Holy Tug of War or Holy Harvest

Is there anything quite as thrilling as the sight of a good harvest?!!

Imagine if the harvest was ready and no one came to gather it 

but let it perish in the field!!

Yesterday,  we gathered to pay final respects to a dear aunt.

Don't you agree there is no place on earth as solemn as the graveyard

where we come face to face with the end of all (brevity of) life.

and surely are compelled to evaluate our own lives 

...and souls?!

Between each of us and God is a reconciliation that needs to happen

before our best lives can be lived;

Our lives surrendered to He who gave His life for us!

We are all given a free will!

What we do with that free will

determines the rest.

Yesterday's powerful devotion  re-challenged my own

(and how is it possible that being a living sacrifice

bears the best life of true joy and peace?!)

This is a very sacred between God-and-each-soul discovery!

It seems so very small; invisible to sight

But it can set an obstacle twixt me and God's delight

It masquerades as wise, but is foolish and vile

It rules a fickle roost with eyes and unrepentant guile

It lurks beneath the part that appears commonplace

The habiliment of the heart; scrubbed hands and polished face

It goes from here to there, clad in desire's veneer  

 It mimics the motions of prayer, but without ears to hear 

It strains toward a goad that pleaseth mortal plan 

It takes the 'reliable road' that 'seemeth right to man'

It forfeits faith for fear, and God for human skill 

It is the sad and sorry sphere of my unbroken will

Lord, because You forgive each sin that I confess

I do, once more renewed to live a life of faithfulness 

...because at Calvary You suffered pardon's price

Lord, with redeemed love help me be a living sacrifice 

And should some stubborn streak seek to resist Your Will

Lord, grant me ears to hear You speak, until my voice is still

Until my true delight is in Your perfect law

And what/Who I fought with all my might turns desire to awe 

Ah, holy tug-of-war, till body and soul yield

To He who alone fits us for the mission in His field

Janet Martin

 

Proverbs 21:2

All a man’s ways seem right to him,

but the LORD weighs the heart.

1 Peter 2:11

Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, 

to abstain from the desires of the flesh, 

which war against your soul.

Rescue the Perishing

If The Lord Wills...

Today's devotion, so very fitting for we who are mourning once again!

Our church family is reeling again with the blow

of another sudden loss of one of our family.

Cliff Martin was a friend to my husband, (and me)

both of them life-long truck drivers.

Yesterday morning, for reasons still unknown

Cliff's truck rolled over and he lost his life.

Our hearts are broken for his family

as we lift them to our loving Heavenly Father in prayer.

Will you pray too?

Great is Thy Faithfulness

 

Ps.23:4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

James 4:13-15

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, 

spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” 

14You do not even know what will happen tomorrow!

 What is your life? 

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

15Instead, you ought to say, 

“If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”

(The above verses, since my sister Lucy's sudden death last Sept.

are imprinted on my heart with

every plan I make!!)

If the Lord wills, we will do this or that today. Amen

What peace this precept brings as we face life’s unknowns again

God gives and takes away; life’s day-to-day time’s fleeting nod

Before we go the way of ‘dust-to-dust-and-soul-to-God’

If the Lord wills, we will go here or there today. Amen

We cannot see beyond the very moment we are in

But He who knows our numbered days before one came to be

Unfurls the goodness of His grace for all humanity

To all who trust in Him, He satisfies faith’s deepest needs

The vastness of His mercy thought’s comprehension exceeds

He is with us; He comforts us as we pray once again

‘If the Lord wills, we will do this or that today. Amen’

© Janet Martin

For Those Tears I Died

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. 

Eph.3:20-21

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)

The Choreographer of Life (makes no mistake)

 

A man’s heart plans his way,

But the LORD directs his steps.

Prov. 16:9

Let's admit it; we cannot begin

to understand the One who directs our steps

His timing seems anything but perfect at times, doesn't it?!

All of Our Tomorrows

Time’s momentum of seasons spills to tenderly compose

A steady sequence of quadrilles that keeps us on our toes

The Choreographer of Days, so oft misunderstood

Works through His higher thoughts and ways for our utter good

How often faith’s footwork is tried with grim complexity

Because He is not satisfied with mediocrity

The Choreographer of Moments metes with kind intent

The order of our steps in spite of Dreamer’s argument

A seed thunders with wonders clad in unimpressive hull

Where eye and logic blunders when governed by visual

The Choreographer of summer’s stunning colour-show

Is the same Choreographer when winter’s cold gales blow

Some dancers seem to glide with ease across time’s no return

Some stumble unsure of the piece that He insists they learn

The Choreographer of Seasons sees beyond the dance

Our best, always His Reason for the sequences He grants

Sometimes we judge love based on basis of experience

Rather than trusting He who died for death’s deliverance

So, when His timing seems so wrong, remember, though hearts break

The Choreographer of Life’s Love Song makes no mistake

© Janet Martin

A Very Relevant Reminder

The eyes of the world are on the United States of America

and the impending election.

