Showing posts with label God's Word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's Word. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Knowledge, Too Wonderful For Me

This morning the news of the second one of our children needing to replace
the transmission on their vehicles, reminds us,
in this world we will have (expensive) trouble...
but we have a faithful Helper in times of need
to trust day by day...

Ps.46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble...


2 Pet.3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge
 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
 To him be glory both now and forever!
 Amen.  



The God who grants countless visual marvels
authors faith's far more awesome and Invisible 
marvels/anchors of the soul!
Hallelujah!

John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. 
In this world you will have trouble. 
But take heart! 
I have overcome the world.”


Knowing that You love us, Lord
Knowing that You keep Your word
Knowing that Your word is true
Anchors our hope in You

Knowing that Your no and yes
Leads in paths of righteousness
Comforts us through trouble’s test
Knowing You know what is best

Knowing, when our own strength fails
Your sufficient grace prevails
Cheers us on from day to day
Knowing that You know the way 

Knowing someday, face to face
Will faith’s darksome glass erase
Helps us in all that we do
To keep our eyes on You

Knowing that You hear and care
For the heart outpoured in prayer
Humbles every word and deed
Knowing You supply our need

Knowing You know every part
Every intent of the heart
The cross suffered by your Son

Knowing, that as we believe
And salvation’s gift receive
Joy will crown this old world's woe
Knowing that You love us so

© Janet Martin

Ps.139:5-6
You hem me in behind and before;
You have laid Your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.








Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Love Song for God's Word


Ps.119:11
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.





Oh, how I love God’s word
His Presence fills each page
His loving kindness undergirds
Faith’s flight, from age to age

He comforts and assures
He leads us in the Way
His everlasting law endures
Come whatsoever may

His goodness, truth and Light
For all faith cannot see
Equips us with power and might
To face the enemy

To recognize sin’s ploy
To guard against the foe
To reaffirm the hope and joy
Only He can bestow

To keep in perfect peace
The mind transfixed on Him
To generate wisdom’s increase
And bid worldly views dim

To bridge the cosmic gap
That else would gape between
To expose the vile tempter’s trap
Alluring and obscene

To tell me of His love
Of mercy’s staff and rod
To caution, correct and reprove
And instill man with God

To rekindle the flame
His gift of grace began
As I uttered the only name
That saves the soul of man

To remind me to trust
He who supplies each need
And counts my numbered days of dust
Tried by doubt, fear and greed

Oh, how I love God’s word
To wake in you and me
A hymn of worship undeterred
For all eternity

His promises sustain
The faith that fain would fail
Save for the Fount nothing can drain
Of love that will prevail

As we, surrounded by
A cloud of witnesses
Commit each desperate heart-cry
To God's kind faithfulness

Where His Voice breaks the bread
That restoreth the soul
Then, as spirit-hunger is fed
Once more faith is made whole

His Word alone provides
Unworldly fellowship
God ministers as man confides
And releases pride’s grip

His Word perfects the prayer
As we learn to be still
To listen, then life’s weight of care
Surrenders to His will

His Word beyond compare
My words inept to tell
The wonders we discover where
His changeless precepts dwell

Stayed anchor when gales sting
When opposing winds seethe
His Word covers me with His wing
And gathers me beneath

To thrill me with His love
To protect me from sin
Led by the soundless thunder of
His still, small voice within

Oh, how I love God’s word
Rich with mercy and grace
To cheer me on and undergird
 Until faith sees His face

© Janet Martin







Friday, July 21, 2023

God's Changeless Promises

This photo is taken from a hill close to my brother and sister-in-law's place
about 10 min. from our house and though I see the view often it NEVER disappoints! 



Psalm 145:13
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
and your dominion endures through all generations. 
The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.

When we are troubled what better, than to kneel at the cross.

