Showing posts with label diligence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diligence. Show all posts

Friday, September 15, 2023

In Keeping (With the Name That We Confess)

Ps.116:15
Precious in the sight of the LORD 
Is the death of His saints.

No dark and hopeless misery
where parting's tender teardrops fall;
the death of faithful saints must be
the sweetest sorrow-joy of all
...because farewell is not the end
but simply 'till we meet again'

Yesterday, the author of this book


...laid his beloved wife to rest.
Finished!
 Faithful to the end! 
What a testimony!
Her example of devotion to her Saviour,
her ministry and heart's desire that all, young and old
would come to a saving faith in Jesus,
compels us to reevaluate/examine our own witness,
and whether it is in keeping with the Name that we confess!

Because far more than merely memories made/left behind by how we live
Our words and deeds compose the 'personal account' we will give...

Rom.14:12
So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

The funeral service was opened with this beautiful hymn



She truly, truly did live this command of Jesus...
Matt.5:16
Let your light so shine before men, 
that they may see your good works 
and glorify your Father in heaven.

In keeping with the Name that we confess
(The only name by which man can be saved)
In keeping with the hope and righteousness
Accomplished in the cross that Jesus braved
May the fruit that our labour achieves
Be in keeping with the gift faith receives

In keeping with the everlasting Word
God speaks to us through Jesus Christ, His Son
In keeping with the gospel, we have heard
How Jesus gave His life for everyone
when we repent, pray the life we begin
Is in keeping with His Spirit within

In keeping with the joy still set before
That sustains faith’s diligence to endure
In keeping with the Saviour we adore
Because in Him our future is secure
Believing this, then may all we embrace
Be in kind keeping with God’s saving grace

…so by the light of love others may see
The love of God and glorify His name
Through glad, good deeds of true humility
We will not bring the love of God to shame
But, in keeping with the Name above all
Walk in a manner worthy of His call

© Janet Martin

Rom.10:8-12
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, 
you will be saved.
10For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek,
for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
13For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Eph.4:1-3
As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk 
in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:
 2with all humility and gentleness, 
with patience, bearing with one another in love,
 3and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit
 through the bond of peace.

Heb.1:1-3
On many past occasions and in many different ways,
God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.
2But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son,a
whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature,

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Ultimatum of Diligence...



Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, 
be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 
2 Pet.3:14

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest,
 lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 
Heb.4:11

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence
 to the full assurance of hope until the end, 
Heb.6:11

Whether of body...


or mind


or soul...


it requires diligence to conquer the goal!

***

Diligence is not like a task we check from to-do lists
It is no once-and-done accomplishment high-fived and kissed
But a constant challenge traversed on the turf of Today
Where often slips and stumbles hurt, reprimand and dismay
Tempting us to yield to what seems a less demanding way

Diligence is not something that is effortless and swift
But a persistent ‘pressing to,’ so that we do not drift
Away from guidelines to habits not focused on the goal
Of mastering the disciplines of body, mind, and soul
Where each step of the journey is part of the sacred whole

Ultimate diligence is not dressed in dashing façade
But in humble awareness of sure reckoning with God
It heeds the beckoning of Love and considers its due
Relying on God’s Word to remain undeterred and true
Motivated my Heaven’s Rest when diligence is through

© Janet Martin








Monday, January 30, 2023

(Temporary) To-do List/Must

The gray, sunless stretch of weather continues!!
sometimes it seems to threaten to seep into our spirits😏😐




Do you ever wake up feeling defeated before you begin
a new day, a new week, as struggles and battles seem to hit 'repeat'?!!
Call on God, call on a friend, 
call on a mother, spouse, sibling
but whatever we do, let's not try to do it alone!




Do you ever wish for a life without care?!!
(I confess, sometimes I do! But,
a life without cares would make us 
pretty careless and self-reliant, wouldn't it?!

On the other hand, sometimes we can create cares
 by being careless and self-reliant!
Here is the balance challenge:
To not become complacent,
 yet, to not become discouraged
as we shoulder the yoke of faithfulness!
 The only way to accomplish this requires
constant refueling in God's company/His Word!

(To keep our eyes on faith's prize is impossible
if we love the world...more)

1 John 2:15-17 (BSB)
Do not love the world or anything in the world.
 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh,
 the desires of the eyes, 
and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world
17The world is passing away, along with its desires;
 but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

Happy Monday!
Let's make the most of to-do lists 
not simply with what we have wherever we are,
but with Who we have wherever we are,
 (if we have believed in He who is able!)
💓🙏

this hard-to-do to-do list kind of unfolded as I contemplated
what to write about, as I weighed wishes and wants with what is, etc.
Some successes, no matter how hard-fought 
seem to evade, maybe because we're not ready for it yet!


