Showing posts with label perseverance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label perseverance. Show all posts

Friday, January 26, 2024

Perseverance Perspective...


First perseverance, 
then the prize!
Sometimes we forget 
and want the Prize now!




James 1:2-8
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a
whenever you face trials of many kinds, 
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature 
and complete, not lacking anything.
 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God,
 who gives generously to all without finding fault, 
and it will be given to you.
 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, 
because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea,
 blown and tossed by the wind.
 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

The testing of our faith produces perseverance!
I used to subconsciously equate the word 'testing' with physical trials
such as sickness, death, natural disasters etc.
but in the phrase 'trials of many kinds' one I had not considered
until perhaps the past few years,
and one that has many once confessed believers denying their faith,
is the fact that because our minds cannot explain or reconcile
God's thoughts and ways and commands
 (whether in the Old Testament or
 in this age of love and holiness misunderstood)
disillusionment/confusion/anger forsakes faith
rather than letting the test produce perseverance.

Heb.6:11
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.

God doesn't meet us on our terms.
We meet Him on His, laid out ever-so-changelessly
and perfectly in His Word,
Let's pray for a more humble faith, 

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus 
and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, 
remembering you in my prayers.
 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation,
 so that you may know him better. 
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened 
in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, 
*the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 
19 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,

That sin seems still to test the faith of many!
Lord, help us hate the sinfulness of sin (in so many subtle forms).
Lord, help us to look on You,  soberly and thankfully remembering
 what You suffered on our behalf to save us from sin's penalty!
Forgive us if we should forget!



Forgive us, Lord, when we forget
And wise in our own eyes debate
Thy love and righteousness and fret
At the prerequisites of faith;
'the substance of hope, unashamed
the evidence of Things Unseen'
Believing all You have proclaimed
And trusting You to intervene

Where often love misunderstood
Could kindle a fault-finding rue 
Remind us You work for the good
Of all who put their trust in You
The Promise, yet with humble hearts
Being assured, they still believed

Forgive us Lord, when we neglect
To see the sinfulness of sin
And thus, unconsciously reject
Thy loving, still, small Voice within
Forgive us when we minimize
The bloodstained cross of Calvary
And far to often fail to prize
The price You paid to set us free 

Forgive us when we, with proud thought
Contest Your higher thoughts and ways
And dare to grumble at our lot
Rather than lifting hymns of praise
And should faith tremble in the gale
Of tests and troubles that must be
Remind us, this is but the veil
Faith's Last Gasp rends, then we will see
(*the riches of the glorious inheritance)

© Janet Martin





Monday, July 17, 2023

No Commonplace Charge (is parenting)

Baby is teething and objects loudly to being put down for long...
Mommy is so weary!🙏

...with these two to keep her on her toes (and knees) besides!

I am no longer parenting little children but
I am grand-parenting little children 
which makes the messages below very relevant to my season of life as well!

***

To leave children without principles is
not to make them free but it is to render them helpless





We have within our keeping a very precious charge
of innocence soon reaping the harvest of its guards
no commonplace appointing from God, is parenthood
a baby the anointing of wonder, pure and good 

we have within our caring, besides child's sweet delight
the onus of preparing the soul-dier for the fight
no commonplace employment is the call they bestow
far more than mere enjoyment of watching Soul-dier grow  

we have within our reaching (for such a little time)
wide flung windows of teaching far more than nursery rhyme 
no commonplace vocation to all whom God assigns
the careful cultivation of very tender vines

What a priceless investment; the training of a child
how soon the world's resistance tests with lures, lie-defiled
no commonplace endurance, a parent's prayers outpoured
For wisdom and assurance established in God's Word

we have within our asking a very present Aid
Who tenders with love's tasking, commands to be obeyed
For this is no small gracing, a child, innocence-wrought
But a Soul-dier soon facing life, armed with what was taught  

© Janet Martin
Link to all four messages in this series below




Monday, August 9, 2021

The Poet's Plight-Fight-Fright-Rite/Write



I cringe beneath the critic's eye
Yet crave honest un-flattery
Lest I should run ink-rivers dry
With shadows of half-poetry

I blush to feel them crush the page
Splattered with pieces of my heart
While learning to embrace the wage
As rejection finetunes the art

I laugh and weep, am lost, then found
Drawn from despair's unholy brink
Toward the Holy Parchment Ground
Of a blank page begging for ink

Janet Martin

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Of Weathered 'Would'

 

Weathered wood flaunts fresh foliage...


just as weathered 'would' unfolds fresh faith!

We try to turn the other cheek
To think twice, thrice before we speak
To make the most of More with less
To simplify our happiness

When life holds up to trembling lips
Its Cup of Joy, we savour sips
Where delight and despair compete
To cull a vintage, bittersweet

We work to win a well-earned rest
With good intent we strive for Best
We pray, we till time’s teeming sod
We plant, we wait; no ‘late’ with God

We wage wars twixt wonder and want
We struggle with faith’s feathered font
We try, but every now and then
We trip and need to try again

Inhale deeply, then exhale, slow
One foot forward, ah, here we go
Not crippled by Discipline's rod
But bolstered by the grace of God

From weathered wood/would fresh bud is borne
From Bygone's bloody bars, new morn
From slip and trip's face-planted low
We learn the little that we know

© Janet Martin


Phil.3:12-14
"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; 
but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, 
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Monday, April 5, 2021

To Become a Champion

PAD Challenge day 4: For today's prompt, write an active poem.

I can still hear my mom and gramma encouraging us 
when we were children and ready to quit,
 'deah veah ohaldt, winned'. 
Translation from Pennsylvania Dutch,..
 'the one who keeps on wins!'

