Hope (From He Who transcends Time and Place)

"Have I not commanded you? 

Be strong and courageous.

 Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, 

for the Lord your God will be with you 

wherever you go" 

Joshua 1:9

But now, this is what the LORD says— 

he who created you, Jacob, 

he who formed you, Israel: 

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

 I have summoned you by name;

 you are mine.

Isa.43:1

So do not fear, for I am with you; 

do not be dismayed, for I am your God. 

I will strengthen you and help you; 

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isa.41:10

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: 

for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, 

which shall be to all people.

 Luke 2:10

Hope Has a Name -River Valley Worship

From He who transcends time and place

To we in need of saving grace

Since that first angel-hymn unfurled

Hope penetrates a broken world

Ah! Lift your hearts in praise and prayer

We are not destined to despair

Nor doomed to suffer Satan’s scorn

The Savior of the world is born

Be not afraid, for unto us

A Deliv’rer still comes; Jesus

Then let us too make haste to see

First Bethlehem, then Calvary

Then, let us with hearts humbly awed

Bring gifts of thankfulness to God

For hope transcending time and place

From He who saves us by His grace

© Janet Martin

Deut.11:19

Teach them (God's Words/laws) to your children, 

speaking about them when you sit at home 

and when you walk along the road, 

when you lie down 

and when you get up... 

An Overwhelming Plea...

Without God's word to minister hope to the soul

Monday morning could feel like an

overwhelming weight-lifting exercise!

Thank-you God, for Your indwelling Spirit,

for the glorious riches in Christ Jesus

 to overwhelm our need!

 

In Need

I need You, Lord, Your whisper to bid worry’s tempest cease

To conquer overwhelming dread with overwhelming peace

To comfort overwhelming grief with overwhelming love

To help unbelief with belief this world knows nothing of

I need you, Lord, to quell the fear that seeks faith, to destroy

Love’s overwhelming sorrow cheer with overwhelming joy

And should Your higher ways impart a cross, pride to abase

Lord, overwhelm my wicked heart with overwhelming grace

I need your overwhelming hope to overwhelm despair

Your promises to help me cope through overwhelming prayer

Lest ignorance makes me uncouth and wise in my own eyes

I need Your overwhelming truth to expose Satan’s lies

I need Your Word to overwhelm word-storms of worldly vice

Your overwhelming strength to transform Self to sacrifice

Your overwhelming Light to pierce death-dark veneers of dust

And shatter overwhelming sight with overwhelming trust

I need you, Lord, to overwhelm my overwhelming need

To overwhelm my whelming cry with mercy’s tender creed/reed

Enfold trouble and strife beneath Your overwhelming Wing

And overwhelm me with Your life where death has lost its sting

Hallelujah,

Amen

© Janet Martin

Phil.4:19-20

And my God will supply all your needs

 according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

 20To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. 

Amen.

Gifted Gravity...

 

2 Cor.6:1-2

As God’s fellow workers,a then, we urge you

not to receive God’s grace in vain.

  2For He says:

“In the time of favor I heard you,

and in the day of salvation I helped you.”b

Behold, now is the time of favor;

 now is the day of salvation!

Come to Jesus

Sometimes, sorrow for lost souls

is almost more than hearts can bear,

But love clings to love's sacred sorrow

and turns its tears to prayer on prayer

***

Night’s dark wave on dawn’s shoreline breaks

Shadows are drawn away

A tide of humanity wakes

To face another day

To tread the Sands of Time that brace

A very sacred Verge

Where morning thunders with God’s grace

Where slumbering masses surge

The Preacher cries in Jesus’ Name

‘Awake!’ where footsteps roll

Past gaping graves that soon will tame

The dust, but not the Soul

Alas, the House of Prayer, has turned

Into a den of thieves

The faith that saves obtusely spurned

For a handful of leaves/sheaves

The Son is trodden underfoot

Understanding defiled

Where wrong is right and evil good

Opprobrium runs wild

‘Repent, repent!’ The preacher pleads

While the proud crowds rebel

And poison Innocence with creeds

That lead to death and hell

The ears that hear are far and few

So too, the eyes that see

Yet, morning breaks, and stirs anew

Time’s gifted gravity

Light shines into the dark once more

Hope takes a holy breath

Where Sands of Time compose a shore

That cannot withstand death

Behold, Salvation’s Day unfurled

From greatest to the least

Life cries into a dying world

Dawn spills a mercy-feast

Again, the Patient Preacher takes

Love's post most tenderly

For lost souls, on the verge that breaks

Into eternity

© Janet Martin

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,

 as some understand slowness. 

