It's Not What But Who You Know...

Do you know He who delights us with awe, indescribable

Gold and crimson candelabras splashed on vistas, autumnal...

Heavens, wild with glints of glory where faith waits sight's recompense

Earth’s sin-ruined Eden roaring with Relentless Evidence...

This quote “It’s not what you know but who you know”

was mentioned the other day during my Old Stone Farm House visit;

in regard, to how good connections can be invaluable when undertaking a project!

It's so beneficial to know 'the right person who knows the right person for the job' etc.!

When Jesus came to this earth He was fully human and fully God

and no matter who we know, no matter how great and talented

and helpful, it never can compare to knowing He

 who gifts and grants our abilities and talents,

and who worked the greatest work of all; our soul-salvation!

Do you know Him; 

the Saviour of the soul,

the King of kings 

and Lord of Lords?

Do you long to know Him better?

I do, and we can, each time we open His Word

and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us!

Eph.1:17-21

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

 the glorious Father, may give you (us) the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation,

 so that you (we) may know him better. 

18 I pray that the eyes of your (our) heart/s may be enlightened 

in order that you (we) may know the hope to which he has called you, (us)

the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

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, 

21 far above all rule and authority, 

power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, 

not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

“THAT'S MY KING!” EXTENDED VERSION - S. M LOCKRIDGE 1970's

John 1:1 ESV

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

and we have seen his glory,

glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Do you know the One who orders earth’s four-season carousel

He who rends night’s starry heavens with daybreak, unstoppable

He who instills seed-sized kernels with bounty of harvest-hymn

He who created and knows us with a love that will not dim

Do you know He who delights us with awe, indescribable

Gold and crimson candelabras splashed on vistas, autumnal

Heavens, wild with glints of glory where faith waits sight's recompense

Earth’s sin-ruined Eden roaring with Relentless Evidence

Do you know He who so loved us that He bore the sinner’s rod

He who paid our debt with His blood; the begotten Son of God

He who shattered Satan’s scheming, bridging death and hell’s dark rift

The Light of the world who longs for all to receive His grace-gift

Do you know the One who grants us strength beyond all human scope

He who is to every mortal, unchanging, immortal hope

He whose mercy none can fathom, whose compassion none can drain

He whose loving kindness forgives, over and over again

Do You know Him; I AM, who is without beginning or end

Builder and Ruler of Zion desires to be our Friend

He who stuns the eye with seeing and the ear with nature’s lay

He who melts hard hearts, embittered by the troubles of the day

Do you know Him, love Him, trust Him, fear , revere, His Holy Word

To You long to know Him better with devotion undeterred

Do you fix your eyes on a prize beyond this brief, (grief) broken world

For someday on clouds of Heaven, all will see I AM unfurled

© Janet Martin

It was one of those so-beautiful-it-hurt sunrises ...

Foretaste of Forever

Because this is the week leading up to Canada's Thanksgiving Weekend

I've been pondering various angles and expressions

of true thanks-living...

1 Tim.4:1-11

Now the Spirit [a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,

giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods

which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

4 For every creature of God is good,

and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;

5 for it is [b]sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

6 If you instruct the brethren in these things,

you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ,

nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine

which you have carefully followed.

7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.

8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things,

having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.

10 For to this end [c]we both labor and suffer reproach,

because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men,

especially of those who believe.

11 These things command and teach.

Here it is again!!

God's renewed mercy! 

Lam.3:22-23

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Thank-you, thank-you, Lord

May Thy renewed mercy 

kindle faith's renewed delight!

***

Not with begrudging acquiescence

Or forced generosity

May more than pious performance

Emulate sincerity

Not to soothe heart-parts still stony

By fulfilling duty's bid

Or to balance testimony

On an ‘invisible grid’

Nor for the sake of appearance

Earning holy brownie-points

Through meticulous adherence

To religious do's and don'ts   

But with unpretentious pleasure

And with unaffected praise

Storing treasure over treasure

Beyond mortal’s measured gaze

With devotion’s willing labor

May life's unfeigned gladness be

To love God first, then by neighbor

Because of God’s love for me

May Motive's earnest endeavor

With genuine fervor brim

In earth’s foretaste of forever

Bringing all glory to Him

© Janet Martin

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

(Precious) Pearl-Storm...

Once more, moments, like precious pearls, mete morning’s gilt-edged gauze... 

