To Live For Thee, Oh God

When we dissect the moments of a day, 

do we find a life lived for Self or God?

This was a sobering challenge to me recently.

Oh God, let my love be more

than an acknowledgment of Your existence,

whilst harbouring a heart of prideful resistance

Have Thine Own Way, Lord-Jim Reeves

To live for Thee, oh God

Affects all that we do

It keens the heart to do our part

To serve and honour You

To live for Thee, oh Lord

Is more than pious nod

To testify with mouthed reply

The existence of God

To truly live for Thee

Means self must be denied

Love’s price is always sacrifice

All else is selfish pride

To live for Thee, oh God

Nobody can ignore

For we all prove who we most love

By who we’re living for

…then when death comes to claim

Soul’s cloak back to the sod

Heaven or hell will surely tell

Life lived for Self or God

For who we love we serve

Life, not lips testify

If we believe, and thus conceive

The fruit of love's reply

© Janet Martin

Matt.6:24

“No one can serve two masters. 

Either you will hate the one and love the other, 

or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. 

You cannot serve both God and money.

Joshua 24:14-15

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. 

Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped 

beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 

15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, 

then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, 

whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, 

or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. 

But as for me and my household, 

we will serve the Lord.”

Gal.1:10

Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? 

 am I striving to please men? 

If I were still trying to please men, 

I would not be a servant of Christ

I posted the above post before church...

then, lo and behold, our scripture passage for 

this morning's message was;

1 Thess. 4

Living to please God...

verse 1: As for other matters, brothers and sisters, 

we instructed you how to live in order to please God, 

as in fact you are living. 

Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus 

to do this more and more.

Wonder-full

First, when I got up this morning a wave of woe washed over me;

So much would-be worry and want, without true trust in One greater!

 Wonderful, Merciful Saviour

Wonder-full, though oft-times dismayed

By disappointment’s rending rod

In spite of plans and dreams waylaid

Nothing separates us from God

Wonder-full, though heart-cries resound

With grief where unbelief is bold

Because iniquity abounds

The love of many has waxed cold

Wonder still fills the heart with awe

To think, God, rich in mercy gave

His Son to die because He saw

How many souls His death would save

He did not, in the face of hate

Retaliate, but cried ‘forgive’

His suffering, so very great

So that the least may look and live

Thus, we may live, still wonder-full

In spite of hardship’s draining toll

God’s Word and love none can annul

Or thwart the Saviour of the soul

© Janet Martin

Wishing you a weekend filled with wonder!

So much to steal our breath in His Word and in His works!

Psalm 10: 12-18

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
    Why does he say to himself,
    “He won’t call me to account”?
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.

The Lord is King for ever and ever;
    the nations will perish from his land.
17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
    so that mere earthly mortals
    will never again strike terror.

Giving All Diligence...

I feel a bit like a cowboy this morning, trying to lasso this poem before it got away...

It was wrangled and wrestled to the page midst the muddle and music of life💗

Inspired in part, as I read this morning's Daily Bread Devotion based on this passage below;

Also included in the devotion is inspiration from the life of Charles H. Spurgeon!

2 Peter 1:3-9

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,

 to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control [b]perseverance, 

to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither [c]barren nor unfruitful

 in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, 

and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Last week on the post Star-trek I mentioned a preacher from my youth

intoning repeatedly the verses that come after the above scripture...

(ha-ha, I bet Ira B. never imagined his name in any way used with the words Star-trek😂)

2 Pet.1:10-11

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, 

for if you do these things you will never stumble; 

11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly 

into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Stanza 4 of today's poem was inspired by the joy of laughter this morning...

Miss Four-year-old has not yet mastered the letter 'f',

so she is enjoying a bowl full of toot-loops😂

I told her I don't think I will ever see fruit-loops in quite the same way again! lol!

I do not want to live, my dear, as if I had no vow to keep

No Highest Calling to revere or like a soldier half-asleep

Rather than standing on full guard, wary of enemies that lurk

To lure me from the Sacred Hard of diligence in prayer and work

I do not want to drift as if this dawn-to-dawn was nothing more

Than a cruise down the Amazon to some yon-not-so-endless shore

I do not want to squander time as if life was a holiday

Rather than a most sacred climb to what will never pass way

I want to recognize what lies beyond this Bitty Beckoning

A long ‘dirt-nap’ is not the Prize that will succeed the reckoning

Therefore, I do not want to live as if this was some dead-end street

Without account we all will give to Holy God we all will meet

I want to laugh, fully in touch with the joy in its melody

I want to hear, see, smell, taste, touch with a rush of holy-holy

I want to think of Him, not me when weighing wishing’s cons and prose

I want my heart and hope to brim with thankfulness for Mercy’s woes

Imagine, as time disappears and I fall down in reverence

I would look up to see God’s tears crowning my lack of diligence

As I behold His Hands still scarred with pardon’s awful autograph

Imagine being barred from Heaven for life lived on my behalf

© Janet Martin

Of This

Love enjoys and endures life's utter contrasts;

 utter joy and wonder

utter chaos and care...

