Showing posts with label need. Show all posts
Showing posts with label need. Show all posts

Monday, December 4, 2023

An Overwhelming Plea...


Without God's word to minister hope to the soul
Monday morning could feel like an
overwhelming weight-lifting exercise!

Thank-you God, for Your indwelling Spirit,
for the glorious riches in Christ Jesus
 to overwhelm our need!
 



I need You, Lord, Your whisper to bid worry’s tempest cease
To conquer overwhelming dread with overwhelming peace
To comfort overwhelming grief with overwhelming love
To help unbelief with belief this world knows nothing of

I need you, Lord, to quell the fear that seeks faith, to destroy
Love’s overwhelming sorrow cheer with overwhelming joy
And should Your higher ways impart a cross, pride to abase
Lord, overwhelm my wicked heart with overwhelming grace

I need your overwhelming hope to overwhelm despair
Your promises to help me cope through overwhelming prayer
Lest ignorance makes me uncouth and wise in my own eyes
I need Your overwhelming truth to expose Satan’s lies

I need Your Word to overwhelm word-storms of worldly vice
Your overwhelming strength to transform Self to sacrifice
Your overwhelming Light to pierce death-dark veneers of dust
And shatter overwhelming sight with overwhelming trust

I need you, Lord, to overwhelm my overwhelming need
To overwhelm my whelming cry with mercy’s tender creed/reed
Enfold trouble and strife beneath Your overwhelming Wing
And overwhelm me with Your life where death has lost its sting

Hallelujah,
Amen

© Janet Martin

Phil.4:19-20
And my God will supply all your needs
 according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
 20To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. 
Amen.

Monday, March 28, 2022

Because We Are His Loved Ones

 


As I pray for they who suffer great sorrow for the loss of loved ones, 
for those in war torn countries or
for those who suffer angst of concern for loved ones in war torn countries, 
for they who suffer the ravages of physical affliction, 
for they who must watch loved ones suffer
and oh, especially for they who have still not believed 
but reject the Saviour of the soul, 
( whose most beloved we are,)
for all who miss out on the joy this world cannot give
Again and again I cast my care on Him 
because He cares for you and me!
Sweet, sweet comfort in the midst of bitter grief!
We are not alone in our suffering...

'After we have suffered a while the God of all grace
who has called us unto His eternal glory
will perfect, strengthen, stablish and settle us!'
2 Pet. 1:10
Amen

Because He cares for me and you, whatever may befall
We need not fret; He’ll see us through our struggles, great and small

Because he bids us cast our every care before His throne
We need not worry for we never bear love’s cross alone

Because He is the Way, the Truth, the Life eternally
We need not join the fruitless strife of doubt’s futility

Because greater is He in us than he of worldly creed
We need not fear, but simply trust for He supplies our need

Because He honours those who honour Him, though scorner’s jeer
We need not let their insults dim the hope that we revere

Because He died so we may live, and bore our sin and shame
We need no purpose but to give all glory to His Name

Because God’s love runs deep and wider than thought’s farthest glim
All that we need He will provide as care is cast on Him

Because of faith’s established goal, though dark the strait between
Our need, the Saviour of the soul, will wholly intervene

Because our utter need is met in faith's redeeming hour
We need not fret; because the cross will never lose its power

© Janet Martin

1 Sam.2:30
But now the LORD says: ‘Far be it from Me; 
for those who honor Me I will honor, 
and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.

Far graver than the battle is an illusion of peace
Causing our souls to slumber while evil's armies applaud 
Far graver than war’s fearful horror's while death-tolls increase
Is walking, talking, laughing, living without fear of God

Far graver than faith's groaning as we stand on steadfast guard
Is the seductive courting of diversion's deadly dance
Far graver than the blood and tears that stain streets, sorrow-scarred
Are hands and feet, soft, smooth and lily white with ignorance 

Far graver than the suffering that rouses our pleas
For more than this world can bestow, is life without a care
For, graver than the crushing blow that brings us to our knees
Is living without ever bowing before God in prayer

© Janet Martin

In The Cross The Peterens



Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Declaration of Dependence

 






Without You Lord, no one can sustain absolutes of truth 
Hope is a life-boat low’red in vain if not anchored in You 
And what is joy without assurance of a Better Day 
I need You Lord; Your Word means more than all the world can say 

Your all-surpassing power is my utter confidence 
I carry in my body the hope of deliverance 
Though death may seem to have the final say, it is not true 
The mortal body will decay; the Soul returns to you 

I need you Lord lest fear would crush; perplexity despair 
The persecutor cannot grasp how futile is his dare 
For we who believe receive promises man cannot make 
Where we who are alive are called to die for Jesus’ sake 