...to loathe the pride that lurks inside accolades of success
To hunger for still waters and green pastures of His Word
While feasting on a five-star meal of hope with thankfulness 
And to pray without ceasing, leaning wholly on the Lord

To love our neighbor as ourself without selfish reserve
To be more kind and patient where we all have much to learn
Where only by God’s favor we have more than we deserve
A glorious inheritance that we could never earn

To fight against desires that wage war against the soul
To count spiritual blessings and to covet more and more
Its measure, life’s true treasure beyond time’s transient toll
When at last, we will see what now we are yet striving for

To make Heaven our goal, so that we labor not in vain
To remember, the garment of the soul will soon decay
And what once seemed so far off and arduous to attain
Will be an everlasting crown that never fades away

© Janet Martin

1 Cor.9:24-27 (NIV)
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run,
 but only one gets the prize? 
Run in such a way as to get the prize.
 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. 
They do it to get a crown that will not last, 
but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
 26Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly;
 I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
 27No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave 
so that after I have preached to others,
 I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.









Sunday, July 3, 2022

Believer's Mandate

Sunday sermons aren't just for Sundays, are they?!!
Love is so much easier said than done, isn't it?!
Just a few thoughts after attending a beautiful wedding yesterday
and listening to a few inspired messages this morning!

This poem, by inserting the words 'ought to' between the words
 'we' and 'live'
may make it more relevant😅🙏

Love is a lifetime commitment on so many levels
in so many ways, to so many people
and above all to/through He who IS love



We live, not just to earn our daily bread and meat to eat
We live to learn better how to wash one another’s feet
We live to give because of what we have freely received
God’s gift of grace from the first moment we truly believed

We live to love God first then fellowman; all else is sin
We live to prove the righteousness and love of God within
We live to mirror Christ’s example of humility
Where pray, nothing is dearer than the truth that sets us free

We live to serve, not to be served, stirred by meek reverence
For He who loved us first and died for death’s deliverance
Then pray when temptation torments and cunning ploys compete
That love’s willing obedience will make our joy complete

For God so loved the world He gave His Son to pay sin’s debt
Once, and for all He overthrew the grave and conquered death
God is not mocked; if we confessed our sin and have believed
We ought to live to give because we have freely received

© Janet Martin

Due to laryngitis and a cough I decided it would be better
to worship from home this Sunday morning,

Links to a few sermons which
  partly inspired this poem!




Monday, June 20, 2022

The Wonder of Enough (or Monday Morning Mantra)



Love's mandates are timeless
As we cry out in our hearts 'what can we do?!'
as we lift up brokenness after brokenness to God in prayer
His reply is now as it was then;
Love one another...
John 15:12
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, 
just as I have loved you.

John 14:15
“If you love me, keep my commands.

Galatians 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brethren;
only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another.


 

His love poured through us is Enough

Enough to equip us 
for the fight
Enough to convict, forgive, 
to be kind, to be Light
Enough to fulfill
His will, so we pray 
For His love to instill
until we obey
...and love one another
the way we ought
and love one another
the Way He taught






Lord, help love be sincere
And help us take to heart
The wonder of Thy love so dear
While the world falls apart
Because it does not know
The Truth that sets us free
The joy that sets the heart aglow
Amidst calamity
Where grace in rich supply
True repentance redeems
Where, morn to morn, mercy’s reply
With renewed favor/fervor streams
Where hope does not bring shame
But anchors blood-bought souls
In the salvation through Thy name
While time’s progression rolls
Toward eternity
When Time will be no more
Where faith will taste the victory
That now we hunger for
When the glass of the law
Dissolves, when face to face
We gaze, with undistracted awe
On Thee, Author of grace
Unhindered then, by cares
When prayerful pleadings cease
When love its final burden bears
When all is life and peace
When grief its dagger drops
When swords to plowshares beat
When from valleys and mountaintops
Worship’s anthems repeat
When everlasting Day
Earth’s shackles will undo
When former things are passed away
And all will be made new

…until then, Lord, through Thee
Let our love be sincere
Help us, with unfeigned fealty
Thy precepts to revere
And take to humble heart
Thy steadfast truth and love
And let Thy promises impart
The wonder of Enough

© Janet Martin


Love's To-do list...
Romans 12:9-21 

9 Love must be sincere. 
Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 
10 Be devoted to one another in love. 
Honor one another above yourselves. 
11 Never be lacking in zeal, 
but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 
12 Be joyful in hope, 
patient in affliction, 
faithful in prayer. 
13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. 
Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; 
mourn with those who mourn. 
16 Live in harmony with one another. 
Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.
[a] Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 
19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, 
but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: 
“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[b] says the Lord. 
20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[c]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, 
but overcome evil with good.

