1 John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
Ah Friends, yuh think this Christian walk easy? Not at all nuh! Our God’s thinking must be radically different and far superior to our yes, because yesterday He had me riding a wave of enthusiasm with unexpected blessings, while today I’m plumbing the depths of disappointment. Hn! I don’t know if it’s simply a test or what, but He should know by now that I’m not about to give up on Him, especially since I got involved in this Scrip-Bit endeavour. Even before that, He’s run me through the ringer often enough to see my true colours. I know He’s a good God and all that, and I’m still singing His praises and giving Him oodles of thanks, but sometimes it’s just…it’s just rough and seemingly unfair. It so happens that all the dreams He’s put in my heart have long gestation periods, taking a lot of time, effort and money. And I had this one project ready to go, when Bam! The whole thing unexpectedly crashed on me. And not through any fault of mine, but through external forces over which I had no control. The trouble too is that this project looked like it was going to hit the ground running, now though, it’s not even going to leave the starting gate. But per Job; ‘the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ (Job 1:21) Doh worry Friends, I’m not giving up. I’ll get over the disappointment and start over again. In fact I’ve already done that, on both counts. And as Rev. Schuler likes to say, this might just be a small setback for a big comeback. Ah mih people, you have to have plenty parts if you seriously want to follow Jesus yes! And you all see that I’m trying to practice what I preach. (smile) Who knows, that might have even been His intention. Whatever though, I’m going down fighting with Him. It’s Jesus all the way! Why? Cause He’s the only way! He specified that specifically. (smile) ‘Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.’ (John 15:4) Yes Friends, Jesus cares for us, regardless of what He allows to happen in our lives. He won’t allow anything we go through, to go to waste. Whatever He allows has a purpose, even if we can’t see it. That’s where faith; the walking by our hearts and not our eyes comes in. And more often than not, it’s a difficult row to hoe. But once we realize that our God’s LOVE, care and concern for us are genuine, as He’s been saying from the dawn of eternity, or as the old people would say, since Adam was a little boy, we have to bow down and worship Him; give Him His due. And Friends, when we look at some of what we consider serious disappointments, if compared to the majority of humans on Planet Earth, ours are really minor and insignificant. We have all the necessities of life, plus some. Most of the world can’t say that. We can worship freely, without fear of persecution. Many around the world can’t do that. So in the big picture, my disappointment, though important to me, pales in comparison to many others. And talking about persecution for Christians, it’s only tonight I read that in China, this week, a believer, Shi Weihan, was sentenced to three years in jail and a twenty five thousand dollar fine. And his crime? Printing Bibles and giving them away for free. Ah mih people, it’s a sad statement that in this so called modern day and age, the next emerging superpower, China, whom the West kowtows to because of their vast consumer potential, who’s spreading their supposed largesse all over the world, (read Chinese hegemony) and who claim to have a Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, and even of religious belief, a Communist controlled govt. still strictly monitors everything. Hn! They’re like some of us; only talk the talk, but don’t walk it. The article also claims that though the Bible is the most printed book in the world, ‘there is not a single bookstore in China where one can buy Bibles or other gospel books.’ How sad. You can only buy Bibles in govt. approved and monitored churches. It certainly seems like Shi Weihan was obeying Today’s Bit perfectly. He ran a small Christian group from his home, under the radar of the govt’s zealous Religious Affairs administration, and did much humanitarian work in the poor, rural countryside, which made him realize that Bibles were very scarce. To combat this scarcity, he enlisted some friends who ran a printing shop in Beijing and they began printing Bibles and giving them away. Publishing them though was considered a crime since only approved publishers are allowed to publish stuff in China. His application for approval was denied. But all praise to our God my Friends, for He gets His word out there under any circumstances. The more they try to subvert it, the more it prospers. Shi’s lawyer’s licence was even suspended, which led his wife to have doubts about an appeal, because no other lawyer might take the case since it’s religious, and they saw what happened to the original lawyer. Now Friends, that’s a perfect example of walking as Jesus walked, and most of our problems pale before that. But problems are problems, in spite of their size or complexity, and we all have some to overcome. However, let’s do like Jesus nuh, unselfishly consider others first and ourselves last. ‘For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his steps.’ (1 Pet.2:21) Let’s fervently pray for people like Shi Weihan; staunch believers who are trying to walk in Jesus footsteps, to spread the Word, but are being persecuted and oppressed by Lucifer’s cohorts. Sadly, there are many other parts of the world where Christians are suffering for their beliefs, and the surest way for us to help them is by offering up much heartfelt prayer for them. So please, let’s make that a priority, for if the situation was reversed, we’d sure want them to pray for us. And that’s what Jesus would do too. Much LOVE!…walk right and pray much…that’s the Jesus way…
