Faith's Sacred Enrollment

Through what lies behind

we are being prepared

for what lies ahead!

***

Regret has but one merit;

to learn from it

***

God cares for each of us beyond our wildest comprehension;

and invites us to cast our cares on Him!

Why do I/we often attempt to shoulder care

as if He didn't care?!!

***

What great fun and frustration, as we cheer on

our favourite teams, for better or worse!

When we put our faith in God

we become part of a 'team'

whose 'Coach' puts us through drills we often don't recognize

unless/until they produce His desire's sacred result;

a more humbly prayerful people.

Oh Lord, we give thee thanks

Whatever comes our way

May circumstance unveil the ranks

That teaches us to pray

...that tutors hope and trust

Though sorrow's throes increase

As we surrender what we must

You fill us with your peace

Lord, nothing is too hard

For You to will and do

Where the deceiver preys, you guard

The heart, humble and true

And should we stumble, still

You do not turn away

But with the shards of broken will

You teach us how to pray

Oh Lord, kindly renew

Our courage through your love

Help us to wholly lean on You

The wellspring of Enough 

For we know no true loss

Whatever comes our way

As long as You command/commend the cross 

That teaches us to pray

To wallow in regret

Is futile; Lord, pray we

Will learn from the mistakes that set

More sorry sights on Thee 

Forgiver of our sin

Help us as You prepare

The sacred drills faith enrolls in; 

Today's lessons in prayer

Our faith ought never be

In throne-rooms of this world

Lord, open eyes of faith to see

Your mighty Hand unfurled

Then, as a soldier/soul-dier true

Whatever comes our way

 Help us to put our trust in You

Who teaches us to pray

Your strength, through weakness gleams

In grief, Your comfort cheers

From the ash-heaps of broken dreams

We cry; Your kindness hears

And bends to bind the ill

That comes through creature care

That tests us with love's best until

We lean on You in prayer

 

 © Janet Martin 

Prov.3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; 

and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 In all thy ways acknowledge him,

 and he shall direct thy paths.

Lord, Teach Us How to Pray Aright 

Save This...or, Hope's Courage

Make Room-Casting Crowns

What inspired today's poem?

A mishap, to a friend/church family member 

who took his family on a long anticipated trip to the other side of the world,

to visit his sister's family for  Christmas, and in the first week broke his leg in two places,

placing him in a hospital four hours away...

please pray that by some miracle he and his wife can join their families for Christmas!

A message of praise from a family in our church-family who has endured

a journey of sickness and the death of a grandchild...

A family in our neighborhood who is learning grueling trust-lessons

SO many sick and suffering in our circle of friends and family...

SO many sorrowing in our neighbourhood and beyond...

So many seeking answers to questions like

'What is truth?'

'God, are you there?'

In deep disappointments that vex well-laid plan

In struggles no mortal evades

In sorrows that teach us to love while we can

Before opportunity fades

In trials we suffer of sickness and pain

Beneath love's long burdens of care

May we find hope's courage we cannot explain

Save this; someone's answer to prayer

Janet 🙏

Matt.7:7

“Ask and it will be given to you; 

seek and you will find; 

knock and the door will be opened to you.

Psalm 46:1

God is our refuge and strength,

 an ever-present help in trouble.

Prayer Changes Things

 Autumn morning awesomeness!

Psalm 36:7

How precious is Your loving devotion, O God,

that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings!

Psalm 91:4

He will cover you with His feathers;

under His wings you will find refuge;

His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.

Prayer changes things. Amen

God, with each groan we bring

Gathers us like a Mother Hen

Beneath His Shelt’ring Wing

His gentle feathers warm us when

The gales of sorrow sting

Because hope that is seen

Is not hope, we learn trust

Because a dark glass bides between

Birth and death’s sacred Must

God tries the part content to lean

On acumen of dust

Because love never fails

Because God, who IS love

Orchestrates the law that prevails

With Eternal Enough

Love wills the tempest that assails

Faith's evidence to prove

Because our great God reigns

With love beyond compare

No matter what, His grace sustains

Us through life’s creature-care

Though all else fail, still He remains

To shelter from despair

Because His word is true

Faith has no cause to fear

Because God cares for me and you

We can ‘be of good cheer’

All He has promised, He will do

Prayer draws His Promise near

Praise God, prayer changes things

Surrender’s sweet release

Beneath the feathers of His wings

Faith finds hope, joy and peace

Then, pray whatever today brings

May humble prayers increase

© Janet Martin

1 John 5:14-15

14And this is the confidence that we have before Him: 

If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 

15And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask,

 we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.

