Showing posts with label serving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label serving. Show all posts

Monday, December 11, 2023

Status Beyond Comprehension

 Who Would Have Dreamed?!


 

Today's post was inspired in part by our message yesterday at WBC


But when the set time had fully come,
 God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 
5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.[b]
 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
 the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,[c] Father.” 
7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; 
and since you are his child, 
God has made you also an heir.



What a joy to begin each week, freshly aware
of who/how we serve, not as slave-servants
 but as sons and daughters of Christ!
What sacred reason to rejoice, 
not only at Christmas but every day!

Rom.12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy,
 to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—
this is your true and proper worship. 
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, 
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—
his good, pleasing and perfect will.


Let us serve, but not in bondage as slave to a master must
Never. But in adoration with a meek and child-like trust
Knowing our Heavenly Father, who we are called to exalt
Loves His earthly sons and daughters without shortcoming or fault

What great reason for rejoicing as our lives are sacrificed
We, our Heav’nly Father’s children, (thus heirs and co-heirs of Christ!)
By God’s grace received redemption through salvation’s plan unfurled
Where by nature we were all slaves to principles of this world

Therefore, without reservation, because we are humbly awed
Let us cherish our station, as beloved children of God
Through the marvelous adoption repentant sinners receive
Status beyond comprehension from the moment we believe

For God who is rich in mercy, with his great love set us free
From the law of sin and death that once held us captivity
By His grace He has redeemed us; through His Son He paid sin’s price
Let us then offer our bodies as love’s living sacrifice

...because, beyond comprehension, we through Christ's atoning blood
Are forgiven and adopted into His royal priesthood 
Filling us with Perfect Purpose through this divine unity 
We no longer slaves or servants, are part of God's family 

© Janet Martin

1 John 1:3
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, 
that we should be called children of God! 

1 Pet.2:9
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;


John 1:12
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, 
He gave the right to become children of God--

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.


Tuesday, December 5, 2023

When We Remember This...

 

This morning my daughter's plans for her day off 
(Christmas shopping, small town meandering)
were suddenly upended when her employer asked
if she could work because a co-worker was sick!
While she was working through her disappointment
 I tried to cheer her with the thought that inspired this poem.

It also reminded me of this song/poem





When we remember this, then second miles extend
Privilege, rather than duty’s stiff upper lip, my friend

When we remember this, we cannot give enough
As we consider His sacrifice and redeeming love

When we remember this, we try, the best we can
To mirror His example of love for our fellowman

Then, when out of the blue He asks us to reply
To help someone we cannot help but say, ‘Lord, here am I’

When we remember this little phrase ‘inasmuch’
It rushes hearts with honor to be called as one-of-such

© Janet Martin

Matt.25:40
“And the king shall answer, and say to them,
 'Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, 
My brothers, you have done it to Me ...

Friday, October 6, 2023

Foretaste of Forever

Because this is the week leading up to Canada's Thanksgiving Weekend
I've been pondering various angles and expressions
of true thanks-living...

1 Tim.4:1-11
Now the Spirit [a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,
giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods
which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good,
and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;
5 for it is [b]sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
6 If you instruct the brethren in these things,
you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine
which you have carefully followed.
7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.
8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things,
having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.
10 For to this end [c]we both labor and suffer reproach,
because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men,
especially of those who believe.
11 These things command and teach.

Here it is again!!

God's renewed mercy! 

Lam.3:22-23
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.

Thank-you, thank-you, Lord
May Thy renewed mercy 
kindle faith's renewed delight!

***

Not with begrudging acquiescence
Or forced generosity
May more than pious performance
Emulate sincerity

Not to soothe heart-parts still stony
By fulfilling duty's bid
Or to balance testimony
On an ‘invisible grid’

Nor for the sake of appearance
Earning holy brownie-points
Through meticulous adherence
To religious do's and don'ts   

But with unpretentious pleasure
And with unaffected praise
Storing treasure over treasure
Beyond mortal’s measured gaze

With devotion’s willing labor
May life's unfeigned gladness be
To love God first, then by neighbor
Because of God’s love for me

May Motive's earnest endeavor
With genuine fervor brim
In earth’s foretaste of forever
Bringing all glory to Him

© Janet Martin









Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Not Simply to the Call Be True...



Wow! The devotions from the past few days
(from My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers)
are challenging mental/spiritual comfort-zones!