How dark the future seems where demons labour to deceive 
Without You dreams are futile fortunes man seeks to achieve 
But through You Mercy hears the prayer that makes man’s hope come true 
Therefore, thankfully I declare my dependence on You 

© Janet Martin 

Much doom and gloom abounds these days but… 
Because we have God’s Word; The Truth 
No demon can devour 
This treasure cupped in jars of clay 
His all-surpassing pow’r 
Hallelujah, 

…for Thine is the kingdom, the power and glory forever and ever, 
Amen 

2 Cor.4:7-12
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Our Desperate Need...


Forgive, chastise, oh loving God
The pitfall of man's errant laud
Feeble, the grasp of carnal creed
To comprehend man's desp'rate need
Or the cost of the sacrifice
That paid, once and for all, sin's price
Where He who knew no sin became
The scapegoat for its gruesome shame
And bore on the behalf of we
Our punishment to set us free
Where He who owed us nothing, gave
His Son to overcome the grave
The cross, hope's glorious crux unfurled
To bring life to a dying world
Where we deserve Hades abyss
If we reject such love as this
Where Jesus Christ, through His death freed
And satisfied man's desperate need

© Janet Martin

If we reject God
we under-estimate
the grossness of our sinful state 
and that which word cannot tell
or both Heaven and hell...

Recently I heard a preacher suggest that if every single person received one glimpse
of either heaven or hell, hell would be empty.
so great the glory of heaven, so awful the horror of hell!

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God
 but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them 
because they are discerned only through the Spirit.


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.


Thursday, August 1, 2013

Because We all Need Each Other



Because,
We all need each other
A word, wise, helpful and kind
Is worth far more than anything
That we will leave behind

Because
We all need love’s touch
A smile, a hand to hold
Someone to come and visit us
When we are frail and old

Because,
We all need guidance
Soul-mate, friend or brother
Someone who loves us just because
We all need each other

© Janet Martin

This morning while reading the account of the eunuch in Acts 8 these words stood out to me...

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.…

Friday, February 1, 2013

Our Utmost Need





For all the things that we could ask
Of Thee, Father above
I pray that each one here below
May have someone to love

Oh Lord, to love and to be loved
Is our utmost need
Things cannot fill what true love will
So Lord, for love I plead

Abundant are life’s blessings, Lord
For which we give Thee thanks
But love and the sweet joy it brings
Fills in life’s wanton blanks

For all the things that we could ask
Of Thee Father above
I pray that there will be no one
Without someone to love

© Janet Martin



Monday, January 7, 2013

Of Hunger and Hauntings





(I first saw this picture last winter and it has haunted me...)

Lord, give us a heart for the hungry...


A vulture watches a starving child [1993]

“The prize-winning image: A vulture watches a starving child in southern Sudan, March 1, 1993.
Carter’s winning photo shows a heart-breaking scene of a starving child collapsed on the ground, struggling to get to a food center during a famine in the Sudan in 1993. In the background, a vulture stalks the emaciated child.
Carter was part of a group of four fearless photojournalists known as the “Bang Bang Club” who traveled throughout South Africa capturing the atrocities committed during apartheid.
Haunted by the horrific images from Sudan, Carter committed suicide in 1994 soon after receiving the award.”


'Don’t slink away now
With your head slightly bowed
While the taste of my blood
Smears your indulgent lips
Don’t splatter vain words
With your greed-polished swords
And cry ‘Lord, have mercy’
As my suffering drips
To your gaze in red pools
While a circus of fools
Sadly wags their heads
In feigned piety
As hunger and hurt
Lie with me in the dirt
Pitiful comrades
To my misery'

© Janet Martin

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Autumn and Fulfillment ...a Blitz poem





 Poetic Bloomings invites us to attempt the Blitz

The BLITZ was created by Robert Keim and is a 50-line poem of short phrases and images.
Here are the rules:
  • Line 1 should be one short phrase or image (like “build a boat”)
  • Line 2 should be another short phrase or image using the same first word as the first word in Line 1 (something like “build a house”)
  • Lines 3 and 4 should be short phrases or images using the last word of Line 2 as their first words (so Line 3 might be “house for sale” and Line 4 might be “house for rent”)
  • Lines 5 and 6 should be short phrases or images using the last word of Line 4 as their first words, and so on until you’ve made it through 48 lines
  • Line 49 should be the last word of Line 48
  • Line 50 should be the last word of Line 47
  • The title of the poem should be three words long and follow this format: (first word of Line 3) (preposition or conjunction) (first word of line 47)
  • There should be no punctuation
There are a lot of rules, but it’s a pretty simple and fun poem to write once you get the hang of it.


