Showing posts with label miracles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miracles. Show all posts

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Miracle-worker


As I prayed about the various uncertainties that life runs rife with
no matter who or where we are, my prayer became a plea
for God to work a miracle of steadfast trust/faith in me.
Many today are hoping for a weather-miracle!!
This morning's weather headlines are no joke,
and we should pay attention!


God's Word is full of warnings too
and we should pay attention!
It is hard to hear Him, isn't it,
without the comfort and caution of His Word in our hearts
to guide, cheer and equip us for the fight of faith!
May the miracle of trust in God's unfailing promises
transform our outlook and attitude!


In all things giving thanks with awed sincerity
Where the framework of circumstance is but the part we see
Oh, pray that in the Must of dust-to-dust’s ado
That God would work a miracle of trust in me and you
With vision undeterred, not to be ruled by fear
But through the power of His Word, to feel God’s presence near
Then, with hope’s strength renewed, oh pray for the increase
Of miracles of gratitude to instill joy and peace

© Janet Martin

...while we do not look at the things which are seen,
 but at the things which are not seen. 
For the things which are seen are temporary, 
but the things which are not seen are eternal.






Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Let's Leave Allowances (for a miracle!)

Due to the explanation here (Poem Tango) I am extending (Love willing)
  the lease on love poetry,
because after all is said and done/won
Love is poetry clamouring to be written!💗😊

This poem applies to marriage or
Love's Common Carriage called 'us'

"Let's keep in mind, storms never stay
the sun will shine again..."

Last week's sunshine-soak-spot😀
(side note; looks like our snow dugout in the background needs digging out!)
Weather is one way of reminding us how swiftly life's landscape can change,
and the only abiding Anchor is Love!

Let’s leave allowances, my love, for fumbles, slips and such 
And smooth out shouted wrinkles with a kinder kind of touch 
Let’s be good friends and not give up where cups of grace ran dry 
Let’s weather life together and give love another try 

Let’s be to one another what we wish others to be 
The golden rule is not a rubric of antiquity 
But is a foolproof principle for people, young and old 
And able to work wonders in a badly broken mold/world 

Let's keep in mind storms never stay, the sun will shine again
Let's not get so caught in the moment we forget the 'Then'
As much as we are able let's soften often harsh tones
And prove that we are grateful by not hurling verbal stones

Let’s forgive one another and release the bitter grudge 
Let love be of sound judgment, then, not quite so quick to judge 
What good is pointing fingers when we all bear part of blame 
Let’s remember Life’s Author and the love from whence we came 

…and leave allowances because we are all learning still 
Then let’s love one another on life’s road, often uphill 
Instead of clenching angry fists let’s join our hands until 
The love of God has worked in us His greatest miracle 

© Janet Martin 

Heb.13:1 NKJV
Let brotherly love continue

or NIV
Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters..



Thursday, December 3, 2020

The Impact of a Whisper

 

When we behold the One at last
On Whom we cast our cares
Then we will stand where Time is past
and thus our need for prayers


Years ago I was at a Charlie Pride Concert.
When he asked for favorites someone requested this song.
He couldn't completely remember it so he asked for the help
of the audience and we sang this song together.




We’ll never know how far they go 
Who they will touch, or where 
Or ever see entirely 
The impact of a prayer 

With trust we plead for humble need 
For love like He portrayed 
For faith, not fear to commandeer 
And be doubt’s barricade 

We pray for those who never chose 
To serve Christ as their Lord 
Oh, how we pray in case today 
Death seals Choice’s reward 

We pray for eyes to realize 
More than first glance can prove 
For strength and health and want for wealth 
Of treasures stored above 

We lift to Him the hearts that brim 
With sorrow and despair 
We ask God for hope to restore 
Joy in spite of life’s care 

We pray for the sick and those quick
To scorn Hope's Only Way
We pray for the poor who need more
From we with more than they

We pray for grace to help us face 
The enemy of God 
To help us bear another’s care 
And thus fulfill love’s law 

The warpath of faith, hope and love
Is stained with suffering
Where warriors wept while Mercy kept
Them sheltered 'neath His wing

We pray that He would help us be
A reflection of Him
And not put first desires cursed
With selfish wish and whim

We whisper pleas to He who sees
Each hard and hidden part
Where groaning bleeds He intercedes
For He beholds the heart

We pray, for oh we’ll never know 
Who they will touch, when, where 
Or see in full the miracle 
That always starts with prayer 

© Janet Martin 

One among many examples of the miracles wrought through prayer!