Instead he is patient with you,

 not wanting anyone to perish, 

but everyone to come to repentance.

Rescue the Perishing

Till Life on Earth Is Through

Each new day overflows

With undefeated worth...

The gladness only God bestows

Undergoes grand rebirth

This time of year our hearts and minds start to turn Christmas-ward!

For the believer in Jesus, it is a glad celebration

 of the Living Hope, joy and peace we cherish every day!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace

 as you trust in him, 

so that you may overflow with hope 

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

We walk by faith, not sight

The joy that we proclaim

By God’s grace, is the chief delight

Of all who love His name

We do not hope in vain

Our God, faithful and true

Abides with us midst fear and pain

Of this world’s fleeting rue

Each new day overflows

With undefeated worth

The gladness only God bestows

Undergoes grand rebirth

As we fix our gaze

On That Which is Unseen

While weathering the wearing ways

Of time that lies between

By faith, reply reveres

The call that we receive

As we treasure God's Word that cheers

All who trust and believe

…while keeping watch, we pray

That faith will remain true

Until the great and glorious day

When life on earth is through

© Janet Martin

Matthew 24:42
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.

Is There Room in your Heart?

Praise Him Praise Hymn

 

Yesterday I enjoyed the sheer delight of being a guest 

at the beautiful home of someone who was a friend,

mainly online, as we connected through mutual loves and interests.

As she took myself and two more guests on a tour through her home, 

filled with so many loving and thoughtful touches that spoke 

so completely to my domestic, love-of-old-things soul...

I felt a little like I was in heaven-on-earth...so happy!

Photos used with permission

The loving hospitality of the hostess

And the face-to-face fellowship of friends was the crowning joy.

Now she is a friend, beyond a computer-screen connection💖

She blogs  here- at Homespun Musings

(Through her latest post  you too

can be a guest of sorts in her beautiful home!)

Yesterday's comfortable visit contrasts sharply with

the love spoken of in my Scripture reading today-Isa. 53;

the ending of that chapter steals my breath every time!!

(and makes me weep for joy to think through Christ alone

my hope, my home in heaven with Him has been secured!)

Yet it pleased the Lord to [q]bruise Him;

He has put Him to grief.

When You make His soul an offering for sin,

He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,

And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

11 [r]He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.

By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,

For He shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,

And He shall divide the [s]spoil with the strong,

Because He poured out His soul unto death,

And He was numbered with the transgressors,

And He bore the sin of many,

And made intercession for the transgressors.

With whatever fills our day, hands, arms, let's praise Him!!

because someday, because of Calvary, all believers

will enjoy face to face fellowship with Him,

though now we see through a glass darkly, then face to face

Praise He, whose relentless goodness is enough to satisfy

He whose tender, loving kindness never dwindles its supply

He whose judgments, just and righteous, ever point to Calvary

He whose agony delights us with the hope that sets us free

Praise the Author of salvation with a broom, a spade, a cart

Praise the Father of creation with a glad and humbled heart

Praise Him for His Word that never lies and never leads astray

He who moves faith’s prayers through frontlines that no enemy can stay

Praise The One who never gives us more than He can help us bear

He whose faithfulness delivers us from evil’s cunning snare

Praise Him with a limp, a stumble, with a flying leap of faith

With croak or voice of an angel, Praise the Lord with every breath

Praise Him in the thick of labor with motives of love alone

Love for God first, then our neighbor, love that makes Satan’s ranks groan

Praise He who, scorned and rejected by His own, disowned, despised

Bore death to be resurrected; for our peace He was chastised

Praise Him with devotion’s stutters; who can worship’s wonder spell?

