Nehemiah 9:33 Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought against us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly.
Well Friends, it’s Labour Day, the end of the summer holidays; children go back to school and parents back to work, the lucky few who still have jobs. It certainly won’t be a day of celebration like it used to be with the loss of so many millions of jobs. Sadly, Labour Day also tells us that the freedom of summer is over and fall winds will soon start a blowing. And believe me, some real cold winds will be blowing over many unfortunate families this winter; those who’ve either lost their jobs or their life’s savings in the current financial and economic collapse. But overall, we still need to ‘Lie down and listen to the crab grass grow, the faucet leak, and learn to leave them so.’ That’s Marya Mannes advice. And she does make sense, because with all the hustle and bustle of modern day society we tend to want to do everything at once, though we know it’s impossible. We need to learn to take our time, take everything in stride; do the things we can, and not allow the others to stress us out. In many cases those others are relatively unimportant anyway. We have to learn to prioritize our lives though the world seems intent on making us all type A personalities; driven, always on the go. But Friends that attitude only leads to unnecessary stress, strain, sickness and disappointment. Then one thing inevitably leads to another: that busyness doesn’t allow us time for God, sometimes even for those who truly want to honour and praise Him. That’s another ruse that the enemy uses to distract us from God. But my people, just as we make time for all the worldly distractions, we have to make time to slow down and smell the roses; take a deep inhalation of their wonderful, God-given fragrance, then let it slowly permeate our senses and entire beings. And most important of all; WE HAVE TO MAKE TIME FOR ALMIGHTY GOD! That is our bounden duty as believers, as followers of Christ. And not only time Friends, but QUALITY time. The Israelites suffered needlessly because they forgot their God, the mighty One who had single handed brought them out of Egyptian bondage, fed them supernaturally with manna and water in the wilderness, led them by a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. ‘But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments. And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst amongst them.’ (Neh.9:16-17) Ah my people, does that sound familiar? If we’re truthful, the answer would be a resounding, ‘yes!’ We have foolishly done the same things the Israelites did; forsaken the Lord our God, who caused us to prosper when we were obedient to His law. We listened to the lies and false teachings of Beelzebub and his evil lieutenants, and stupidly believed that all we’d achieved was through the work of our own hands. Unfortunately, we allowed the enemy to make us forget Bruh Paul’s word of wisdom: ‘I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.’ (1 Cor.3:6) That’s the gospel truth Friends! And until we acknowledge that and begin acting it out, then we’ll be forever blighted and entrenched in ‘sufferation.’ Until we confess our wrongs and shortcomings like the priests and Levites finally did, we’ll be cast down like evildoers. We have to admit; ‘Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us: for thou hast done right, (faithfully) but we have done wickedly.’ There are no doubts about that mih people. We have exceeded the Israelites in sinfulness and evil. We’ve brought it to a level that the Israelites could never even dream or imagine. That’s why we’re paying such a terrible price of confusion and conflict right now. As Daniel said: ‘Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.’ (Dan.9:14) Ah my people, I wish I knew the magic words or actions that would be certain to turn us back to our God, for we’ll keep falling further and further from grace if we don’t. As the Psalmist bewailed: ‘We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.’ (Ps.106:6) By the way, that Psalm is titled, ‘Israel sins against God’s LOVE.’ What shame and disgrace my people that we have not learned, but done the same unwise thing. We either conveniently forgot, or blatantly ignored the fact that, ‘Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgements. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.’ (Ps.119: 137-138) And like we’ve also forgotten that there’s a most serious price to be paid for disobedience to God: ‘And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous unto eternal life.’ (Mat.25:46) Those are Jesus’ words Friends, and He puts it nicely, not mentioning the hell fire, death, eternal wandering and damnation. Oh my people, all I can say is let’s learn from our mistakes. It’s not too late. If we sincerely want to be eased of the heavy, burdensome yoke that we now bear, there’s only one way to do it; cry out to God! So, like the Psalmist did, let’s all cry out with sincere hearts: ‘Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord.’ (Ps.106:47-48) And having cried out for redemption my people, let’s now go out and ardently, diligently, do what’s required of us nuh: LOVE our God, and LIVE our Faith. Much LOVE!…the price of sin is eternal death…but of faithfulness…everlasting life…choose wisely…
