Poetry About Jesus and Salvation 

Poetry by Annie Johnson Flint

1866 - 1932

Annie Johnson Flint's Testimony

WHAT GOD HATH PROMISED

God hath not promised skies always blue,

Flower strewn pathways all our lives through,

God hath not promised sun without rain,

Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day,

Rest for the labor, light for the way,

Grace for the trials, help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

God hath not promised we shall not know

Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;

He hath not told us we shall not bear

Many a burden, many a care

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,

Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;

Never a mountain rocky and steep,

Never a river turbid and deep.

PASSING THROUGH

(See Isaiah 43:1-2)

"When Thou passest through the waters,"

Deep the waves may be and cold,

But JEHOVAH is our Refuge

And His promise is our hold:

For the LORD Himself hath said it,

He the faithful God and true:

"When thou comest to the waters,

Thou shalt not go down, but through

Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,

Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain,

Rolling surges of temptation,

Sweeping over heart and brain,

They shall never overflow us,

For we know His word is true:

All His waves and all His billows

He will lead us safely through

Threatening breakers of destruction,

Doubt's insidious underflow,

Shall not sink us, shall not drag us

Out to ocean depths of woe:

For His promise shall sustain us,

Praise the LORD, Whose word is true!

We shall not go down or under,

He hath said, "Thou passest through."

GRACE SUFFICIENT

So many burdened lives along the way!

My load seems lighter than the most I see,

And oft I wonder if I could be brave,

Patient and sweet if they were laid on me.

But God has never said that He would give

Another's grace without another's thorn:

What matter, since for every day of mine

Sufficient grace for me comes with the morn?

And though the future brings some heavier cross

I need not cloud the present with my fears:

I know the grace that is enough today

Will be sufficient still through all the years.

THE TWO SUFFICIENTS

"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." - Matthew 6:34

"My grace is sufficient for thee." - 2 Corinthians 12:9

Evil shall pass with the day that brought it,

As the sea is stayed by the barrier land:

When the Giver of Good shall say, "No farther,"

And bid the foeman restrain his hand:

But the grace of the Lord outstays the evil,

Outlasts the darkness, outruns the morn,

Outwatches the stars in their nightly vigil,

And the foe that returns with the day re-born,

As he left it unwearied, shall find it unworn.

GREAT GRACE

His grace is great enough to meet the great things,

The crashing waves that overwhelm the soul,

The roaring winds that leave us stunned and breathless,

The sudden storms beyond our life's control.

His grace is great enough to meet the small things,

The little pin-prick troubles that annoy,

The insect worries, buzzing and persistent,

The squeaking wheels that grate upon our joy.

"For all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him Amen.;

'Is God-' 'Does God-?'

Man's Why?' and"How?'

In ceaseless iteration storm the sky,

"I AM; I WILL"; 'I DO' - sure Word of God,

Yea and Amen; Christ answers each cry;

To all our anguished questionings and doubts

Eternal affirmation and reply

THE WORLD'S BIBLE

Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today;

He has no feet but our feet to lead men in His way;

He has no tongue but our tongues to tell men how He died;

He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.

We are the only Bible the careless world will read;

We are the sinner's gospel, we are the scoffer's creed;

We are the Lord's last message, given in deed and word;

What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?

What if our hands are busy with other work than His?

What if our feet are walking where sin's allurement is?

What if our tongues are speaking of things His lips would spurn"

How can we hope to help Him and hasten His return?

HE GIVETH MORE GRACE

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;

To added affliction He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

Our Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure;

His power no boundary known unto men;

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth and giveth and giveth again.

THE RED SEA PLACE

Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life,

Where, in spite of all you can do,

There is no way out, there is no way back,

There is no other way but through?

Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene

Till the night of your fear is gone;

He will send the wind, He will heap the floods,

When He says to your soul, "Go on."