He who draws us from sin’s gutters and saves us from death and hell

Never leaves us or forsakes us; He, well-versed with grief and loss

For His righteous pleasure breaks us in the shadow of the cross/into the shape of the cross

Breaks the pride that authors error, for the sake of faith’s increase

Takes the fear that authors terror that salvation turns to peace

Then wherever, with whatever tool of trade we wage and wield

Praise the Lord, now and forever, for by His stripes we are healed

© Janet Martin

Hitting-snooze-button accountability-I hit snooze, more than once!!😟

With Groans too Deep For Words

Luke 21:28

Now when these things begin to happen, 

look up and lift up your heads,

 because your redemption draws near.”

We weep and pray for you, 

(With groans too deep for words)

dear, suffering fellow-believers

in Israel, as well as those in many others countries in 

Africa, Europe, and Asia😥💔🙏

Isa.30:18-21

And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, 

and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: 

for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: 

he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; 

when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, 

yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, 

but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, 

when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left...

 The Ancient of Day

The whole earth groans with pain as we wait eagerly

For Thy return and none knows when Redemption’s Day will be

Thy hope has set us free from bondage of decay

The power of the enemy cannot Thy will dismay

Thou, Beginning and End, Thou, The First and the Last

Thou, Heavenly Father and Friend, will hold Thy people fast

Thou, Salvation and Light, quells lurking dreads and fears

In Thee we put our trust; Thy might breaks bows and shatters spears

Greater art Thou in us than evil’s hate unfurled

Futile is the ruckus, of he whose kingdom is this world

This world is not the home of those who trust in Thee

Though waters roar and foam and mountains fall into the sea,

…though kingdoms crumble, oh, and nations rage and moan

You bid us to be still and know that You are God alone

Ancient Fortress and Stay, faithful Ancient of Days

In Thee we put our trust for aye; exalting Thee with praise

Come all, and trust in He Whose Coming We Revere

Stand up and lift your heads and see redemption drawing near

© Janet Martin

Rom.8:18-27

I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us.

  19The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God.

  20For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, 

but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

  21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay 

and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning together

 in the pains of childbirth until the present time.

  23Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, 

groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

  24For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. 

Who hopes for what he can already see? 

25But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.

26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 

For we do not know how we ought to pray, 

but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.

  27And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, 

because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Psalm 46

God Is Our Refuge and Strength

(2 Kings 18:13–16; 2 Chronicles 32:1–8)

For the choirmaster. Of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth.a A song.

1God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in times of trouble.

2Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth is transformed

and the mountains are toppled

into the depths of the seas,

3though their waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake in the surge.

Selah

4There is a river whose streams delight the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5God is within her; she will not be moved.

God will help her when morning dawns.

6Nations rage, kingdoms crumble;

the earth melts when He lifts His voice.

7The LORD of Hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

8Come, see the works of the LORD,

who brings devastation upon the earth.

9He makes wars to cease throughout the earth;

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

He burns the shieldsb in the fire.

10“Be still and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted over the earth.”

11The LORD of Hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

Of Highs and Lows (that life bestows) or Faith's Footpath

So much to rejoice in 

and so much to mourn

This is the battle to

which we are born

But He who made us 

fits us for the fight

Because faith's footpath

Is not walked by sight!

Wishing you a precious sense of His Presence

in the highs and lows that life bestows

Psalm 125:2

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, 

so the LORD surrounds His people, 

both now and forevermore.

Someday the highs and lows that life bestows will turn to mist

The all-consuming here and now will no longer exist

Someday all will reply to a call, none knows when will be

When, in the twinkling of an eye man meets eternity

As final breath eclipses mortal groaning and applause

As moment-let ellipses 

meld into 

A Life That Was

Meanwhile, this day the Lord has made beckons us to rejoice

In mercy’s evidence portrayed where morning lifts its voice

And lays beneath faith’s stumbling steps and agonies of dust

Sufficient grace to help mortal ineptness to entrust

Today’s unknowns to He who knows, who attends and sustains

Through highs and lows 

that life bestows 

as long as time remains

The beauty of the earth is scarred by consequence of sin

The best of man is marred by Adamic natures within

The heart, des’prately wicked, (yet not without hope!!), through He

Who left his throne to pay the debt that sets doomed sinners free

As true repentance and belief receive salvation’s gift

Life's highs and lows 

of joy and grief, 

faith’s footpath through Time’s rift

Someday yon hills will spill with rose gardens that never fade

No ill will mar the thrill of endless day the Lord has made

Someday ‘the way things are’ will cease, in pastures ever-green

We will behold love’s masterpiece with no dark glass between

As we pass through a curtain-close thought cannot comprehend

Someday, when highs and lows 

that life bestows 

come to an end

© Janet Martin

Sweet Recompense

Eph.2:14

For He Himself is our peace...