Kneel at the Cross-Jim and Jesse

 


For all we wish we could return, beneath life’s testing rod
Tis in life’s challenges we learn the faithfulness of God
In the valley where gloom may try our joy to overthrow
His changeless promises reply, hope and peace to bestow

The beauty and goodness of God abounds, for aye. Amen
Each of His attributes confounds the best of mortal ken
Then, though we do not understand the reason of His thought
His changeless promises command our worship, do they not?

How often in my worry I forget to humbly trust
God is not in a hurry as He tames our willful dust
But plies, with love that will not fail, that which draws us to Him
His changeless promises prevail, beyond our wildest whim

How proud would be our prayer, but for the trial and the tear
But for the creature care that binds us to His listening ear
Then in each sorrow we confide, He whispers as we plead
My changeless promises abide, ah, what more do you need?’

© Janet Martin

Psalm 31:19
Oh, how great is Your goodness, 
Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
 Which You have prepared for those who trust in You 
In the presence of the sons of men!


Saturday, May 20, 2023

If I Should Turn From Thee

1 Tim.4:1 NLT
Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly
 that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith;
 they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said,
“This is a [a]hard saying; who can understand it?”...

...From that time many of His disciples went [d]back
 and walked with Him no more. 
67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, 
“Do you also want to go away?”
68 But Simon Peter answered Him,
 “Lord, to whom shall we go?
 You have the words of eternal life.
 69 Also we have come to believe and know 
that You are the [e]Christ, the Son of the living God.”

How often it hurts pastors, teachers and parents
as wise and true counsel is ignored, scorned 
and heedlessly turned away from!
How much more, our Heavenly Father!!
May we echo the words of Peter if we are tempted
to put our trust in what we see rather than what/Who we know!
 “Lord, to whom shall we go?





To Whom Lord, shall I go
If I should turn from Thee
Whose spirit and life can bestow
The truth that sets me free

Whose blood but Thine atones
From age to age to age
Whose ear but Thine attends the groans
That wrack this mortal cage

In who else can I trust
Without fear or dismay
Whose Word transcends time’s dust-to-dust
And cheers me day by day

Whose purpose will prevail
To crush the enemy
Whose love and justice will not fail
Throughout eternity

Whose law is love but Thine
Who whispers peace to me
Who else laid down his life for mine
With such humility

What can this world afford
But pleasures vain and fleet
What compares to Thy joy, my Lord
Abiding and complete

Then, should I turn from Thee
Lord, where else can I find
A sweeter, surer sympathy
Compassionate and kind

…to heal my broken heart
Whose assurance can ward
Defense against deception’s dart
Without Thy armour, Lord

Who can quench Want’s wild thirst
Or offer Living Bread
Who can save us from this world, cursed
With ignorance and dread

If I should turn from Thee
What can I hope to find
To satisfy the longing plea
Of heart and soul and mind

If I should turn from Thee
Lord, to whom shall I go
To entrust all eternity
Pray, I may never know

© Janet Martin






Monday, May 1, 2023

The Best News the World's Ever Heard

 

This poem was inspired in part by this message
and in part by a broken heart for those
who don't know or simply don't care about
The Best News the World's Ever Heard

"Isn't this the best news the world's ever heard?!!"
Alistair Begg from the message/link below




Here is the best news that the world’s ever heard
Sealed in sacred script of God’s eternal word
That shines in the darkness to give faith insight
To guide and direct, to rebuke and advise
To keen our conscience, lest sin blinds our eyes
To reprove excuses for commands we shirk
To train and equip us for every good work
To walk in a manner worthy of the call
From He who shed his own lifeblood once for all
So, all who believe in Him will never die
Saved from the curse wrought through the serpent’s first lie

Here is the best news that this world’s ever heard
Hope anchored in truth of God’s eternal word
His counsel to help us to trust and obey
To guard us from pitfalls on charming display
Because the law of the Lord is love’s delight
Awe’s sweet meditation by day and by night
To quicken the prayer for bold scorners that laugh
In the face of He who will sift them like chaff
When the day of grace that runs wild through each breath
Is severed as life’s silver cord yields to death
And it is to late to be suddenly stirred
By salvation’s best news this world’s ever heard

© Janet Martin

Psalm 1 KJV
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
 nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; 
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, 
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither;
 and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
 nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: 
but the way of the ungodly shall perish.