The end will come of This;

This gift and groan of prayer

Love’s laughter and the traitor’s kiss

Will fade into thin air

This leap of live and learn

This thud of high to low

This day-by-daily no-return

Of grace whereby we go

This cross of loss and gain

This toss twixt dust-to-dust

This awesome albatross of pain

And pleasure, fear and trust

This sacred metronome

Of ever-dwindling day

This happy-sad of home-sweet-home

This brunt of gold-blue-gray

This innocence soon lost

Where time does not stand still

As hope begins to count the cost

Of growing older till...

The end will come of This;

This on and upward climb

This test of love and faithfulness

Till God replaces Time

© Janet Martin

Be very careful, then, how you live—

not as unwise but as wise,

Eph.5:15

The Beginning of Knowledge...

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Prov.1:7

I have been pondering the above verse for the past week;

how fear of God or lack thereof, affects every single decision we make!

Then, lo and behold, it was the key verse in today's Daily Bread Devotion!

All things were made by Him...

The beginning of knowledge is not by some college taught

But as we meet God through his Word and revere His commands

For what starts with a niggle in our hearts or in our thought

Will soon wiggle its way into our mouth, or feet and hands

The beginning of knowledge does not age-discriminate

We are all never too old to discover something new

Our Father up in Heaven is a God of love, not hate

We prove how much we fear Him by the things we say and do

The beginning of knowledge is to fear the Lord, our God

Then tremble at His word and reverence His holy Name

Do not stand in the way that wicked wanderers applaud 

The fool that loathes wisdom's instruction will be brought to shame

The beginning of knowledge is to recognize our place

Beneath the grace of God who forgives and sets sinners free

The fool does not tremble to think of 'someday face to face'

The wise seek godly counsel with fear and humility

Janet Martin

Prov.3:7

Do not be wise in your own eyes; 

Fear the LORD and depart from evil.

Proverbs 14:26-27
He who fears the LORD is secure in confidence, 

and his children shall have a place of refuge.

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, 

turning a person from the snares of death.

Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the LORD prolongs life, 

but the years of the wicked will be cut short.

Proverbs 11:14
For lack of guidance, a nation falls, 

but with many counselors comes deliverance.

Isa.66:4-6

So I will choose their punishment and I will bring terror upon them, because I called and no one answered, I spoke and no one listened. But they did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.” 5You who tremble at His word, hear the word of the LORD: “Your brothers who hate you and exclude you because of My name have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified that we may see your joy!’ But they will be put to shame.” 6Hear the uproar from the city; listen to the voice from the temple! It is the voice of the LORD, repaying His enemies what they deserve!…

