Getting to the Root of the Problem...

 PAD Challenge day 3: For today’s prompt, write a problem poem. 

Below an excerpt from Peter Marshall's sermon-

Keeper of the Springs

(and this was in the 1940's!!)

One cannot fix a problem until one pinpoints the source

But one ought to note symptoms that should trouble you and I

For epidemic-proportion-populace on a course

Of Ignorance to Truth, where empty churches testify

A somber lack of reverence and interest and care

For the Great Certainty for which we all ought to prepare

...and so tis no small wonder that things go from bad to worse

 In laws of twisted logic of confusion gone berserk

Where right is wrong and wrong is right and God, a name they curse

And well-intended master-plans of Fix-it just don't work

In a world doomed to madness as they seek but cannot find

Hope's everlasting gladness that yields joy and peace of mind 

When truth is seen as lies and lies are heralded as truth

It is because the Word of God is trodden underfoot

Then darkened understanding errs and bears pitiful proof;

Denial of the problem that yields problematic fruit

And gross incomprehension of the sad state we are in;

Because they/we do not recognize the root problem of sin 

The problem is not war or poverty, but hate and greed

A proud and unrepentant heart, thinking, utterly flawed

A negligent apathy to sin's subtle, deadly seed

In seeking first this world rather than the kingdom of God

Where empty churches gape and children/people traipse toward a Goal

Ignorant of Love's problem-solving Saviour of the Soul 

Sad problem this; too many homes where God's Word has no place

And homes where the Bible is but a book upon a shelf

Ignoring that apart from God, there is no saving grace

Apart from the Vine the branch is a Dead Thing by itself

Revealing that the culprit in this problem's quandary

Until we surrender to God, is always you and me 

© Janet Martin

Rom.1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, 

because it is the power of God 

that brings salvation to everyone who believes: 

first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 

17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—

a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] 

just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[f]

So many do not know

or believe or care

about the day of redemption 

and reckoning drawing near...

Malachi 4:1-3

The Day of the LORD

(Zephaniah 1:7–18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11; 2 Peter 3:8–13)

1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, 

when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble;

 the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,”

 says the LORD of Hosts.

 “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”

2“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness 

will rise with healing in its wings,a 

and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.

  3Then you will trample the wicked, f

or they will be ashes under the soles of your feet 

on the day I am preparing,” 

says the LORD of Hosts.

Worth Every Tender Mercy

God is not who we imagine Him to be.

God is who He says He is in His Word.

God's Word is not filled with suggestions of how to live

but sacred commandments.

 God, through the prophet Jeremiah, has repeated, dire warnings for

all 'who walk after the imaginations of their hearts'

To live, to love and do our part

With strength and mind, to serve the Lord

Is no charge for the faint of heart

Or those impatient for reward

For oftentimes, what seems so small

On the grand scale of recompense

Is not what it appears at all

When trust chooses obedience

Rather than the darling appeal

Of ‘happiness’ that money buys

No glamorous façade, the zeal

That presses to the Greater Prize

…God has prepared for the Blest Meek

Who look beyond the god/laud of Self

To heed the commandment to seek

God’s kingdom first, not worldly pelf

Who loathe the cunning Tempter bent

On preening false illusion’s sway/prey

With logic’s soothing argument

To woo with ‘did God really say?’

Who earnestly guard heart and mind

Where Imagination deceives

The proud with promised lands that blind

With sight, what faith alone perceives

Where the recompense of reward

Is not yet, but someday will be

Worth every (secret) tender mercy poured

Into vaults of eternity

© Janet Martin

Pride is a great enemy to obedience

And quite the cunning foe!

Pride comes in so many forms...

last month our church participated in a fund-raised

meal-pack through Lifeline.

When donating online, the default-setting for donations

is to publicly display the donation amount (why??)

Mortified, I realized too late, after a few corrections

that my 'private' setting had switched back to 'public'!

I contacted Lifeline to please switch it to 'private'

but I think they had more pressing concerns😅🙏

(and it was very hard on my 'pride' to simply let it go)

Pride is such a stinker and humility SO hard to get;

the minute we think we have it we've lost it!!😂

Jesus taught us to give like this...

Matt.6:4

But when you give to the needy, 

do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

 4so that your giving may be in secret. 

