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.

Gift-awareness

 

“What you are is God’s gift to you, 

what you become is your gift to God.”

 ~ Hans Urs von Balthasar

...as He rekindles skies with molten gold and rose

The rose glow was brief, soon snuffed by a shroud of impending spring showers

This life we live is like a gift we open every day

To glorify the Giver by the things we do and say

To solemnize the prize that God’s renewed mercy bestows

With praise, as He rekindles skies with molten gold and rose

This life is like a race that teaches runners to endure

For joy still set before us that this world cannot secure

And no one knows how near or far the finish line is set

Before we cross into Yon Incomprehensible Yet

This life composes testaments we should not overlook

Each day a sacred page we fill and God seals in a Book

Where we all hold a precious part in His heart and His plan

And all are called to love Him first and then our fellowman

This life is like a gift we open every morning, oh

Then pray we seek to honor He who grants Time’s fresh ‘hello’

And live as if today could be the final gift, before

We pass over the finish line into Forevermore

Oh, what a dreadful pity if, too late we recognize

The gift of day-to-day was but the prelude to the Prize

But what a joyful morning it will be for all who saw

Beyond faith's frond and humbly esteemed each new dawn with awe 

© Janet Martin

Rom.11:33-36

O, the depth of the riches

of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are His judgments,

and untraceable His ways!

34“Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been His counselor?”j

35“Who has first given to God,

that God should repay him?”k

36For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

To Him be the glory forever! 

Amen.

Worship Invitation

Isa.25:1

O LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You,

I will praise Your name,

For You have done wonderful things;

Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

Sometimes I'm kind of sad when a Sunday morning worship service ends...

but though corporate worship may conclude, 

never the worship offered in spirit and in truth.

Happy Worship Day!

Come, Now Is the Time to Worship- Official Music Video

Brian Doerksen 

Not the building nor the vesture

Not in the visible part

Worship swells to our Creator

From the altar of the heart

Not in rigid duty, dire,

Not in pious, performed rite

Worship is devotion’s fire

Burning morning, noon and night

Not by flawless execution

Nor by engaging façade

But of spirit and truth’s fusion

Poured in humble praise to God

To the Author of salvation

Through the faith that makes us whole

Worship is pure adoration

To the Lover of the Soul

Worship He who never leaves us

Worship He who beckons 'come'

The name above all names, Jesus 

Cornerstone of Christendom

Come and join hope's celebration

Universal hymn unfurled 

Worship the God of creation

And the Saviour of the world 

© Janet Martin

But the hour is coming, and now is, 

when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; 

for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

John 4:23

Forever God is Faithful

Redemption-wrought Renewal

Surely all the suffering of sorrow, sickness, loss

would get the best of us without God's comfort through the cross

Praise Him; the best this life affords is free to one and all

Salvation through the sacrifice that saves us from The Fall

and breaks the curse of death and hell the hour we believe

renewing faith's hope day by day, through life yet to receive

John 3:16 (NKJV)

For God so loved the world 

that He gave His only begotten Son,

 that whoever believes in Him 

should not perish 

but have everlasting life.

2 Cor.4:16-18

Therefore we do not lose heart. 

Even though our outward man is perishing, 

yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 

 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 

is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 

 while we do not look at the things which are seen, 

but at the things which are not seen. 

For the things which are seen are temporary, 

but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Renewed day by day

Where challenges we face

Would draw hope’s anchored joy away

Without God’s love and grace

Without His promises

To cheer our mortal clay

Without His perfect no and yes

To comfort as we pray

Without the confidence

Of Him, in full control

Without Calvary’s Providence

To save the deathless soul

...till the dark glass between

Faith and Sight melts away

The glory of what/Who is Unseen

Renews us day by day

© Janet Martin

Standing on the Promises of God

Because He Lives- David Crowder

Happy Spring Greeting

Happy First Day of Spring!

Gramma finally relented a few days ago

(because we were only a few sleeps away from the date circled on the calendar)

when granddaughter was promised she could finally use 'her favorite teapot')

We garnished our mint-leaf tea with dried marigold and recalled the day we harvested them

while dreaming of delightful garden days to come...

The sun tangles in tresses, still barren, where spring’s debut

Caresses sod and soul with notes of an emerging tune...

