Yesterday I attended the funeral
of my friend's father-in-law.
He was 65.
Then, I attended a visitation for another friend's son-in-law.
He was 34.
There my friend told me how my sister Lucy's picture hangs near her sewing machine
so she remembers to pray for me and Lucy's family.
(for irregular visitors here; my sister lost her life suddenly
when she was hit while riding her bicycle last Sept.)
Lucy was 55.
When someone we love passes away it brings an end to
conversations, activities, dreams and plans once fondly shared.
But it flings wide the renewed invitation to dredge the deeps of
what truly matters, above all!
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
1 Cor.13:13
Faith in the finished work of the cross!
Hope through Jesus' resurrection!
so we may know God's love
that surpasses knowledge!
1 Cor.15:16-19
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ,
we are of all people most to be pitied.
John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
Do the above verses not ignite or rekindle a desire
to live the reflection of belief/faith?!
to live a hymn of hope?!
to live the light of love?!!
To live a hymn of love for Thee
O Lord, let this our motive be
To yield Want’s will to Thy command
To trust the leading of Thy Hand
And not with human wisdom try
Reason’s demand to satisfy
But without fail, to find enough
Where these abide;
Faith, hope and love
To live a hymn to worship Thee
No matter what the cost may be
To know, no matter what our lot
Tis cradled in Divine Forethought
Where, once for all, Thy sacrifice
Suffered and covered pardon’s price
So, we would always find enough
Where these abide;
Faith, hope and love
To live a hymn of humble awe
O Lord, to delight in Thy law
And then to fill Time's bar of days
With open-handed, thankful praise
Rather than loot of fleeting pelf
That cannot appease gods of Self
Lord, overflow hearts with enough
Where these abide;
Faith, hope and love
To live a hymn of joy in Thee
With faith and hope's expectancy
Without a dearer purpose than
To love you first, then fellowman
To lay before Thy throne of grace
Each tear that treads the soul or face
Each prayer learning to find enough
Where You provide
Faith, hope and love
© Janet Martin
Eph.3:14-21
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,
15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name.
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you
with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—
that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,
for ever and ever!
Amen.
Read the full glorious chapter of 1 Cor.15 HERE
1 Cor.15:50-58
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters,
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable,
and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable,
and the mortal with immortality.
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable,
and the mortal with immortality,
then the saying that is written will come true:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[h]
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”[i]
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God!
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm.
Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Below, the last paragraphs of yesterday's and today's devotions from
Streams in the Desert Vol.2
...and last but not least, my most listened to song of 2024...