Psalm 145:19
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; 

He hears their cry and saves them.

Through Every Prayer

1 Cor.1:18

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

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

In the past few weeks I am learning anew

the most beautiful and powerful words in the world

'I am praying for you'

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Through every trial of this life where Reason’s reach confounds

God’s goodness and mercy run rife; His providence abounds

How dearer then hope undergirds; His promises are true

How nearer He draws through these words ‘I am praying for you’

Through every up and down we bear we are never alone

God’s power flows through every prayer to comfort sorrow’s groan

For surely, He has borne love’s grief and suffered seeming loss

The price that purchased our peace, He paid upon a cross

Through every valley we pass through we follow where He trod

We trace the blood and tear-stained woo that draws us back to God

He, ever rich in mercy knows each heartache that we bear

He awes/helps us as His power flows through us, through every prayer

Through every test that trouble brings He keeps us in His care

Enfolding us beneath His wings through every earnest prayer

For nothing is too hard for He by Whom all things were made

Through every faith-anointed plea His power is displayed 

© Janet Martin

Isa.53:4

Surely He has borne our griefs 

 carried our sorrows;

 Yet we esteemed Him stricken, 

Smitten by God, 

and afflicted...

Ps.91:4

He will cover you with his feathers, 

and under his wings you will find refuge; 

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Lest in the Thick of Here and Now...

Ps.18:1-2

I love You, O LORD, my strength.

2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.

My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold.

3I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;

so shall I be saved from my enemies.

Is it not a wonderful thing,

To know as we kneel/bow to pray

we are essentially slipping our hand

into God's hand?!

God, by Whom all things were made

and are lent save Him alone!!

He is eternal.

Does this not bring fresh courage 

to face today?!

Lest in the quick of (circum) stance

Or in the thick of sight

We overlook the One who grants

The armour for the fight

The refuge from the foe

The rock that will not move

The blood-bought grace whereby we go

The greatest of these; love

The Life, from death's curse raised

The Saviour of the soul

The Name most worthy to be praised

Who makes the broken whole

Whose will is undeterred

Who keeps his promises

Who leads us by his righteous Word

In paths of righteousness

Who is holy and just

Who forgives confessed sin

Who is faithful (knows we are dust)

Who bids us trust in Him

Who keeps in perfect peace

Hearts and minds on Him stayed

Whose purposes will never cease

Whose joy is unafraid 

The Way, the Truth, the Life

Creator of all things

(Though doubt and argument run rife

Against the King of kings)

Who IS love without end

Supremacy unfazed

Whose thoughts no thought can comprehend

Nor understand His ways

Oh, lest with faithless glance

We haste to meet the day

Lest in the quick of circumstance

We never pause to pray

Let us first humbly bow

And seek Love's kind command

Lest in the thick of Here and Now

We miss His outstretched Hand   

© Janet Martin

I Need Thee Every Hour

Did You Think to Pray?

Love's Rare Romance

Life is full of trouble and sorrow; joy's startling sweetener!

Sometimes when asked what my favourite Bible verse is

I hardly know which to choose but without a doubt

the verses below (first taught to me as a child by my mother)

rank near the top;

whispered many times as I encounter life's

tug-of-warring-whys-and-no's 

The first part of Prov.3

but esp. verses 5-6 and in my older age also verse 7

Without trouble we would never learn trust.

Without trust we never know true joy and peace

***

Taste the fervor of the hour

Make the most of every flow’r...