(Today's poem was inspired by the first line 

in today's Daily Bread Devotion scripture reading)

...and then, the outer fringes of His glory

filled the heavens where 'evidence of things unseen'

grants glimpses of Him!

Jesus is our peace; hell’s gates cannot prevail

Against the Cornerstone that keeps faith anchored in the gale

When we have known the truth, the truth will set us free

No longer owned by sin’s uncouth, lawless captivity

Faith’s crux of things hoped for; of evidence unseen

Anchors the Soul; the Goal more precious than what lies between

The delight of the Lord, no mortal can impart

From the wealth of His Word, He gives desires of the heart

His promises endure, nothing can take the place

Of joy complete; through the assurance of amazing grace

Peace; what sweet recompense when faith has made us whole 

Hell's gates cannot prevail against the Savior of the soul

© Janet Martin

Why, oh, why is it so easy to slip into the snare

of wanting what we see rather than what we know

(if the truth has set us free)

Oh!! Pray it has!

And if it has

oh, pray for all who still do not know the truth!

John 8:32

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Living Hope

Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners

Song by Matthew Smith

Jesus! what a Friend for sinners!

Jesus! Lover of my soul;

Friends may fail me, foes assail me,

He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!

Hallelujah! what a Friend!

Saving, helping, keeping, loving,

He is with me to the end.

Jesus! what a Strength in weakness!

Let me hide myself in Him.

Tempted, tried, and often failing,

He, my Strength, my victory wins.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!

Hallelujah! what a Friend!

Saving, helping, keeping, loving,

He is with me to the end.

Jesus! what a Help in sorrow!

While the billows over me roll,

Even when my heart is breaking,

He, my Comfort, helps my soul.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!

Hallelujah! what a Friend!

Saving, helping, keeping, loving,

He is with me to the end.

Jesus! I do now receive Him,

More than all in Him I find.

He has granted me forgiveness,

I am His, and He is mine.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!

Hallelujah! what a Friend!

Saving, helping, keeping, loving,

He is with me to the end

Hallelujah! what a Savior!

Hallelujah! what a Friend!

Saving, helping, keeping, loving,

He is with me to the end.

Hope's Happiness

Ps.144:15

Happy are the people who are in such a state;
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!

Ps.146:5-6

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

6Who made heaven and earth,

The sea, and all that is in them;

Who keeps truth forever,...

Hope reminds us of a debt owed but God's provision paid

And goads us on to rejoice in this day that He has made

To be a glad bondservant for the Lord of earth and sky

Then, find a kind of happiness no words can quite descry

(from My Utmost For His Highest-Oswald Chambers)

Hope’s hailing happiness endures, though disappointment-vexed

Hope cheers us onward and secures the anchor of the Soul

Beyond the realm of seasons that roll one into the next

Hope draws us to the Reason for its undefeated goal

And hones a humble foothold in the promises of He

Who helps us where new day unfolds whatever waits to be

Hope’s holy happiness delights the heart that trusts in God

Its precious confidence invites, nay, excites us to be

A vessel in His hands; the hands that rule sky, sea and sod

A vessel heeding His commands with unfeigned fealty

To love Him with heart-soul-strength-mind, and neighbour as ourself

As, filled with his Spirit we find the riches of hope’s wealth

Hope’s humble happiness reminds us we have all we need

As tick by tock the clock unwinds tethers of dust-to-dust

As we embark once more upon missions of word and deed

Hope’s sacred summons spurs us on toward the One we trust

Rousing in us renewed distress for vessels still adrift

Unanchored in the happiness of Hope; salvation’s gift

© Janet Martin

The Certainty of Uncertainty

One thing is certain; uncertainty!!