The sun tangles in tresses, still barren, where spring’s debut

Caresses sod and soul with notes of an emerging tune

Hope and delight ignite ballads of blossoms coming true

Contentment like a butterfly breaks from winter’s cocoon

And joy peals from a belfry that we sense but cannot see

As Nature keeps God’s promises of what will always be

The breezes tease us with visions of verdant countryside

Hillsides and brook banks beckon us to linger on earth’s loom

To revel in impressions of a trove of gates flung wide

As buds begin to breathe and bulging bulbs burst into bloom

And robins sing a song of spring and Reason dares to dance

As gladness finds fresh anchors in life’s sea of circumstance

The snow recedes like ebbing tides from winter-weary shores

Dawn is an eager child dashing across time’s gleaming sands

Dreams tiptoe, careful not to arouse Old Man Winter's snores

We, well aware of streets soon winnowed by time’s gleaning hands

Grapple once more with tug of wars, beauty and duty spun

On how to make the most of moments melting in the sun

© Janet Martin

For, lo, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of the singing of birds is come,

And the voice of the turtle

Is heard in our land;

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,

And the vines with the tender grape

Give a good smell

.

Song of Solomon 2:11-13

Law/Awe of Love

There is nothing glamorous or sensational 

when it comes to humble, faithful obedience.

Look at the cross!!

No wild applause praises the Living Sacrifice.

Often it is not beautiful to behold!

Yet, only careful, diligent obedience to His commands 

makes manifest our declarations of love for God

Today as in the days of Moses, the condition of 

God's blessing remains the same...

James 1:25

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it,

 and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, 

this one will be blessed in what he does.

How can His Word be in our mouths and hearts? 

By familiarizing ourselves with it/Him.

How do we do that? Only one way.

By spending time in his Word/with God.

then what happens?

More love for Him.

An awe-struck love

 yielding a willing, humble obedience!

for we serve best/most what/who we love best/most

How often I/we fail!!

but oh, pray failure will not drive us to despair

but rather to repentant prayer, to confess our sins

to He who is faithful and just to forgive them 

and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

...and then, re-impacted with awe for God's grace, on we go,

not in lawless living but in the law of liberty/love!

Re-impact us with awe

Impress upon our hearts

The wonder of the law of love

That serving You imparts

Renew our minds, oh Lord

So, we may test and prove

The righteousness that will confess

The perfect law of Love

The law that binds love's wounds

The law of liberty 

The law that stands on the commands

Of old eternally 

Delight us with your Word

And thus, complete our joy

With the increase of hope and peace

That nothing can destroy

With heart and soul and mind

Let love’s agenda be

Diligence in obedience

With glad humility

Re-impact us with awe

For love’s redeeming vow

And the reward we press toward

When at Thy feet we bow

…when at Thy feet we bow

By utter awe undone

The mysteries of Your grace and love

Unveiled around Thy throne

© Janet Martin

Romans 2:13
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God,

 but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous.

Romans 8:2
For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life 

set you free from the law of sin and death.

The chaos, confusion, and curse of disobedience

(lack of reverence and love for God) 

speaks for itself

💔🙏😢

More Love to Thee

Sneak-peek at Spring Things

 Four more sleeps till the first day of spring!!

Soon earth will burst with garden rooms

Forsythia and dogwood plumes

Tulips and daffodils will stroll

Like little girls across the knoll

And heaven will tip welkin jars

To dapple dells with violet stars

And orchard thoroughfares will tease

Noses with heady blossom breeze

And honey bees will buzz and hum

From lilac to geranium

And rose buds will spill miracles

And trees will hoist lace parasols

And woodland citadels will ring

With feathered throngs that sing and sing

And brooks will tumble out to the sea

With a refurbished melody

And raindrop tap dancers will waltz

And puppies will turn somersaults

...and puddles will be full of feet

Where almost-heaven and earth meet

And housewives will fling windows wide

To welcome the outdoors inside

And farmers will stoke dusty slopes

While planting seed-sized prayers and hopes

And children, like colored balloons

Will swing away warm afternoons

And laundry lines will be a string 

Of motley banners, fluttering

And the air will kindle a grin

That starts somewhere beneath our skin 

And life will be sweeter because

Spring fills the world where winter was

© Janet Martin

Poet's Tea

 

You may feast

on information

Theory,

theology

scientific explanation

hypothesis,

philosophy

I prefer

to sup on sips

Of ink

teased into

poetry

I prefer

the art

Of heart-shaped

Hopes

and Nope’s sting

reconciled

By possibility

Still waiting,

for ink-oceans

to run

wild

© Janet Martin