Saturday, March 25, 2023

Divine Intervention

The Creator of all we marvel at is our Divine Intervener/Interceder! Hallelujah!






And bind my mind and spirit in chains where doubt and fear rue
And leave me floundering in bogs of misery, guilt-wrought
But for the lifeline of God’s promises, faithful and true (Heb.10:23)

To whisper to the storm-tossed bark, ‘Fear not, for it is I’ (John 6:20,Matt.14:27)



His plan for man’s salvation, (Matt.1:21) for repentance (Mark 1:15) and rebirth  (John3:3)

His prophecy, to conquer death and hell; His victory
Has overthrown the grave because He braved His Father’s will (Luke 22:42)

His all-sufficient grace (2Cor.12:9) to help us to trust and obey (Prov.3:5-6)
His Mighty Hand pierced through with nails; by His wounds we are healed  (Isa.53:5)

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Praise God Forever (for His Word)



Psalm 119 is a glorious collection of reflection
on the beauty and authority of God's Word
(surely the poorest in all the world are those without
the wealth of God's word hidden in their hearts
to both console and convict!)
 
This poem was also somewhat miserably and reluctantly inspired
by the first two lines, but, lest we becomes victims of defeat 
through the lies of the deceiver we plead God's forgiveness,
trust His Word and press on!

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins, 
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

For the times when our stumbles humble us unpleasantly
For days we dread and ways we tread, then regret utterly
For guidance and instruction for the times that we are in
For truth to thwart deception and convict us of our sin
For the greatest love story that mankind has ever heard
To give God all the glory, praise His name, we have His word

For battles with discouragement, worriment, and despair
For eagle-wings of hope, for empowerment in our prayer
For truth, absolute truth, no matter what naysayers tout
For joy unspeakable and for dismal duels with doubt
For Light unto our path to keep faith’s focus undeterred
For reminders of how much God loves us, we have His word

For peace that passes understanding in a world of strife
For earnest exhortation for this very sacred life
For preaching and for teaching, for food for undying souls
For God’s tangible presence, for full armor without holes
For the wondrous depiction of the cross, to keep hearts stirred
To count this world but loss, for this, praise God, we have His Word

For training up a child in the right way that they should go
For wisdom undefiled where man's logic shifts to and fro
For strength to fight the good fight till we lay these bodies down
And obtain pardon's prize of an incorruptible crown
For the constant awareness of sin's debt that was transferred
And suffered by the son of God; for this we have His Word

For fellowship with God until we see Him face to face
For thought, speechlessly awed as we contemplate Mercy’s grace
For company of a great cloud of faithful witnesses
For warning to the proud and for enduring promises
For love’s law of sweetest delight, lest judgement becomes blurred
Until faith becomes sight, oh, praise His name, we have God’s Word

For history and prophecy, for everything we need
For the supreme authority of love and judgment's creed 
For kindness and compassion, for correction and reproof
For order for the decency of both elder and youth
For health and wealth and wonder to comfort and undergird
For this and so much more, praise God forever, for His Word 

© Janet Martin







Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Priceless Exceeding Abundance



So many needs weighed on my heart this morning as I thought of so many who are troubled,
so many suffering in war torn countries around the world, 
so many suffering close to home due to sickness, injuries in accidents 
and hardships due to broken relationships, hardships caused by inflation 
the fragility of the so-called freedom and peace in countries whose leaders
have turned away from God, and the list goes on...
But it is not a hopeless case. 
Quite the opposite. 
We pray to One who is able to do 
'exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, 
according to the power that works in us. 
Unto Him be glory in the church by Jesus throughout all ages, 
world without end, 
amen. 