Well Friends, it’s Labour Day, the end of the summer holidays; children go back to school and parents back to work, the lucky few who still have jobs. It certainly won’t be a day of celebration like it used to be with the loss of so many millions of jobs. Sadly, Labour Day also tells us that the freedom of summer is over and fall winds will soon start a blowing. And believe me, some real cold winds will be blowing over many unfortunate families this winter; those who’ve either lost their jobs or their life’s savings in the current financial and economic collapse. But overall, we still need to ‘Lie down and listen to the crab grass grow, the faucet leak, and learn to leave them so.’ That’s Marya Mannes advice. And she does make sense, because with all the hustle and bustle of modern day society we tend to want to do everything at once, though we know it’s impossible. We need to learn to take our time, take everything in stride; do the things we can, and not allow the others to stress us out. In many cases those others are relatively unimportant anyway. We have to learn to prioritize our lives though the world seems intent on making us all type A personalities; driven, always on the go. But Friends that attitude only leads to unnecessary stress, strain, sickness and disappointment. Then one thing inevitably leads to another: that busyness doesn’t allow us time for God, sometimes even for those who truly want to honour and praise Him. That’s another ruse that the enemy uses to distract us from God. But my people, just as we make time for all the worldly distractions, we have to make time to slow down and smell the roses; take a deep inhalation of their wonderful, God-given fragrance, then let it slowly permeate our senses and entire beings. And most important of all; WE HAVE TO MAKE TIME FOR ALMIGHTY GOD! That is our bounden duty as believers, as followers of Christ. And not only time Friends, but QUALITY time. The Israelites suffered needlessly because they forgot their God, the mighty One who had single handed brought them out of Egyptian bondage, fed them supernaturally with manna and water in the wilderness, led them by a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. ‘But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments. And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst amongst them.’ (Neh.9:16-17) Ah my people, does that sound familiar? If we’re truthful, the answer would be a resounding, ‘yes!’ We have foolishly done the same things the Israelites did; forsaken the Lord our God, who caused us to prosper when we were obedient to His law. We listened to the lies and false teachings of Beelzebub and his evil lieutenants, and stupidly believed that all we’d achieved was through the work of our own hands. Unfortunately, we allowed the enemy to make us forget Bruh Paul’s word of wisdom: ‘I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.’ (1 Cor.3:6) That’s the gospel truth Friends! And until we acknowledge that and begin acting it out, then we’ll be forever blighted and entrenched in ‘sufferation.’ Until we confess our wrongs and shortcomings like the priests and Levites finally did, we’ll be cast down like evildoers. We have to admit; ‘Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us: for thou hast done right, (faithfully) but we have done wickedly.’ There are no doubts about that mih people. We have exceeded the Israelites in sinfulness and evil. We’ve brought it to a level that the Israelites could never even dream or imagine. That’s why we’re paying such a terrible price of confusion and conflict right now. As Daniel said: ‘Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.’ (Dan.9:14) Ah my people, I wish I knew the magic words or actions that would be certain to turn us back to our God, for we’ll keep falling further and further from grace if we don’t. As the Psalmist bewailed: ‘We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.’ (Ps.106:6) By the way, that Psalm is titled, ‘Israel sins against God’s LOVE.’ What shame and disgrace my people that we have not learned, but done the same unwise thing. We either conveniently forgot, or blatantly ignored the fact that, ‘Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgements. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.’ (Ps.119: 137-138) And like we’ve also forgotten that there’s a most serious price to be paid for disobedience to God: ‘And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous unto eternal life.’ (Mat.25:46) Those are Jesus’ words Friends, and He puts it nicely, not mentioning the hell fire, death, eternal wandering and damnation. Oh my people, all I can say is let’s learn from our mistakes. It’s not too late. If we sincerely want to be eased of the heavy, burdensome yoke that we now bear, there’s only one way to do it; cry out to God! So, like the Psalmist did, let’s all cry out with sincere hearts: ‘Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord.’ (Ps.106:47-48) And having cried out for redemption my people, let’s now go out and ardently, diligently, do what’s required of us nuh: LOVE our God, and LIVE our Faith. Much LOVE!…the price of sin is eternal death…but of faithfulness…everlasting life…choose wisely…
SCRIP-BITS 