Life runs rife with highs and lows

Joy and strife of thorn and rose

Bow before its Lord and pray

Then rise up and seize the day

Taste the fervor of the hour

Make the most of every flow’r

Bear the brunt of fading grass

Everything comes, but to pass

Trace the tender timbre of

Every splendor, every love

Linger where the waning light

Tucks the day beneath goodnight

…cradled in the keeping of

Unfailing goodness and love

While the days-to-years run rife

With laughter and tears of life

Darling, with so much amiss

In the thick of that and this

It takes more than we possess

To muster/master true happiness/holiness

While season to season flows

While reason staggers 'neath blows

While change is a constant rod

Bow before life’s changeless God

Trust in Him with all your heart

Dust to dust sees but in part

But God never leads astray

Bow before him oft, and pray

For the likes of me and you

Have so much to learn, tis true

Pray, we find love's rare romance

Only trust in the Lord grants

Pray we find faith's treasured Must

Sorrow's/trouble's silver lining; trust 

Pray before we start each day

We bow before God and pray

© Janet Martin

Take Time To Be Holy

Did You Think to Pray?

Let Me Live...

Sometimes We Miss The Scars...

Jesus said to him, 

“If[c] you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, 

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:23-24

This poem began the other day, when, after listening

to 'her' frustrations, sorrows and challenges,

 all I could think of to say was,

'I will pray for you'.

As I pondered that promise I was a shamed to have wished

I could offer something more profound!

SO much to pray for, always!! 

So much to author awed worship and so much to kindle humble pleas

for God's leading, comfort, wisdom and provision,

 spiritually, emotionally and physically!

We pray for those who are striving to be faithful followers of Jesus,

for those who have wandered astray,

for those who have never put their faith in Christ

(and the finished work of Calvary.)

We pray for the poor, the downcast,

for those who mourn, 

for those in war-torn countries,

for the shut-in, and the shut out.

We pray for teachers and preachers,

students and school bus drivers.

We pray for strength for the day and rest at night.

For young, exhausted parents

and for those who long to be parents and are not...

We pray for the elderly, the lonely,

the sick and the prisoner...

The tempted and the fallen,

etc.

Sometimes we question His 'answers' 

(or what feels like His silence)

and sometimes the reason we question Him is because

we miss the scars on His hands 

(and who/what put them there)

How often we find ourselves echoing those words of old; 

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

What God Hath Promised (God Hath Not Promised Skies Always Blue)

Sometimes we miss the scars on hands we place our cares into

When kindness grasps at strands, and utters ‘I will pray for you’

But, this is no ‘when-all-else-fails, last-resort song-and-dance

No, this is to God, who prevails in spite of circumstance

His are the hands that wore the nails that bore deliverance

This is no consolation prize we offer casually

No secondary compromise of pious empathy

When we say ‘I will pray for you’ what sacred words we speak

When we pause to consider who hears the favors we seek

Whose ways are trustworthy and true; Whose strength uplifts the weak/meek

When we say ‘I will pray for you’ we relinquish control

And touch Him, like the woman who knew He could make her whole

The One who loves us so, who gave His Son, once and for all

To pay sin’s debt we owed, to break the curse wrought at The Fall

When we say I will pray for you’ it is on Him we call

Sometimes we miss the scars on hands outstretched to help us through

When desperation grasps at strands, with ‘I will pray for you’

But as we enter faith’s hushed courts, when creature cares beset

And trust the hands no hurtle thwarts and no ‘Unknown’ can fret

Then suddenly we see the scars that sometimes we forget

© Janet Martin

Heb.4:14-16

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,

 Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess.

  15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, 

but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.

  16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, 

so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

My Faith Looks Up To Thee

Of Steadfast Cheer

 

Happy February!

 The month famous for the day that celebrates 

what we hopefully celebrate every day;

Love!

Morning By Morning-Pat Barret (feat, Mack Brock)

Then do not worry ‘bout today

God is a ‘help me’ prayer away

In every circumstance of need

He will our helpless heart-cry heed

Should sorrow try our happiness

He does not leave us comfortless

Should fear threaten courage to steal

Should faith fall prey to sight’s appeal

Should temptation’s enticing stance

Lure us from promises God grants

Should idle words and prideful thoughts

Turn stepping stones to stumbling blocks

Should hope be inclined to despair

Beneath love’s pressing weight of care

Should Want be wont to disobey

Turning alas, to our own way

Should trust grow weary in the fight

To cling to what is good and right

Or, as we face the enemy

Forget ‘not I, but Christ in me’