Once more, moments, like precious pearls, mete morning’s gilt-edged gauze

Fresh opportunity unfurls its thunderous applause

For better or for worse, dawn’s river rushes earth and sky

Where we will bless or curse the Giver by how we reply

And we will surely influence some soul we touch today

With kindness or indifference, by what we do and say

Soon blush and bronze of daybreak dons workaday shoes and hues

Moment-pearls spill and roll and bounce through prayers, hopes, dreams and dues

Through thought, through lips and fingertips, pearl-pulsed payoff impends

As time’s fleet treasure-measure slips to profound dividends

A wonder-storm of glints and swirls; we groan and grin and gasp

Ah, life; a subsequence of pearls that glimmer through our grasp

Before the torrential downpour of moment-pearls subsides

And silence tempers the uproar of morn-to-eventides

Let’s live as if today were love’s final pearl-spending spree

Before God unveils troves that prove the heart's fidelity

Let’s pay more earnest heed to the accounting that awaits

Our words and deeds when life’s precious moment-pearl-storm abates

© Janet Martin

Luke 12:34
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Today's workaday shoes are about to get gloriously garden-dirty!😊

In Keeping (With the Name That We Confess)

Ps.116:15

Precious in the sight of the LORD 

Is the death of His saints.

No dark and hopeless misery

where parting's tender teardrops fall;

the death of faithful saints must be

the sweetest sorrow-joy of all

...because farewell is not the end

but simply 'till we meet again'

Yesterday, the author of this book

The God Who Is Real,

...laid his beloved wife to rest.

  (mentioned in July on this post)

Finished!

 Faithful to the end! 

What a testimony!

Her example of devotion to her Saviour,

her ministry and heart's desire that all, young and old

would come to a saving faith in Jesus,

compels us to reevaluate/examine our own witness,

and whether it is in keeping with the Name that we confess!

Because far more than merely memories made/left behind by how we live

Our words and deeds compose the 'personal account' we will give...

Rom.14:12

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

The funeral service was opened with this beautiful hymn

Blessed Assurance

She truly, truly did live this command of Jesus...

Matt.5:16

Let your light so shine before men, 

that they may see your good works 

and glorify your Father in heaven.

In keeping with the Name that we confess

(The only name by which man can be saved)

In keeping with the hope and righteousness

Accomplished in the cross that Jesus braved

May the fruit that our labour achieves

Be in keeping with the gift faith receives

In keeping with the everlasting Word

God speaks to us through Jesus Christ, His Son

In keeping with the gospel, we have heard

How Jesus gave His life for everyone

…when we repent, pray the life we begin

Is in keeping with His Spirit within

In keeping with the joy still set before

That sustains faith’s diligence to endure

In keeping with the Saviour we adore

Because in Him our future is secure

Believing this, then may all we embrace

Be in kind keeping with God’s saving grace

…so by the light of love others may see

The love of God and glorify His name

Through glad, good deeds of true humility

We will not bring the love of God to shame

But, in keeping with the Name above all

Walk in a manner worthy of His call

© Janet Martin

Rom.10:8-12

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”

(that is, the word of faith which we preach):

9that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus

and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, 

you will be saved.

10For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,

and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek,

for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.

13For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Eph.4:1-3

As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk 

in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:

 2with all humility and gentleness, 

with patience, bearing with one another in love,

 3and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit

 through the bond of peace.

Heb.1:1-3

On many past occasions and in many different ways,

God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.

2But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son,a

whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature,

upholding all things by His powerful word.

After He had provided purification for sins,

He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

A Little Ink Reminder...

Life/love is poetry

waiting to be written...

Some days poem-possibility is like fruit, ripe for harvest and preserving,

...other days require (soul)-searching!

Ps.139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.

...but every poet does well to remember Who bestows the ink

then, to be diligent and conscientious in our reply!

***

The troubles of this world could drain the poet’s pen of verse

Its weight of care could crush the lyric-spring within the heart

But what doth it profit a man to clench a fist and curse

When all it takes is each of us to do our willing part

To make this world a kinder place for our fellowman

To help each other weather trouble’s trouble while we can

The poet’s charge is more than ink-caper to paper pressed

But rather, an attempt to keep us wonderfully awed

A page can capture beauty, like a cloud by pink caressed

To replay when the day grows dark and we start to doubt God

Poetry preserves pictures long after seasons have set

So we remember tinctures we might otherwise forget

…the laughter after it has passed, the once-upon-childhood

Before the way time flies teaches the fledgling how to fly

It gentles bitter aftermath of love misunderstood

As the whisper of God compels the poet to reply

And rally us to be more humbly glad for me-‘n-you

Remembering who we will answer to when life is through

The trouble of this world will always be; the poet knows

The pen is mightier than sword; font is a holy thing

For the sacred longevity of written word bestows

Accountability for all touched by its rendering

Thus, before thought entrusts its erring tendencies to ink

The poet ought to ask the Author of Love how to think

The troubles of this world could drain the poet’s pen of rhyme

Its weight of care could crush the raring rush to write and write

Without the One whose replenishes joy, time after time

And overflows the wellspring of the heart with sheer delight

To share without exception, every hymn that frets to spill

And follow the direction of the Hand that lets the quill

...where the trouble that groans is never greater than His grace

Though pleasure/measure of a poem cannot erase creature-care

Like a soft kiss upon the cheek, a handshake or embrace

A poem can kindle a smile, a tear, a song, a prayer

To cheer each other on with kindness and humility

A little ink-reminder of God, spilled in poetry  

© Janet Martin

Happy September Saturday!