Ah Friends, yuh think this Christian walk easy? Not at all nuh! Our God’s thinking must be radically different and far superior to our yes, because yesterday He had me riding a wave of enthusiasm with unexpected blessings, while today I’m plumbing the depths of disappointment. Hn! I don’t know if it’s simply a test or what, but He should know by now that I’m not about to give up on Him, especially since I got involved in this Scrip-Bit endeavour. Even before that, He’s run me through the ringer often enough to see my true colours. I know He’s a good God and all that, and I’m still singing His praises and giving Him oodles of thanks, but sometimes it’s just…it’s just rough and seemingly unfair. It so happens that all the dreams He’s put in my heart have long gestation periods, taking a lot of time, effort and money. And I had this one project ready to go, when Bam! The whole thing unexpectedly crashed on me. And not through any fault of mine, but through external forces over which I had no control. The trouble too is that this project looked like it was going to hit the ground running, now though, it’s not even going to leave the starting gate. But per Job; ‘the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ (Job 1:21) Doh worry Friends, I’m not giving up. I’ll get over the disappointment and start over again. In fact I’ve already done that, on both counts. And as Rev. Schuler likes to say, this might just be a small setback for a big comeback. Ah mih people, you have to have plenty parts if you seriously want to follow Jesus yes! And you all see that I’m trying to practice what I preach. (smile) Who knows, that might have even been His intention. Whatever though, I’m going down fighting with Him. It’s Jesus all the way! Why? Cause He’s the only way! He specified that specifically. (smile) ‘Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.’ (John 15:4) Yes Friends, Jesus cares for us, regardless of what He allows to happen in our lives. He won’t allow anything we go through, to go to waste. Whatever He allows has a purpose, even if we can’t see it. That’s where faith; the walking by our hearts and not our eyes comes in. And more often than not, it’s a difficult row to hoe. But once we realize that our God’s LOVE, care and concern for us are genuine, as He’s been saying from the dawn of eternity, or as the old people would say, since Adam was a little boy, we have to bow down and worship Him; give Him His due. And Friends, when we look at some of what we consider serious disappointments, if compared to the majority of humans on Planet Earth, ours are really minor and insignificant. We have all the necessities of life, plus some. Most of the world can’t say that. We can worship freely, without fear of persecution. Many around the world can’t do that. So in the big picture, my disappointment, though important to me, pales in comparison to many others. And talking about persecution for Christians, it’s only tonight I read that in China, this week, a believer, Shi Weihan, was sentenced to three years in jail and a twenty five thousand dollar fine. And his crime? Printing Bibles and giving them away for free. Ah mih people, it’s a sad statement that in this so called modern day and age, the next emerging superpower, China, whom the West kowtows to because of their vast consumer potential, who’s spreading their supposed largesse all over the world, (read Chinese hegemony) and who claim to have a Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, and even of religious belief, a Communist controlled govt. still strictly monitors everything. Hn! They’re like some of us; only talk the talk, but don’t walk it. The article also claims that though the Bible is the most printed book in the world, ‘there is not a single bookstore in China where one can buy Bibles or other gospel books.’ How sad. You can only buy Bibles in govt. approved and monitored churches. It certainly seems like Shi Weihan was obeying Today’s Bit perfectly. He ran a small Christian group from his home, under the radar of the govt’s zealous Religious Affairs administration, and did much humanitarian work in the poor, rural countryside, which made him realize that Bibles were very scarce. To combat this scarcity, he enlisted some friends who ran a printing shop in Beijing and they began printing Bibles and giving them away. Publishing them though was considered a crime since only approved publishers are allowed to publish stuff in China. His application for approval was denied. But all praise to our God my Friends, for He gets His word out there under any circumstances. The more they try to subvert it, the more it prospers. Shi’s lawyer’s licence was even suspended, which led his wife to have doubts about an appeal, because no other lawyer might take the case since it’s religious, and they saw what happened to the original lawyer. Now Friends, that’s a perfect example of walking as Jesus walked, and most of our problems pale before that. But problems are problems, in spite of their size or complexity, and we all have some to overcome. However, let’s do like Jesus nuh, unselfishly consider others first and ourselves last. ‘For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his steps.’ (1 Pet.2:21) Let’s fervently pray for people like Shi Weihan; staunch believers who are trying to walk in Jesus footsteps, to spread the Word, but are being persecuted and oppressed by Lucifer’s cohorts. Sadly, there are many other parts of the world where Christians are suffering for their beliefs, and the surest way for us to help them is by offering up much heartfelt prayer for them. So please, let’s make that a priority, for if the situation was reversed, we’d sure want them to pray for us. And that’s what Jesus would do too. Much LOVE!…walk right and pray much…that’s the Jesus way…
SCRIP-BITS 