Showing posts with label spiritual growth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spiritual growth. Show all posts

Thursday, August 11, 2022

How Often We Are Thieves...



Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! 
How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
Rom.11:33 NKJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who has blessed us in Christ 
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms...
...In Him we have redemption through His blood, 
the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
8that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Eph.1:3,7-8 BSB

I would LOVE a whole sermon series on the
'depth of the riches' of spiritual blessing! 
(God bless the teacher/preacher of truth
by the power of the Holy Spirit 
able to verbalize thoughts I grasp at,
to stretch me beyond my personal and often inept
'wisdom and understanding' 
turned into words to encourage, exhort and edify)
Why should we obey?
What is the reward?
and many more challenges and concerns
for myself and for all who have
'repented and were baptized'
as we are urged to,  then...(Eph.4:1-3)
'walk in a manner worthy of the calling you/we have received:
2with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love,
3and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit
through the bond of peace...

***

Last night Victoria offered to do the supper dishes
giving me the glorious opportunity to soak in 
Summer Dusk in the Garden...
truly a glimpse of heaven on earth!
In goes a seed and out of it grows God's amazing handiwork!!

August is a vault of beauty and blessing...
 









...but August's beauty and blessing
 pales in comparison to the blessings
Invisible, without envy/awe-inducing attractive appearance;
the 'spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms'
for the reverent and obedient
both now and forevermore!
 Oh, pray we do not rob ourselves of this wealth
by becoming consumed with lesser riches.

how often we are thieves, though unaware of what we steal
we rob ourselves of riches beyond price, for ‘nice’ appeal
forgetting, in the forfeiting of what God cannot bless
we rob the branch/tree of bearing the sweet fruit of righteousness

forgetting in the whetting of a carnal appetite
we cannot taste God’s goodness, if we do not find delight
in the law of the Lord, if the desires of our hearts
are worldly, rather than craving what God alone imparts...

as we dredge His Word for wealth this world cannot comprehend
bent on one sacred mission; to be faithful to the end
lest, when weighed in The Balance we are found wanting, oh pray
we recognize the treasure that will never fade away

and keep our eyes fixed on a Prize only true faith holds dear
giving more earnest heed to what transcends Time’s transient sphere
lest, in the quest for more we care less about how we live
and steal from ourselves the blessings only God can give

...and rob ourselves of priceless wealth that money cannot buy
beyond the minute pleasure of things pleasing touch-taste-eye 
how often we are thieves, dear God forgive us and renew
our minds to hunger for the depth of riches found in You

...lest we thirst for what is cursed rather than 'riches of grace'
lest, by the voice of choice we worship vices, vile and base
lest, though our lips confessed Your name, our actions disagree
'dogs returned to their vomit' nay! oh, may it never be

how often we tend to shrink from faith's fundamental price 
how often love unbridled is lured by he who deceives 
only God's Word to gird, keeps us from turning into thieves

© Janet Martin








Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Of Heaven-Realities on Earth

2 Cor.7:1

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends,
let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit,
perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.



(A few thoughts snared from the message above...
Let us purify ourselves from anything that contaminates body and spirit
If God lives in us let us make our house clean for such a pure God
The sins of the spirit are the mothers to sins of the flesh…

I can imagine a room in your house being perfectly clean 
but I cannot imagine that room staying perfectly clean 
unless the process by which it was first cleansed is repeated.
 Whether a room is in constant use or closed up
 it requires regular sweeping and dusting to stay perfectly clean!

Heaven's first realities for the true Christian, begins on earth! Hallelujah!

He loves us with a Father’s love
And guides us with a Father’s care
Protects and watches over us
He fellowships with us in prayer
And as we pour out hearts to Him
He pours His heart to you and I
His Word a lamp that will not dim
His gift, a life that cannot die

Forgive us when we do not prize
Faith’s privileges like we should
And shift the hunger of our sighs
To things of clay and stone and wood
May our earthly quests revere
Love’s heavenly realities
May we reflect and hold most dear
The honour of such dignities

…as being called children of God
Thus heirs of Him and his dear Son
Forbid, all we give is a nod
For the assurances of Heaven
Where not with laws of fear, but love
He pours His promises divine
Mercies. Indwelling, Communion.
His covenants are thine and mine