The uncertainty of North America

feels more ominous than ever before

as leaders,

once seeking to be led by God

have been replaced

by leaders who disregard the Christian faith

these countries where founded on!

I was touched by this phrase, 

'the good hand of God'

repeated through the book of Ezra

in the Old Testament, as he viewed 

the ruinous results of rebellion and disobedience, 

when he came to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple...

Oh God, are there yet men of understanding that your good hand will

bring to the high places of our fallen countries, 

Canada and the United States of America?!!

Oh God, for all who seek You and obey your commands Your

good hand is faithful in its guiding and keeping!

Your rod and staff comfort us! (Ps.23)

***

The certainty of uncertainty could cause us to fear

Could rob us of joy’s sweet delight because of dread’s veneer

Could blind us to the blessings where mercy’s fount overflows

Could keep our eyes fixed on the thorns rather than on the Rose

Could oppress us with ominous impressions of despair

Could shackle us beneath anxiety’s burdens of air

Could distract us from promises that anchor hope and trust

Could steal the perfect peace that ought to cheer faith’s frames of dust

The certainty of uncertainty should cause us to pray

And reach for God’s good hand outstretched to lead us day by day

Should make us more aware of He who is Faithful and True

Where come what may, nothing can His perfect purpose undo

© Janet Martin

Rev.19:11

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.

And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True...

Awesome, Awesome Anchor

Lam.3:21-24

Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope;

22 Because of the Lord’s great love 

we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, 

“The Lord is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him.”

With renewed joy our eyes feast on the skies where this morning

the smoke haze has dissipated and we can see clouds!

Oh, the things we take for granted!

Lord, pray we never breeze over Thy bounty of blessings

that anchor the soul!

It crowns the cross of creature care with vision’s from above

It transforms Sense of Duty with the beauty of true love

It fuels faith and kindles prayer and makes our joy complete

It keeps eyes fixed upon a prize beyond time’s one-way street

It fits us with the armor that equips us for the fight

Into the darkest hour gleams its everlasting Light

From fear it gathers courage as it draws us from despair

To comforts us and cheers us in our trek from here to There

It conquers greed and fulfills need and helps love suffer long

It leads in paths of righteousness and feeds souls with its song

It awes us as we realize the cost God sacrificed

To keep us in His perfect peace; it is our hope, through Christ

© Janet Martin

Heb.6:18-20

Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, 

we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. 

It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 

20where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf. 

He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

 1 Peter 1:3 ~ 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

 According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again 

to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Psalm 43:5

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? 

and why art thou disquieted within me?

 hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, 

who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalm 39:7

And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.

Psalm 62:5

Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him.

On Christ, The Solid Rock I Stand

A Mercy-kindled Beckoning

As we approach the throne of  grace may we be reminded to

not grow weary in our prayers for what seems impossible 

(so much sin, sickness and sorrow!) because

... "with God nothing will be impossible.” Luke 1:37

The God that created the world,

The God that parted the Red Sea,

that snowed manna in the wilderness,

that tumbled the walls of Jericho

That closed the mouths of lions,

That walked in the fiery furnace

that walked on the water,

that provided a Spotless Lamb once for all sinners

oh, and as written here in

 John 21:25

Jesus did many other things as well. 

If every one of them were written down, 

I suppose that even the whole world 

would not have room for the books

 that would be written.!

Yes! This God is with us!

He fuels our sometimes-wavering

 faith with unwavering faithfulness!

The great Designer and Creator of heaven and earth is with us!

It trembles in each breath, each smile

It fuels poems, still unpenned

It lures us like a country mile

To see what lies beyond the bend

It helps us greet the day at hand

And God’s replenished grace, with zeal

To return to duty’s demand

And what today waits to reveal

Though veiled, it draws us to pursue

Proposals with hope’s precious urge

Like arms outstretched in welcome to

All who approach its holy verge

That always authors reckoning

From what no one can fully see

Of mercy-kindled beckoning

God-granted Possibility

© Janet Martin

Possibility is a bud,

burgeoning with bloom!