Sunday, June 5, 2022

Of Love's Royal Priesthood

Why this post?
Because preaching doesn't just happen behind a pulpit
got me to pondering royalty and priesthoods...
(watching/listening to the trumpets play in honor of Her majesty, the Queen
for her years of faithful service
literally covers me with goosebumps
and evokes thrills because this celebration is a
miniscule/pale glimpse of
what honoring the King of kings and Lord of lords will be)


I didn't realize until partway through this message/session that it
was an exhortation of encouragement to church leaders.
However, I continued listening to the end because its exhortations were encouraging
to the 'sheep' as well as the shepherd...



But you are a chosen generation, 
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 
His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him
 who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Serve well the God who is I AM
With heart and hand applaud
Not to seek accolades of man
But to glorify God

Serve well the God of humankind
We, in his image made
Are glimpses of He who designed
Us, and our pardon paid

Serve well the God who gave his Son
Whose sacrifice sufficed
To save and teach us to become
Imitators of Christ

Serve well the God who will supply
Our need; He knows it well
And made a Way that none need die
And be cast into hell

Serve well the God that numbers days
And lends the lease thereof
The God whose mysterious ways
Are always filled with love

Serve well the God who giveth life
Who keeps in perfect peace
The mind that guards against the strife
That hinders love’s increase

Serve well the God whose mercy tries
Whose grace and truth abides
As faith presses toward the prize
That God alone provides

Serve well the God, the King of kings
He who is just and good
Calls us to share the sufferings
Of love’s Royal Priesthood

Serve well thy God and fellowman
With renewed courage run
For what thought can be sweeter than 
To hear Him say 'well done'

© Janet Martin

Friday, September 17, 2021

Beautiful Life Because...


 

By the grace of God I am what I am, 
and his grace toward me was not in vain. 
On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, 
though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.




Last night I felt weary to the bone and kind of discouraged
When I called Jim he wondered what's up?
When I filled him in on some of life's/love's concerns he said
'so that's why you sound disheartened!
The word stuck. Disheartened.
So much need, needing weary willing workers to say 'yes!'
also spoke to the disheartened!
Disappointment, discouragement 
and grave concern for the future are nothing new!
Our God, the same yesterday, today and forever declares still,
'This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My praise.'
Isa.43:21
Ah, pray above all else, we are part of This/His people.
May we trust him for strength and wisdom
 to be diligent and true!

2 Cor.4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. 
Though outwardly we are wasting away, 
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 
17 For our light and momentary troubles 
are achieving for us an eternal glory 
that far outweighs them all.
 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, 
but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, 
but what is unseen is eternal.


Because Time is not on our side
But its kind Giver IS,
Because, though trust is often tried
God keeps his promises
Because His mercy is renewed
In spite of mortal ways
We have, with unplumbed gratitude
Cause to declare His praise

 Because His goodness will not fail
In spite of all that does
Because His justice will prevail
Above all other gods
Because He WAS, IS and WILL BE
No matter what some claim
We, with joyful fidelity
Honor and praise His name

Because we know that we are known
By the fruits that we bear
Because God is not mocked, we groan
But not in vain despair
Because He hears the prayers that lace
Word's inefficiency
  His gentle voice replies, My grace
Is sufficient for thee

Because He rewards those who seek
And serve Him, heart and soul
Because He strengthens us when weak
With faith that makes us whole
Because of this Hope will not dim
 As love trusts and obeys
 Because, He knows who follows Him
By who declares His praise

Janet Martin










Thursday, September 2, 2021

It Takes Time (to make a flower)


Yesterday's Daily Bread Devotion included this needful reminder;
Even though trusting Jesus as Savior makes us a new creation,
there’s still some ongoing work the Spirit needs to do.
And it takes time and work 
for Him to accomplish “true righteousness and holiness”
(Ephesians 4:24).

True righteousness and holiness=true beauty!



Do you ever weary of the work and waiting
for the needful hidden heart-art 
before the flower flourishes?

I needed to dust the dahlias.
Something is eating out the bud before it blooms!


The pest-control-pruning-process is vital 
to producing a healthy plume
(earwigs love a good dahlia-feast)


The tendrils of this flower vine needed constant intervention
until they learned to climb



Oh, it takes time to become who, in Christ, we ought to be
The road is riddled with potholes, to true humility
The stumble and the faceplant, though unpleasant helps God turn
A stubborn heart into submission; it takes time to learn

We cannot rush the Hand that wove us in our mother’s womb
Just as it takes time for a bud to break to bare its bloom
So too, it takes time to become the masterpiece of He
Who understands that we are dust and loves us patiently

It takes time to eradicate the nature of the beast
We tend to do the things we hate the most, rather than least
And were it not for God’s compassion for humanity
And His boundless redemption how desolate we would be

How pitiful and futile then would be man’s days like grass
But because Christ has risen from the dead, we too shall rise
Thus, we revere the time it takes to prepare for the Prize

