Showing posts with label Christian Living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Living. Show all posts

Monday, March 18, 2024

A Love Beyond Compare

One of my Sunday School students presented this artwork to me yesterday;
a picture she drew (with permission😇) while listening to the lesson!
I love my class of smart, beautiful, eager, full-of-potential school-girls!
Thank-you K.S.


My earnest prayer for all our Sunday School students,
is that the Holy Spirit would begin to waken and nurture,
as we gather weekly, (and as weeks turn into years,)
not just a belief in God but a love for God.
That they would get more than an education in Bible stories and facts,
but that the plan and gift of salvation would begin to unfold
a lifelong awe, reverence and wonder for God's love and grace!
Will you join me in praying too?!
They are little for such a very little time!
I also pray that we, their teachers, parents and grandparents 
live pure and humble testimonies
of genuine love for the Saviour of our souls
and the Lord of our lives!

***
Matthew 5:16 - Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works, 
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

***
Let's live love over and above
What Duty delegates
Let's love God, wonderfully awed
By His goodness and grace

Let's live aware of eyes that care-
fully watch every move 
Where actions shout and leave no doubt
About who we most love

Let's live a life of joy, not strife
Let's pay most earnest heed
To what we sow, because we know
Soon fruit follows the seed 

Soon innocence will climb time's fence
And leave childhood behind
Let's live love over and above
With every child in mind 

Before the heart grows hard, let's start
To plant, with tender care
Awareness of God's wondrous love:
A love beyond compare 

Janet~


Ephesians 5:1-2
 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 
 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,
 a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Monday Medley of Meditations


There's nothing quite like love's heartaches to remind us
of the Living Hope found in the Healer of the human heart
and rouse reflections on how our own lives reflect

Saturday night awed hearts with art
only God can orchestrate/accomplish!






So did Sunday morning!!!
(after a 'sheepish' snowfall overnight.
It was a bit like walking on fleece; soft and soundless)





By the grace God has given me, 
I laid a foundation as an expert builder, 
and someone else is building on it. 
But each one must be careful how he builds.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you:
 Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, 
but think of yourself with sober judgment, 
according to the measure of faith God has given you.

***

Oh, self-inflicted agony
Oh, cruel way to live
Clinging to hate's hostility
Unwilling to forgive

Oh, what an awful way to face
A new day, mercy kissed
Greeting the goodness of God's grace
Not with praise, but raised fist

Oh, pray we do not waste each chance
To love each other, for
Today is like a gift God grants
To love Him more and more

How much we love Him, none can hide
Love's language plain to see 
By how freely self is denied
In light of Calvary

© Janet Martin 

***

We never will get it quite right
Human nature is bound to err
Better to forgive than to fight
Better to be kind than to swear

Or wield a vengeful, verbal knife
Darkening thought with bitter darts
Better to hold the gift of life
In gentle hands and thankful hearts

How futile, the vile mastermind
That plots ways to retaliate
Better to be patient and kind
Better to love, my dear, than hate

© Janet Martin

***

When All That Remains Is What Was...

We pass this way but once, my love
How long the way will be
Until the soul slips from its glove
No one can know or see

Thus, we do well to live each day
As if it were the last
To cheer each other on life's way
Ere death's shadow is cast 

...and all that remains is What Was
With those we leave behind
Pray, life's echoes are sweet because
They are gentle and kind 

© Janet Martin

Every test God allows in our lives is but an opportunity
to yield to and trust
and to bring Him glory!!







Monday, March 11, 2024

How To Replenish Love's Delight...



“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord”
 (Romans 12:11).

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart,
 for God has already approved what you do.

Above, a few verses from a few Daily Bread devotionals I missed on the weekend
because we were away for a bit!

Great verses to contemplate as we begin a new week!


May your week be as sweet as a Krispy Kreme donut!
(One of our stops)



It's easy to be filled with delight while savoring donuts,
but life/love isn't always as soft and sweet as a fresh donut, is it?!
If it was we would become fat and foolish,
sluggish and selfish!

James 1:2-4 BSB
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, 
when you encounter trials of many kinds, 
3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
 4Allow perseverance to finish its work, 
so that you may be mature and complete, 
not lacking anything.

