Showing posts with label Chris Rice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Rice. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

More Than Enough For Me...


(beautiful scripture at the end of the above video)

This morning's poem is inspired in part after visiting my cousin yesterday,
in a long-term care facility. He has been afflicted for many years with MS.
 His family bears a very hard cross!
Please, if you remember, keep them in your prayers...

More info here...
We cannot comprehend God's higher ways but 
plead for an unshakeable knowledge of his perfect love
for all of us!

***

Give me knowledge of Jesus Christ that naught can shake or move
Of He who humbly sacrificed Himself, His love to prove
Fill me with wonder every day, that He who made all things
Surrendered to death’s crude display and cruelest sufferings
To bring salvation once for all to all who call his name
And to redeem us from the Fall that brought Adam to shame

He gave us access to His promises, to satisfy
Hunger and thirst with righteousness only He can supply
Then, may the joy and peace He gives thus transcend everything
With the knowledge that Jesus lives and death has lost its sting
And nothing in this sin-cursed place can ever dearer be
Than the knowledge that by His grace Jesus has ransomed me

Then give me no knowledge but this; He loves me without end
No matter what may be amiss, He is a faithful Friend
On Him I lean, to Him I cry, He, trustworthy and true
Tries my reason with His reply, yet what more can I do
But yield my mortal will to He who paid sin’s penalty
This knowledge of His love will be more than enough for me

© Janet Martin

6Seek the LORD while He may be found;
call on Him while He is near.
7Let the wicked man forsake his own way
and the unrighteous man his own thoughts;
let him return to the LORD,
that He may have compassion,
and to our God,
for He will freely pardon.
8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways,”
declares the LORD.
9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so My ways are higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts...




Monday, July 10, 2023

I Am a Master of Excuse

This excerpt from the message below moved me to tears...
Oh! that this would be my true ambition.

Christian contentment
is the direct fruit
of having no higher ambition
than to belong to the Lord
and to be entirely
at His disposal.

Alistair Begg


  


I am a master of excuse and pious coquetry
I fit finely inside replies of I and my and me
I am far, far too readily induced to compensate
For second miles I’d rather not suffer; the cost too great
I rise to meet the day and pray, then forget easily
That I can do all I can do through Christ who strengthens me

For when I repent and believe I am ‘mine own’ no more
But ought to be devoted to the Saviour I adore
And ought to be, with every gifted breath and day, content
Because by grace I have been saved; the temple veil is rent
And I, invited to boldly approach the throne of grace
Will receive grace and mercy to supply each need I face

I am a wretch; yet Christ loves with an everlasting love
By His divine power He fits me for Heaven above
Therefore I have no boast but this; the blood of Jesus Christ
Who broke the curse of sin and death through Himself, sacrificed
For I, a master of excuse, who forgets easily
That I can do all I can do through Christ who strengthens me

© Janet Martin

Gal.2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, 
but Christ lives in me. 
The life I now live in the body, 
I live by faith in the Son of God, 
who loved me and gave himself for me.

Phil.4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Rom.7:24-25
O wretched man that I am! 
Who will deliver me from this body of death? 
 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!








Monday, March 1, 2021

Come To Jesus

 Come to Jesus - Chris Rice


One scandal after another after another...
One we are all a part of; Sin
We all need Jesus

So when they continued asking him, 
he lifted up himself, and said unto them, 
He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her.

Matthew 1:21
She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, 
because He will save His people from their sins."

Acts 4:12
Salvation is found in no one else, 
for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind 
by which we must be saved."

Come to Jesus, 
Full forgiveness 
Waits the sinner to immerse 
Come to Jesus 
He releases 
Condemnation’s 
Woeful curse 

What is man 
But bent and broken 
‘neath a debt of guilt and shame 
Come to Jesus 
Mercy frees us 
There is hope in Jesus’ Name 

Come to Jesus 
Heavy-laden 
Come to love that will not fail 
Lay down dread 
And regret’s burden 
Death and hell will not prevail 

Let the rivers 
Of salvation 
In scarlet redemption flow 
There is no more 
Condemnation 
To sinner’s washed white as snow 

Come to Jesus 
He receives us 
Without prejudice and blame 
Come to Jesus 
Trust His promise 
‘to pardon is why He came’ 

Do not let the 
Lies of evil 
Keep you bound by doubt’s dark hour 
This is but 
The blight of Eden 
Seeking who he may devour 

Come to Jesus 
Rock of ages 
Anchoring the storm-tossed Soul
Come to Jesus 
He will save us 
Only faith can make us whole 

© Janet Martin 







Thursday, November 19, 2020

We Are All a Little Candle

 




We are all a little like a candlestick 
Potential, dark and brittle until someone lights the wick 
No matter how pretty or polished, the taper or jar 
We are just a knick-knack till we shine right where we are 

God instilled in everyone a little candlestick 
Oh, won’t you hold it up to Him and let Him light the wick? 
Then whether it’s a song, a smile, a bit of poetry 
We can brighten someone’s mile by shining cheerfully 


© Janet Martin






Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Light of Eternity


 Gorgeous break of day...
May we proceed in the Light of eternity!
John 12:46
I am come a light into the world, 
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

As we navigate nuances of what has never been
As we exchange what we bear witness to, for the Unseen
As we begin another day on life’s highway, pray we
Proceed with conscience keen in the light of eternity

As we face what is waiting let the grace of God instill
More than futile debating, but dependence on His will
The taper of today is like a candle on the sea
A sallow halo hinged to the light of eternity

As we draw closer to the shore where only souls dismount
And we approach the solemn bar where we will give account
Help us, oh God to trek this sod with awed solemnity
Until hope’s flame is snuffed by the Light of eternity
  

© Janet Martin






Monday, June 24, 2019

Hard-fought Victory

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. 
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, 
how great is that darkness!
Matt.6:23


Sometimes Mondays feel like its 'back to the boxing ring', right?!
Punch, jab, kick, goes life... 
hard to be eager for what a new week holds if ill-equipped!


Life/love is full of hard-aches, some beyond our control and some Self-inflicted😒🙃

Hard to see the beauty if the charge of Duty blinds
Hard to feel Hope’s gladness if the weight of worry binds
Hard to hear the music over noise of greed or fear
Hard to smell the roses if we never pause, my dear

Hard, hard to be happy if we serve the lord of self
Hard to know the truth if God’s word sits upon a shelf
Hard to taste life’s sweetness yet harbor a bitter grudge
Hard to love our neighbour if first we decide to judge

Hard to walk in Light where Guilt looks for the dark to hide
Hard to truly love if heart of hearts is filled with pride
Hard to help the needy with hands full of miser’s blood
Hard to find peace in this wicked, old world without God

© Janet Martin


Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Mighty Metamorphosis or Torch-bearer


 I have a little book entitled Passages of Kindness; 
This quote is on the back cover ...


 A kind word is a treasure we can all afford


The kind word that you said to me
Shaped today’s gray into a smile
So I could brighten up and be
The light to someone else’s mile
And they in turn took heart and held
The hand of someone down and out
Where torch-and-burden-bearers meld
Into what love is all about

© Janet Martin