wordpress.com)