Showing posts with label Heavenly Father. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heavenly Father. Show all posts

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Truly Love

Oh, how we love our precious innocent children
who depend on us to honor their innocence 
and teach them what is right
and Who is the one true God!!


Encouraging young parents through 'tough love' 
when training little children reminds us
over and over how parenting our earthly children
reflects a picture of our Heavenly Father as He 'parents' us, doesn't it?!
We sure must test His patience sometimes as we ignore His commands.
What a kind and merciful Father he is!
He took the time to appoint/establish commandments that,
if we obey them will lead to peace and joy!
Sometimes we use 'happiness' as an excuse to bend or break His rules
instead of trusting the love that puts boundaries in place!

Today's scripture reading included the account of Moses
 receiving the Ten Commandments from God...
Imagine what this world would be like if we obeyed them/Him?!


Our Heav’nly Father cares for us: so He sets Ground Rules
And boundaries, to keep in check our bent to being fools
And making deadly choices when temptation’s lure is tossed
To echo 'did God really say’ when innocence was lost
And Eve believed the liar and did eat, and Adam too
One bite began the plight of man that still tests me and you

Our Heav’nly Father cares for us; so, he gave us His Word
A kind, tangible Presence to comfort and undergird
To be a lamp unto our feet in a world dark without
Where logic errs without His Word to vanquish fear and doubt
Where we would stray into the way that seems right but is not
Where the romance of ignorance sets a Death-trap of Thought

Our Heav’nly Father cares for us; He knows that we are prone
So, like all loving parents do, He authors boundaries
To safeguard precious darlings against lurking enemies
Because like children we will never fully understand
The love that cares enough to guard desire with command

Our Heav’nly Father cares for us; He works for our good
How often we do not appreciate Him like we should
And thank him for His steadfast righteousness and truth and grace
To anchor us so that we do not drift from place to place
But embrace the sweet peace we find with awed epiphany
God’s flawless laws and precepts do not bind but set us free

Our Heav’nly Father cares for us; what perfect happiness
To walk, not in the counsel of wicked ungodliness
But in the way where blessing will both console and chastise
Like the tough love of parents who are vigilant and wise
As they train up a child to see choice leads to consequence
And love is only truly love with a commandment-fence

© Janet Martin

Psalm 1:1-5

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the [a]ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he [b]meditates day and night.
3He shall be like a tree
Planted by the [c]rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

4The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.




Thursday, August 18, 2022

Have Pity on Us, Father


He remembers that we are dust.
 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
 For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,
And its place remembers it no more...

Soon all this flourishing flower and field will disappear...
and the plant with all its beauty and vitality will be as it never was!
So too it will be with our bodies, but never the Soul!




Psalm 103:13-18 (NKJV)

As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14 For He [a]knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

So much sorrow in this broken world to
author anguished cries to our Heavenly Daddy...
who remembers we are dust💔

Have pity on us, Daddy
(Thou knowest we are dust)
When we cry to Thee, ‘Abba’
Restore, renew our trust
In Thee, for Thou art able
To do what man cannot
Instill in us a table
Laden with feasts, joy-wrought

For even in our groaning
The joy of Thee abides
Through faith in the atoning
That Calvary provides
The hope of our salvation
Transcends life’s bitter blows
The thorn of tribulation
Cannot defeat The Rose

Thy mercies are eternal
Our numbered days of bloom
May draw from springs supernal
Carved in an empty tomb
Thus, though our frame will perish
As flowers of the field
The Soul with Thee will flourish
When heaven is revealed

Have pity on us, Daddy
Doubt’s dark despair forbid
As we cry to Thee, Abba
Like once dear Jesus did
Kindle in us a vision
When dust its due reclaims
Of hope's tear-stained transition
Instilling faith’s dust-frames

Our Father, (who art) in heaven
Bend Thine ear to our plea
That all may be forgiven
That all humbly fear Thee
And find in Thy compassion
Thy kind comfort to cheer
The Soul, clad in frail fashion
Of dust-knitted veneer 

Ignite in us Thy Presence
 Thou, Friend above all friends
Behold faith's smoking incense
As prayer on prayer ascends 
Until the mortal flower
Fulfills its ordained must
Have pity on us, Father
Remember, we are dust

In Thy name we pray
Amen

© Janet Martin

Hebrews 4:15-16 (BSB)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.
 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,
 so that we may receive mercy and find grace 
to help us in our time of need.