Welcome July

Rather than panic that sweet July will fly by too fast

Time is teaching me to soak in every sacred moment cast

Like a lure at the end of a fisherman's rod

To get hooked, lined and sinker-ed by the artwork of God

Welcome, sweet, sweltering July

You spread your grin across the sky

While we, beneath its boundless blue

Drink in the ink of dust and dew

And barely want to sleep because

Of how soon you turn into Was

Thus, we cannot afford to miss

One iota of summer-bliss

One meadow full of Queen Ann’s lace

One very fine excuse to chase

Time down lanes fringed with filigree

Of chamomile and chicory

Welcome, jubilee of July

Happiness is a butterfly

A gaudy stalk of holly-hock

An afternoon without a clock

A symphony of cold, iced-tea

Or teal sea-song, flung fancy free

‘cross smiles and miles of glossy sand

Where at last the sea meets the land

That sheds its green for sheen of gold

That tugs at something none can hold

But rushes, gushes, blushes through

An orange-lily lavished flue

Welcome, patina of July

Of mist-kissed morn soon sizzled dry

Of haunts we seek with roofs, leaf spun

To hide from the big yellow sun

Of pools and ponds resounding splash

Of purple popsicle mustache

Of moms and dads, half-holidayed

While childhood memories are made

Of baskets bearing garden gifts

While moments merge and summer drifts

Through glasses filled with a parade

Of berry-garnished lemonade

Welcome, wander-land of July

Where wild-grass strums a lullaby

While we permit ourselves to sit

And daydream for a longer bit

Because we know how moments flow

From holding on to letting go

How, afternoon to afternoon

Didst curb the blurb of May to June

Of lilac-froth and blossom snow

Into a surging undertow

That melds without noisy fanfare

Into an ocean of thin air

Welcome, twinkle we call July

Of corn-fields reaching for the sky

Of zinnia-fireworks that spill

A petal-rainbow’s timeless thrill

Of sprinklers tossing diamonds wild

Around the dazzle-smitten child

Of early dawn and tardy dusk

And senses steeped in daisy-musk

Where Time gleams like a painting hung

Entitled When the World Was Young

Welcome, welcome, darling July

Where poets purge and wheat fields sigh 

Where foliage flaunts both hip-hooray

And bug and blight induced dismay

Where finches flit-flirt-squabble-tweet

Where briefly, earth and heaven meet

Where we aboard a barge of days

Are drifting t'ward a violet haze

That separates present and past

Where we make history far too fast

While we are learning how to fall

Hook, line and sinker through it all 

© Janet Martin

Our Greatest Achievement (pride-weak or humility strong)

A quote, retained from my growing up years;

Humility is a hard thing to achieve;

The moment we think we have it we've lost it! 😉

One of my dearest, humbling happiness-es is peering deep

into the delicate perfection of a flower ...

In today's world, happiness,

not holiness seems touted as

our greatest goal/achievement or 'right'!

Pride, not humility is hailed as 'hero'!

It is impossible to be proud and holy!

It is impossible to be proud and truly happy!

Below is Holy Scripture's 'tip' of this topic!

...but as He who called you is holy, 

you also be holy in all your conduct, 

 because it is written,

 “Be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:15-16

Proverbs 29:23

A man's pride will bring him low, 

but a humble spirit will obtain honor.

James 4:6

But he gives us more grace.

That is why Scripture says

: “God opposes the proud 

but shows favor to the humble.”

Prov.6:16-19

These six things the Lord hates,

Yes, seven are an abomination to [a]Him:

A[b] proud look,

A lying tongue,

Hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that devises wicked plans,

Feet that are swift in running to evil,

A false witness who speaks lies,

And one who sows discord among brethren.

(I've discovered when I do a Bible word search on 'happy'

most often it is translated into 'blessed')

Psalm 40:4

Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, 

who has not turned to the proud, 

nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

Take Time To Be Holy

We, since Eden's calamity

Have struggled with temptation's bent

The Word, that WAS, IS and WILL BE

No mortal twist can circumvent

We are without excuse because

The Word that WAS, IS and WILL BE

Is steadfast in Love's changeless laws

No Author of confusion, He

Holiness is our highest Call

Not happiness, as some may claim

 Defiant pride precedes the fall

That leads to destruction and shame

The Word that WAS, IS and WILL BE

So many dare to disregard  

As if the cross of Calvary

Was but a charm or a postcard

The way to destruction is broad

Death's dark and downward jaunt seems bright

While the devil who detests God

Masquerades as angel of light

The deceiver is sly and vile

No one is too precious to spare

His mission, seeking to beguile

Those not yet on hell's thoroughfare

God's truth and love will never shift

He is just, trustworthy and kind

When we receive salvation's gift

He opens eyes that once were blind

Then call on Him in humble awe

Before pride makes a mockery

Of He who IS Love's Perfect Law

The Word that WAS, IS and WILL BE

Seek holiness without reserve

The Word that WAS, IS and WILL BE

Waits to reward as we deserve;

Earned through pride or humility

Janet Martin

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2He was in the beginning with God.

3All things were made through Him,

and without Him nothing was made that was made.

4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5And the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness did not [a]comprehend it.

Memory Apart

Our grand-children were delighted to see

some places where grandma spent many delightful girlhood hours,

like the creek...

Some things never change, like the thrill of stone-chucking

to see the splash...

or the euphoria of the sense of adventure

 (even if it was just running as fast as little legs can to

collect unique mud-chips from a dried up puddle

to toss in the water)💗

Now to w-a-a-a-y back when suddenly seemed just a sparkle or three apart!

When we take a photo

When we pen a rhyme

We are saving echoes

In the march of Time

When we dish out dinner

Do it thankfully

Time is growing thinner

With each memory

So much up on offer

To perplex and please

Treasures in a coffer

Full of memories

When we touch the tarmac

Of a newborn day

Live as if love is a

Memory away

Live with kind intention

Love with tender heart

Now to then is just a

Memory apart

© Janet Martin