To overcome despair
Is to replenish love's delight
Through faithful, thankful prayer

Is to fix our eyes
On He whose hope elates
Whose grace made possible the prize
That faith anticipates 

Is to count our joys
Rather than our woes
Is to seize what each morn deploys
And dusk draws to a close

Is to choose what is right
And forgive fellowman
And in each flight from morn to night
To do the best we can

Because God gave His best
Because He loves us so
To dwell on this renews the zest/quest
No care can overthrow

Because when we believe
We walk by faith, not sight
And as we trust we will receive
Love's replenished delight

Janet Martin

Jer.17:7
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
 whose confidence is in him.

Psalm 40:4
Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, 
who has not turned to the proud, 
nor to those who lapse into falsehood.



Saturday, March 2, 2024

Perfect Satisfaction (because we all seek to be satisfied)


Every life is a testament, not only
of how much God loves us,
but of how much we love Him!

Photo:  Yesterday's Bake-Apple Crumble Tarts and Scottish Coconut and Jam Tarts
Today's bake (plan): Butter tarts!


I am currently working at a 'tart buffet' as part of a meal
next Wednesday evening 
for all our youth, junior youth and kid's zone ministry leaders at church; approx. 50!
Isn't it a wonderful blessing to be able to serve those who serve others
with a delicious 'encouragement/appreciation' meal once a month?!

BTW!! this was not my initial reaction of 'love'! (insert blush)
My first thought, I am ashamed to say was 'why? all this work/fuss etc.
 when they could all grab a bite before their meeting?!!
It would be SO much easier...
There are so many things faulty with the above attitude😓
hence, the need for confession.
Then to top it off,  I was thoroughly convicted by a conversation from/with
 an ancient Brother Lawrence from the 1600's!


I ordered this little book to tag on a few dollars 
so I would qualify for free shipping!
I am only on the second conversation and have been utterly
encouraged and convicted/corrected in my often carnal tendencies...




We all seek to be satisfied
The world, a big buffet
Of tempting fruit cajoling pride
With ‘did God really say?’

So much to see and touch and taste
What vast fields Choice deploys
Soon yielding either worth or waste
In Want’s pursuit of joys

What fickle ventures we afford
What futile wish and whim
We chase, until we love the Lord
And yield our hearts/lives to Him

Then, come what may, bitter or sweet
When love for God prevails
We find a life of joy complete
Because love never fails

We all seek to be satisfied
God’s grace, a grand buffet
Of hope the world cannot provide
Or ever take away

The more we love the Lord, the less
We want of lesser things
As we embrace/enjoy the happiness
Only loving God brings

© Janet Martin

1 Thessalonians 3:12
And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow
 with love for one another and for everyone else, 
just as our love for you overflows,

Philippians 1:9
And this is my prayer: 
that your love may abound more and more
 in knowledge and depth of insight,


Last night as our youngest daughter's little
'blue bug' puttered away I prayed a special blessing on her and all the
fellow-workers who serve/minister to our precious youth!

We are obligated to thank God for you all the time,
 brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, 
and your love for one another is increasing.


1 Thessalonians 4:1
Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus 
to live in a way that is pleasing to God,
 just as you have received from us. 
This is how you already live, 
so you should do so all the more.

Friday, January 26, 2024

Perseverance Perspective...


First perseverance, 
then the prize!
Sometimes we forget 
and want the Prize now!




James 1:2-8
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a
whenever you face trials of many kinds, 
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature 
and complete, not lacking anything.
 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God,
 who gives generously to all without finding fault, 
and it will be given to you.
 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, 
because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea,
 blown and tossed by the wind.
 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

The testing of our faith produces perseverance!
I used to subconsciously equate the word 'testing' with physical trials
such as sickness, death, natural disasters etc.
but in the phrase 'trials of many kinds' one I had not considered
until perhaps the past few years,
and one that has many once confessed believers denying their faith,
is the fact that because our minds cannot explain or reconcile
God's thoughts and ways and commands
 (whether in the Old Testament or
 in this age of love and holiness misunderstood)
disillusionment/confusion/anger forsakes faith
rather than letting the test produce perseverance.

Heb.6:11
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.

