Showing posts with label Charles Spurgeon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charles Spurgeon. Show all posts

Friday, December 9, 2022

Emmanuel (What more do we need?)


Matthew 1:23
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, 
and they shall call his name Emmanuel, 
 being interpreted is, God with us.



O Come, Emmanuel-Simon Khorolskiy 


God with us since the beginning; God with us; His Word unfurled
Like hope’s harbor in this sinning, struggle-stricken, broken world

God with us, His omni-presence no army can overthrow
His Word in our hearts, the essence of peace only faith can know

God with us down through the ages; grace and truth to set us free
Manifesting sacred pages; He Who Was, IS and Will Be

God with us in joy and sorrow never to leave or forsake
Yesterday, today, tomorrow His Word will not change or shake

God with us, ah, precious promise, who can fully comprehend
The wonder of Jesus; glorious, infinite and without end

God with us, eternal power, demons tremble when we pray
 Oh, the height and depth of our confidence through mercy's Stay

God with us amidst a heathen disregard and deadly jeer
In and through His Word faith meets/seeks Him to comfort and commandeer

God with us, Unseen, yet faithful Father, Counsellor, and Friend
He helps us to help each other to be faithful to the end

God with us, sweet consolation no matter what may beset
God with us, mankind’s salvation oh, may we never forget

Holy, holy hallelujah! Come, let us praise and adore
He who is Love, Truth, Jehovah! God with us forevermore

© Janet Martin

Emmanuel, God With Us- Charles Spurgeon



Monday, July 11, 2022

Sometimes, In This Present Culture

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him-
-the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and strength,
the Spirit of knowledge
and fear of the LORD.

(this verse below fills my heart and prayers these day...)
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit f of wisdom and revelation,
 so that you may know him better. 
18I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened 
in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, 
the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 
19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 

If we want something to grow we feed it.
What is fed will grow...
Spiritual growth or the hunger for spiritual blessing
happens as we feed on 'spiritual bread'!
John 6:35
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. 
Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, 
and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.



Sometimes in this present culture
We could fall prey to despair
Where evil is like a vulture
And people don't seem to care
Or fall before God in prayer

Present culture's satisfaction
Fosters lies and unbelief
 Numbed by cyberspace-distraction
The god of opinion, chief
Dumb to God in heaven's grief 

Seems as if Spiritual Blessing
Is a treasure few esteem
Focused rather on possessing
Fortunes, fickle as a dream
While eternal riches stream

Seems as if mankind's redemption
 Purchased through God's only Son
Is the bull's eye of rejection
Though He died for everyone
Though He cried 'Thy will be done'

...to bring many sons to glory!
To lay down hope's solid rock
Seems as if God's Great Love story
Has become a laughing stock
Culture hails the stumbling block 

Fearless in the face of Mercy
Fearless, though death and hell wait
Scorning Christ with jeers and curses
Or with doubt's fruitless debate
Fearless in their dire state/strait

Blinded by the tempter's logic
Lured by sight's defeated stride
Seems this present culture's rock is
But the shifting sands of pride
Or the boast of God denied

Seems as if Spiritual Blessing
Is an odd and foreign phrase
Not a treasure worth confessing
And pursuing all our days
By denying self-bent ways  

Seems as if the fickle aweing 
Of excess, not sacrifice
Veils the subtle serpent drawing
The attention from the price
With enticements, 'fun' and 'nice'

Seems as if this present culture
Does not grasp the sacred Thence
Of heaven or hell, of judgement 
And the certain recompense 
Of the soul's inheritance

Seems as if 'riches in glory'
Falls on head-phone deafened ears
And the grace of God's love story
Is met with hate's bold-faced sneers 
Or Indifference-Veneers

As if the best we inherit
Is Something gold-silver-pearled
And as if life's Crowning Merit
Is This Fleeting Warp unfurled
Not riches beyond this world

Sometimes, in this present culture
Love weeps beneath faith's scorned cross
Hell's lord is a gilded vulture
Heaven's God tests us with loss
 And prayer's groaning albatross

God, open Faith's eyes within us
Tune us to truth's cunning foes
You are not slack in Your promise
Of wealth time cannot disclose
Of inheritance You chose

© Janet Martin


Psalm 47:4
He chooses our inheritance for us, 
the pride of Jacob, whom He loves. 
Selah

1 Pet.1:3-5
A Heavenly Inheritance
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope 
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4to an inheritance [b]incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, 
reserved in heaven for you,
  5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation 
ready to be revealed in the last time.

***
We only progress in sound living
as we progress in sound understanding
Charles Spurgeon~

***

 

...and if after you listen to the first message you are hungry for more...






Monday, June 6, 2022

Rock-solid Build/ Race Route

I really enjoy the show Rock Solid Builds on HGTV.
This post however is about a different kind of Rock-solid build!