And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 5

Bat Not Thine Eye Lash at Thy Guilt...or, Earnest Plea

Reading through the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah kindles

much sober reflection and speechless awe

for the sure judgment and the abounding love and mercy of God

Bat not thine eye lash at thy guilt

Brush not at sin, like lint on sleeves

Shrug not thy shoulders at blood spilt

To save everyone who believes

Rush not, bold-faced, into the day

Without reckoning He who grants

The morn its light; bow down and pray

For temptation’s deliverance

Mock not, nor take in vain the Name

Above all names; but chastely fear

The One, whereby prophets proclaim

‘Look up, redemption draweth near’

Let not imagination rule

In rebel disobedience

Refuse the logic of the fool

Approach today with reverence

Lest, poorly and blindly content

With pomp and show of Noble Thought

Thy deathless soul reaps hell’s lament/torment

Because God called but ‘you would not’

The gods of this world cannot hear

Thy futile prayers when troubles groan

Fall on thy knees, repent, revere

The God of gods and God alone

Do not deceive thyself, but pray

For faith, to tremble at His Word

For love, devoted to obey

He whose decrees are undeterred

Bat not thy eye at the grave rift

Each soul must ford ‘neath death’s cold knife

Repent, believe, receive God’s gift

Forgiveness and eternal life

© Janet Martin

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Sacred 'Real Deal'

1 Sam.16:7

But the LORD said to Samuel,

 “Do not look at his appearance 

or at the height of his stature,

 because I have rejected him; 

for God does not see as man sees, 

since man looks at the outward appearance, 

but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Decorated facades

Like pretty cakes, appeal...

(but the truth of the matter is, this pretty frosting

 could be covering something delectable 

or extremely vile! 

The outside doesn't tell...)

Below is a photo my daughter sent me today,

 of a cake she made for a school fundraiser

(used with permission)

It looks great!

And I have tasted enough of her baking to be sure it will taste great!

However 'it looks great' alone is not enough!

It's what is under the countenance that counts🙏

As a man thinks, he is

Thought soon gives way to voice

The invisible genesis

Of love turns into choice

Thought's word and deed unfolds

Like leaves on many trees

Yet, countenance that gaze beholds

Is not what God’s eye sees

Eden’s forbidden fruit

Was pleasing to the eye

 Thought entertained That Cunning Brute

Then partook of his lie

Pride mocks God, true and good

The evidence of thought

Is always clearly understood

Through fear of Him, or not

Decorated facades

Like pretty cakes, appeal

But beneath what visage applauds

Is the crucial 'real deal'  

Therefore, we ought to heed

 Thought's hotbed of design

Ere aftermath of scattered seed

Hangs heavy on the vine 

For as we think we are

Then, pray this is our plea

That meditations of the heart

Are pleasing, Lord, to Thee

© Janet Martin

Ps.141

I call upon You, O LORD; come quickly to me.

Hear my voice when I call to You.

2May my prayer be set before You like incense,

my uplifted hands like the evening offering.

3Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;

keep watch at the door of my lips.

4Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing

or take part in works of wickedness

with men who do iniquity;

let me not feast on their delicacies.

5Let the righteous man strike me;

let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion.

It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it.

For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked.

6When their rulers are thrown down from the cliffs,

the people will listen to my words,

for they are pleasant.

7As when one plows and breaks up the soil,

so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

8But my eyes are fixed on You,

O GOD the Lord.

In You I seek refuge;

do not leave my soul defenseless. 

9Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,

and from the lures of evildoers.

10Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

while I pass by in safety.

Awesome Absolute

In this age of mass-confusion

the awesome absolute of Truth is dearer and clearer than ever!

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:

 no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 17:17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Below-Ps.119:33-40 & 52-60

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:32

Truth does not shift or sway

Its pillar never fails

But is an infallible stay

To counter counter-gales 

To correct errant thought

To teach us right from wrong

A lie authors confusion, but

Truth is a bulwark strong

Because Truth is from God

Its Word is bona fide

Without His Word, truth is a fraud

A pitfall forged from pride

To implement demise

Thus, we must be astute

Truth indulges no compromise

Its law is absolute

Truth is a steadfast Light

Unyielding in its glow

It arms us with power and might

Wherever we may go

Its Source, the Word of God

No other ‘truth’ endures

But His trustworthy staff and rod

Shepherds, guides and assures

…then, while opinions chime

In much conflicting talk

Truth stands, unfazed by sands of Time

Founded upon a Rock

A Wing ‘neath which to hide

A compass on life’s sea

Truth does not change but will abide

Throughout eternity

© Janet Martin

Psalm 119:160
The entirety of Your word is truth, 

and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. 

We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, 

full of grace and truth.

Gratitude-Quest...

