Not Seeing Yet Believing...(or, See, Lifted O'er the Dregs of Desperation)

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,

 but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

In the Cross of Christ I Glory

See, lifted o'er the dregs of desperation wrought by sin

The cross of Calvary, hope's resolution to begin

He who knew no sin became sin, so sinners may become

The righteousness of Christ, the cornerstone of Christendom 

See there the tree that wears the blood that turns sin's scarlet white

And bears the One who loves beyond comprehension's vague flight 

He who endured the cross, beheld, while being nailed-engraved 

Beyond the nature of love's call to all who would be saved 

See Him suffer then die, so you and I may look and live

Hear Him, while being crucified, cry out, 'Father, forgive' 

He did not hold against us a debt we could never pay

Then praise the name of Jesus who washes our sins away

See, the grave where they laid Him, it is empty, as He said

Death and hell overthrown by He who arose from the dead

See, lifted o'er the dregs of desperation, Dread's reprieve 

The power of the cross; salvation for all who believe 

© Janet Martin

Heb12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, 

the author and perfecter of our faith, 

who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, 

scorning its shame, and sat down 

at the right hand of the throne of God

Philippians 2:8
And being found in appearance as a man, 

He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--

even death on a cross.

Romans 10:9

that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," 

and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, 

you will be saved.

 

Beholding Mercy

Sunrise; such a majestic metaphor, for God's mercy

new each morning!

Braving a raw heart-cry today for all who have

not yet 'come to the knowledge of the truth'

1 Tim.2:1-6

A Call to Prayer

1First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving 

be offered for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority—

so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives 

in all godliness and dignity.

  3This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,

  4who wants everyone to be saved

 and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

5For there is one God, and there is one mediator 

between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 

6who gave Himself as a ransom for all—

Behold the mercy from the Hand

That unfolds from night, morning

Love’s scepter stretched across the land

Extends life’s brief adorning

Where Death has not yet tolled the bell

That draws the soul from mortal shell

Consider then, the woes of hell

And heed salvation’s warning

Bow Thou beneath the cross of Christ

Pray, do not thy heart harden

Believe on He who sacrificed

His Son for our pardon

Repent today and do not wait

Lest alas, you believe too late

For grace cannot undo the Gate/Fate

Sealed by death’s holy guerdon

Behold the cross; behold God’s son

Behold redemption, meted

Where death that comes to everyone

By One Death was defeated

Behold and then consider well

The cost of both heaven and hell

Pray, do not mock the flood that fell

As God’s grace interceded

Behold the mercy from the Hand

Where nail-scars shape love’s token

Of suffering love’s stark demand

So sin’s curse could be broken

Behold and do not turn away

But call upon His name today

Consider well the woes of they

Who leave remorse unspoken

Behold and thwart doubt with belief

Come, join all who adore Him

Who bore the cross and sin's gross grief

For joy still set before Him

Will you reject deliverance

Wrought through a Saviour's innocence 

Consider well, the consequence

If you choose to ignore Him

© Janet Martin

Does this song not make you weep for joy??!

 

Jude 17-24

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.

  18They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers

 who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 

19These are the people who divide you, 

who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up 

in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 

21keep yourselves in God’s love 

as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ

 to bring you to eternal life.

22Be merciful to those who doubt;

  23save others by snatching them from the fire;

 to others show mercy, mixed with fear—

hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. f

Doxology

24To him who is able to keep you from stumbling 

and to present you before his glorious presence 

without fault and with great joy— 

25to the only God our Savior 

be glory, majesty, power and authority,

 through Jesus Christ our Lord, 

before all ages, now and forevermore! 

Amen.

Does It Not (Bid Thought to Marvel)

 Alas, and Did My Saviour Bleed?

 

Grace and peace to you from God our Father 

and the Lord Jesus Christ,

 4 who gave himself for our sins 

to rescue us from the present evil age, 

according to the will of our God and Father, 

5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. 

Amen. 