Not to the call be true but faithful to the One who calls
Who tries the crux of motive to expose prideful pitfalls
And test our allegiance to the Master in Command
Repentance and obedience must needs go hand in hand

The Giver and the Taker of love’s sacred charge abides
Where fear’s dark breakers roll His holy Sovereignty presides
How wily is the Tempter, but he never overtakes
A very present Helper who never leaves or forsakes

The happiness we hunger for cannot be found until
We humbly and wholly adore He who bids us be still
And know that He is God; He who is ruler over all
Is He who calls; to Him be true, not simply to the call

© Janet Martin

Ps.46

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Common Wealth

Through the majestic arches of Westminster Abbey
rang words of everlasting truth and hope, not just for those attending Her Majesty,
the late Queen Elizabeth II's funeral but for everyone in all walks of life
Hallelujah! 


A few powerful pointers and reminders to take with us!
"The pattern for many leaders is to be exalted in life and forgotten after death.
The pattern for all who serve God, famous or obscure, respected or ignored,
Is that death is the door to glory…

…People of loving service are rare in any walk of life.
Leaders of loving service are still rarer.
But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered while those who cling
To power and privileges are long forgotten.

Her late Majesty’s broadcast during covid lockdown ended with ‘we will meet again’!
Christian hope means certain expectation of something not yet seen.
Christ rose from the dead and offers life to all. Abundant life now and life with God in eternity....

...As the Christmas carol says, ‘where meek souls will receive Him still the dear Christ enters in.
We will all face the merciful judgement of God. 
We can all share the Queen’s hope which in life and death 
inspired her servant leadership. Service in life. Hope in death. 
All who follow the Queen’s example and inspiration of trust and faith in God
 can with her say, ‘we will meet again’."

Archbishop of Canterbury-The Most Reverend Justin Welby


His Closing Prayers
Heavenly father, kings of kings, Lord and Giver of life,
who, of Thy grace in creation didst form mankind in thine own image, 
and in Thy great love offerest us life eternal in Christ Jesus.
Claiming the promises of Thy most blessed Son,
we entrust the soul of our sister Elizabeth, here departed, to Thy merciful keeping
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life
when Christ shall be all in all, who died and rose again to save us,
and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit in glory forever.
Amen.

Go forth oh Christian soul in this world.
 In the name of God, the Father Almighty who created Thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God who suffered for thee, 
In the name of the Holy Spirit who was poured out upon thee 
and anointed thee in communion with all the blessed saints 
and aided by the angels and archangels and all the armies of the heavenly hosts.,
May thy portion this day be in peace 
and thy dwelling in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Amen.


***

Life's charge of duty and demand
Bestows a grand decree
The onus of time's sifted sand
Accountability

The common wealth of shoes to fill
Anoints the common blessed
As we march to Dues beat and drill
Until eternal rest

We, subjects of the King of kings
Each have a sacred role
Until death's doleful belfry rings
With summons of the soul

Each morn time's runway is unfurled
A hallowed thing to see
Poured through the fanfare of this world
Into eternity

How solemn is the chartered span
Of moments in the sun
Where soon the numbered days of man
Are snuffed like stars at dawn

How holy is the beckoning
Until God's final call
How surely is the reckoning
That waits for one and all

How worth this while, the hurt and hope
Of serving faithfully
Because, beyond earth's grave-strewn slope
How sweet Heaven will be
 
© Janet Martin

The precious portion of Scripture below was also read...

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, 
and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, 
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 
Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? 
O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, 
always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

'Life goes on' I said to my sister yesterday
as we texted while watching the funeral
midst many interruptions...
for me-

harvesting tomatoes

emptying mousetraps-ugh!!


...and all ultimately for the Lord!


Saturday, August 27, 2022

Remind Us (Before It Is Too Late)

The law of love is not for the faint of heart, is it?!
It is intrinsically, inevitably attached to a whole bucket-load of care
because love cares!
But we never need to bear its cross of cares alone!
What a tiding of comfort and joy!

Not all love is baby-sweet and child-innocent...



With love comes huge responsibility/accountability...
We have a Heavenly Father who loves us beyond comprehension!
1 John 3:1
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God!

So take heart! esp. those in leadership positions;
daddies, mothers, pastors and elders, Sunday School leaders and teachers,
and so many other unseen second-milers💕🙏

Heb.6:10
For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love 
which you have shown toward His name,
 in that you have ministered to the saints, 
and do minister...

Thou God, who dost not fail
To we, prone to forget
Remind us where care’s legions hail
You cradle every ‘yet’

Between Known and Unknown
The present hour peals
Before Thy everlasting throne
The humble seeker kneels

…to find strength for the day
To listen for Thy voice
Where this world offers a buffet
And we reply with choice

Oh, may it never be
As step by step, we go
That we rely on what we see
Rather than what we know

No one exceeds Thy might
Thy love will never fail
To those who in Thy law delight
Perfect peace will prevail

Then, in the thick of love
Lest we forget to heed
Remind us, Thy grace is enough
To satisfy our need

And though life’s weight of care
May seem but to increase
Remind us, tis but to prepare
Our hearts for perfect peace

Where faith and sight compete
Unravel doubt’s dark veil
Remind us of Thy joy complete
Thy love that will not fail

As we trust and obey
(in spite of slight and sneer)
Remind us of the Judgment Day
Drawing so very near

Lest Thy Spirit departs
Averse to vain debate
Lord, open the eyes of our hearts
Before it is too late

© Janet Martin

Eph.1:18
I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, 
so that you may know the hope of His calling, 
the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,...