One of my favorite top ten things in the world is a baptism service.
Listening to testimonies of faith and witnessing the outward sign of an inward change
from the old man to the new rouses in me Joy Unspeakable and Sacred Sympathy.
Joy for the choice by the believer to receive the gift of salvation
and sympathy because the deceiver does not depart when someone takes this step of faith
but rather seems to amass its forces against the child of God, as he or she endeavors to
'grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ' 
(This is the same Peter from Matt.16:18
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.)

Growth; we cannot hurry it!
We can make wise choices so as not to hinder it but growth takes time!
Whether plant or child, whether physical or spiritual.
But until full maturity, growth is essential to reach the subject's full potential!
It takes time to grow a sprout to a tree/ sainthood..

...above, as attractive and tender as bindweed's first tendrils may appear
it is full of deadly evil!


On Saturday I once again tackled its tenacity
which has invaded my front flower garden, winding its visible tendrils
around anything it can bind. Left unattended it would dominate 
and terribly hinder healthy growth.
(below; network of roots)


A network of roots running deep below the surface makes it nearly
impossible to completely obliterate the pesky weed, 
but I noticed something as I pulled
at rocks to chase down the rampant roots. 
The weed could climb around and between but never penetrate the rocks!
What a parable as we battle the tendrils of temptation
and seek safety from deadly vices!
They cannot penetrate the Rock!
If we build our house on the Rock,
and embrace the cornerstone which is Christ
sin cannot prevail!
It is when we look away or step/slip from the Rock that we
become enticed and entangled...

Let's build and run on a rock-solid route!

Yesterday at the baptism service one of the young converts
received this verse as a memento of encouragement... 
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice
 is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Matt.7:24

This devotion from a few days ago also deals with the 'battle'
we encounter as we strive to live for Christ...
(full page below)


Temptation’s tendrils entice first and then entangle, oh
None can afford to wander from the grace whereby we grow
To grow in grace and knowledge of the truth requires grit
And diligent persistence by faith, to accomplish it

The gift of grace begins a race that we are called to run
For the redemption of our souls cost God His only Son
Thus, we are called to throw off all that would entangle us
Eyes fixed on the author and perfecter of faith; Jesus

This is no game, when we lay claim to salvation’s free gift
Without the steadfast anchor of God’s Word, soon we will drift
Without the armor of the Lord none are equipped fitly
To withstand the beguiling wiles of sin’s artillery

Upon the solid Rock of Christ alone we are secure
Do not despair; but pour to prayer the hunger to endure
For the joy set before us let us run and not grow faint
Temptation’s schemes cannot uproot the Rock-established saint

© Janet Martin



 

I looked up the stanza by Charles Wesley quoted above!
A beautiful hymn I had never heard before.











Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Of Heaven-Realities on Earth

2 Cor.7:1

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends,
let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit,
perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.



(A few thoughts snared from the message above...
Let us purify ourselves from anything that contaminates body and spirit
If God lives in us let us make our house clean for such a pure God
The sins of the spirit are the mothers to sins of the flesh…

I can imagine a room in your house being perfectly clean 
but I cannot imagine that room staying perfectly clean 
unless the process by which it was first cleansed is repeated.
 Whether a room is in constant use or closed up
 it requires regular sweeping and dusting to stay perfectly clean!

Heaven's first realities for the true Christian, begins on earth! Hallelujah!

He loves us with a Father’s love
And guides us with a Father’s care
Protects and watches over us
He fellowships with us in prayer
And as we pour out hearts to Him
He pours His heart to you and I
His Word a lamp that will not dim
His gift, a life that cannot die

Forgive us when we do not prize
Faith’s privileges like we should
And shift the hunger of our sighs
To things of clay and stone and wood
May our earthly quests revere
Love’s heavenly realities
May we reflect and hold most dear
The honour of such dignities

…as being called children of God
Thus heirs of Him and his dear Son
Forbid, all we give is a nod
For the assurances of Heaven
Where not with laws of fear, but love
He pours His promises divine
Mercies. Indwelling, Communion.
His covenants are thine and mine

Pray God’s redemptive absolutes
Through His divine deliverance
Produces salvation’s first-fruits
Gratitude and obedience
Pray as we seek to purify
Ourselves, we make our temple such
As befits faith's humble reply
To God, who loves us all so much

© Janet Martin

 


Friday, January 7, 2022

The Key to Finding Happiness

“It is not how much we have,
but how much we enjoy,
that makes happiness.”
— Charles Spurgeon

This little gal finds happiness
in mixing and stirring
(oh, if only you could hear the pleasant chatter!)