Gal.1:3-5

Does it not bid thought to marvel

He who knew no sin became

Sin's sacrifice for all people

To redeem us through His Name

Does it not stir adoration 

For He whose blood was out-poured

Once for all, the soul's salvation

Wrought, through Jesus Christ the Lord

Does it not stun contemplation

That the Son of God should be

Humbled to death's meanest station

On a cross for all to see

Crushed beneath the weight He carries

Sinless, bearing all our sins

For we, beneficiaries

Of His holy sufferings 

Does it not undo vainglory

To view hate's presumptuousness

While love, clothed in bloodshed, gory

Wove faith's robes of righteousness

Does it not renew surrender

Does it not steal our breath

To behold the soul's Defender 

Obedient unto death

Look, where love's manifestation

Suffered voluntarily  

Does it not stir adoration

From the likes of you and me

Jesus Christ gave Himself for us

Bearing Pardon's Albatross 

So that we we may be victorious

Through the power of the cross

Does it not bid thought to marvel

At the hope the cross affords

Through sin's sacrifice so royal-

King of Kings and Lord of lords

   © Janet Martin

Nothing But the Blood of Jesus

Wonderful Merciful Saviour

The Dream of What Once Was

PAD Challenge-day 4 Two-for-Tues.

Write a dream poem, and/or...

Write a reality poem.

Sometimes I can't help but be re-astonished

by the estranged proximity

of outgrown dreams, where Bygone streams

with spent reality!

\...where rooms once full of mess/life have granted

the bitter sweetness of tidy silence... 

The messy rooms that made me lose

My patience, taunt me now

The days when I tripped over shoes

Have disappeared somehow

The constant noise of girls and boys

Adrift on childhood’s dreams

Have granted me the hard-fought joys

Of not-all-as-it-seems

 Who knew silence could thunder

In the aftermath of Then

 Where I dare not miss what yet is

While coveting the ‘When’

But embrace the Reality

Of Here and Now because

What waits to be will soon become

The dream of what once was

© Janet Martin

PAD Challenge day 3-Waiting for spring

PAD Challenge day 3-For today's prompt, write a connection poem.

My daughter sent me this picture of Dear Granddaughter, and three words

Waiting For Spring🌺☔🌞

'Do I have your permission to use it with a poem?' I asked 

to which she replied 'of course'

Ah, just beyond bedraggled fronds of remnant drifts of snow

Beyond the umber overtones before green starts to show

Beyond the gate where we still wait with umbrella in hand

While raindrops waltz from leaden vaults across storm-sobered land

I sense the steady trundle of a sturdy wagon heaped

With a three-season bundle to be sown, tended and reaped

Ah, just beyond the pond still chilled with winter’s aftermath

I hear the dance of bare feet spilled to dusty garden path

And like a teapot tipped to pour sweet sips of mint or chai

I feel the earth, an eager cup lifted to catch the sky

Where just beyond the bondage of what Time alone sets free

I sense an immense barrage of buds turned to melody

Ah, just beyond the wall we cannot scale or clap apart

I sense the love and laughter of a color-happy heart

After winter has gone the way of every winter-old

After earth’s rags of brown and gray are laid with green and gold

After the part after the art that draws ajar spring’s gate

I know once more we will admit that it was worth the wait

© Janet Martin

Ah, just beyond the pond still chilled with winter’s aftermath...

After the part after the art that draws ajar spring’s gate...

A Meek Appeal

“I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh

and give you a heart of flesh. 

And I will put my Spirit within you . . . 

and you shall be my people, 

and I will be your God”

 (Ezekiel 36:26–28).

Something for Thee

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

Forgive my apathy

My soul, not wholly awed

Forgetful, where a blood-drenched tree

Extolled the Lamb of God

Forgive my wayward eye

From Cal’vry’s silhouette

Where grief does not compose a cry

Of true repentance yet

Forgive my easy loss

Of sorrow for my sin

Forbid, I gaze upon the cross

Yet bar the Door within

Forgive my errant whim

Desires, prone to pride

Unshaken, as I gaze on Him

With Self, not yet denied

Forgive my lack of zeal

For Your sufficient grace

Draw me back to the cross to feel

Your blood drops on my face

Forbid that I should bow

O Christ, beneath thy Blood

Only to return to sin’s slough

Like a pig to the mud

Remove my heart of stone

Break through my ache of skin

With renewed awe for You alone

Who takes away my sin

Forgive me when I seek

The willing ways of men 

Lord, enter in where flesh is weak

And make me strong again 

© Janet Martin

Nearer, Still Nearer

April PAD Challenge Day One

Happy, happy April!!

Writer's Digest poem-a-day/PAD Challenge-day one;

 For today's prompt, write a foolish poem.

I love clipping branches in mid-March 

then bringing them indoors to watch them unfold!

(Pussy-willow, bridal wreath and apple boughs!)

