Scarlet Robe Creations

Do you know where you stand, goats or sheep? Do you know the shepherd, have you submitted to His guidance? Are you certain you will stand to the right and not the left? Will you know you have served, fully aware of your deeds, or will you have loved from a heart born of compassion? Have you stayed unstained when He needed your hands in the soil? Do not say, "Lord, I never saw you hungry," when He is in our midst everyday. Do not say, "Lord, when were you a prisoner," when our old wait for Him in loneliness. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Tell them there is a shelter, a voice that will calm the storm. Assure them of His dominion over every trial in life. Teach them that wrongs are forgiven, never made right. Sin is a wound healed by grace, not man's desire. Instruct for the glory of the one who freed your soul. Take no pride in the faith of a single student. Show them the sainted life. Walk the precise path you preach. Bear responsibility for those you unify and divide. Lord, often in our desire to share Your word we preach the fabric of ourselves without wearing the garment You wove for us. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

The last leaves have prepared to fall, trusting the designer of beauty to change the color of their garments and separate them from the branch of life. Faithfully ready to let go, to float gracefully to the soil, a journey directed by the breath of creation. November chill, makes brittle what was once ripe, preparing our souls for December and the white veil of winter. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Come broken, sing the songs reserved for the holy. The diseased offer praise when their wounds are scabbed over. Come empty, fill your stomach on morsels, crumbs given and thrown out, blessed by the blood of the Son. Come lonely, your streets are filled with those who seek. Listen for the whispering prophets in garbage laden alleys. Come sinner, do not condemn yourself any longer. The harlot has been made pure and the thief witnesses paradise. Copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Seek the Lord in the darkness. Do not let the shadows define your journey. Lean on His wounds when anger tells you to strike back. Seek the Lord when the world says there is no reason for doing so. Kneel and pray for the holy ones and the sinners. Seek the Lord when deep voids surround you. He stands in the light, risen from an empty tomb. The saints of Revelation bask in His glory, evil is crushed under His foot. Seek the Lord in the darkness. Do not let the shadows of this day change the course of your journey. Cling to Him when it is most difficult to see His light. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Once there were ten young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish, and the other five were wise.    The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any extra oil with them,  while the wise ones took containers full of oil for their lamps.    The bridegroom was late in coming, so they began to nod and fall asleep.   “It was already midnight when the cry rang out, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come and meet him!’    The ten young women woke up and trimmed their lamps.  Then the foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Let us have some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’    ‘No, indeed,’ the wise ones answered, ‘there is not enough for you and for us.  Go to the store and buy some for yourselves.’    So the foolish ones went off to buy some oil; and while they were gone, the bridegroom arrived.  The five who were ready wen...

I do not deserve the grace You pour out on me. I do not deserve the light bringing me in from the shadows. I do not deserve the echo of Your whisper in my ear. I do not deserve a single splinter from the wood of Your cross. I do not deserve the thorns pressed into Your scalp. I do not deserve the bread You offer, or the wine. I do not deserve to be served at Your table. I do not deserve forgiveness for any weak addictions. I do not deserve Your peace or Your love. I do not deserve the blood You have washed me in. What do I deserve for cursing You, for turning my back on hope and celebrating vices? What do I deserve for striding through dark alleys, purposely staying out of the light, and pushing You away for the moment? Am I not Cain? Am I not the multitudes laughing at Noah? Am I not the chosen being led off into slavery? And still... You extend Your arms to embrace all that I have defiled. You have washed the mud from my face and...

Arms wide open, a face welcoming a child. The wanderer who returns from the briar patch, wounded but healed, by the embrace of the waiting arms. Arms wide open, a love without condition. The journey home is nearly complete. Filth is cleansed from soul and flesh by the embrace of the waiting arms. Arms wide open, a white robe of forgiveness. The scarlet blood of iniquities is washed away. The sinner is welcomed into the embrace of the waiting arms. Arms wide open, despite pride and venomous tongues. The sheep cornered by shadows of life, clinging to the last ember of hope, crawling from the depths into the embrace of waiting arms. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

No one knows about that day or hour,  not even the angels in heaven,  nor the Son,  but only the Father. Matthew 24:36  Raise Your hand, Lord to calm the winds and the torrential rains. Still the turbulent earth and quench its fire. Are we in those days, Lord? You said I was not to know, yet prophets speak of Your wrath without knowing Your name. There are soldiers mounted for war and dark clouds on the horizon. I hear You say "not today," and remind me that only fools predict the moment. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author From the Collection;  From Capernaum to Emmaus

I am the lone sheep, wandering from the flock. I am the one unprotected, caught in the numbness of the world. I am the one frightened, but ashamed to commit to my protector. I walk through shadows, ensnared in the briars of sin. I am the lone sheep that the shepherd searches for. He celebrates my return, a sinner becomes a saint. He removes each thorn dug into my flesh and returns me to the flock healed of every wound I have inflicted on myself. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author