Showing posts with label Calvary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calvary. Show all posts

Monday, June 12, 2023

There Is No Other Place (in all the world so dear to me)



Yesterday evening we attended a hymn sing at our church;
*(click link then the Hymn Sing link)
an evening dedicated to opening the hymn books in the pews 
and singing with the accompaniment of piano and organ only, 
and four part harmony that seemed like it should have brought the house down!!
Awesome foretaste of Heaven!??😊

(* also, if you click on this link you will hear 
a young woman's heartfelt reasons for her love of hymns, 
You will be treated to some special features as well:
a violin solo, 
a men's quartet 
and an organ solo!!)


I love many new worship songs as well!
Below are a few of my 'newish' favs...








...but oh, these wonderful new songs can never entirely replace the old hymns
often inspired by great adversity and trial!
And, as one song leader stated, the older we grow,
and the more we experience
the more we identify with many of them!
Below, just a few of my personal favourite hymns...
We couldn't sing all of them last night;
(there are enough to fill eternity! hallelujah!!)








I've come to the conclusion that music is a bit like traveling;
The new songs are like visiting sights and places new to us,
and they fill us with awe
and worship for our Creator,
but the old songs are like coming home!
Like familiar faces, like arms outstretched in warm welcome
to home, sweet home
 that never grows old!

Before we sang Lead me to Calvary
The song leader asked 'have we been there?
He has and
there's no other place so dear!'
This comment inspired today's poem

***

There is no other place so dear in all the world to me
No other place can calm and cheer my soul, like Calvary
For there, beneath the bloodstained tree where pardon’s payment fell
There Jesus conquered death for me, and saved my soul from hell

There is no other place in all the world, to make me whole
No other place where grace unfurls hope’s anchor for the soul
Here blood-streams bridge the damning Fall that brought to Eden, shame

There is no other dearer place in all the world to me
I feel His blood drops on my face, I hear His dying plea
‘Father forgive, deliver,’ …the bloody sword falls; I cry
‘Father forgive’ redemption’s river gushes in reply

There is no other place as wonderful as Calvary
No other solace thwarts the pull of Jealous Enemy
As I behold the Conqueror that death could not destroy
As I behold my dear Saviour, I weep and sing for joy

…and press anew toward faith’s Prize I could never afford
So undeserved, its fortune lies beneath my bloodstained sword
And nothing in this world can ever be dearer to me
Than the place where grace was unfurled; the cross of Calvary

© Janet Martin

Earlier this past week I looked up and listened to this hymn below,
and couldn't help but weep! 
Once I was that lost sheep, but now I am found
At Calvary!
Still so many lost sheep though, right?!!
Let's not grow weary in praying!





Luke 15:1-7
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.
 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, 
“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:
 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. 
Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country 
and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. 
Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says,
 ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven 
over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons 
who do not need to repent.







Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Does It Not (Bid Thought to Marvel)


 


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















Thursday, February 2, 2023

Crowning Call



Dawn's glory crowns the earth like
hope's glory crowns our faith...
it rends the darkness!



God, would that we would hear
The call that crowns all calls
Then count no other cause more dear
No matter what befalls

God, would that we would heed
Your still small voice within
And take captive each thought and deed
That leads us into sin

God, would that we would love
You, heart, soul, strength and mind
Committed to what You approve
Through grace and truth combined

God, would that we would claim
Your gift that sets us free
Salvation in no other name
Save Christ of Calvary

And would that we would guard 
Against appeals, more sweet
Against what does not seem so hard
When other calls compete
 
But, with the joy of You
As hope and peace enthralls
Would that we would yield wholly to
The call that crowns all calls

Faithful until faith's glove
From deathless soul will fall
 Forever in the presence of
The final crowning call

© Janet Martin 

2 Cor.5:20-21
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ,
 as though God were making His appeal through us. 
We implore you on behalf of Christ: 
Be reconciled to God. 
God made Him who knew no sin to be sinb on our behalf, 
so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.




Wednesday, April 13, 2022

How To Know What Love Is...


1 John 3:16-20

This is how we know what love is: 
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
 And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need
 but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth 
and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 
20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, 
and he knows everything.

