Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Oh My God, Since Thou Art With Me

When I am tempted to despair
God bids me lean on Him in prayer
There He tramples the enemy
As He whispers His peace to Me


The world may sometimes seem like a different place
 than in 'the good, old days'
 but it isn't really. Evil has always been evil 
and God has always been faithful and good!

1 John 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:
 because greater is he that is in you,
 than he that is in the world.



Ps.18:2
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; 
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; 
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.




Oh my God, since Thou art with me
Thou who givest life its breath
Thou who walked the way to Calv’ry
Thou who bore love’s cross, to/through death
Thou, whom death could never conquer
Thou, whose Name grants hope its goal
Thou, the Victor of grave’s plunder
Thou, the Saviour of the soul
Thou, who satisfies Want’s hunger
Through Thy everlasting word
Thou, who fits us with faith’s armour
Thou, whose will is undeterred
Thou, who orchestrates each season
Thou who numbers all our days
Thou, whose ways transcend our reason
Thou, whose love never betrays
Thou, who never will forsake us
Thou, whose promises secure
Thou, whose favor longs to make us
More like Thee; holy and pure
Oh, my God since Thou art with me
To commune and commandeer
Thou, whose Light transcends death’s valley
What have I to dread or fear?

Oh, my God, since Thou art with me
Thou who suffered for my sin
Thou whose blood out-poured, redeems me
Thou, whose Spirit dwells within
Thou, my Comforter in sorrow
Thou, my fortress, come what may
Thou who bidst me not to borrow
Morrow’s troubles for today
Thou who cheers me in the struggle
Thou, who guards me from despair
Thou, who is my help in trouble
Thou, who hears my earnest prayer
Thou, whose purpose will not falter
Thou whose power will prevail
Thou, who beholds worship’s altar
Thou, whose Ransom will not fail
Thou, who receives my confession
Thou, Forgiver of sin’s shame
Thou, who keeps no record of them
To crush joy with guilt or blame
Thou whose Goodness overwhelms me
Thou whose mercy overrides
Oh my God, since Thou art with me
What have I to need besides?

Oh my God, since Thou art with me
Thou who holds Time in Thy hands
Thou, Cradle of eternity
Thou whose Supreme Say commands 
Thou, whose Provision is perfect
Thou, whose judgments never err
Thou, who is changeless in edict
Whose love is beyond compare 
Thou, who stepped from Heaven's glory
To be sin's Atonement Lamb
Author of Salvation's Story
I AM who I say I AM
King of Kings and Lord of Lords, yet
Thou, Redemption's Once-For-All
Thou, who broke the curse sin beget/begot  
Thou, who saves us from The Fall
Thou, who did not spare His body
But with selfless sympathy
Put on flesh, became nobody
Suffered in all ways, as we
Thou, who rent the veil to ritual 
Thou who saves us by His grace
Oh my God, since Thou art faithful
Who could ever take Thy place? 

© Janet Martin



John 17:3
And this is life eternal, 
that they might know thee the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Psalm 100:5
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting;
 and his truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 93:2
Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

Friday, March 8, 2024

The Best That Boast Can Laud (begins and ends with God)

Happy...Friday?!! Already😅🙏💗

So many sweet photo-op skies this week...
Below, just a few!









Col.1:15-17
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
  16For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
 All things were created through Him and for Him.
17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

All beauty we behold is divinely founded!
without God's mercy and might to hold it in place
it would all fall!

Artists, since the beginning mimic His creation,
all inspiration of God-breathed origin!

My poetic endeavors have been challenged this week
it seems. It flew by in a blink of blessing!

Mon.-Food safety and management course, 

Tues.-grand-sonny visit, appointment, small group gettogether,

Wed. finishing food prep and delivery for event mentioned here 
Thursday-Help my mom with spring-cleaning (forgot camera!!)😭
...and just like that!!! It's Friday!

Today I am prepping food and house 
for our youngest daughter's birthday celebration
on the weekend!
A whole bunch of friends staying over while 
Jim and I stay out😅💝

I began this poem yesterday morning!
The first line fell from Heaven as I stood admiring the sky
while rubbing sleep from my eyes...


Time’s fountain brims with life; it peals from belfries gold and gray
Its showstoppers run rife; God never takes a holiday
The Hand that tunes the tide that ebbs and flows with season-sweeps
Regales the countryside with color, crowned with boundless deeps
The best that boast can laud as brush and pen rush awe’s grandstands
Begins and ends with God; each work of art drawn from His hands

He grants the breathless dance of worship’s unrehearsed requiem
And cheers hope’s countenance with refreshment where mercies stream
In wonders of creation, from the wellspring of his Word
Reasons for celebration overflow and undergird
To kindle exaltation that is incomparable
Salvation’s invitation still extends to one and all

God’s goodness never ceases to thrill the soul that believes
Unrivaled masterpieces humble all mankind achieves
Thus, the best boast can muster as we meditate on This
Are endeavors to trust Him more because of Who He IS
His faultless Influence imparts the best that boast can laud
All art we woo from hands and hearts begins and ends with God

© Janet Martin

Every artist who ever has dipped pen or brush
 into inkwells and paint palettes
draws from scenes cupped and cradled in God's Hands!
Thus every work of art ought to be signed-
By His grace
For His glory!










Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Wake In Me (a Careful Wanting)

 Life is like a flower blooming on the grave that claims it due...



***

I love the group of fellow-believers I gather with
every Tuesday night, to open God's Word together,
to learn, to worship, to meditate on God's goodness and holiness,
 and to challenge and encourage each other in our walk by faith!

***
This morning my devotion included this glorious passage from Titus 3-
(which is kind of a continuance of our focus/discussion last night; 
God's holiness and our response/attitude in return
and our assurance of salvation through His shed blood)

4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,
 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, 
but because of his mercy. 
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,
 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, 
we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
 8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, 
so that those who have trusted in God may be careful 
to devote themselves to doing what is good. 
These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

***

A Prayer...
Wake in me a careful wanting for a heart, humble and true
Shield me from the futile flaunting of the follies of this world
Fill me, through Your word with wonder at the holiness of You
Awe me with the sacred splendor of love’s Majesty unfurled

Show me, oh, my precious Savior, (lest I stray) the way to walk
Let me not forget hope’s favor You suffered at Calvary
Fix my eyes in the direction of the cross You did not balk
Make my life like a reflection of the love that pardoned Me

Let no carnal care consume me with love’s opportunity
Life is like a flower blooming on the grave that claims it due
Thus Lord, wake a careful wanting for more of Your love for me
May it thwart the tempter’s taunting because of my love for You

© Janet Martin



 

Friday, March 1, 2024

New Month's Resolutions

 Happy, happy March! (already?!!)


This winter is flying by and hardly feeling like 'real' winter
with its milder temperatures and lack of snow!
Although last evening wasn't mild!
I almost froze my fingers to get these sunset poses!!!



I had to miss the magnificent, pink finale because I needed to go back inside to thaw my hands!
Note to self: never assume to be fine without mittens no matter how mild a few days earlier was!




May we make today more cheerful by being thankful and kind
And by keeping thought life gentle with fellowman's needs in mind
May we not be blind to beauty's wonder-thund'ring treasure trove
But embrace life's common duties with a glad and grateful love

Pray the Lord's goodness will fill us with joy bursting at the core
Rather than highlights that thrill us then leave us thirsting for more
Pray love’s meek and quiet spirit shields us from frontlines of strife
From lust of the flesh and eye, and dust to dust’s vain pride of life

Behold! each moment-memento brims with opportunity
May we delight in the tempo tuning Today’s symphony
For, sufficient for each hour is God’s glorious grace unfurled
Ah! Nothing can overpower He who overcame the world

May we make today more lovely by the way that we reply
To the Giver; not rude-grumbly, but with humble ‘here am I’
As creation spills our ears full, as dawn sets yon heights ablaze
May we make today more cheerful by joining its hymn of praise

For soon high's noon's full bloom flounders; soon plush petal-mettle yields
To the tug that always counters today with tomorrow's fields
So, before today is gathered into Bygone's works of art
May its moments as they scatter leave a smile in someone's heart

© Janet Martin






For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds;

I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

5How great are Your works, O LORD,

how deep are Your thoughts!

6A senseless man does not know,

and a fool does not understand,

7that though the wicked sprout like grass,

and all evildoers flourish,

they will be forever destroyed.

8But You, O LORD, are exalted forever!





Monday, February 26, 2024

For Your Name's Sake (some sonnets)

You drape the dell with scarves of silver tulle...

You carve the curving course of brook-song hue...

...the earth is full Of the glorious handiwork of You





You drape the dell with scarves of silver tulle
You carve the curving course of brook-song hue
That shimmers out to sea; the earth is full
Of the glorious handiwork of You

You fill and whet the seed that leaps to life
Fruit and flower reply; ah, who are we
That we should doubt Your ways while earth runs rife
With Your mercy, glory and majesty

You stir within the human heart a sense
Of holiness and power undeterred
A Culmination, awesome and immense
That eye has not yet seen nor ear yet heard

Oh Lord, let no path I pursue or take
Be for a lesser cause than Your name’s sake

***

Ps.23:3
...he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

***

You wake and rouse the earth from winter’s clutch
With ways we love and have come to expect
With daffodils and robin trills and such
With plumes and blooms sun-kisses resurrect

You tune four-season’s steadfast carousels
Sun, moon and stars their ordained circuits stay
And never stray; not one planet rebels
Your perfect law and order they obey