Time renders autumn
Time snuffs autumn
Autumn begins boldly
Autumn recedes coldly
Coldly the gale seethes
Coldly, the rain weeps
Weeps for lost hours
Weeps for lost love
‘Love endures all things’
Love hopes for spring
Spring is renewal
Spring is hope
Hope spawns comfort
Hope spawns thankfulness
Thankfulness spawns joy
Thankfulness yields happiness
Happiness is not a thing
Happiness is realization
Realization of God’s wonders
Realization of God’s grace
Grace for all ages
Grace for all mankind
Mankind is foolish
Mankind is forgetful
Forgetful of every-day mercies
Forgetful of every-day gifts
Gifts, not filling hands
Gifts filling hearts
Hearts need hope
Hearts need God
God is hope
God is love
Love is not a season
Love is immortal
Immortal purpose
Immortal power
Power to let go
Power to forgive
Forgive your enemies
Forgive your self
Self is a ruthless judge
Self craves affirmation
Affirmation of worth
Affirmation of love
Love is the universal need
Love is the universal fulfillment
Fulfillment needs love
Fulfillment needs God
Love
God 

Janet~

Initially, I thought this was going to be too hard, but it really is a 'blitz' of simply allowing word to lead...
  


Sunday, October 28, 2012

As I Think about Men and Women





Men and women seek
Other men and women
Trying to fill a void within
Men and women find
Other men and women to nurture
Or heal its damaged mien

Men and women love
Men and women
For Love is a thread, its power profound
As men and women wish
For other men and women
By its gossamer potency we are bound

Men and women need
Other men and women
To satisfy love’s single utter plea
There is no other way
And no other beauty
Like these friendships both now
And yet to be…

© Janet Martin

Saturday, October 20, 2012

The Wide World Over...




Above is the road from my house if I turn left...Below is the road if I turn right.The farm on the left side is 'the old home place' where I grew up with nine siblings; five boys, five girls and hard-working mom and dad.




You are nothing like me…
Where you have come from
or what has shaped you
is so unlike my own walk
of highs and lows
that life has led me through thus far
and yet
you are so much like me
in every way
as a universal kin-ship
binds close the heart
because love and longing
cannot decipher
twixt beggars and kings
and hope is the common ethereal cord
to which we cling
as we laugh, weep,
pray, stumble sing,
hold and let go
through common needs
of daily living
of love's taking 
and its giving
where time is a wave
reclaiming each and every thing
that once it gave
whether trembling or brave
we hope and trust
to a common end
of cradle to grave 
and
dust to dust

© Janet Martin

The title of this book on my sister's blog struck me.

…as for beyond the grave,
we each must choose to make

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Of Interests and Others...






Do you like to be encouraged?
Encourage others

Do you like to be appreciated?
Appreciate others

Do you like to be needed?
Need others

Do you like to be praised?
Praise others

Do you like to be smiled to?
Smile to others

Do you like to be missed?
Miss others

Do you like to be ‘heard’?
‘Hear’ others

Do you like to be loved?
Love others

Because
In the end
Others
Are much
Like
Ourselves

© Janet Martin

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Universal Want




Some say they simply cannot tell
The words to spell their wants
From voids within they claw the air
While desperate yearning taunts
And while they scan the mindless sea
Or search the stars above
The hunger in their bosom weeps
For this; we all want love

A hand to hold at eventide
Whilst sunset splendor bleeds
A soul-mate in which to confide
Our tender ‘wants, and needs
There is no man too rich or poor
Or unworthy enough
To be fulfilled without its pow’r
…oh, we all need love

The new-born babe, the little child
The adolescent; youth
Young woman, man, we all desire
The essence of this truth
In middle age or silver-crowned
To ‘be’ is not enough
We are not soulless reeds windblown
Therefore, we all need love

Oh love, essential mystery
Its well-spring not of men
Intangible, this entity
A spurring to the end
Of gold and blood-stained filament
Creator-breathed to us
An innate ‘want’ with which we’re born
Oh, we all need love


© Janet Martin


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Undying Need


Lord, give me a need undying
And never let me stray
Nor lean on my understanding
But to need You every day

Lord give me eyes to see You
Within each little flower
To know the Hand that formed its cup
Holds me through every hour

Lord, give me ears to hear you
As nature throbs Your dues
For if You hear a sparrow’s song
Then you will hear mine too

Lord, give me faith to need You
When everything is fine
And never take a single step
Without Your hand on mine

Lord, give me an undying need
To need you every day
Lest in my folly I should lead
And sadly go astray

Janet Martin

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want…Ps. 23