(version 1)




When through ancient age/page we travel
When our hearts are wholly gripped
As we trace and humbly marvel
And embrace redemption’s script
As the grace that wrought salvation
Stuns us with love’s magnitude
Mercy’s divine transformation
Turns despair to gratitude

Draws the heart, no longer hardened
(Though this world with horrors groans)
To the cross where sin is pardoned
To the One whose death atones
All who come without excuses
All who repent and believe
Not one sinner, He refuses
His forgiveness to receive

Look! Behold Hope’s holy horror
At Love’s body, bathed in blood
At the Healer’s Hands, nail-burrowed
From Him spews redemption’s flood
Hark! He cries, by all forsaken
Behold! Now He bows His head
Look! He dies, the skies are shaken
As the graves give up their dead

But Death was a fated rival
I AM no grave could constrain
Jesus Christ arose triumphal
Over sin and death; amen
This is how we know what love is
Jesus Christ laid down his life
Love does not forget its promise
Wrought through Heaven's sacrifice

This is joy; to be forgiven
Love's broken body, life’s bread
Where, still through all earth from Heaven
Runs redemption’s scarlet thread
This is hope’s unflinching anchor
Though time’s troubled tempests roll
Hallelujah what a Savior
This is faith that makes us whole
Hallelujah, what a Savior
Jesus, Savior of the soul


© Janet Martin



Thursday, April 15, 2021

For Sailors on Life's Sea

 Life is no pleasure-cruise; Soul’s sacred ship is not a yacht...

Below, a rough sketch of a picture that formed in my mind
as I wrote this poem...


The sea of life is filled with precious barks of humankind
Uncharted waters spill across eastern horizon-line
Where we, all deftly drawn toward where we have never been
Need to learn how to trust the Lord who orders the Unseen

For fear is like a fiend that wreaks havoc where moments break
It draws our eyes from God who promised never to forsake
Peter could walk on water while his gaze was fixed on He
Who beckoned ‘come’ though wild the tempest tossed the roiling sea

The stormy gale will not prevail though sometimes, so it seems
The love of God will never fail though loss may shatter dreams
Hope, like an anchor will secure faith’s bark in Mercy’s keep
To grant assurance as we face today’s uncharted deep

Life is no pleasure-cruise; Soul’s sacred ship is not a yacht
Time's rocks and waves may dash and bruise us in a course, hard-fought
But, as we cling to the life-line unfurled at Calvary
Love's firm anchor of hope secures barks of humanity

© Janet Martin









Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Because Of His Mercy...

"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
 He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 
so that, having been justified by his grace, 
we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."

You are invited to join us as we worship on Good Friday

and Easter Sunday!


Harmonica players have a special place in my heart
so I chose this version of a favorite hymn for this post


 



Does mercy not make worth the while of ‘smile and try again’
For mercy meets us in each mile it metes, of joy and pain
Life’s flight of forward measured mien would be a fear-filled Must
Without love’s merciful Unseen to anchor hope and trust

Oh Lord, increase faith’s sacred claim, as we press to the Prize
Let Your Name be the only name our worship magnifies
Let the sword of the Spirit (which is your Word) be our might
For by your mercy, we are brought/bought from darkness into Light

May the mercy that you have shown fill us and overflow
From vessels made of skin and bone, so everyone may know
That You loved us so much you sent Your Son to pay the price
So that no one may perish but all have eternal life

Because of your mercy oh Lord our faith is not in vain
By Your mercy grace has restored mankind to You again
The deceiver, the enemy of God is overthrown
Once and for all you shed Your blood sin’s verdict to atone

Your sacrifice has washed away the need for bull and ram
For blood of beast could never pay, only a perfect Lamb
So by the mercy of the One who beheld Calvary
I AM became the scapegoat for the likes of you and me

Oh, let the wonder of such love give weary souls a lift
God loves each one of us so much He still holds out His Gift
Of ‘all who believe will not perish but will be forgiv’n
And receive everlasting life; not death and hell, but Heav’n

Mercy holds wide the door; the Ark of Safety is not sealed
Look up, do not ignore the stripes whereby mankind is healed
Whereby Hope is an anchor though life's storms may surge and toss
Mercy secures faith’s armour in the power of the cross

© Janet Martin

Isa.53:4-6
Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; 
yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
 6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; 
and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.…

...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place
 by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us
 through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 
 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings,
 having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience 
and having our bodies washed with pure water. 
 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 
 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 
 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, 
but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.