Sometimes love's realities/cruelties/crosses

could wake excuses that could make us bitter...

Oh my Lord, may it never be!!

The Love of God

Lest by bitterness betaken

Lest by prideful boast or greed

Lord, each day let me awaken

To Your mercy for my need

Lest in my pursuits of gladness

I, by reason of a fool

Miss Your goodness, for the madness

Of Want without rod or rule

Lest I trade eternal treasure

And the blessing You bestow

For the very temp’ral pleasure

Of a temporary show

Lord, each day let me awaken

To renewed awareness of

Hope’s sweet confidence unshaken

Anchored in grace, truth, and love

Lest, by my impatient nature

I demand what is not mine

Puffing up my puny stature

In the face of Grace Divine

Lest, by some distorted notion

I perceive rather than trust

And redirect my devotion

From You to idols/merchants of dust

Lest the lure of the beholding

Blinds me to Faith’s surety

Lest the pace of grace unfolding

Heaven, is too hard for me

Lord, each day let me awaken

To Your kind mercy renewed

So that I am overtaken

With nothing, but gratitude

© Janet Martin

Psalm 107:15&31

Oh, that men would give thanks

 to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works

 to the children of men!

Should I, Because of Stubborn Pride (protect a favoured sin)

 Here's My Heart, Lord

Should I, because of stubborn pride, protect a favoured sin,

Unwilling to admit Idolatry. Oh God, I pray

That You would rend rebellion’s veil in this temple of skin

As repentance rouses renewed devotion to obey

Oh Lord, Enlighten the eyes of my heart, transfixed by these;

The knowledge of hope’s calling and the glory of your grace

Protect me from the tempter that taunts me to ‘take mine ease’

Trading redemption’s riches for the enemy’s embrace

Smite me with grief if I defy your goodness with my greed

If I should set a stumbling block before my fellowman

Remind me of Your lifeblood poured out to supply Soul's need 

And open the eyes of my heart to Your wonder again

Oh, do not let me covet what can never satisfy

Do not let me mouth half-confession’s vain and pious prayer

Lord, let the truth of you undo the lacquer of the lie

That glosses over pitfalls that are waiting to ensnare

Should I, because of stubborn pride, protect a favoured sin,

Lord, open up my eyes to weigh sin’s wages with Your gift

Then would You rend rebellion’s veil in this temple of skin

And help me give more earnest heed to Your Word, lest I drift…

© Janet Martin

Inspired in part by Eph.1 NKJV

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Redemption in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He [a]made us accepted in the Beloved.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and [b]prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, [c]both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who[d] is the [e]guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your [f]understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality[g] and [h]power and [i]might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

No Matter What Today Will Bring

 

This poem 'pressed' to the forefront this morning instead

of the pursuit of another.

My prayer is that it will cheer and bless,

and help us as we keep our eyes fixed on a prize

that ought to challenge our motives daily!

No one knows what today will bring

but we do know on Whom we can cast all care

And ask Him to be our strength as we cheer each other on...

1 Pet.5:6-7

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,

 that He may exalt you in due time,

 7casting all your care upon Him, 

for He cares for you.

I had fully intended to incorporate these quirky quackers

into today's poem...

I am helping a friend with some gardening this week

and their ducks are an endless source of amusement and delight!

May we all find opportunity to be amazed and awed by

the beauty, diversity and wonders of God's creation!

May we be His hands and feet and pray that 

He helps us hunger and thirst for righteousness

so we may be filled 

And protected from a futile 'chasing of the wind'...

How great our God and King

How wonderful indeed

No matter what today will bring

He will supply our need

Oh, may we not forget

No circumstance can sway

The love and grace that paid the debt

Mortal could never pay

The hope of humankind

Is anchored in the Word

Of He who does not change His mind

His purpose undeterred

He keeps His promises

How wonderful to know

His justice, truth and righteousness

No one can overthrow

Then shout for joy, and sing

God, trustworthy and true

No matter what today will bring

Will care for me and you

© Janet Martin

Obedience or Not

Obedience or not.

These are the only two options we've got

The consequence of Choice's sum

affects generations to come...

Eph.1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ...

It is not long until Innocence suffers the consequence

of what we do and teach...

God, help us!!

Ah yes! You have!

We have your eternal and abiding Word...

Psalm 119:89-96

Forever, O Lord,

Your word [a]is settled in heaven.

90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; (can I hear a hallelujah!!)

You established the earth, and it [b]abides.

91 They continue this day according to Your ordinances,

For all are Your servants.

