Darkness starkly envelopes,

What is lost in the circling way.

Covering over the slightest hope,

Reaching to upset deceiving dismay.

Wretchedness lurks in the darkness,

Where peace desires to fill.

Weariness drains in the darkness,

Despitefully disguising what is real.

No longer in touch with sensation,

Dull numbness partakes in cliche.

Joys besotting renewal,

Has removed its familiar ways.

A stranger within my own tomb,

Unfamiliar with what was before.

Yet, still in my heart is a beating,

Faintly sounding its desperate lore.

Redemption song still singing,

There in reverent love it waits.

Seeking my soul to receive it,

From the deceiver’s lies to awake.

Hell still knows the place of my Liberty,

At the Cross where my destiny changed.

Jesus paid my ransom,

Eternal life I now can claim.

God’s power and authority demanded,

His broken body to be released.

He ruptured the darkness completely,

Resurrecting new life to speak.

The darkness can no longer fetter,

Where the resurrection light so freely streams.

The dark tomb of brokenness surrendered,

God’s Glory has now redemed.

Hell still knows the power of Calvary,

It trembles in reckoning defeat.

Hell still knows the release of the empty tomb,

Death bridged New life complete.

Hell still knows the work is finished,

Death and the grave handed over the keys.

Darkness no longer dictates,

Hell still knows that I am free!

Wendi Maddox

~Author’s Look

This piece I wrote started out very different from my normal flow. I was not understanding at first why these words were coming to my mind, and what it was that God was wanting me to convey. But, I continued to write, as He inspired my heart, because I knew there was a message here, and someone He was reaching for. It doesn’t require my understanding to be used by God to send His message. After finishing the first part, I stepped away, slightly confused, but in thought.

In the interim, I was practicing our choir songs for Easter, with so much joy and rejoicing of God’s great VICTORY!! As my heart was celebrating with Name Above All Names by Charity Gayle, and when the the bridge came with the words Hell Still Knows, God reminded me, that is why Hell fights so hard in the darkness, trying to cover up the redemptive freedom Jesus brought to mankind at Calvary. Hell still knows it lost but tries to deceive man to believe that THEY are lost forever in a very dark place of desperation.

https://youtu.be/P52RhAZzP4c?si=mJ_1cDWQRtJusi6G

No Greater Love

I knew then, THAT was the direction of the rest of the piece I was writing, steering the darkness into the light of the incredible resurrection of Jesus Christ! He redeemed us with His blood, the pain and suffering for us He took. He hung His head in death, and the work was FINISHED as the veil in the temple was torn, and He bridged the gap. Jesus poured out a greater love than had ever been given before and THAT LOVE is what freed us.

Hell still knows this truth and will not rest in trying to deceive the redeemed of it. Hell lost eternal damnation for mankind that day. With choice and surrender, there was now an escape possible in eternity with God. The bitterness Hell tastes at this knowledge enforces the darkness it tires to envelope us in. That place of utter damnation, wants us to feel lost and broken with no hope of anything other than the tomb with the broken body in it. But it is in that tomb where broken things can live again, and light can erupt stark darkness. What are you holding in your tomb that you think God cannot breathe life into? Surrender it to Him and watch Him resurrect it!

Revelations 1:19 (KJV). . . I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys to hell and of death.

Resurrection

“Jesus, you Reign, you are the name above all names!” Charity Gayle was singing and declaring. He REIGNS my friend, higher than anything you are facing. God is STILL A WAY MAKER and He is ALIVE to make a way! He conquered death, Hell and the grave and because He lives, we can face every tomorrow!

https://youtu.be/RFIr8-gH55E?si=gDTBf0XlWdVR-fjX

Hell still knows who wins!!!