Sunday, July 4, 2021

As We Behold, Face to Face

 

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
 now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1 Cor.13:12


Now we see through faith’s glass darkly
But then, face to face, someday
When the murk of all things earthly
Is dissolved and washed away
Then there will be no more questions
As we, behold with rapt gaze
He who tested Best Intention
With Mercy’s mysterious ways

When this splash of dust is settled
And the ash of days wind-blown
We will no longer be nettled
By the whys of the unknown
Then there will be no more sorrow
As we behold, face to face
Without need to beg or borrow
He who saved us by His grace

He, by whom we are forgiven
Teaches us to trust His Word
While the way twixt earth and heaven
Is like a glass darkly blurred
But then, in death’s sacred barter
When we meet its awesome Yet
As we behold God, our Father
All our longings will be met

© Janet Martin

(and I shall see Him face to face)



Friday, July 3, 2020

In Thee...


  In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; 
let me never be ashamed: 
deliver me in thy righteousness.
Psalm 31:1 KJV


In Thee I put my trust
Though naysayers abound
And many confuse love and lust
And what is holy ground

In Thee hope is secure
Without, all else is vain
In thee faith’s foundation is sure
And death will be my gain

In Thee I fix my gaze
Beyond this broken world
The Fullness of love’s humble praise
Will ever be unfurled

© Janet Martin


Saturday, December 21, 2019

Our Father Who Art in Heaven...


 This poem/prayer was inspired as I prayed for all those who mourn this Christmas! 
(so many hearts are raw with fresh grief and 
so many are learning to live with its tender ache as time goes by)


Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (NIV)
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;(NKJV)
Col. 4:2

Dear Heavenly Father,
May the prayers of your dear children
Surround and bless those who mourn
May the faithful Hope of Heaven
Soothe the stabs from trouble’s thorn
May this ranting, raving mad world
Before gates of grace are sealed
‘ere all prophecy is fulfilled
Look to Jesus, and be healed

peace that passes understanding
Though the storm our vessel tries
Though the tempter is tormenting
Time’s inhabitants with lies
Let it be in us a haven
Make its Source our Strength and Stay
While this swirl of dust is graven
With all that will pass away

Make our hearts a humble altar
Cupped in Living Sacrifice
Remind us, God, you’re our Father
And you bought us with great price
Through the gift of Your Son Jesus
And the curse He overthrew
If we believe you receive us
Making us your children too

Our Father up in Heaven
Let us then hallow Thy name
Through your Gift we are forgiven
None can any merit claim
For the Author of salvation
Gave the very best He had
So that every tribe and nation
Can look up and call you Dad
 
Then as we cry Abba, Father
(For God, oh how oft we slip)
You reach down with tender favour
And restore our fellowship
As You minister in spirit
As You supply our need
Father, we can feel and hear it
Your love, as you intercede
Amen



© Janet Martin 



Instead of devoting ourselves to argument leading to anger,
let us devote ourselves to prayer, leading to worship in spirit and truth!






Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Look To Jesus...


 In case we've become disillusioned or discouraged...
and because devotion/dedication demands disciplined diligence!



Shoulder to lean on and heart of compassion
Mankind’s Redeemer, salvation secure
His thoughts much higher than ours, purely human
He is no liar; His promises sure

He never leaves us though often we grieve Him
Though doubt persuades us to trust what we see
Just like a loving dad cares for His children
He waits to welcome us back tenderly

His…Ear always open to prayers of surrender
His…Forgiveness free at the foot of the cross
His…Love, never-failing, fills service with splendor
His…Hope heals the hurts carved by longing and loss

Then rise to the race set before us to finish
Look unto Jesus as we climb Time’s stairs
Eyes on the Prize; let love’s Highlight diminish

Kneel at the feet bearing scars of rejection
(Now through glass darkly but then face to face)
Look unto Jesus; through His resurrection
Death has no sting; we are saved by His grace

© Janet Martin

I Cor.15: 54-58

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality,
 then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable.
 Always excel in the work of the Lord, 
because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.