John 15:9-11
As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. 
Remain in My love.
10If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love,
just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
11I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you
and your joy may be complete.

Therefore You are great, O Lord God. 
For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, 
according to all that we have heard with our ears.
2 Samuel 7:22



Wednesday, August 24, 2022

The Glorious Goal

The glorious gift of a new day gleams!
What is our goal?



helped to inspire today's poem...

2 Cor.5:6-10
So we are always confident, knowing that 
while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body 
and to be present with the Lord.
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, 
to be well pleasing to Him. 
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 
that each one may receive the things done in the body, 
according to what he has done, whether good or bad.


What will our life collage, as we reach the goal,
 look like as it is analyzed frame by frame?
Will it be, by the grace of God a testimony of loving service to Him
or will it be, to our shame a futile fling of Self-serving?

Below a collage of a week or two of only a glint of moments...



The glorious goal of pleasing God makes every day full worth its while
Where souls that brim with hymnal laud, and walk by faith though sights beguile
And tune the heart and mind with kindness even when things may go wrong
Will find within the common grind of love and life, a happy song

The glorious goal of pleasing God fills every hour with intent
To serve Him with feet gospel shod, and worship’s awestruck wonderment
That God so loved the world He gave His Son to take my/our rightful place
Upon the cross; He died to save us not by works but by His grace

The glorious goal of pleasing God seems far too small a price to pay
As we behold the thwarted rod where death and hell are done away
For all who repent and believe; no longer victims of sin’s curse
But who, through faith alone receive redemption none can reimburse

Then, with heart and soul, humbly awed, pray we aspire to obey
And make the goal of pleasing God, our true desire every day
For someday we will all appear before His holy judgement seat
To give account of our life here; flight to the glorious goal complete

© Janet Martin





Wednesday, August 10, 2022

For Your Name's Sake...

Unlike Queen Esther's husband, the Persian King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), 
who, if any came into his inner court without being summoned, 
 The Kings of kings beckons all to 'come' 
because He came to break death's curse and bring us life 
and more abundantly!
His blood-wrought/bought scepter is stretched out to one and all!

What a high call and glorious purpose
is our freedom from slaves to sin/Satan, to servants of Christ!


  




For Your Name’s sake, help us take up our cross and follow You
And make love’s price of sacrifice an honor, meek and true
Kindle in us, Lord Jesus, faith’s vision, profound and keen
Of ‘substance of things hoped for, evidence of things unseen’

For Your Name’s Sake, Lord Jesus, wake in us the awesome sense
Of beckoning and reckoning; of Choice and Recompense
….and immense Aftermath; of grace or wrath’s eternal sum
(With blood-wrought streams, love’s scepter gleams and beckons all to ‘come’)

For Thy Name’s sake, Lord Jesus, make us more and more like Thee
Not vain, loud, proud, crowd-pleasers but full of humility
Thy pain and loss upon death’s cross our gain; You bore our shame
Forbid we boast save in love’s uttermost; Salvation’s Name

For Your Name’s Sake Lord Jesus, break the will that still resists
Open our eyes to want The Prize that some deny exists
Unclench the fist that clings to mist; with holy hunger wake
The sacred call to give our all for Your precious Name’s sake

© Janet Martin










Tuesday, March 22, 2022

More Contemplations on Love



Love, be glorious as a sunrise
Beauty void of vanity...




Love, be glorious as a sunrise
Beauty void of vanity
Newness in spite of spent ages
Hope's gentle humility

Love, be lovely as a flower
Broken bud to beaming laud
Blooming where our feet are planted
Giving all glory to God

Love, be like a ship, seaworthy
Fit to weather stormy gale
Trust the Captain for the journey
He is good and will not fail

Love, be like a lilting fountain
Love be like a joyful song
Love be like the One who suffered
Though He committed no wrong

Love, be like a fearless soldier
Love, be like a warrior’s shield
Like a vineyard or an orchard
Gleaming with opulent yield

Love, be sobriety's laughter
Not the wino's loosened tongue
Be a role model, trustworthy
A kind mother to the young

Love, be like a mighty ocean
Love, be like a little seed
Stun us with the potent power
Of small scattered word and deed

Love, be like an earnest offering
On the altar of today
Labour not for acquisitions
That in death will fade away

Love, do not become disheartened
When the call would cast thee down
Remember the One who showed us
First the cross and then the crown

© Janet Martin

Therefore if you have any encouragement 
from being united with Christ, 
if any comfort from his love,
 if any common sharing in the Spirit,
 if any tenderness and compassion, 
then make my joy complete by being like-minded, 
having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 
  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
  not looking to your own interests 
but each of you to the interests of the others.