Above All-Michael W. Smith


The Lord appoints our place
His love anoints our cares
And by the riches of His grace
God’s mercy hears our prayers

His measure of reply
Exceeds abundantly
The want and wish of you and I
On meek and bended knee

Though trial rends faith's glove
May faith, faith’s test transcend
Grounded and rooted in the love
Thought cannot comprehend

With lowliness of heart
(His Spirit’s dwelling place)
May we endeavor to impart
The riches of God’s grace

…so that we may be filled
With the fulness of He
Who helps us, through what He has willed
To proclaim His glory

© Janet Martin

“For Thine is the kingdom, 
and the power, 
and the glory,
forever. 
Amen” 
(KJV—Matt. 6:9-13)





Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Sweet Comfort and Joy



Psalm 139:5
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

In our small group bible/sermon studies through our church, last night
we were contemplating the verse below and how we can be mightily transformed in our
thinking and actions if we truly take God at His word!
Heb.13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, 
because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

In today's Daily Bread Devotion  we are reminded
 that no one knows what will happen!
Life is always full of uncertainties.
God and his Word the one constant certainty!
Hallelujah!





What sweet comfort and joy
Before, behind, beside
A safeguard nothing can destroy
Shields us from evil’s tide

Where, though storms ebb and flow
And oft we weep and groan
What sweet comfort and joy to know
We are never alone

Dear one, do not despair
No matter what betide
God keeps us in His faithful care
Before, behind, beside

No foe can penetrate
The bulwark of His Word
No guard on earth can compensate
For God’s arm undeterred

What He says He will do
His vow is bona fide
He accompanies me and you
Before, behind, beside

Nothing seen can compare
To the peace faith receives
As humble trust turns into prayer
And utterly believes

How near The Unseen draws
As sweet comfort and joy
Transcends The Seen with hope because
Of what none can destroy

© Janet Martin

Isa. 40:28
Do you not know?
 Have you not heard? 
The LORD is the everlasting God, 
the Creator of the ends of the earth. 
He will not grow tired or weary,
 and his understanding no one can fathom.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

The Awful (Terrifying) Truth


Why this poem?!!
Because whoever and wherever we are,
God so loved us that He gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believes in Him
will not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
...and we all need to be reminded
 this sacred prelude, this day of grace
is leading to Forever and ever. either with God
or without!
🙏

We love to think about and praise God for his love, hallelujah!!
but His love would be a mockery
without judgement's wrath against all injustice and evil!

We don't hear the word hell much, used
in the context of its awful truth, do we?
And small wonder! 
There is no more sobering topic in the whole world.
But on the other hand, if this is so,
 why are we so afraid to speak of it
and perhaps snatch someone from a fiery grave?!!
Not everyone goes to Heaven,...
"“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ 
shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."
said Jesus in
Matt.7:21

While we are saved not by works, but by the gift of God's grace
through  His son, Jesus
works will always testify who we truly believe, honour and love above all!




Don’t buff truth with a lie
Don’t sugarcoat hell’s lair
Don’t wink and think the sin will die
Without confession’s prayer

The Word of God is just
And absolute and whole
The Word of God transcends the dust
That clothes the deathless soul

When God joins him and her
Or sever with a signature 
One, turned back into two

Beware, lest lies take root
Be careful lest you fall
The tree will be known by its fruit
God’s Word, infallible

Fall on your knees and pray
The hope God calls us to
Commands us to love and obey
In everything we do

Be on guard where deceit
Gains popularity
Because its laws seem kind and sweet
-er than God’s fixed decree

The Tempter’s cunning guile
Harkens back to that day
When he deceived Eve with a smile

There is a Promised Land
There is a lake of fire
One, for the Faithful to the End
The other for the liar

The want of man will fight
And fight and fight until
He sees God in dawn’s breaking light
And yields his stubborn will

Then, wanting above all
A life that God can bless
By honoring the sacred call
Of holy righteousness

Don’t buff the truth with lies
And think no one can tell
The Word of God does not disguise
The awful truth of hell

There is a way that seems
Right in the eyes of man
Beware, beware, the devil schemes
To seduce all he can

Forbid that we become
Wise in our own eyes
Untroubled by the condition 
Of truth exchanged for lies

It is a fearful thing
To live bold and unbowed
Far worse, the awful reckoning
To die, still cold and proud  

God's grace will intercede
And help us bear the cross
That guards against the lies that lead
To hell and endless loss

Forbid that we become
Emboldened by a lie
Until the conscience becomes numb
To what will never die

© Janet Martin

Luke 16:17-18
It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear 
than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery,
and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.


Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? 
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters,
 nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves,
 nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified,
 you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Rev.20:15
And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.


But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, 
the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars,
 their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, 
which is the second death.”

When we are struggling to know if something is right or wrong
don't ask of someone 'what do you think??'
What we think is irrelevant!
Go to God's word and seek what He commands!


The Hands of God
D.H. Lawrence (1882-1930)

The Hands of God

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
But it is a much more fearful thing to fall out of them.

Did Lucifer fall through knowledge?
oh, then, pity him, pity him that plunge!

Save me, O God, from falling into the ungodly knowledge
of myself as I am without God.
Let me never know, O God
let me never know what I am or should be
when I have fallen out of your hands, the hands of the living God.

That awful and sickening endless sinking, sinking
through the slow, corruptive levels of disintegrative knowledge
when the self has fallen from the hands of God,
and sinks, seething and sinking, corrupt
and sinking still, in depth after depth of disintegrative consciousness
sinking in the endless undoing, the awful katabolism into the abyss!
even of the soul, fallen from the hands of God!

Save me from that, O God!
Let me never know myself apart from the living God!


Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Music To God's Ears

 

James 1:22
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

On Sunday mornings our recent messages
have been from the Book of James.
What a wonderful book full of wise counsel!
(And much to prick every conscience if we care about being more than hearers)

We all have in common the mercy that metes each new day...

and though our callings and circumstances vary...



(some days sweeter, cuter and tastier than others)




...we all are loved and will all give accountant to One God and Father of all.

Ephesians 4:6
One God and Father of all, who is above all, 
and through all, and in you all.


Not hearers only, Lord
Let the law of Thy Word
Be more than grace and truth outpoured
But leaves the heart unstirred

As we hear, Lord, I pray
We heed Thy Spirit’s woo
So everything we do and say
Will bring glory to You

Where love abounds until
Our Self is crucified
Content to trust Thy Word and will
With nothing else beside

If we ask, you will give
If we seek, we will find
If we knock You will come to live
In faith’s heart, soul and mind

Then hope and joy and peace
Become reality
As word and deed yield love’s increase
Not I, but Christ in Me

What music to God's ears
When His children obey
Then He, Who Is The Word appears
In what we do and say 

© Janet Martin

What music to a parents 'ears'/eyes, when we see our children take
loving counsel to heart...
 how ever much more our Heavenly Father!




Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Without (The Word of) God...

This morning I wasn't sure what today's poem would/should be about
till I open God's Word. An inexhaustible wellspring 
of awe and exhortation, 
of love's truth and grace!


Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
John 17:17

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.
Psalm 1:1-2

My soul faints for Your salvation,
But I hope in Your word.
Psalm 119:81

Forever, O Lord,
Your word [n]is settled in heaven.
90Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
Psalm 119:89-90


John 1:1-5




As human nature silences what is pure, noble, good
Opinionated logic becomes wise in its own eyes
We cannot see where we should walk, led by his rod and staff
Nor feel the shadow of his wing cover us with his care
Nor know Him as a Teacher, Comforter, Shepherd and Friend

It is the blade by which the subtil serpent is subdued

Without the Word of God we miss the glory of the Lord
Who are so very broken; we miss divine majesty
The wonder where earth thunders with His ways past finding out
We miss out on the living bread and water, pure and sweet
We miss darling communion with the Saviour of the Soul
 
© Janet Martin
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105

"Is not My word like fire," declares the LORD,
"and like a hammer that smashes a rock?"

There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My words:
The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

Heb.4:11-13
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, 
so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.
13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; 
everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes
 of Him to whom we must give account.…