God doesn't meet us on our terms.
We meet Him on His, laid out ever-so-changelessly
and perfectly in His Word,
Let's pray for a more humble faith, 

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus 
and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, 
remembering you in my prayers.
 17 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. 
18 I 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, 
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 
That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted
 when he raised Christ from the dead 
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

That sin seems still to test the faith of many!
Lord, help us hate the sinfulness of sin (in so many subtle forms).
Lord, help us to look on You,  soberly and thankfully remembering
 what You suffered on our behalf to save us from sin's penalty!
Forgive us if we should forget!



Forgive us, Lord, when we forget
And wise in our own eyes debate
Thy love and righteousness and fret
At the prerequisites of faith;
'the substance of hope, unashamed
the evidence of Things Unseen'
Believing all You have proclaimed
And trusting You to intervene

Where often love misunderstood
Could kindle a fault-finding rue 
Remind us You work for the good
Of all who put their trust in You
The Promise, yet with humble hearts
Being assured, they still believed

Forgive us Lord, when we neglect
To see the sinfulness of sin
And thus, unconsciously reject
Thy loving, still, small Voice within
Forgive us when we minimize
The bloodstained cross of Calvary
And far to often fail to prize
The price You paid to set us free 

Forgive us when we, with proud thought
Contest Your higher thoughts and ways
And dare to grumble at our lot
Rather than lifting hymns of praise
And should faith tremble in the gale
Of tests and troubles that must be
Remind us, this is but the veil
Faith's Last Gasp rends, then we will see
(*the riches of the glorious inheritance)

© Janet Martin





Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Where Unholy Thoughts Could Play...

Ps.86:5&10-13

For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving,
rich in loving devotion to all who call on You...

...For You are great and perform wonders;
You alone are God.
11Teach me Your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in Your truth.
Give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear Your name.
12I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify Your name forever.
13For great is Your loving devotion to me;
You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.

A few glimpses at what helped to inspire today's poem...







Lord, where unholy thoughts could play
And tempt ‘the good I would’ to stray
Where dark despair could defeat joy
And bait worship with cunning ploy

Where judgement could bar/mar gentle grace
And would make me forget my place
Where pride, could with subtle disguise
Deceive good intention with lies

Where I am often boldly prone
To pursue int’rests of my own
Rather than do the best I can
To encourage my fellowman

Where opportunity abounds
And oft humility confounds
Where self-indulgence could creep in
And blind me to its crafty sin

While excuse grooms its masterpiece
Where unholy thoughts could conceive
A religion of make-believe

Lest by imagination’s whim
The light that I could be grows dim
Lord, let Thy mercy hear my plea
Restore my zeal and love for Thee

Fain and vain is the good I would
Save through the power of Thy blood
Thus, may my utmost longing be
Love’s thankfulness for Christ in me

Lest, where unholy thoughts could play
I slowly, surely go astray
These precious words; how great Thou art

© Janet Martin



An oldie!!



Lyrics by Johnson Oatman, Jr

  1. When storms of life are round me beating,
    When rough the path that I have trod,
    Within my closet door retreating,
    I love to be alone with God.
    • Refrain:
      Alone with God, the world forbidden,
      Alone with God, O blest retreat!
      Alone with God, and in Him hidden,
      To hold with Him communion sweet.
  2. What though the clouds have gathered o’er me?
    What though I’ve passed beneath the rod?
    God’s perfect will there lies before me,
    When I am thus alone with God.
  3. ’Tis there I find new strength for duty,
    As o’er the sands of time I plod;
    I see the king in all His beauty,
    While resting there alone with God.
  4. And when I see the moment nearing
    When I shall sleep beneath the sod,
    When time with me is disappearing,
    I want to be alone with God.

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Fear Versus Love...or, both?!!

When raising children we sometimes refer to the term 'healthy fear'
aka respect for mom and dad's expectations and rules!!
Sometimes dire consequence for disobedience are needed to refresh
'healthy fear'!
 this pleasant moment below was followed up a few hours later by a text...
'please pray for me'
as she grappled with challenges of mothering and disciplining...

 

How often our Heavenly Father also parents/disciplines His children
as we learn to listen/obey...