Tuesday, March 30, 2021

To God Be The Glory Forever

 To God Be The Glory



To God be the glory
He did not withhold
The wonderful story
The cross would unfold
From death’s scene, so gory
From grief’s gloomy knell
Christ rose in victory
Over death and hell

To God be the glory
Death did not prevail
For sinners so sorry
His blood will not fail
Faithful to the finish
He suffered the cost
Nothing could diminish
His love for the lost

To God be the Glory
His beloved Son
Fulfilled His Love Story
With ‘Thy will be done’
Knowing Mercy’s offer
Would make scoffers laugh
Yet willing to suffer
On scorner’s behalf

To God be the glory
Whatever we face
Is not without mercy
From love’s nail-scarred grace
Whatever the sorrow
We must suffer through
To God be the glory
For He suffered too

To God be the glory
All who have believed
Will share in the Victory
That Jesus achieved
Through Redemption’s story
Of Never Again
To God be the glory
Forever, amen

© Janet Martin

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Ah, This Is Faith



Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;
(for he is faithful that promised;)
Heb.10:23



We do not have the eyes to see the ins and outs of doubt and dread
We cannot know the high and low of ways and means that lie ahead
That happiness of Mercy’s ‘yes’ is but the prelude to its ‘no’
Ah, this is life, where joy and strife run rife through grace whereby we go

Sometimes we strain to seize the rose forgetting beauty’s brutal stem
And he who suffered painful blows beneath its thorny diadem
How mercy bore without reproach, the horror of Golgotha’s tree
He did not choose to use His throne to refuse God’s authority

For this is love, the author of each sacrifice we choose to make
Without reproach, but simply for the glory of the Giver’s sake
Who offered to give all He had to prove the Father’s love for we
Who could not bridge the awful gap between God and humanity

Then pray, today our goal would be to wholly, humbly honour He
Jesus, who did not despise us, though He could behold Calvary
The brutal blows, the blood-bathed woes before His triumph over death
Then pray today our goal would be to praise His name with every breath

...for this is hope, to know in Whom we have believed and fully trust
In He whose sacrifice achieved once and for all, redemption's cost
Ah, this is faith to hold fast to the truth that His Word has made known
Until we touch the scars that tell how death and hell were overthrown 


© Janet Martin

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

What A Love!

 

Today, for some Christians, Lent begins.
This meditation is a reflection
to remind us we give
because
we have been given!

How does one select only one,
from a vast collection of amazing renditions of this song; 


Redemption, what a word 
Released from a debt we incurred 
Forgiveness signed by blood of He 
Who authored sky and sod and sea 
And died upon a cross for us 
Redeemed from sin by Him, Jesus 

Salvation, what a gift 
Divine atonement spans the rift 
That began when Adam and Eve 
Were ripe and ready to deceive 
When doubting God, they ate the fruit 
That He forbade, and sin took root 

Grace, mercy’s uttermost 
Saved, not by works lest any boast 
But for man’s universal Fall 
He sealed our pardon once for all 
And will our every sin forgive 
To all who repent, look, and live 

Hope, what a glorious goal
Awaits faith's death-victorious soul
No one can add or take away
What Christ accomplished on that day
When from death to life He arose
Triumphant over Eden's woes

Jehovah, what a God 
Demons tremble and saints applaud 
He who is coming back again 
But not even angels know when 
We will behold heavens ablaze 
With Son of Man, Ancient of Days 

© Janet Martin 

Monday, December 28, 2020

Hope Is Life's Highway to Heaven...