 

Foolish to pout, fume, fuss/cuss and fret

Spring never has lost its way yet

Foolish to leap before we look

Then rue the foolish leap we took

Foolish to think if we veto

The truth somehow it isn't so 

Foolish to trust in the façade

Of dust to dust, rather than God

Foolish to live as if the soul

Was nothing but a donut hole  

Foolish to wish for what once was

and miss What Is, 

in wishing's Because

Foolish to lament growing old

While licking cones of moment-gold 

Foolish to scorn the wisdom of

Mercy and goodness from above

Janet Martin

Because of Calvary-Be Glad (Palm Sunday weekend mediation)

The beginning of Psalm 32

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,

Whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not [b]impute iniquity,

And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

...and then the ending

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;

But he who trusts in the Lord, 

mercy shall surround him.

11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;

And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

King of Calvary-Matt Redman

Be glad and shout for joy

All we who have believed

No power on earth can destroy

What Calvary achieved

Be glad and overjoyed

Hope crowns each step we trod

Where none can nullify or void

The promises of God

Be glad; Exalt the name

Of He who forgives sins

And grants the gift that all may claim

As faith its fight begins

Be glad, for our God reigns

His steadfast love prevails

Take heart and trust He who sustains

The Word that never fails

Be glad; beyond life’s cares

Awaits the victory

Joy crowns faith’s pilgrimage of prayers

Because of Calvary

Be glad and trust in He

Who is not overthrown

Fret not evil’s prosperity

That soon will be cut down

Be glad no matter what

Do not love’s law forsake

For God upholds the righteous but

The wicked He will break

Be glad and wait on He

Who Salvation’s cross braved

Be glad because of Calvary

Doomed sinner can be saved

Our hope is in the Lord

What blessed hope is He

Whose imperishable reward

Unfolds eternally

© Janet Martin

sometimes the darkness of  the world 

where the wicked seem to prosper 

could threaten to overshadow the Light!

May that never be!

But may His Word ever be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path

Ps.119:105

1 Corinthians 15:19 ESV

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, 

we are of all people most to be pitied.

Titus 3:7 ESV

So that being justified by his grace 

we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Psalm 37

Do not fret because of evildoers,

Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

2For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,

And wither as the green herb.

3Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

5Commit[a] your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

6He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your justice as the noonday.

7Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

8Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;

Do not fret—it only causes harm.

9For evildoers shall be [b]cut off;

But those who wait on the Lord,

They shall inherit the earth.

10For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;

Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,

But it shall be no more.

11But the meek shall inherit the earth,

And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

12The wicked plots against the just,

And gnashes at him with his teeth.

13The Lord laughs at him,

For He sees that his day is coming.

14The wicked have drawn the sword

And have bent their bow,

To cast down the poor and needy,

To slay those who are of upright conduct.

15Their sword shall enter their own heart,

And their bows shall be broken.

16A little that a righteous man has

Is better than the riches of many wicked.

17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

But the Lord upholds the righteous.

18The Lord knows the days of the upright,

And their inheritance shall be forever.

19They shall not be ashamed in the evil time,

And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

20But the wicked shall perish;

And the enemies of the Lord,

Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish.

Into smoke they shall vanish away.

21The wicked borrows and does not repay,

But the righteous shows mercy and gives.

22For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth,

But those cursed by Him shall be [c]cut off.

23The steps of a good man are [d]ordered by the Lord,

And He delights in his way.

24Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;

For the Lord upholds him with His hand.

25I have been young, and now am old;

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

Nor his descendants begging bread.

26He is [e]ever merciful, and lends;

And his descendants are blessed.

27Depart from evil, and do good;

And dwell forevermore.

28For the Lord loves justice,

And does not forsake His saints;

They are preserved forever,

But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.

29The righteous shall inherit the land,

And dwell in it forever.

30The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom,

And his tongue talks of justice.

31The law of his God is in his heart;

None of his steps shall [f]slide.

32The wicked watches the righteous,

And seeks to slay him.

33The Lord will not leave him in his hand,

Nor condemn him when he is judged.

34Wait on the Lord,

And keep His way,

And He shall exalt you to inherit the land;

When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

35I have seen the wicked in great power,

And spreading himself like a native green tree.

36Yet [g]he passed away, and behold, he was no more;

Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.

37Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright;

For the future of that man is peace.

38But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;

The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

39But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

He is their strength in the time of trouble.

40And the Lord shall help them and deliver them;

He shall deliver them from the wicked,

And save them,

Because they trust in Him.

My Portion Shane &Shane