Today's poem touches on
an inexhaustible topic, 'the fear of the Lord, no fear in love, fear not...'
summed up in one verse...

Eccles. 12:13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God, and keep his commandments:
for this is the whole duty of man.

Job 28:20
“From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?

And He said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord,
that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'"

***
Where is true wisdom Lord,
And righteousness and peace?
How can we know the way to go?
Where does blessing increase?

And where does love begin?
And how is it defined?
How can we purge want’s tainted urge
From heart and soul and mind?

…to seek the things we ought
Ah, where do we begin?
To walk the way we ought, today
Equipped to withstand sin

Oh Lord, forgive my sin
Your kind mercy renew
Open faith’s eyes to recognize
The holiness of You

Then Lord, increase my fear
So blessing may increase
The blessing of goodness and love
And righteousness and peace

Through humble reverence
Refine devotion’s claim
So we may shine with light divine
To glorify Thy name

To know the difference
Twixt fear of God and man
And to pursue with purpose true
The Master of love’s plan

© Janet Martin




"when you turn your back on God you're turning your back on your only hope,
the One who loves you, cares for you and wants the best for you, but
He will not make you follow Him, 
not make you love Him, 
not make you obey Him..."
Excerpt from above message

Below, a-skimming-the-surface of scriptures on the fearing/loving God...

Deut.13:4
You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him,
and keep His commandments and obey His voice;
you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.


Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and turn away from evil.


To fear the LORD is to hate evil;
I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.


In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
And His children will have a place of refuge.
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life
, to depart from the snares of death.


By mercy and truth iniquity is purged:
and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.


As a father pities (has compassion on) his children,
So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Ps.103:13


But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
Ps.103:17


The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever;
the judgments of the LORD are true, being altogether righteous.
Psalm 19:9


The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Psalm 34:7


The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Prov.9:10


The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow His precepts gain rich understanding.


His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.


Luke 23:40
But the other criminal rebuked him.
“Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?


Lu 12:5
But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear:
Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell;
yea, I say unto you, Fear him.


Ac 9:31
Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria,
and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord,
and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.


2Co 5:11
Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men,
but we are made manifest to God;
and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.


Eph 5:21
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
His praise endures forever!

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.


Mal.3:16
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,
And the LORD listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the LORD
And who meditate on His name.






Wednesday, June 14, 2023

(The only) Harvest Worth Gathering

Disclaimer; 
(Today is one of those
'much-easier-writ-than-run/said-than-done' posts)

The older I get the more evident this age-old Bible truth becomes;
Faith's foolproof  evidence is obedience💗
Obedience opens the doors to the extra-ordinary life
every believer may experience.

God's invitation to 'come' is extended to everyone!
All are created by Him, 
and dearly loved by Him:
 nobody is a nobody
and His word is for everybody!!)
Hallelujah!

1 Sam.15:22
So Samuel said: 
“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, 
As in obeying the voice of the LORD? 
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, 
And to heed 
than the fat of rams.

Today's post was inspired in part by a few recent devotions in
My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers 




Oho, what want and woe we sow when we usurp God’s Word with vice
And disregard and oft forego the waiting that His way requires
But oh, what hope and joy and peace rains on altars of sacrifice
As we, with yielded will release the impetus of vain desires

How fraudulent, faith’s holy fight if we reserve the right to ‘I’
How fickle, the compass of sight and logic’s crafty rigmarole
The words we say do not portray the ‘yay’ of love’s utter reply
To trust in God and to obey is the love-language of the soul

For all the change that spills its art through progression’s scarred institute
The proneness of the human heart, no ‘enlightenment’ reinvents
The Tempter’s ‘did God really say’ when eying the forbidden fruit
Still presses us to disobey, blinding us to its consequence

Oh, what sad harvest we commence when we cultivate pious talk
Justifying glossed ignorance, without surrender to God’s way
Oh God, convict us of our sin, lest we become a stumbling block
Oh, work Your miracle within, and make us eager to obey

God’s everlasting Word is true; a light that never beams awry
A Beacon to guide pilgrims through a world that aggrandizes sin
Oho, what blessing we forego when Self is too stubborn to die
Only obedience can sow a harvest worth gathering in

© Janet Martin


 