And His hand will lead you through - clear through -

Ere the watery walls roll down,

No foe can reach you, no wave can touch,

No mightiest sea can drown;

The tossing billows may rear their crests,

Their foam at your feet may break,

But over their bed you shall walk dry shod

In the path that your Lord will make.

In the morning watch, 'neath the lifted cloud,

You shall see but the Lord alone,

When He leads you on from the place of the sea

To a land that you have not known;

And your fears shall pass as your foes have passed,

You shall be no more afraid;

You shall sing His praise in a better place,

A place that His hand has made.

NEW EVERY MORNING

Yea, "new every morning," though we may awake,

Our hearts with old sorrow beginning to ache;

With old work unfinished when night stayed our hand,

With new duties waiting, unknown and unplanned;

With old care still pressing, to fret and to vex,

With new problems rising, our minds to perplex;

In ways long familiar, in paths yet untrod,

Oh, new every morning the mercies of God!

His faithfulness fails not; it meets each new day

With guidance for every new step of the way;

New grace for new trials, new trust for old fears,

New patience for hearing the wrongs of the years,

New strength for new burdens, new courage for old,

New faith for whatever the day my unfold;

As fresh for each need as the dew on the sod;

Oh, new every morning are the mercies of God!

BETTER THAN MY BEST

I prayed for strength, and then I lost awhile

All sense of nearness, human and divine;

The love I leaned on failed and pierced my heart,

The hands I clung to loosed themselves from mine;

But while I swayed, weak, trembling, and alone,

The everlasting arms upheld my own.

I prayed for light; the sun went down in clouds,

The moon was darkened by a misty doubt,

The stars of heaven were dimmed by earthly fears,

And all my little candle flames burned out;

But while I saw in shadow, wrapped in night,

The face of Christ made all the darkness bright.

I prayed for peace, and dreamed of restful ease,

A slumber drugged from pain, a hushed repose;

Above my head the skies were black with storm,

And fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes;

But while the battle raged, and wild winds blew,

I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew.

I thank Thee, Lord, Thou were too wise to heed

My feeble prayers, and answer as I sought,

Since these rich gifts They bounty has bestowed

Have brought me more than all I asked or thought;

Giver of good, so answer each request

With Thine own giving, better than my best.

MARTHA AND MARY

Martha was busy and hurried,

Serving the Friend divine,

Cleansing the cups and the platters,

Bringing the bread and the wine;

But Martha was careful and anxious

Fretted in thought and in word,

She had no time to be learning

While she was serving the Lord,

For Martha was "cumbered" with serving,

Martha was "troubled" with "things" -

Those that would pass with the using -

She was forgetting her wings.

But Mary was quiet and peaceful,

Learning to love and to live.

Mary was hearing His precepts,

Mary was letting Him give -

Give of the riches eternal,

Treasures of mind and of heart;

Learning the mind of the Master,

Choosing the better part.

Do we ever labor at serving

Till voices grow fretful and shrill,

Forgetting how to be loving,

Forgetting how to be still?

Do we strive for "things" in possession,

And toil for the perishing meat,

Neglecting the one thing needful -

Sitting at Jesus' feet?

Service is good when He asks it,

Labor is right in its place,

But there is one thing better -

Looking up into His face;

There is so much He would tell us,

Truths that are precious and deep;

This is the place where He wants us,

These are the things we can keep.

THE PRUNED BRANCH

It is the branch that bears the fruit,

That feels the knife;

To prune it for a larger growth,

A fuller life,

Though every budding twig be lopped,

And every grace

Of swaying tendril, springing leaf

Be lost a space.

O thou, whose life of joy seems reft,

Of beauty shorn,

Whose aspirations lie in dust,

All bruised and torn,

Rejoice, though each desire, each dream,

Each hope of thine,

Shall fall and fade; it is the hand

O love divine

That holds the knife, that cuts and breaks

With tenderest touch,

That thou, whose life has borne some fruit

May now bear much.

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