Tag Archives: Jesus Christ

savory sweet

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“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”
Matthew 5: 13 (NKJV)

How do you, stream so pure and clear
Flow from mountain’s side ’round the year?
Whence do you begin your flowing meander?
And how do you avoid arid wind’s slander?

I beg to know, Stream of life.
Endless source, my soul’s fulfillment rife.
As a tear from its source shall always go,
Upon the mountain’s side or on our cheek as we know.

You are not of this world, O beautiful Stream.
Not from yarn, legend, or even in a dream.
You are a Divine tear making its way
Endlessly winding without fear and without sway.

So as water replenishes me, so too Thine salt!
With purpose to spread sweet savor without  finding fault.
For continuous are Your water’s reserves,
And too it is salt that indeed preserves.

For this salt shalt ne’er have flavor lost
Just as endless stream flows from One’s paid cost
Preserve and replenish, these two shalt meet.
The endless stream, savory sweet.

© rick stassi emanatingjoy 2013

This moment in time

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Looking into the mirror,

Upon whom do my eyes see?

Do I see just a man?

Or an image of godly integrity?

What I see is the image

Of one who ebbs and flows like the tides at the shore.

Living in self-indulgence,

Seeking ever more.

But to Jesus I have pledged,

My life to evade.

This world of frivolity

And reach my perfected image made

I am a pilgrim in this time,

With gifts Divinely imparted.

To be the fruit of joy

From the vine our Father started.

Now into the mirror

I take a closer look to examine what I see.

The unique creation in Christ,

The picture is me.

There is the perfect Law of Liberty,

Written upon my heart.

The sign of an abiding Spirit

Sanctified, set apart

We are knit together – each of us

Believers of God in His way sublime,

I savor this moment,

This moment in time.

© Rick Stassi 2012

The First Temple

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If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
2 Chronicles 7: 14-16 (KJV)

We are set apart in God’s light to return to Him. We are in an exodus from bondage to an eternal temple of light. Our bodies are consecrated temples filled with the Spirit of God. God’s image emanates from our hearts and through our eyes,  the ancient souls of all who have walked before us are seen. We carry on in a pilgrimage outlined from Abraham to Calvary. The depth and the breadth of our life in Christ is not a trivial place. It is a grand temple of sacrifice! It is where thousands of sheep and others are sacrificed to please God. He accepts and consecrates with condition.

His condition is not hard and it is not isolated to only a few. He seeks the hearts of we who walk the path kings and prophets walk before us. All have looked to the horizon where the Sun never sets. It is God’s temple in heaven. The last temple. All from the past is therefore for the future and the present. The rules of ages ring true in our ears and in our determination to be good under God’s watchful eye. He tells us and leads us in His word. And through  the Word we walk. For the Word is God, Who is flesh, and Who is Jesus.

There is nothing trivial about our plight. We are not seeking happiness or success, at least not worldly success. O how small are the worries of our daily lives compared to the temple of God’s making and the path leading there. Yes it is built and we are sent home to our places to rest. Solomon ordered his people to go home and rest for the  temple was built. The first of three. It was consecrated by God. But God said these things to we who sojourn to His bosom:

We shall humble ourselves.
We shall pray
We shall seek the face of God
We shall repent

Then God will hear each of our voices from our own wilderness where we trudge daily. We walk dry and dusty hoping for the manna of life. “Feed me!”, we cry. Not with food, but with a caring hand, a piece of wisdom, heartfelt love. God complies to we who cry out. It is no small affair.

This is our response to the fist step Abraham took toward the thousands of grains of sand and the multitude of stars in the sky. This is our response to the staff planted in the desert sand by Moses leading the captive to freedom.  We were captive and we sojourn in freedom to eternal bliss. God is sincere. Shall we not also be sincere?

We are the temples, our bodies hold the Spirit. Even the priests could not walk into the sanctified place Solomon built. The first temple and now we are part of the continuing temples. The train of His robe fills us with His glory. The pilgrims to last temple, heaven.

Response is obedience. We must seek Him in earnest. O the journey of love and wisdom from the first temple. God loves us so much He tells us how to respond. Our excuses are paltry. Lend an ear to His voice. Are you following the footsteps of history? Do you see the vacant eyes and the shadowed souls of the ones who will not grab your outstretched hand? Come along people so deeply deceived. Do they really believe all life, large and small, is conceived in the ways that exude forth from the mind of Man? Deceived. I weep for those whom I love now. Yes the shadowed souls to whom I even will turn back and ask again only to be spat at in disdain. “Do not disrupt the balance of the temporal”, they cry. They don’t really say it that way, but I know they mean it because I have seen the face of God and heard His voice.

We are sanctified. We are set apart. We are separated from the shadowed souls. Our soul is on fire with a burning light and with sacred incense still burning from the first son of Levi. We carry history in our hearts. We walk a golden path of return. Return to a glorious God who showed Israel that even though they turned their hearts away, they still could make things right with Him.

The first temple was built and God was pleased with the condition of response. We shall respond now and walk from the shadowed land  to the temple of Light. Amen

For Sara, sister in Christ

Rick Stassi

November 30, 2012