The Driving Force of Love...

Vain, ah vain is love's façade

We try to maintain, without God

Futile, futile, its driving force

Until we recognize love's Source

It is impossible to deny God yet claim to love...

1 John 4:7

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

 Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

 

The 'brutal honesty' of the book

  My Utmost for His Highest' by Oswald Chambers

leaves no stone unturned in life's journey,

(after we have confessed the name of Jesus)

often challenging the reader with realizations of what 

we may try to gloss over or ignore!!!

These below are no exception!

The driving force of love challenges you and I

Because its evidence will prove love cannot tell a lie

Though noise of bluff and boast can put on quite a show

Who we love and honour the most is bound to overflow

Into life’s daily grind of want and sacrifice

The driving force of love will find a way to pay the price

….for love comes with a cost that love alone pursues

Love is no thoughtless penny tossed with nothing much to lose

Oh no, love always takes to give; this is the part

That will reveal, by how we live, whose love reigns in the heart

© Janet Martin

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, 

the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—

is not of the Father but is of the world. 

17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; 

but he who does the will of God abides forever.

2 Tim.3:1-5

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

 2For men will be lovers of themselves,

 lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, 

disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3unloving,

 [b]unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, 

brutal, despisers of good, 

4traitors, headstrong, haughty, 

lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

 5having a form of godliness but denying its power.

 And from such people turn away!

Give Me Jesus-Fernando Ortega

 

A Very Personal Thing (Life's Labour of Love)

 Happy Labour Day!

Some fruits of labor/harvest are easy to recognize...

like onions!

Some harvests are far more subtle, 

so subtle, in fact, that if we are not careful/prayerful

we might trick ourselves into thinking (for better or worse)

 they will be forgotten!

1 Cor.15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren,

be steadfast, immovable,

always abounding in the work of the Lord,

knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

***

As much as we are able we may encourage and influence each other

as we labor and love side by side, until the Great Divide.

Then, 'each of us will give an account of himself to God.' Rom.14:12

***

2 John 1:8-9

Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have worked for

,a but that you may be fully rewarded.

9Anyone who runs ahead without remaining in the teaching of Christ

does not have God. Whoever remains in His teaching

has both the Father and the Son.

***

None can be and none can do

(Not you for me or me for you)

Though we need each other, none

Can work out our salvation

None can smooth talk into place

The fruit of God’s saving grace

It is personal; the laud

Between living soul and God

None can learn God’s word for me

Nor my prayer’s substitute be

Faith’s relationship maintained

Is not, by default sustained

Each, by thought and deed will prove

Who or what we dearly love

Thus, life's account each will bring

Is a most personal thing

None can thwart what is at stake

Through the choices that we make

For how we influence who

By all that we say and do

Each, in our own hand will bring

(A very personal thing)

Before He who is not mocked

Love-letters of how we walked

© Janet Martin

We'll Work Till Jesus Comes...

 

1. O land of rest, for thee I sigh!
   When will the moment come
   When I shall lay my armor by
   And dwell in peace at home?
   • Refrain:
     We’ll work till Jesus comes,
     We’ll work till Jesus comes,
     We’ll work till Jesus comes,
     And we’ll be gathered home.
2. No tranquil joys on earth I know,
   No peaceful, shelt’ring dome;
   This world’s a wilderness of woe,
   This world is not my home.
3. To Jesus Christ I fled for rest;
   He bade me cease to roam,
   And lean for comfort on His breast
   Till He conduct me home.
4. I sought at once my Savior’s side;
   No more my steps shall roam;
   With Him I’ll brave death’s chilling tide
   And reach my heav’nly home.

Faithfulness's Fitness/Litmus Test (or All For Christ)

Today's song and poem, a very personal challenge!!

Ps.130:1-4

Out of the depths

I cry to You, O LORD!

2O Lord, hear my voice;

let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy.

3If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities,

then who, O Lord, could stand?

4But with You there is forgiveness,

so that You may be feared.