…for it takes time to learn to love, to let Beauty unfold
To purify the motive of, and crucify the old
So when we feel discouraged by hope’s hurdles and mistakes
Remember, this is just the heart-art/heart-part before the bud breaks

© Janet Martin

Psalm 103:13-18

As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14For He [a]knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
15As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
17But the mercy of the Lord
 is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

From Gentle Hands


This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:24



This is the day the Lord has made
A gift we dare not waste
Wrapped in blush tulle then gently laid
Beneath our touch and taste

Sometimes the highs and lows of love
Can cause us to mistreat
The Gentle Hands that tip Time’s trove
With treasure, bittersweet

To track-records of sad disgrace
He does not yet repay
Nor does He turn away his face
But grants another day

Where miracles are sometimes veiled
In merits, hard to see
And prayers that look as if they’ve failed
Are answered faithfully

Where what we want may not agree
With the needs He supplies
Goodness and mercy’s Mystery
Finesse faith’s hard-fought Prize

This is the day God helps us bear
A gift of thorn and rose
Then pray we trust Him with whate’er
His gentle Hand bestows

...and may we in return reply
Not with selfish demands
But open up our bit of sky
With kind and gentle hands

© Janet Martin







Monday, August 30, 2021

Courage, With Joy

Below is a message from my friend Jane, sent to me years ago
after I confessed how terribly terrified I am to share the poetry publicly...
I printed and scotch-taped her reminder beside my computer screen
and it has been a powerful reminder more times than I can count...

Because of the prolific nature of this 'poem-porch' 
one might assume it's easy to hit 'publish' and bare heart-pieces to the world. 
But if it were possible to pull apart the place where feelings lie you would see
so much would-be insecurity, timidity and fear! 
However, whatever our creative outlet is, 
we only ever create with what God first has created. 
We are like children playing with His crayons 
and thereby we create 
and owe God an answer when He asks,
'What are you going to do with it?'

The most terrifying, exhilarating thing we will ever do
is to 'let go and let God!'

My friends host our church's podcast for women.
 Another friend is the guest on the latest episode 8.
I was so touched by her reminder that,
'as we are aware that we create with what He gives
creativity becomes a source and form of constant worship'
Yes, and
 This worship helps to fill life with constant joy!


George Macdonald wrote over a hundred years ago
"A poet is a man who is glad of something and
tries to make other people glad of it too"
That quote is still as true as ever
and reveals why an artist has the courage, with joy,
to share what they/we have created...

...to recognize with holy awe that all we are and touch
Is created and granted by He who loves us so much
We are so very diff'rent, yet still so very 'the same'
Created in His image to bring glory to His name

How loud doubt's voice would shout with fearful insecurity
Without His still small voice that whispers 'just do it for Me'
Then suddenly dark demons flee and joy transforms despair
As we honour His majesty with talents He put there 

Forbid, when face to face we give account for what we did
That pride or doubt or lack of faith kept our talents hid
Or that Comparison, (the deadliest kill-joy of all)
Would have succeeded in making us ashamed of His Call

So pray for courage to proceed with joy to glorify
The Giver with the gift that He has given you and I
Then, as we hold the crayons, may we be filled with sheer awe 
To feel His Hand over our fingers, teaching us to draw

Janet Martin

Let's all seek to bless others by glorifying the Giver
with our gift/s.

This poem could also be called
Why my to-do list grows longer and longer
because in the middle of Very Busy...a poem might nudge😊


Friday, July 9, 2021

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

Friday, July 2, 2021

A Light-Matter (of Grave Import)

Below is a story of someone who came to
our very stomping grounds centuries ago to
light the world!
His commitment challenges us to a 
hold our own lights a little higher!!


From this Book-

Sometimes when those we dearly love devastate us with blatantly, 
unrepentant, sinful choices
it makes us examine how or if we have been lighting the world
or hiding it under a bushel of busyness, selfishness and distraction!

Go light your world
And fight love’s war
With kind humility
This is the day
Made by the Lord
Then lent to you and me

Go, light your world
With truth and grace
Of God’s unchanging Word
For who knows who
Is next to face
Death’s sickle undeterred

Pray for faith’s
Saving miracle
Where the drum-roll of doom
Is drowned out by
Hell’s carnival
While Judgment’s verdicts loom

A spark pierces
The deepest night
Then lift your Beacon high
For who knows who
Will see the light
That readies them to die
 
Go light your world
Proceed with prayer
And confidence in this;
No matter who, what,
When or where
God keeps his promises

© Janet Martin

Matt. 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. 
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 
Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, 
but on a lampstand, 
and it gives light to all who are in the house.
 Let your light so shine before men, 
that they may see your good works 
and glorify your Father in heaven.