Or should confusion author doubt

As to Who life is from, about

Or worship bow to lesser gods

That human natured dust/lust applauds

Should trouble its dark shadow cast

The love of God remains steadfast

In whatever we face today

He is a ‘help me’ prayer away

He is a faithful Friend indeed

A Helper in our time of need

A Father to the fatherless

A God who keeps His promises

Hope’s anchor in the storms of life

Joy’s strength amidst opposing strife

Contentment’s gladness undeterred

In all who delight in His word

Where, though we are the Tempter’s prey

God is a ‘help me’ prayer away

What comfort, kindness, peace to cheer

For God is always 'help me' near  

© Janet Martin

Heb.13:5

Keep your lives free from the love of money 

and be content with what you have, 

because God has said,

 “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Rom.8:38-39

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, 

nor angels nor principalities nor powers, 

nor things present nor things to come, 

nor height nor depth, 

nor any other created thing, 

shall be able to separate us from the love of God 

which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Of Dialogue Unseen

Nothing we do, no matter how noble, or enjoyable, or profitable

can/should take the place of 

fellowship with the One who made and knows us completely!

Sometimes when I feel busy its tempting to 'skip' a time

of morning fellowship with my/our Giver of every good and perfect gift!

How foolish to choose to settle for less of Him 

on those days we need more of Him! 

Yesterday I enjoyed some mid-winter canning!

I schnitzed the last of the apples from our tree...

...because it looks like the temperatures are going to dip enough

that the produce I was still storing in the garage, might freeze.

I turned some of the cabbage, carrots and onions into another batch of veggie soup!

Below,  little spinoff from this morning's quiet fellowship with my Best Friend

Ps.139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart: 

try me, and know my thoughts:

And see if there be any wicked way in me, 

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Lord, hearer of lament

Beholder of my heart

Discerner of thought and intent

You do not see in part

…but know all things. You look

Beyond what love pretends

My life is like an open book

That no excuse defends

Lord, nothing can replace

The fellowship between

The Taker and Giver of grace

In dialogue unseen

Through You the branch bears fruit

Faith can no proxy plead

Prayer has no equal substitute

To satisfy its need

Unless Thy Word prevails

And Thy laws I embrace

In vain I hoist devotion’s sails

In vain I state my case

O Lord, search my lament

You see and know my heart

Thou, Discerner  of thought's intent

How very great Thou art

  

© Janet Martin

 Psalm 139:1-6 & 13-18

O LORD, You have searched me

and known me.

2You know when I sit and when I rise;

You understand my thoughts from afar.

3You search out my path and my lying down;

You are aware of all my ways.

4Even before a word is on my tongue,

You know all about it, O LORD.

5You hem me in behind and before;

You have laid Your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain...

For You formed my inmost being;a

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise You,

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works,

and I know this very well.

15My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in secret,

when I was woven together

in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all my days were written in Your book

and ordained for me

before one of them came to be...

How precious to me are Your thoughts,b O God,

how vast is their sum!

18If I were to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;

and when I awake,

I am still with You.

Don't Wait Till You Are Old...

Yesterday, as part of the teaching team in a room full of beautiful,

eager, smart, rambunctious Gr. 4-6 Sunday School students,

I couldn't help but long and pray

 for each of them to choose Jesus while they are young;

to be saved from a bitter harvest of wasted years!

Yesterday's was a solemn lesson; Jesus' crucifixion,

stirring and touching tender hearts!

Will you pray for them, and for children the whole wide world over

to believe in and receive Jesus as their Saviour while they are young?!!

On Saturday I compiled  this post after listening to the message below...

and before listening to the message our speaker preached yesterday

also on prayer!!!

( Click here then click Nov. 12, 2023) for yesterday's message

***

Devote yourselves to prayer, 

being watchful and thankful.

Col.4:2

***

Ephesians 6:18

Pray in the Spirit at all times, 

with every kind of prayer and petition. 

To this end, stay alert with all perseverance 

in your prayers for all the saints.

Below are some excerpts from Alistair's message;

Notes from the Flyleaf of My Bible — 11/11/2023

Alistair Begg begins this message, (an address to students), with this;

 "The things I want to share with you are things

that are pressingly important to me.

