Showing posts with label discernment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discernment. Show all posts

Monday, October 23, 2023

Of First Glances




If all was as pure as fall-morning's delight when earth is dipped in frost
First glance could indulge its appetite without ever weighing the cost

But Guile preys on First Glance, it seems, to captivate its prey
 Then test the quests that Want esteems with very subtle sway

 For all is not pure as fall-morn's delight, when earth is dipped in frost
Where first glance indulges its appetite without ever weighing the cost




At first glance, Guile seems to tick the right boxes
A fine façade can play tricks on the eye
But oh, my dear, be on guard for sly foxes
Tickling Thought’s tendrils of reason awry

Study the fruit of the tree, trace its branches
Past the entrancing sigh of wind through leaves
Past the impressions offered to first glances
Past the distraction attraction achieves

Guile, though it smiles, is still, just a smooth-talker
Sin, clothed in lamb’s wool does not make it pure
Vice, masquerading as Nice, is a mocker
Tempting gullible first glance with its lure

…that seems at First-Glance to tick the right boxes
Making us second guess That Still Small Voice
Whispering, ‘Oh! be aware of sly foxes
Teasing Thought’s tendrils of reason to Choice

© Janet Martin







When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food 
and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, 
she took some and ate it. 
Gen.3:6

Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, 
our vineyards that are in bloom.
Song of Solomon 2:15



 

Friday, March 11, 2022

Post-Eden Post-Calvary Pre-Eternity

Inspired in part by a world washed white with snow...

after yesterday's sunshine, blue skies and robin songs!



But mostly inspired by today's devotion...

Above devotion from the book
Morning by Morning Daily Devotional Readings by Charles Spurgeon

Gen3:1
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field 
which the LORD God had made. 
And he said unto the woman, 
Yea, hath God said, 
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Sin wields its will with wily art
To ease us into apathy
Unless we stand on solemn guard
We cannot fight the enemy
Or recognize ravenous wolves
Clothed cunningly in sheep’s disguise
Or war against the hiss that pulls
Its crafty wool over our eyes

Sin wants perpetrators to wink
At what should cause us agony
Deception hoists its sparkling drink
Without a care for Calvary
It soothes the sacred prick of guilt
And woos the conscience with excuse
It drowns the groans where Pardon spilt
With pleasure’s lure and laughter’s ruse

Sin is the foe, though hard to tell
It masquerades as friend to all
Sin decorates the road to hell
With what keeps us comfortable
No caution signs to notify
The crowd that throngs the downward slope
Ah, who will save them from the lie
That scorns the cross and Living Hope

Sin blinds half-seekers to the truth
The Tempter, a most subtil beast
Preys on the innocence of youth
It bribes desire with a feast
Without the whole armor of God
Not one would stand a fighting chance
Fooled by hell’s beguiling façade
And frauds that foster ignorance

Sin, surely sin has cursed us all
Its fruit, so pleasing to the eye
We ate and partook of the Fall
That caused the Son of God to die
But Death could not contain I Am
The victory it could not win
Sin could not taint the sinless Lamb
He rose triumphant over sin

Sin wields its weapons, but take heart
The blood of Christ cleanses its stain
And we can thwart its evil dart
If we on solemn guard remain
After we repent and believe
The Holy Spirit we receive
Will aid if we for aid implore

© Janet Martin

Matthew 10:16
Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves;
 therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

2 Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, 
your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.





Wednesday, March 2, 2022

When People Fight...


Today's Daily Bread scripture reading
evoked tears, of both sorrow and joy!
Sorrow, because we seem to be a world at war with each other;
Family against family
brother against brother in the church.
citizens against the government
country against country,

Joy, because of the everlasting richness, rightness
and faithfulness of God and His Word!
The end is near.
Hallelujah!

Today's Scripture reading;

1 Pet.4:7-11
The end of all things is near. 
Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.
 8 Above all, love each other deeply, 
because love covers over a multitude of sins.
 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 
10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,
 as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 
11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. 
If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, 
so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. 
To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. 
Amen.