I enjoy small blips of quietness and tidiness
amidst the mess and mayhem of memories😊💗

(Some people spring and fall clean.
I tend to winter-clean and reorganize 
because outdoor work is on pause!)
Rolling-pin-collection dusting is complete...
Why a rolling pin collection?!!
I have no idea other than once I started, I was amazed at
how many colours, shapes and sizes they come in...a bit like people😅

 


This life runs rife with choice and chance
That makes us pray or fuss/cuss
How we reply to circumstance
Is always up to us

This life runs rife with want and need
Awaiting our reply
Where common font of word and deed
Is up to you and I

This life runs rife with ups and downs
Beyond our control
A smorgasbord of smiles and frowns
To rankle and console

This life runs rife with so much care
Where all we have is lent
A feast to favor faith’s welfare
Is always God’s intent

This life runs rife with more or less
Of yes and no combined
The precious key to happiness
Is up to us to find

© Janet Martin

I am also enjoying some
Spurgeon , thanks to Christmas gifts!



Prov.3:13-18 KJV
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, 
and the man that getteth understanding.
14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, 
and the gain thereof than fine gold
15 She is more precious than rubies: 
and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her
16 Length of days is in her right hand;
 and in her left hand riches and honour.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, 
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: 
and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Monday, June 28, 2021

Heart-sick

From The Dying Thief- Charles H. Spurgeon
The fact is, there is nothing so good but men can pervert it into evil, if they have evil hearts: 
the justice of God is made a motive for despair, and his mercy an argument for sin. 
Wicked men will drown themselves in the rivers of truth as readily as in the pools of error. 
He that has a mind to destroy himself can choke his soul with the Bread of life, 
or dash himself in pieces against the Rock of ages. 
There is no doctrine of the grace of God so gracious 
that graceless men may not turn it into licentiousness.




Sometimes the heart gets sick
The evils of this world
Can cruelly cut us to the quick
So shamelessly unfurled

Debauchery and greed
Pay no heed to the cost
But dark and dangerously feed
On lost leading the lost

The troubles that we face
Would crush and overthrow
But for the fountain of God’s grace
That washes white as snow

Beware of the soul’s foe
The craft of finite pow’r
Who seeks while roaming to and fro
All who he can devour

Dear soul, be on thy guard
Take up thy Spirit-sword
Lest, by a lie you should discard
The armour of the Lord

Lest, by sin’s sleight of hand
We lose sight of the Prize
Without God’s armour, who can stand
Against satan’s disguise

Sometimes, the heart is sick
Of evil’s hellish sway
Oh God, when life cuts to the quick
Hear the tears that we pray

...and let Belief's increase
Be more than idle talk
Lest faith is shattered piece by piece
Against the Solid Rock

© Janet Martin

Psalm 62:1-2

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    my salvation comes from him.

Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Monday, March 8, 2021

Pure Delight's Promise

 

This wall-art was retired from one of the bedrooms to make room
for fresh décor, so I claimed it for an empty wall by the front door
 to read again and again to remind myself how joy may remain full!


Psalm 37:4

If we delight ourselves in He
Of boundless creativity
Who authored sky and sod and sea
With infinite authority

In He whose promises prevail
Whose love does not falter or fail
Who stands with us when storms assail
When mountains seem too sheer to scale

In He whose plan instills the seed
To sustain our physical need
But did for far more intercede
When from sin’s debt mankind was freed

…who became sin who knew no sin
Once and for all, an offering
Who saw the triumph death would bring
After the cross of suffering

If we delight ourselves in He
Who overthrew the enemy
And denied death its mastery
‘Ah grave, where is thy victory’

If we delight in He who gave
His Son, each one of us to save
So when we brave death’s sullen wave
Heaven, not hell will meet the grave

If delight in He whose art
Steals our breath and death’s cold smart
He will fulfill with joy, His part
In the desires of the heart

© Janet Martin





Sunday, January 31, 2021

Each New Day...Pray!!



So maybe you don't have time for this whole video below?
Even the first four or esp. the last four minutes are Wonder-Power-full
and will likely pique your desire to listen to the rest😊

True Prayer, True Power-Charles Spurgeon


We must believe prayer to be what it is
or else it is not what it should be~
Charles Spurgeon


Each new day is like a wagon laden with want, wish and need 
Trundling from the arc of heaven to the bark of word and deed 

Each new day wayfarers waken to a Hand outstretched to pour 
His new mercy not yet taken to we, pounding on Want’s Door 

Each new day demands Full Armour where distraction’s lure is tossed 
Where like modern day Gomorrah and Sodom, virtue seems lost 

Each new day is weighed with reason to bow before Holiness 
Lord, let not vain repetition mock you with rote emptiness 

Each new day groans with important, earnest opportunity 
More of faith and more of love and more of true humility 

Each new day our faith has access to more than compulsion’s curse 
We have access to the greatest power in the universe 

Each new day, prayer is the chariot to the promises of He 
Who, compelled by His own promise breathes through man, divine decree 

Each new day, without exception, we may kneel before the One 
Who ordained sinner’s redemption through the shed blood of His Son 

Each new day, pray righteous pleasure mingles with each earnest plea 
As the treasure of faith’s measure echoes through eternity 

Each new day, though we may not bear witness to His full reply 
Pray, lest we deny the power that no other can supply 

Each new day pray; as hope’s Prancer charges from thought’s courts of clay 
Already God’s perfect answer meets the whisper on its way 

© Janet Martin 

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: 
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 
15And if we know that he hears us—
whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

What Faith Is This?

