Thursday, September 19, 2019

Sacred, Sacred Stakes



Why hearts are held in constant prayer
Why we love, labour and prepare
And care for more than daily bread
Or what before our gaze is spread
Why what we choose with conscience chaste
Runs deeper than mere touch and taste
While dreams we dream and plans we make
Cannot forget what is at stake

Why we work with Harvest in mind
Why Truth is something we must find
And why we cannot turn blind eyes
To those who scorn that which we prize
And why we shudder to the core
At what some would dare to ignore
So this is why we pray and pray
For people who have lost their way

…and why we oh, so deeply grieve
For those who choose not to believe
And why we lie awake at night
On their behalf, to fight the fight
Against dark princes of the air
And plead that God their life would spare
Until their heart and will would break
Awed by the life that is at stake

…why therefore we cannot afford
To cease to lay before the Lord
The agony of sorrow stirred
In utter groans too deep for word
And why the whisper of the clock
Bids one and all to take full stock
Of dreams we dream and plans we make
For these are deathless souls at stake

© Janet Martin

 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: 
and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Eccles.12:7
 
John 3:18
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him."



Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Love...or the Lack Thereof


 And above all things have fervent love for one another,...

 Let's love like a flower in full bloom and make the world beautiful right where we are!


Lack of love brings
Lack of joy
Lack of joy brings
Lack of praise
Lack of praise brings
Lack of thanks
To He who grants us
All our days

© Janet Martin

Sacred Spending Spree


Happy Spending Spree on this glorious September Day!
May all that we 'purchase' be to give away...for the Giver's Glory!



All that we have the Good Lord gave
Though sometimes we forget
And think somehow we earned the ‘wow’
That butters our bread

Time’s teeny wink of say and think
Links to eternity
The gifts God grants a one-life chance
To use them carefully

Who, but Great God can claim the laud
Of health or wealth we boast/host
Ah, how one spends what His grace lends
Proves who we love the most

So then we ought with prayerful thought
To invest in far more
Than This small gust of dust-to-dust
And money’s futile score

For all we have the Good Lord gave
Thus no one can defend
Entitlement to one red cent
Of what He gave to spend

© Janet Martin


 Then He told them a parable: 
“The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance.
So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’
Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, 
and there I will store up all my grain and my goods.
Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. 
Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. 
Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”



Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Flying and Dancing Lessons


 A year ago hubby and I were enjoying a 30-year wedding-anniversary get-away.
We find ourselves reliving some of the past a bit...'a year ago today we were'...
but for the most part the present takes all our focus/faith to 'fly and dance'.
...for as Present spills it fills the past!



I love the way the friendly day beams over land and sea
And sets the wheels in motion that turns time to history
What lies before us who can know but He who grants the chance
To try our wings of faith to fly and feet of clay to dance

I love the way the season-reel keeps stealing our breath
And teaches us to revere now and here’s prelude to death
What lies behind us who can change; but now, ah, see yon Door
Unfurling a new highway that no one has tread before

I love the way Today is always new; hip-hip-hooray
To rejoice and be glad in He who gives and takes away
Because God works for our good; His timing is not ours
But Loving Kindness tends His brood and strews the world with flow’rs

I love the way He does not leave us or forsake us, no
Though sometimes He reminds us of the grace whereby we go
Still, each new day that He has made is like a gift God grants
To try our wings of faith to fly and feet of clay to dance

© Janet Martin


Monday, September 16, 2019

The Conclusion of the Matter is Love


 And by these, my son, be further warned: 
There is no end to the making of many books, 
and much study wearies the body.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, 
along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.…
Eccles.12:12-14 



The rivalry twixt heart and head wars where the score is hid
And often none but God bears witness to the victory
Where what we want oft seem at odds with God’s less-tempting bid
For love does not persuade us with promise of luxury

Mankind’s covetous nature led Eve to believe a lie
And since The Fall in Eden evil wars with what is good
Without the love of God can never choose the things we should

The altar where we sacrifice what would entice the flesh
Is not a public show; only God knows the full amount
But He, when we are finished with want’s little skirmishes
Will be the One to Whom we all will bow and give account

Surrendering of Self is not easy; no, not a bit
Aha, love’s hard-wrought battles are fought with our thought, not hands
Where what the world disdains is but true love’s prerequisite
The whole duty of man; to fear God and keep his commands

© Janet Martin


By this we know that we love the children of God:
 when we love God and keep His commandments. 
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.
 And His commandments are not burdensome/grievous, 
because everyone born of God overcomes the world. 
And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.…
 

 Mark 7:21-22
For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.