Nothing and no one can usurp Your will
Ancient oracles have not slipped your ken
Heaven and earth will not pass away till
Each jot and tittle is fulfilled. Amen

Behold! where autumn’s auburn petals fell
Springtime’s unfailing hallelujahs swell

***

Ps.24:1
The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof;

***

The earth is Yours, and its fulness thereof
The greedy forget this and want for more
Than Your goodness, mercy, kindness and love
Offering wealth that pales this world’s brief store 

Your righteousness and truth are of great price
The wise covet its fortune earnestly
Striving to be a living sacrifice
Lest worship be a show of vanity

You rend the dark; cut mercy’s legions loose
You bend heavens and earth with evidence
Of You; thus, we are all without excuse
When it comes to devotion’s recompense

Dear Lord, whatever life may bring our way
Help us endeavor to trust and obey

***

Ps.103:8
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

***

Compassionate and slow to anger, You
Withhold judgment, but not forever, oh
Someday total accounting will come due
Pity the one who heard You and said 'no'  

You, who held nothing back but gave Yourself
Pity the one who prizes prideful pelf
Above the love that robs death/hell of its claim

Time's four-season circuit spins round and round
Some sense its sacred toll, some scoff and sneer
But someday Time's Veneer will run aground 
And all earth's tribes will mourn with holy fear

Then, hope and grace and faith will be no more
When who we chose to serve settles the score 

© Janet Martin

***
Matt.24:30
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 
and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, 
and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven 
with power and great glory.

***

Behold! where autumn’s auburn petals fell...

Springtime’s unfailing hallelujahs swell





Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Sunrise Symphony

The past few mornings we are being treated
 to being greeted by
much appreciated welkin symphonies
after a long stretch of gloomy daybreaks!


An introduction starts to play from welkin symphonies...



An introduction starts to play from welkin symphonies
It fills the threshold of Today with thrilling harmonies
As melodies of blush and gold unfold the hailing sphere
While we, with rapt’rous gaze behold night’s shadows disappear

We lift our eyes above the stage of trouble’s wage unfurled
To feast upon the music page God hoists above the world
To bow on morning’s grandstand with stutter-uttered ‘oh my’
And join the worship anthems no lyrics can satisfy

Hope celebrates its anchor as pink hallelujahs peal
Joy’s chipped cup runneth over with mercy’s refurbished zeal
Faith transcends fear’s foreboding as welkin symphonies spill
To drown dread’s dismal goading with thunders of ‘peace, be still’

Exaltation’s hymn overflows before our lifted gaze
The introduction crescendos and sets our sights ablaze
Earth and sky’s voices coalesce, they cannot be ignored
In the Beauty of Holiness we worship you, oh LORD

© Janet Martin

Exaltation’s hymn overflows before our lifted gaze
The introduction crescendos and sets our sights/hearts ablaze...

Psalm 96:9
Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.


 

 

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

An Evolving Evaluation (of Evidence)



Today's poem began with a 'blush hush/rush' soon filled with workday noise!
 Happy workday, everyone! 
(and my heart/prayers go out to all who wish they could work and can't)
I hope today's poem grants a splash of joy and good cheer!




This poem kind of evolved with the dissolving of daybreak...
from texts from Young Mother...

...from rumble of industry

 

from not knowing where to begin
to count the ways of Evidence of Him...


all on a backdrop of Mercy's evidence renewed...


Dawn’s blush hush/rush fills with workday noise
Nature’s showcase unveils fresh joys
That none can claim with boastful pride
Where colors of the countryside
Like ever-changing works of art
Amaze the mind and thrill the heart
Evoking a hymn, like a prayer
In praise to One beyond compare
Whose ways we cannot comprehend
Whose faithfulness will never end
Whose Word is trustworthy and true
Whose promises naught can undo

Where, as dawn slips on workday hues/shoes
As industry resumes its dues
And motherhood its sacred charge
As dawn unmoors its teeming barge
How humbly wonderful to know
Whose goodness none can overthrow
Whose hope is sure, whose hand will guide
From break of day to eventide
Where nature’s showcase spills God’s heart
In unparalleled works of art
Where earth and sky declare His name
Inviting/compelling us to do the same

A wealth of wonder waits. Ahoy
Nature’s showcase erupts with joy
We hardly know where to begin
To count the frames, we see God in
Creation’s cradles stream and brim
With countless evidence of Him
Making more pitiful the clod
Who clings to denials of God
Making meeker all who believe
Because of the grace we receive
Making gladder the humbler prayer
To He who knows each creature care

© Janet Martin

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—
his eternal power and divine nature—
have been clearly seen, 
being understood from what has been made, 
so that people are without excuse.

Whose hope is sure, whose hand will guide
From break of day to eventide...