How To Please God-Charles Spurgeon 



And without faith it is impossible to please God, 
because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 
and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Heb.11:6

A few sermon-excerpts; 

'this faith must believe that there is a great reward in keeping his commandments, 
that He does hear prayer, 
that He does grant great blessings to those who truly seek Him.

We must believe this or else there is no real seeking of Him.

If we believe in God 
'we must believe that he exists 
and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him'.
for,
'where trust has died out love has always died out too'!

Modern Theology...takes man from what is Written to what is thought.
It does not allow the sovereign Authority of Revelation and in disallowing that
their very foundations are removed, and much of the abounding vice of this day is
the direct result of this abounding unbelief in God, this
philosophical mistrust in Infinite Wisdom

A man only believes that which affects his life,
- Charles Spurgeon from the Sermon How To Please God 

What faith is this that we profess? 
Is what we cannot see 
That which turns would-be commonness 
Into holy, holy 

Faith without works is dead as dirt 
A cold and clanging bell 
Its specious substitutions flirt 
With godless death and hell 

What faith is this that we profane 
When we with pious nod 
Pronounce its syllables in vain 
With hearts afar from God 

What is this faith, mighty to save 
That sires sacred fear 
Is it the Confidence/Righteousness we have 
Or religious veneer 

Better to be without our eyes 
Or ears or homes or food 
Than to forsake Faith’s Enterprise 
And thus, God who is good 

Without faith we are naked, poor 
Lost, hopeless and condemned 
A ship without anchor secure 
A Soul without a Friend 

‘Without faith’ who would dare to wear 
Such a most awful plaque 
Or who would choose faithless despair 
If we beheld its lack 

In this land of revivals, bibles, 
Sunday morning church 
How is it that so much else rivals 
He who loved us first? 

What faith is this if once declared 
No work will prove its life 
What faith is this if it runs scared 
Beneath the Sculptor’s knife 

What faith were this that could attain 
The crown without the cross 
Or think ‘without works’ will retain 
Faith’s gain without its loss 

God is not mocked; no idol, He 
To put upon some shelf 
To gaze at whilst our loyalty 
Is faithful first, to Self 

Faith is Belief in One True God 
Its Must, a gift of grace 
A trust that very few applaud 
And fewer yet embrace 

Faith is greater than futile law 
Or works that cannot save 
Faith first believes, with humble awe 
God’s glorious gift of grace 

How can we approach Mercy’s throne 
Or know His love is just 
Without the essence of faith’s terms 
Belief and utter trust 

Ah, living, loving lasting faith 
In Jesus Christ, our Lord 
What profit hath each gifted breath 
If we miss faith’s reward 

Faith drives afar doubt’s shadowland 
And when things are the worst 
It reaches out and takes the Hand 
Of He who loved us first 

Oh, Spirit of the living God
Send home the Truth of Thee
By the power which saints applaud
Through faith that sets us free 

...free from fear's shackles, can it be
Anxiety and dread
Are swallowed up in victory
As we choose Faith instead 


© Janet Martin 

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Of Seeds Softly Falling




  PAD Challenge day 29: For today’s prompt, write a what nobody knows poem. 

These seeds we sow
We’ll never know
How far or full the reaping
So, pray that we
Sow carefully
Where yon harvest is sleeping
Though it appears
It may be years
Before its full-fledged calling
Tomorrow yields
Where today’s fields
Hold now-seeds softly falling

© Janet Martin

 'Very much of our future life will depend upon our earliest days', said preacher Charles Spurgeon on January 15, 1893, then quoted Mr. Ruskins, not quite verbatim, ' people often say we excuse the thoughtlessness of youth, but he says no, it never ought to be excused. I'd far rather hear of thoughtless old age when a man has done his work, but what excuse can be found for a thoughtless youth? The time for thought is at the beginning of life and there is no period which so much demands or so much necessitates thoughtfulness as our early days...I would that all young men would think so.They say that they must sow their wild oats. No! No, my dear young friend. think before you sow such seed as that what the reaping will be. See if there is not better corn to be found than wild oats and sow that, then think how you will sow it and when you will sow it for if you do not think about the sowing, what will the harvest be? '