Author: Michael Himick

My Way, or His Way

Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace” — John 16:33

There was a time when
I did things my own way.
My way seemed reasonable
to me
then. But
there came a day when
I had to admit
my way wasn’t reasonable
at all. My way
never led
to life and joy,
to freedom or peace.

Thank God that since that day,
Jesus has proved to me
His way is reasonable.
He’s shown me
again and again
that when I
do things His way,
it always leads
to life and joy,
to freedom and peace.

So,
will I now
trust Jesus,
and do things
His way,
even when
it’s hard to see
His reasons?

Devotional poem © 2015 Michael Himick. Used with permission.

You May Have Peace

Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace” — John 16:33

Jesus said he would give you rest — have you not enjoyed the sweetest peace in him? He said you should have joy, and comfort, and life through believing in him — have you not received all these? . . . I have found Christ more sweet than his servants ever said he was.

Charles Spurgeon

Why don’t we do what Jesus says? How exciting life would become were we to begin living according to His way of life! Friends would say we had lost our minds. . . . But Someone Else, who had these same things said about Him, would smile, and the joy and peace in our own hearts would tell us who was right.

Peter Marshall

Yielding to Joy

Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” — John 15:11

All our lives
we grasp at joy
but we cannot hold onto it.
It slips through our grasp
like water.
No net knit
of money
or romance
or career
can capture it for us.
Like water joy touches
but cannot be grasped.

But what if One
had a Way
not of grasping
but of yielding —
of yielding
to an ocean of joy?

Would you yield
to the One
to live as He lived
and love as He loved
and be led
to the shore
of an infinite sea
and stand open-armed
in the surf
while wave after wave
of joy
washed over you?

Devotional poem © 2015 Michael Himick. Used with permission.