They are personal things.

They are biblical truths.

They are necessary matters"...

 

If our prayer is meager 

it is because we believe it to be supplemental

 and not fundamental.

***

If we pray only when we feel like it

we will not pray very much at all.

***

More spiritual progress is made through failure and tears

than through success and laughter.

***

C.T. Stodd

If Jesus Christ be God and died for me

then no sacrifice that I could ever make for Him 

could ever be too great

***

Can I tell you how to amount to absolutely nothing for God?

Think of yourself more highly than you ought.

***

Humility is the very seed-bed

in which all of the graces and gifts of God

grow to their maturity

***

1 Pet. 5:6

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, 

that he may lift you up in due time.

***

I am not talking about our resolves.

I am not talking about our desires and designs.

I am talking about our doing!

***

I want to tell you,

"When I talk more than I pray,

When I study more than I seek God's help,

When I am tempted to think that when I am on my feet

I am at my most useful,

and when I am on my knees that I am

somehow filling in time that could be more beneficially exercised,

then I am declaring that I am on the wrong side

of this equation.

You see, since prayer is the  key area of our relationship

with our Heavenly Father, it is this area

that is most frequently under attack.

Indeed, I might safely say to you

that you will face no greater attack than in this area

because the evil one knows that the weaponry

that our Commander in Chief, namely Jesus,

has given to us is prayer and the ministry of the word of God.

Therefore He will come to confront us with our view of scripture

and to seek to call in question

the voracity and the sufficiency of God's word,

and he will at the same time seek to undermine any

deep-seated conviction that we have,

that it is imperative that we come to Him and cry out

'Abba, Father!' and that we seek His help

in every part of our journey.."

***

No Christian is greater than his/her prayer life

**

The secret to praying is

praying in secret

***

...but, in the matter of praying

how tragic that so many

have left so much

to so few...

***

Set your moral compasses now.

Take the high ground.

Go for the gold.

Live for Christ.

There is no good thing that the Lord withholds

from those whose walk is blameless

***

...and here is my prayer

for every boy and girl

the wide world over...

Don't wait till you are old

To seek the good and right 

Don't wait till worldly pleasure clouds

God's wellspring of delight 

Remember your Creator

While in your days of youth

Don't wait till you are old to mine

 God's Word for wealth of truth

But love the Lord today

With all your heart; don't wait

Till you are old, to start, because

Then it may be too late

This is my earnest plea

For every girl and boy

Don't wait till you are old, and life

Is full of wasted joy

This is my earnest plea

For children far and near

Don't wait till  God becomes a Voice

That you no longer hear

© Janet Martin

Eccles.12:1

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, 

Before the difficult days come, 

And the years draw near when you say,

 “I have no pleasure in them”:

Isa.66:1-2

This is what the Lord says:

“Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool.

Where is the house you will build for me?

Where will my resting place be?

2Has not my hand made all these things,

and so they came into being?”

declares the Lord.

“These are the ones I look on with favor:

those who are humble and contrite in spirit,

and who tremble at my word.

From The First Moment of Waking...

A phrase from the last paragraph of yesterday's devotion seemed to

say, 'pick me, pick me!!' for today's poem...so I did💖

...and because I SO identify with the battle addressed, 

I am sharing the whole devotion

so you may also be encouraged and edified

From My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

From the first moment of waking

Till the light of day grows dim

May our ‘lifetime in the making’

Be a living worship hymn

As life’s lyrics fill time’s pages

Binding sacred numbered days

May the Author of the ages

Be the purpose of our praise

In the highs and lows of learning

(Something we never outgrow)

May the increase of our yearning

Be for God who loves us so

Then, as we embrace the beauty

Of mercy’s enduring ways

May the common calls of Duty

Compose hymns of thankful praise

From the first moment of waking

Until daylight disappears

May the music we are making

Bring sweet pleasure to God’s ears

From the first moment of waking

May we join the melody

Of a love-song in the making

That will fill eternity

© Janet Martin

Today's devotion continues the sacred topic of prayer...

From the rising of the sun to its going down

 The LORD’s name is to be praised.

Ps.113:3

From The Rising of the Sun...