Jordan Spieth is living proof!
The one thing he did not do was quit!
'sometimes I shot balls till my hands bled
and nothing seemed to help' said
Jordan Spieth in an interview 





Anyone who follows golf is surely celebrating and rejoicing
with Jordan Spieth, after yesterday's triumph at the Valero Texas Open
  ended a four year victory-drought; his first win in 83 starts!!

Eagle, birdie, bogie, par
What a lot of ways there are
To test confidence and grit
Suffer long and do not quit

Grimace, grumble, grapple, grin
Take a few knocks on the chin
Weep, pray, rant, rave if you must
Slam your club into the dust

Weather heat and wind and rain
Take a deep breath, try again
Perfect drive or bunker-shot
Sometimes high-five, sometimes…not

Sometimes fairway, sometimes rough
Sometimes ace and sometimes duff
There is no way to win but
To keep on with drive-chip-putt

If you want the winner’s cup
Do not, oh, do not give up
This is the only way, son
To become a champion

© Janet Martin


Thursday, October 8, 2020

For All This-A for Effort, Please?

Yesterday This chair 

held a replay of This


because already Little Boy is struggling with this law in all of us...

 For I do not do the good I want to do, 
but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 
Romans 7:19
Read the glorious analysis to the quandary here; 



For all the failures I could count 
In Learning’s stumble-humbled chase 
In the end all seems to amount 
To ‘try again, all by God’s grace’ 

For all the 'bumble-pie' life serves 
Without waiting for ‘seconds please?’ 
I should stagger beneath cruel curves 
If it packed, not lacked calories 

For all the things I thought I knew 
Until life puts it to the test 
Becomes The Thing that draws me to 
My knees with pleas of meek request 

For all the gritty grunts and groans 
That could forge millstones from my tears 
But mercy turns to stepping-stones 
And keeps me from drowning in fears 

For all that at first glance would seem 
To be failure’s shining success 
I pray that God would kindly glean 
An A for effort from its mess 

And save me from would-be despair 
Not by some credit proudly earned 
But by His whisper in my prayer 
For all my spoil, His grace returned 

© Janet Martin 



Saturday, May 2, 2020

Happy Birthday, Matt!

 Happy 22nd Birthday, Matt!
We are so blessed and thankful by the laughter and love you bring to our home!
Whether you're working, working out, laughing and sharing crazy youtube videos,

or discussing life's more serious side,
may God bless and lead you in the year ahead!

The mettle of a runner is not proven at the start
The middle-to-end of the race proves who we are at heart
The most important matter is not how the race began
But how we finish that confirms the measure of a man

Then choose to be strong in the Lord; the power of His might
No matter what may try and test, will fit you for the fight
Do not be wise in your own eyes (for we see but in part)
We walk by faith and not by sight; Trust God with all your heart

Young man, rejoice while you are young but keep one thing in mind
The greatest mark of success is to be honest and kind
For these will bring true happiness through living’s highs and lows
And leave a good example for Small Fellow who follows

Who knows what you must brave before you reach the other side
While fire pulses in your veins with many dreams untried
Remember this, while you are young and feeling fit and fine
The measure of a man is proven at the Finish Line

© Janet Martin



Ecclesiastes 11:9
Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, 
and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. 
Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. 
But know that for all these things 
God will bring you into judgment.
 
Titus 2:6 NKJV
Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded,  

1 Cor.9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run,
 but only one gets the prize? 
Run in such a way as to get the prize.


Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Process of Performance

1 Samuel 2:9
He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness;
 for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

a humorous look at 'anything is possible if we take baby steps'!!😁




Wherever in the calms or qualms of love and life, my dear
That we may find ourselves one thing remains perfectly clear
That where we are is not the measure of one giant leap
But the effect of step by step appointments that we keep

Our feet follow the fearless fellow simply known as Thought
Good and evil compete where what seems hidden soon is not
Then we should take a closer look at hopes and dreams we prize
The mind can be a crook and tries to trick the heart sometimes

How simple seems the left foot right foot choreography
A virile composition of Great Possibility
Where all that is accomplished, great or small for good or ill
Through step by step repetition makes all things possible

Then the conclusion of the matter when faith feels inept
Is but to trust enough to muster courage step by step
For we are always in the midst of the next tallied sum
Where step by step waits to surprise us at how far we’ve come

© Janet Martin

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional touched on a topic I've been contemplating recently...
the outcome of step-by-step

Scripture Reading; 2 Samuel 12:1-14
In northern Thailand, the Wild Boars youth soccer team decided to explore a cave together. After an hour they turned to go back and found that the entrance to the cave was flooded. Rising water pushed them deeper into the cave, day after day, until they were finally trapped more than two miles (four kilometers) inside. When they were heroically rescued two weeks later, many wondered how they had become so hopelessly trapped. Answer: one step at a time.
In Israel, Nathan confronted David for killing his loyal soldier, Uriah. How did the man “after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) become guilty of murder? One step at a time. David didn’t go from zero to murder in one afternoon. He warmed up to it, over time, as one bad decision bled into others. It started with a second glance that turned into a lustful stare. He abused his kingly power by sending for Bathsheba, then tried to cover up her pregnancy by calling her husband home from the front. When Uriah refused to visit his wife while his comrades were at war, David decided he would have to die.
We may not be guilty of murder or trapped in a cave of our own making, but we’re either moving toward Jesus or toward trouble. Big problems don’t develop overnight. They break upon us gradually, one step at a time.
By Mike Wittmer