92 Unless Your law had been my delight,

I would then have perished in my affliction.

93 I will never forget Your precepts,

For by them You have given me life.

94 I am Yours, save me;

For I have sought Your precepts.

95 The wicked wait for me to destroy me,

But I will [c]consider Your testimonies.

96 I have seen the consummation of all perfection,

But Your commandment is exceedingly broad.

God's love is unconditional but His blessing is not

His blessing is reserved for they who fear and obey God

God sees the heart; futile to dress excuse in noble thread

And boldly break His 'thou shalt not' with proud and unbowed head

The consequence of disobedience without remorse 

And repentance, affects an unfathomable divorce

For God, righteous, gracious and kind is holy, true and just

He never winks at rebels or turns a blind eye to lust 

If we confess our sins, God, rich in mercy will forgive

For He is just and faithful, but not mocked; then how we live

Becomes the proof of who we serve, by what we say and do

We choose One Master; it is impossible to serve two 

God's love is unconditional and steadfast to the end

He will not always tarry, then be wary, fellow-friend

Though, oh, so many fall away, though the wicked increase

They who obey, He blesses with His righteousness and peace

God, help us pay more earnest heed to that which we have heard

So that we do not drift, anchored in Thy eternal word

Help us to trust in You and in the Way that You direct

Rather than lofty logic of unguarded intellect

Janet Martin~

2 Tim.4:1-5

I charge you [a]therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, 

who will judge the living and the dead [b]at His appearing and His kingdom: 

2Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. 

Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 

3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, 

but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, 

they will heap up for themselves teachers; 

4and they will turn their ears away from the truth,

 and be turned aside to fables.

  5But you be watchful in all things, 

endure afflictions, 

do the work of an evangelist, 

fulfill your ministry.

Romans 2:13

for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, 

but the doers of the Law will be justified.

James 4:4-10

You adulteresses!b Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?

 Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himselfc an enemy of God.

  5Or do you think the Scripture says without reason 

that the Spiritd He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?

  6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says:

“God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.”e

7Submit yourselves, then, to God. 

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. 

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 

9Grieve, mourn, and weep. 

Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

The Best News the World's Ever Heard

 

This poem was inspired in part by this message

and in part by a broken heart for those

who don't know or simply don't care about

The Best News the World's Ever Heard

"Isn't this the best news the world's ever heard?!!"

Alistair Begg from the message/link below

Dealing with difficult people-Alistair Begg

Here is the best news that the world’s ever heard

Sealed in sacred script of God’s eternal word

In Him is the life, and that life is the Light

That shines in the darkness to give faith insight

To guide and direct, to rebuke and advise

To keen our conscience, lest sin blinds our eyes

To reprove excuses for commands we shirk

To train and equip us for every good work

To walk in a manner worthy of the call

From He who shed his own lifeblood once for all

So, all who believe in Him will never die

Saved from the curse wrought through the serpent’s first lie

Here is the best news that this world’s ever heard

Hope anchored in truth of God’s eternal word

His counsel to help us to trust and obey

To guard us from pitfalls on charming display

Because the law of the Lord is love’s delight

Awe’s sweet meditation by day and by night

To quicken the prayer for bold scorners that laugh

In the face of He who will sift them like chaff

When the day of grace that runs wild through each breath

Is severed as life’s silver cord yields to death

And it is to late to be suddenly stirred

By salvation’s best news this world’s ever heard

© Janet Martin

Psalm 1 KJV

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,

 nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; 

and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, 

that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither;

 and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,

 nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: 

but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

What The World Knows Nothing Of...

Sometimes the sorrow for those who do not believe, love and obey God

is almost more than I can bear,

and lest misunderstood, I come across as having all the answers

and everything 'right', far from it!!

but the one/only answer I have right, is by the grace of God 

through the cross of Jesus Christ;

Gal.6:14

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,

through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Living Hope 

Golgotha

Fear, in this fallen world seeks to usurp faith, hope and trust

Without God’s Word to undergird, to guide, rebuke and cheer

How could we bear love’s cross of care or suffer what we must

But for the glory waiting in the Aftermath of here

Where the foothills of Heaven groan with sin, sorrow and strife

Where we, but brief sojourners because earth is but a vale

Need He who rolled away the stone from a tomb filled with Life

The life that will abide; even in death it will not fail

Ah, raise thy gaze above the worldly ways of wanton will

Cling to the sickle of God’s Word to keep thy conscience pure

And drink from the wellspring where Living Waters spill and spill

To sustain and refresh the soul committed to endure

…and tremble at His Word; pray for a spirit, poor, contrite

So, God will look on us and fill us with riches untold;