Peter’s Miraculous Escape From Prison

1It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. 
Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

5So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

6The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

8Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. 
It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. 
When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

11Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches 
and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”

12When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

15“You’re out of your mind,” they told her. 
When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, 
and then he left for another place.

18In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him,
 he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.



Friday, September 6, 2019

Of Miracles, Music and Moments....




Moved by the miracles of bloom and birth from earth’s vast vault of ‘Wow
It makes the commonest of noons feel like a Masterpiece somehow
And turns complaint to Shame-on-Me for who are we but fellowmen
With call to bear each other’s care and make the sad heart glad again

Moved by the music of the rain that thrums the laneway note by note
They pelt then melt in mirror-panes and little lakes where leaf-boats float
Like golden gondolas that seem to drift at ease but tug-tug-tug
Until the Very Thing that Is slips through the grip of hug-hug-hug

Moved by the moment always meting so much more than meets the eye
Something about the clout of clocks makes tick-tock seem more like good-bye
Or is it hello that murmurs like cello-solos through ramparts
Where miracles, music and moments tune the tides that move our hearts

© Janet Martin

Even in the silence we sense the essence of cello-strain...






Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Miracles...

James and I are tremendously touched by all the kind words and prayers, 
and the rejoicing with us after the Dr. told Jim at yesterday's checkup 'everything looks really good'. 
His next check-up will be in 6 mos. instead of 3!
We continue to pray for those who are rejoicing with us, while bearing heavy personal crosses!

  


I’ve seen those rejoice with those who rejoice
While standing in shards of their own broken dreams
I’ve heard the music of heaven; its voice
Caught in the homage of tear-tender streams

I’ve walked ‘longside someone walking with me
Bent lower than I by the cross on their backs
I’ve felt the favor of being set free
God’s love, the filler in a love full of cracks

© Janet Martin

Monday, May 28, 2018

The Miracle

 The other Saturday the world watched, 
and in a small way we felt like part of The Royal Wedding!


Have you believed, testified your faith publicly, been baptized?
 Has there been a seat reserved for you in the Great Wedding Banquet with the King of kings
and Lord of lords in a castle not made with hands?



If yes, praise the Lord who has wrought a miracle in you,
(the gift of salvation is the saving, NOT the baptism!
Baptism is the outward sign of the inward 'miracle')

if  your answer is'no', I pray you will come to the place where you too will
"confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord 
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, 
(and) you will be saved." Rom.10:9
I pray you will experience The Miracle still waiting to happen
before the call; Behold, the Bridegroom comes!"

He is no stuntman who performs
The fete that shapes Time’s day to day
He gives and takes away at Will
The storm and calm His Voice obey
Nor does He freely save a soul
Just to create a spectacle
But when our faith has made us whole
Ah, Faith precedes The Miracle

Futile to try to explain faith
To one who has no faith or fear
Of He who hung the stars in space
And if we ask Him, He draws near
But when belief unveils the love
Of Mercy’s Divine oracle
Then faith in Unseen is enough
As faith precedes The Miracle

He does not strut across the sky
To prove his existence and such
He waits and waits for you and I
To hear His voice, to feel His touch
A Touch that heals a void within
And no one else can ever fill
As we repent He forgives sin
For faith precedes The Miracle

© Janet Martin

 Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
Luke 17:19

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” After Jesus had entered the house, the blind men came to Him. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” He asked. “Yes, Lord,” they answered. Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.”…
Matt.9:27-29


Hebrews 11 
(I was going to pick the best verses of this chapter to share; it turns out they are ALL best verses!)

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  
 This is what the ancients were commended for. 
 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, 
so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. 
By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. 
And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death:
 “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”
For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.  
 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.
By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, 
obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  
And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.  And so from this one man, 
and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky 
and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,  
admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  
If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. 
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. 
He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,  
even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."  
Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, 
and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, 
and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt
 and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, 
because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  
He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God 
rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.  
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, 
because he was looking ahead to his reward.  
 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; 
he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.  
By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, 
so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; 
but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies,
 was not killed with those who were disobedient.
 And what more shall I say?
 I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, 
about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith 
conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; 
who shut the mouths of lions,  
quenched the fury of the flames,
 and escaped the edge of the sword; 
whose weakness was turned to strength; 
and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.  
Women received back their dead, raised to life again. 
There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released 
so that they might gain an even better resurrection.  
Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  
They were put to death by stoning;
they were sawed in two; 
they were killed by the sword. 
They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—  
the world was not worthy of them. 
They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 
since God had planned something better for us 
so that only together with us would they be made perfect.