Pray God’s redemptive absolutes
Through His divine deliverance
Produces salvation’s first-fruits
Gratitude and obedience
Pray as we seek to purify
Ourselves, we make our temple such
As befits faith's humble reply
To God, who loves us all so much

© Janet Martin

 


Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Transformation Process Blessing

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

'Although this transformation process is ongoing,
often has more stops and starts than a train ride,
the process helps us understand what God wants for our lives.'
Excerpt from today's Daily Bead Devotion; Joyful Learning

The above excerpt made me kinda laugh and cry inwardly, a bit
cause it sure is a jolting stop-and-go journey isn't it?!!
With lots of  ups-a-daisies after stumbles/falls
 to accomplish the transformation, but...

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful.
Heb.10:23

So to/through the God who cracks the morning sun like a fresh egg...

..into a sky-wide frying pan,


to/through He who knows us inside and out,
and loves us all the more because of it
on we go...

Dear Lord,
With love learned patiently
With grace and gratitude
With kindness and humility
May our minds be renewed

With diligence and joy
With peace and faithfulness
With hope, for nothing can destroy
Your Truth and promises

Through You, Creator of
The heavens and the earth
Through you, who taught us how to love
And offers us rebirth

…as we are washed within
By the blood of Your Son
Then You, if we confess our sin
Forgives them, every one

Through You, faithful and just
With joyful gratitude
As You turn doubt and fear to trust
May our minds be renewed

Amen

© Janet Martin


Most of us bear
some sort of Unspoken Broken
but

"We can still rise in the face of hopelessness —
because we are still held in the arms of God."
by Ann Voskamp


Thursday, September 2, 2021

It Takes Time (to make a flower)


Yesterday's Daily Bread Devotion included this needful reminder;
Even though trusting Jesus as Savior makes us a new creation,
there’s still some ongoing work the Spirit needs to do.
And it takes time and work 
for Him to accomplish “true righteousness and holiness”
(Ephesians 4:24).

True righteousness and holiness=true beauty!



Do you ever weary of the work and waiting
for the needful hidden heart-art 
before the flower flourishes?

I needed to dust the dahlias.
Something is eating out the bud before it blooms!


The pest-control-pruning-process is vital 
to producing a healthy plume
(earwigs love a good dahlia-feast)


The tendrils of this flower vine needed constant intervention
until they learned to climb



Oh, it takes time to become who, in Christ, we ought to be
The road is riddled with potholes, to true humility
The stumble and the faceplant, though unpleasant helps God turn
A stubborn heart into submission; it takes time to learn

We cannot rush the Hand that wove us in our mother’s womb
Just as it takes time for a bud to break to bare its bloom
So too, it takes time to become the masterpiece of He
Who understands that we are dust and loves us patiently

It takes time to eradicate the nature of the beast
We tend to do the things we hate the most, rather than least
And were it not for God’s compassion for humanity
And His boundless redemption how desolate we would be

How pitiful and futile then would be man’s days like grass
But because Christ has risen from the dead, we too shall rise
Thus, we revere the time it takes to prepare for the Prize

…for it takes time to learn to love, to let Beauty unfold
To purify the motive of, and crucify the old
So when we feel discouraged by hope’s hurdles and mistakes
Remember, this is just the heart-art/heart-part before the bud breaks

© Janet Martin

Psalm 103:13-18

As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14For He [a]knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
15As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
17But the mercy of the Lord
 is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

If I Were An Onion...


For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, 
they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive
 in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Pet.3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
 To him be glory both now and forever! 
Amen.


Seeds that don't grow or bear fruit are good-for-nothing.
Which onion are we?
The onions I planted this year have not grown at all!


As I started pulling them in disappointed frustration
the thought struck me. 
Is this what God will pluck up when my life is over
or will I be a big, round Fruitful Onion?
(like the ones I purchased)


What a waste and pity
Seeds that never sprout
Always just a gritty-bitty
Shadow of a doubt

What a futile effort
After sun and rain
Not even a hint of fruit
Planted, but in vain

What a shameful outcome
Fruitless all the way
Still the same at harvest-time
As on planting day

© Janet Martin

John 15:2
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; 
and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.