Green pastures and still waters to restore the soul’s delight

His perfect peace, his joy to be our strength, worth more than gold

Pray for this fallen world, mired in cesspools of despair

Ah pray for those who do not know the goodness of God’s love

That they may come to know He who laid mercy’s coffers bare

Upon the cross to offer what the world knows nothing of

By God's grace alone we are saved; a gift so none can boast

Shall we then continue in sin so His grace may abound

Shall we mock, as it were the One who gave His Uttermost

Oh, may it never be, when once lost, we are found

Surely, goodness and mercy will follow us all our days

Until we dwell with Him by whose resurrection, we live

Where we will never weary of perfecting worship's praise

As we look on Him whom we pierced, and He replied 'forgive'

© Janet Martin

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. 

Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. 

26And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.

 Do you believe this?”

Isa.66:2

Has 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.

At The Cross

Thank God For Truth

 Tell Me the Old, Old Story

Thank God for faithful fathers

Who steadfastly uphold

The truth that does not falter

From age to age retold

Thank God for faithful mothers

Who teach children to pray

To love God and each other

To trust Him, and obey

Thank God for faithful children

Who love Him in their youth

Seeking firstly, His kingdom

Of righteousness and truth

Thank God for faithful foll’wers

Who do not doubt and stray

But bear truth’s torch so others

May find and know the Way

Thank God for Truth abiding

Divine and absolute

For those, rightly dividing

The word that yields good fruit

© Janet Martin

2 Tim.2:15

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,

 a worker who does not need to be ashamed,

 rightly dividing the word of truth.

Until We Kiss The Hands That Hold Us...

Evil in its lowest forms of hatred for God,

in shameless applause for sin!

Disasters that destroy and wreak unfathomable havoc and grief

oh God! We cry and You hear!

Psalm 18:6

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help.

 From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

David's new release feels like perfect timing

Our thoughts and prayers are with many suffering, 

esp. those in the earthquake aftermath

in Turkey and Syria

Great Are You, Lord

Some hurts would be too hard to bear without God’s hand to hold

Life, but a valley of despair where tragedies unfold

Hope, a hollow oblation in the station of the mind

Seeking sweet consolation, it can never fully find

Some hills would be too hard to climb without God’s hand to clasp

His word transcends the march of time; His goodness is steadfast

Where, like an outstretched Hand God’s word will undergird and still

The heart-storm when we do not understand love’s perfect will

Some crosses would feel merciless, without God’s Hand to trust

Without unfailing promises to cheer our weary dust

To comfort us because we know He never leads astray

But for faith’s benefit will show the error of our way

Some sorrows would seem hard, too hard without…ah, look and see

Behold his hands, how they are scarred because of Calvary

He suffered in our stead to break the curse of sin so man

May undeservedly partake of pardon’s perfect plan

Some wonder is too much to spell with lowly ink of thought

As we bow where love’s blood-drops fell and death’s triumph was wrought

Where redemption enfolds us and hope anchors us until

We kiss the hands that hold us in love’s pure and perfect will

© Janet Martin

How Awesome is This Place

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,

 “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 

And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! 

This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” 

Gen.28:16-17

Echoing Jacob's words today 'how awesome is this place'

of God's redeeming grace

On That Day-City Alight

How awesome is this place

Where grace and mercy meld

To bring hope to a sin-cursed race

Through Jesus, not withheld

But, for glory’s increase

He suffered in our stead

The punishment that brings us peace

And triumphs death’s dark dread

How awesome is this place

Of grief, joy, love and hate

Where some believe with humble faith

And some doubt and debate

The way, the truth, the life

The hope that sets us free

Through the shed blood of Jesus Christ

And the grave’s victory

How awesome is this place

This is the gate of heav’n

Where, by the goodness of God’s grace

The sinner is forgiv’n

Not in part, but in full

Redemption’s torrents pour

To work in us the miracle

Of sins recalled no more

How awesome is this place

Eternity’s threshold

The darksome glass, ere face to face

His beauty we behold

Where no more tears will be

When all will be made new

Together forever with He

Who so loves me and you

How awesome is our Lord

Where His grace tarries still

While prophecy fulfills His Word

According to His will

Where earth is heaven’s gate

Then call upon His name

Before it is too late, too late

Salvation’s gift to claim

© Janet Martin

Rev.21:5

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” 

Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”