I Surrender All

 

Invitation Medley-Anthem Lights

Oh, am I ready to be hated as I take a steadfast stand

When sinfulness is celebrated without fear for God’s command

Am I equipped with the Full Armor, (that without, none can endure)

Where an unscrupulous charmer tosses many a lovely lure

Am I prepared to be reviled, rejected, ridiculed, loathed, jeered

When discernment is unbeguiled, because God’s precepts are revered

Am I willing to be accused falsely, yet answer not a word

While I am spit upon, abused, will love suffer long, for my Lord

Am I careful to leave unspoken trendy, empty sentiment

And where my will is still unbroken, am I willing to be bent?

Am I devoted to God's calling for His glory, by His grace

Ready to face the Enthralling Exodus from Fleeting Chase 

Am I committed to take up the cross of Christ with heart and limb

Ready, no matter what the cost, self-sacrificed, to follow Him

Am I hungry for His kind favor rather than the world’s applause

And vigilant of my behaviour in accordance with His laws/cause

Am I longing to be to be like Him, challenged and misunderstood

Knowing, for all who truly love Him, God works out all things for good

Oh, am I ready to portray Him, with faith all but Jesus-blind

To humbly love and obey Him with all heart, soul, strength and mind

© Janet Martin

1 Cor.1:18

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,

but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Eph.5:1-17

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, 

an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, 

let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 

4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, 

which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 

5 For [a]this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man,

 who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things

 the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 

7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.

Walk in Light

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 

Walk as children of light 

9 (for the fruit of the [b]Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 

10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,

 but rather [c]expose them. 

12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 

13 But all things that are [d]exposed are made manifest by the light,

 for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says:

“Awake, you who sleep,

Arise from the dead,

And Christ will give you light.”

Walk in Wisdom

15 See then that you walk [e]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 

16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is...

Let no One Deceive You...Part 1

 

Part 2

The Serious Business of Fruit

A fruit grower works hard to produce good fruit.

They consider the climate, the soil, the fertilizer and pruning, etc.!

We enjoy the fruit of their labour. 

Yum!!

(right now it's peaches!)

We can talk all we like, but talk is not fruit!

and unless it jibes with our walk, it's a lot of wind!

Jer.17:10

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

How we live is serious business

The tree is known by its fruit

Talk is but wind tossing branches

‘Walk’ inaugurates the root

With what ‘talk ‘cannot refute

Who we love most is no secret

The voice of choice, loud and clear

The fruit of the tree will prove it

…who we most love and revere

Love is serious business, dear

Wisdom and folly bear witness

As harvest yields what was sown

Life and love are serious business

Because when the tree is grown

By the fruit the tree is known

"Let's address the heart of matters

And cut to the final goal

 Before time's hour-glass shatters

Before the tree bares the Soul

Where the fruit will tell the whole" 

© Janet Martin

Luke 6:43-45

A Tree and Its Fruit

(Matthew 7:15–23; Matthew 12:33–37)

43No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles. 45The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Preserving fruit from the garden grants lots of listening-opportunity, 

to be challenged and encouraged in our own fruit-bearing...

below are a few favorites from the past week!

Obedience: Evidence of a Strong Foundation (Part 1 of 2) - 08/07/23

Obedience: Evidence of a Strong Foundation (Part 2 of 2) - 08/08/23

 

one excerpt-

The church does not baptize on the assurance of faith; 

it baptizes on the profession of faith!

1 John 1:5-7

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, 

that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

  6If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, 

we lie and do not practice the truth. 

7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, 

we have fellowship with one another, 

and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Amazing Grace

The longing of the human heart is actually, 

ultimately a longing to know God

and be known by God, and

the solid joys and the lasting treasures

are only found in God

and only found in God's revelation of Himself in Jesus!

and only enjoyed by those who are prepared to say

'nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to the cross I cling'

- excerpt from the ending of the above message

Gift-Unwrapping Onus

Ps.78:4&6-7

We will not hide them from their children,

Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,

And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done....

...That the generation to come might know them,

The children who would be born,

That they may arise and declare them to their children,

7That they may set their hope in God,

And not forget the works of God,

But keep His commandments;...

Tug gently where dawn’s coral tulle

Gilt-edged, dissolves night’s crepuscule

Where mercy’s kind pledge is renewed

To author humble gratitude

Tread softly where a shadow-world

Beneath each sunrise is unfurled

Dawn’s wrapping paper falls away

Granting a gift, we call Today

Touch kindly its fugitive lease

Cherish it with love, joy and peace

Take time to pray-smile-sing, to sit

And worship the Giver of it

Tend wisely, what is given thee

And live as if today could be

The Gift that flings ajar The Door

Between time and Forevermore

© Janet Martin