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

A Little Ditty on Life's Itty Bitty


The cake was the least of the feast on Friday night
as we fellowshipped and fostered deeper friendships.




I almost said 'no, thank-you' when asked to host
some ladies from church that I didn't know very well.
I thought I didn't really have time to prepare properly
(plus a whole plethora of unfounded fears)
but I said 'yes' and I'm so glad I did!
 We had such a sweet, fabulous evening
it made me wonder what loss of joy and blessing
I have amassed by doubting God's sufficient grace 
then replying 'no' to opportunity!
But the main concern in our yeses and no's...
(because sometimes 'no' is okay)
...is, Who we are doing What for

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, 
or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, 
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

1 Peter 4:11
If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. 
If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, 
so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, 
to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever.

Touchdown on time’s tabard
Life’s glance on its dirt
Flies like a spark, upward
Hope clinging to hurt
Like snowflakes to lashes
Life’s flicker of fuss
Fosters dust and ashes
And soul’s exodus
Where Who we did What for
Whether great or small
Will prove with pure fervor
Who we loved most of all

© Janet Martin

 

Friday, September 10, 2021

Flower-Power

 

I realized the one mini-rose bush I had
didn't survive last years septic-tank replacement...
I miss it, but bloom-beauty flourished this summer
(even though none are roses)
because of abundant rainfall!
Likewise, whatever kind of flower we are,
May we bloom where we are planted today!
Even if we feel a bit blight-battered and beetle-nibbled...




Our Father who art in Heaven,

With whatever You have granted
With what we are called to do
May we bloom where we are planted
With hearts humble, kind and true
Desiring to honour You

May we, with earnest endeavor
Not serve Want’s indulgent thirst
But renew desire's fervor
To put You and others first
Let life’s bud with Beauty burst

In the dirt of hurt and heartache
Where thorns prick and interpose
Bid we do our part to partake
Of the grace Your hand bestows
So, the thorns may wear a rose

Amen

© Janet Martin




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







Saturday, August 7, 2021

We Are More Than People...

My sister's family went from the house of mourning on Thursday
 to the house of joy on Friday,
My brother-in-law, Father of the bride, 
brother of the man laid to rest the day before
opened the wedding service with this verse,
'This is the day the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it!'
Psalm 118;24

My niece's wedding yesterday was beautiful.
The bittersweet blend of joy and sorrow
touched the ceremony, rich with profound exhortation from God's Word
reminding us of His order in both marriage and life.

My Uncle, during the ceremony, recounted a day when he went to the clinic
to find out if the cancer-treatments he received helped .
When the Doctor said, 'you are a new man. your cancer is gone!'
his emotional response was 'you have been a vessel in the hands of the Lord. God is good'
Then he went on to say he couldn't help but wonder if his response would have been the
same with a different result. The point he wanted to emphasize is that God is good all the time
in sickness and in health, in joy or grief 
and to remind the young bride and groom (and all of us)
to try to remember this truth, no matter what life brings!

The words 'you have been a vessel in the hands of the Lord' struck a chord!
How often we buzz and bumble through our days
forgetting we are vessels in the hands of the Lord!

When Ananias was called to go and baptize Saul he was confused,
because Saul had persecuted Christians!
 The Lord reminded him in Acts 9:15-16
“Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name 
before Gentiles, kings, and the children[c] of Israel. 
For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Paul, not long after encouraged and exhorted 
believers in the church of Corinth with this reminder;
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, 
to show that the surpassing power 
belongs to God and not to us. 
 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; 
perplexed, but not driven to despair; 
 persecuted, but not forsaken; 
struck down, but not destroyed; 
 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, 
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 
 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, 
 that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Lots to ponder as we return to what could seem quite commonplace
if we lose sight of who/what we are!

We are more than jars filled with beans and pickles, 
hallelujah! 😊



We are more than people born to life’s demands
We are vessels cradled in God’s faithful hands

Belief and repentance call us to obey
Where more than allegiance fills these jars of clay

An unfailing treasure; God’s surpassing pow’r
Cascades without measure through man’s fading flow’r

Through Soul’s transient trestles, pours faith’s glorious laud
To we, chosen vessels in the hands of God

Then what holy, true love instills commonplace
As we bear the call of sinners saved by grace

Praise the name of Jesus; by his darkest hour
We are vessels filled with God’s surpassing pow’r

Mercy’s priceless measure meets us where we are
To pour His good treasure into faith’s clay jar

© Janet Martin