Many are the works of the devil, that try to take us away from the Way of Life – even our own weaknesses are too much for us to handle! This poem is a prayer for help.
When temptations invite
And show me their pleasurable heights
Help me see Your right Hand
In which are pleasures, eternally Grand!
When folly and vanity spread
Before me a carpet, so inviting and red!
Help me Lord to embrace Reality
And stay away from the path of futility!
Let not nightmares, trials or falsehood
scare me to turn away from what is good!
Help me look forward to the joy that is ahead
And bear the cross and the thorns upon my head
Hidden motives surface and try to drag me!
Fearing and loving You, I fight to flee –
Help me to be alert and carefully discern!
For, there’s deception and deceit at every turn!
I tremble as I think of moments when sin was so close!
I look back and realize now that Your mercy follows:
For, without You, I can do nothing – for ’tis You
Who work in my heart and mind to desire and to do!
O how many are the traps and pits!
When I weigh them all, I can’t peacefully sit!
But I look up to You, Jesus, my Strength and Shield,
And I’m helped! To You alone, myself I yield!
Scripture References
- Psalms 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
- Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
- Romans 7:22-25 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
- John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
- Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
- Psalms 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
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