Jer.17:5-10
This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”

9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

10 “I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”





Thursday, May 25, 2023

Should I, Because of Stubborn Pride (protect a favoured sin)

 Here's My Heart, Lord



Should I, because of stubborn pride, protect a favoured sin,
Unwilling to admit Idolatry. Oh God, I pray
That You would rend rebellion’s veil in this temple of skin
As repentance rouses renewed devotion to obey

Oh Lord, Enlighten the eyes of my heart, transfixed by these;
The knowledge of hope’s calling and the glory of your grace
Protect me from the tempter that taunts me to ‘take mine ease’
Trading redemption’s riches for the enemy’s embrace

Smite me with grief if I defy your goodness with my greed
If I should set a stumbling block before my fellowman
Remind me of Your lifeblood poured out to supply Soul's need 
And open the eyes of my heart to Your wonder again

Oh, do not let me covet what can never satisfy
Do not let me mouth half-confession’s vain and pious prayer
Lord, let the truth of you undo the lacquer of the lie
That glosses over pitfalls that are waiting to ensnare

Should I, because of stubborn pride, protect a favoured sin,
Lord, open up my eyes to weigh sin’s wages with Your gift
Then would You rend rebellion’s veil in this temple of skin
And help me give more earnest heed to Your Word, lest I drift…

© Janet Martin

Inspired in part by Eph.1 NKJV

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Redemption in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He [a]made us accepted in the Beloved.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and [b]prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, [c]both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who[d] is the [e]guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your [f]understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality[g] and [h]power and [i]might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.


Friday, May 5, 2023

Obedience or Not

Obedience or not.
These are the only two options we've got
The consequence of Choice's sum
affects generations to come...

Eph.1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ...



It is not long until Innocence suffers the consequence
of what we do and teach...
God, help us!!
Ah yes! You have!
We have your eternal and abiding Word...

Psalm 119:89-96
Forever, O Lord,
Your word [a]is settled in heaven.
90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; (can I hear a hallelujah!!)
You established the earth, and it [b]abides.
91 They continue this day according to Your ordinances,
For all are Your servants.
92 Unless Your law had been my delight,
I would then have perished in my affliction.
93 I will never forget Your precepts,
For by them You have given me life.
94 I am Yours, save me;
For I have sought Your precepts.
95 The wicked wait for me to destroy me,
But I will [c]consider Your testimonies.
96 I have seen the consummation of all perfection,
But Your commandment is exceedingly broad.


God's love is unconditional but His blessing is not
His blessing is reserved for they who fear and obey God
God sees the heart; futile to dress excuse in noble thread
And boldly break His 'thou shalt not' with proud and unbowed head

The consequence of disobedience without remorse 
And repentance, affects an unfathomable divorce
For God, righteous, gracious and kind is holy, true and just
He never winks at rebels or turns a blind eye to lust 

If we confess our sins, God, rich in mercy will forgive
For He is just and faithful, but not mocked; then how we live
Becomes the proof of who we serve, by what we say and do
We choose One Master; it is impossible to serve two 

God's love is unconditional and steadfast to the end
He will not always tarry, then be wary, fellow-friend
Though, oh, so many fall away, though the wicked increase
They who obey, He blesses with His righteousness and peace

God, help us pay more earnest heed to that which we have heard
So that we do not drift, anchored in Thy eternal word
Help us to trust in You and in the Way that You direct
Rather than lofty logic of unguarded intellect



Janet Martin~

2 Tim.4:1-5
I charge you [a]therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, 
who will judge the living and the dead [b]at His appearing and His kingdom: 
2Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. 
Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 
3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, 
but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, 
they will heap up for themselves teachers; 
4and they will turn their ears away from the truth,
 and be turned aside to fables.
  5But you be watchful in all things, 
endure afflictions, 
do the work of an evangelist, 
fulfill your ministry.

Romans 2:13
for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, 
but the doers of the Law will be justified.

James 4:4-10
You adulteresses!b Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
 Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himselfc an enemy of God.
  5Or do you think the Scripture says without reason 
that the Spiritd He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?
  6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says:
“God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”e
7Submit yourselves, then, to God. 
8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. 
9Grieve, mourn, and weep. 
10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.