When people fight, we lose sight of the bigger picture, oh
The power and the glory of the One who loves us so
He came to die so you and I, when we have run life’s race
Are saved from death and hell because He saved us by His grace

When people fight, we lose sight of our universal need
Repentance and deliverance from sin’s inherent seed
Through Jesus Christ, sin’s sacrifice, once and for all became
Salvation that cannot be found in any other Name

When people fight, we lose sight of the love that Jesus taught
Or seek a city yet to come, from Calvary unfurled
And therefore, we do not wage war with weapons of this world

When people fight we lose sight of Redemption’s crimson tide
The Lamb we led, with thorn-crowned head that we all crucified
Cried out,’ Father, forgive them for they know not what they do’
Oh God, forgive us when we miss the big picture of You

Forbid we meet you Jesus, with Your blood still on our Hands
Because we didn't repent and obey love's Great Commands
Forbid we, without thought of how we ought to love and live
Reject You, Son of God who came to redeem and forgive   

© Janet Martin

How true, oh, how true we are seeing Jesus' warning: Matt. 10:34-39

Christ Brings Division
34“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. 
I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 
35For I have come to ‘set[j] a man against his father
, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 
36and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 
37He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. 
And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 
38And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
  39He who finds his life will lose it, 
and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

morning by morning above the chaos
the heavens declare the glory of God
and the skies proclaim the work of His hands!
Ps.19:1



Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Wisdom's Magnum Opus

 

'We should not ask whether 'The Thing' on its own is Good or Bad,
 Dad would caution us when teaching discernment,
 'because a Thing/action is always hinged to where it leads. 
After the ripple effect is studied you will have your answer
about whether a Thing is good or bad.'


Have I always heeded Wisdom's Magnum Opus?
Sadly, no. Sometimes I allow the sparkle of the splash to blind me!


Ripple-effects of recompense
Should cause us to be ‘ware
And consider the consequence
Action is bound to bear

Discernment delves deeper than mere
-ly breadth of pebble-throw
It contemplates the scope and sphere
Of how far ripples flow

Love looks beyond the present-tense
And sparkle of the splash
To where ripples of recompense
Are surely bound to wash

The path to Aftermath is scarred
By vain apology
Because of ripples that we barred
From our periphery


© Janet Martin

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Balance-beams of Beauty and Happiness




The wrong and right of choice compels keen conscience to beware
Where height and light of hope dispels the dark depths of despair

The shawl of self-pity we clutch can turn into a noose
The fall that follows pride and such leaves egos less footloose

Longing can drain wishing-wells dry if we forget to pray
Sometimes the tear that dims the eye washes the cloud away

How subtle is the certain sum that habits will ingrain
The way we are is the outcome of thoughts we entertain

Hard to feel crappy if we concentrate on thankfulness
To make others happy is the secret to happiness

…and happiness if often noisy, messy, sticky, sweet
A room where boys and girls dash through with dream-worlds in their feet

Richer are we content with less than much wanting for more
Where without words we all confess who we are living for

Where without human kindness nothing else is worth our while
And beauty is its finest in the showcase of a smile

© Janet Martin



Saturday, December 28, 2019

Of Large Estate


Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch at the door of my lips.
Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing
or take part in works of wickedness
with men who do iniquity;
let me not feast on their delicacies.
Let the righteous man strike me;
let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion.
It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it.
For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked. 
Psalm 141:3-5 





Lord, set a watch before, behind
With measure sound and stout
That large estate of heart and mind
So volatile without

For as a man thinks so he is
The mouth speaks from the heart
These establish the genesis
Of all that we impart

Then help us to hunger and thirst
After Your righteousness
Though spirit wills the flesh is cursed
With inherent weakness

....where pride always precedes the fall 
As we prove with vain jest
That without Your love we are all
Deplorable at best

Make us unwise in our own eyes
Forbid we walk by sight  
Help us to humbly recognize
How much we need your Light

…and how we need a watch designed
By Whom all things are known
The large estate of heart and mind
So cunning on its own

© Janet Martin

 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.
Prov.3:7

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:...
Prov.23:7

 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil?
 For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Matt.12:34

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Free Reign/Rein




 PAD Challenge day 17: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Free (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

When thought breaks bounds of order and is given full, free rein/reign
It finds our greatest weakness glaring like a crack of light
The lure of feeling’s fancy trolls a dark and dangerous vein
Craving's belly growls with an insatiable appetite

When want, the author of Excuse’s Fine Soliloquy
Stamps longing with approval, driving discernment amuck
The mastermind of mayhem, dressed in fool’s-gold finery
Seduces us with images of opulence and luck

When thought, ungoverned roams footloose and feckless as the dust
It leads us into places even angels fear to tread
The idle mind, a playground for the lawlessness of lust
The hunger in its hollow raving mad, though fed and fed

When thought, not taken captive wanders where it should not go
It falls prey to the enemy bent on ruin and loss
Where we all would be finished, but for He who loves us so
And guards thought through subjection to the power of the cross

© Janet Martin


 The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world.
 Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
 We tear down arguments, and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God;
and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Cor.10:4-5