The eyes of God are over the world.

He is sovereign!

I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.

Psalm 146:2-3

I shared this message before the last election.

I know it's a bit long for a blog-post but

it's a sermon that seems to grow ever more, not less relevant!

Canadians are deeply concerned and connected to what happens 

'south of the border'!

the above is a sermon preached by Peter Marshall  

whose later career included;

In 1937 Marshall became pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. 

In 1946 he was appointed as US Senate Chaplain, 

serving from January 4, 1947 until his sudden death of a heart attack 

just over two years later, at age 46.

Click on the images to enlarge.

 It seems this message preached shortly after 

World War II is even more relevant now than then!
and not only for Americans.
This applies to all of us who value freedom!

The eyes of God are over all

The creature plots or prays

And often gets enamored by

The lie of captured gaze

Freedom's price tag is bathed in blood

The truth that sets us free

Is greater than the belly of

Fleeting mortality 

This is what the Sovereign Lord says

I lay a precious stone

A tested cornerstone for faith

To ever rely on

If we reject the Cornerstone

We spurn He who sustains

Lord, open up blind eyes to Truth

While mercy yet remains

The eyes of You are over all

You are Sovereign and just

Dear Lord, You see beneath flesh-shawl

Whether 'In God We Trust'

 

And as we see the Evidence

Of infidels increase

Enlarge through faith the confidence

That fills us with Your peace

© Janet Martin 

Thy Will...Will Be Done

“Then he placed his right hand on me and said:

 'Do not be afraid. 

I am the First and the Last.'” 

~ Revelation 1:17

A Good Song To Sing At the Top of our lungs

No Matter What...

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:

2 Tim.3:1

This verse should strike a sacred awareness in all of us!

While throngs stampede super-markets preparing for What If,

The Great Inevitable(death) remains exactly where it always has been!

Imagine if we took the same dire efforts to prepare for Certainty 

as we seem to be, for Uncertainty

Thy Majesty sketched on thin air, etched in rock, sand and sea

Thy Deity beyond compare, all else ascribes to Thee

Thy Triune Eternality that none can thwart or trip

Thy Unequivocal Authority and Authorship

Thy Will, will be done, Father, Son and Spirit undeterred

Thy Kingdom never overthrown; nothing alters Thy Word

Thy Mercy new each morning whether we believe or not

Thy Love imbued with warning to take captive every thought

Thy Providence intent upon much more than daily bread

Thy Only Son the One you sent to crush the serpent’s head

Thy Power to proclaim; even death tendered its control

Thy Name above all names alone to save the living soul

Thy Grace sufficient for the day, whatever it may send

Thy Ways omniscient; far too great for man to comprehend

Thy Law supreme and contrary to human nature’s lust

Thy Thought above our arbitrary schemes scratched in the dust

Thy Holiness unspotted though stripped, scourged and crucified

Thy Humility scoffed at by hate’s ignorance and pride

Thy Compassion, it failed not as you cried, ‘Father, forgive’

Thy Ration for Redemption full-supplied; ‘ah, look and live’

Thy Evidence Unrivaled while doubter’s still seek fool’s proof

Thy Word, The Holy Bible, God-breathed infallible Truth

Thy Presence never leaves or forsakes us; then bid fear flee

Surely Thy Goodness follows us until we dwell with Thee

Thy Promises an ample stronghold in this world below

Thy Kindness our example not to return blow for blow

Thy Wisdom better than the choice of much gold’s cold embrace

Thy Whisper the same Voice that spoke Creation into place

Thy Hand (scarred with man's treason) in complete, perfect Command

Thy peace to surpass Reason we will never understand

Thy Hope where Unbelief achieves terrible times foretold

Thy Joy, in spite of utter grief for those outside The Fold

Thy Will, will be done; 'til not one jot or tittle remains

Then

Thy Kingdom, power and glory forever and ever reigns

Amen

© Janet Martin

 “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.  

What can man do to me?  

The Lord is with me; he is my helper.” 

~ Psalm 118:6-7

A Pebble-Prayer For a Giant Care

If God is withholding an answer to your prayer it is an act of pure sovereign love!
~Charles Stanley (Waiting on God's Timing part 2)

 

Lord, I pour out my wants again

You know my wish is great

But you know what I need and when

So Lord, teach me to wait

Lord, I pour out my heart to you

Hope’s hurt tries mortal dust

But what I cannot know, You do

So Lord, teach me to trust

In Your Name,

Amen

© Janet Martin

 1 Samuel 17:45
But David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with a dagger, spear, and sword, 

but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, 

the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

LOVE this poem by George Matheson

Psalm 124:8
Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.