Altar after altar after altar
Sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice
every morning and night 
day after day after day
week after week after week
 year after year after year
decade after decade
to pay for the sins of the people
and to remind them 
of the mercy and grace of God
until One Day 
One Sacrifice
Once 
For All!
 to hear the above thoughts spoken of so wonderfully!
Listen to the whole message to hear 
 the Greatest Story of profound love
authoring Living Hope!


Hope is life’s highway to Heaven 
Hope is joy through sorrows met 
By the Promise God has given 
As the Temple-veil was riven 
And the sins of man forgiven 
By His Son who paid our debt 

Hope is life’s exceeding glory 
Nothing annuls Calvary 
Though its bloody scene is gory 
For our state so mean and sorry 
Love suffered Redemption’s Story 
And authored Hope’s Surety 

Hope is mankind’s consolation 
In a world so full of loss 
For the sake of soul’s salvation 
The Lord and God of creation 
Did not doom us to damnation 
But broke sin’s curse on the cross 

Hope is life’s breathtaking beauty 
King of king’s humility 
Bore more than a ‘tour of duty’ 
He beheld our hopeless pity 
Then secured, through death, the Vict’ry 
That grants life eternally 

Hope is not a fickle feather 
Dangling on a chain of whim 
Hope is the unfailing tether 
That by faith will help us weather 
Time, until we altogether 
Look upon love’s scars and Him 

© Janet Martin 








Friday, July 17, 2020

When On Love's Wounds We Meditate...


 ...lest I make a fuss about things not needful!😆

(it's not that bad, really!)
Who knew all these years later the hanky from my gramma
that became church-mice and babies in a  hammock
and many other folded creations,
as I sat for two hours in church every Sunday morning,
would become a mask!!!
I also have a 'real' one, don't worry!

(sometimes when I forget what's really important it's good to
take time to revisit and remember.)


When on love’s wounds we meditate
And contemplate the price
Of He who left heaven’s estate
To be sin’s sacrifice
Then what we suffer here below
Begins to dwarf in scale
For He, whose grace whereby we go
Grants love that will not fail

When we revisit Calvary
And stand among the men
Who nailed his body to the tree
(and we were one of them)
Then we begin to humbly see
How filthy we had been
How utterly unworthy we
That His blood washes clean

Then we with sorrow-mingled joy
Are overcome with awe
God’s grace is free without decoy
His love is Mercy’s law
And should I take my eyes off He
Who suffered in my stead
Lord, lead me back to Calvary
Beneath the blood You shed

© Janet Martin



Thursday, April 9, 2020

The Sweeter, Calvary


 The heavens offer an endless buffet of awe...
from morning to evening yesterday, a constant declaration of God's glory!
"The heavens declare the glory of God; 
the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
Psalm 19:1

The less earth has to offer
The more we start to dwell
On what awaits hereafter
(Either Heaven or hell)
Heaven, the glorious promise
To those who trust in He
Who sent His Son to save us
From hell’s eternity

The less earth has to offer
The more we start to think
About the Divine Author
Above life’s little blink
We ponder the estrangements
That cut us down to size
And start to make arrangements
For Soul that never dies (if we are wise)

The less earth has to offer
The dearer Heaven waits
Time’s tear-anointed coffer
But the Segue to Gates
That will either swing open
To faith’s focus revealed
Or, past the point of pardon
Remain forever sealed

The less earth has to offer
The more our spirit yearns
For a Place so much better
Than this world’s brief returns
As eager expectation
Begins to override
Our natural inclination
To selfishness and pride

The less earth has to offer
The more we cling to God
The trials that we suffer
May seem a grievous rod
But wakes in heirs of heaven
A weight, worthy of care
The gift of sins forgiven
And hope beyond compare

Far sweeter than the laughter
That thrills this death-stoked dome
The endless ever-after
Of Heaven’s home-sweet-home
Forbid we stoop to scoffing
Truth’s Sole/Soul Supremacy
The less this earth's cold off'ring
The sweeter, Calvary

© Janet Martin

And if we are children, then we are heirs: 
heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ
—if indeed we suffer with Him, 
so that we may also be glorified with Him.
The creation waits in eager expectation 
for the revelation of the sons of God.…
Romans 8:17-19