SCRIP-BITS

Jeremiah 18:6.    O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
 
Oh Friends, I hear you crying out with joy: ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday!’ You’ve just been dying for the weekend to come, after an abnormally busy and trying week. Well if it’s Friday, then let’s chant our Friday Chant: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.’ Yes Friends, go home and rest and recuperate, but don’t become couch potatoes. (smile) On another interesting note, last night I went into that wonderful city of Toronto to visit my mother and daughter…and there’s no sarcasm in that statement because I consider T.O. to be the best big city in the world. Anyway, along the highway there’s this big billboard which displays somebody’s advertising, I don’t remember whose, but at the bottom there’s usually a crawl with some worthwhile words. Today’s words were: ‘Leaders are those who empower others.’ Certainly words of wisdom! But they saddened me, because if they were true, then it reflected very badly on those in charge of our world. Which leaders are empowering us eh? The people of the world are being systematically stripped of what little power they have by the band of mostly incompetent, greedy, power hungry folks at the top. The other side of the equation declares then, that if the people are not being empowered by those in charge, then to all intents we have no leaders. And that’s a fact my people! Those at the top today are either weak, wishy-washy and corrupt, or too strong, domineering and corrupt, tending towards dictatorial powers. Where are those who truly have the people’s best interest at heart eh? I guess they don’t exist anymore, or they’re just not interested in playing the new politics. But fortunately Friends, there’s one leader who’s still interested in the people, and will always be; that’s the Lord God Almighty! He’s the only one we can trust to tell us like it is. That’s why He spoke our Bit to Jeremiah: ‘ O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.’ Oh my people, I sincerely believe this message is a serious warning we should be paying close attention to. Why? Because I can’t ever remember being so intense, so ardent and emotional when writing a Bit, like I was last night. As I said, I was most surprised to find myself so tightly wound up. Usually, once I decide what I’m going to write, I’m fairly loose and easy going. Hn! But not last night. And to top it all, not one of the scriptures that I’d researched and planned to use, made it into the Bit. It was all the Spirit’s leading and guidance. And my brethren the only reason I can come up with for such intensity is that the message has imminent meaning; it’s something we should carefully consider right now, for whatever it implies isn’t very far away. And having said that, I surely hope I’m only a voice crying in the wilderness. But let’s look at the scriptures I had planned for yesterday. And the first one comes from Isaiah, from his prayer for help, for God to come down and intervene in the affairs of the world. ‘And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us (caused us to melt), because of our iniquities. But now O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore (furious), O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.’ (Is.64:7-9) Oh my people, it would do us all a wealth of good if we could all pray those words, since Isaiah’s situation back then certainly mirrors ours now. The Lord is far from us because we have forsaken Him. Calamity after calamity is raining down on our sinful, ungodly world through His direct direction or His not stopping them. But either way Friends, if we ever needed the Most High God, Infinitely Everything in our lives and our world, it’s right now, for we are definitely on the brink of the precipice, and it’s only His merciful hand that can stop us from going over. As Bruh Paul wrote to the Romans: ‘Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing (wanting) to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to (prepared for) destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore (beforehand) prepared unto glory. Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?’ (Rom.9:20-24) Oh my brethren, those are all very good questions, the answers we don’t know since we don’t know God’s plans for our world. However, we do know two things; it’s very evident that things are not right in our world, and are daily becoming worse, and the Lord’s certainly not happy with our sinful, disobedient behaviour. Oh sorry, we know three things! And the third is that in the Lord’s just sight, continued disobedience is usually met with suitable punishment, which can take any form He desires. And the only way to avoid that punishment is to return to Him, give up our lustful, fleshly desires, obey His will, serve and worship Him faithfully; for He’s promised those who sincerely do so will not be destroyed. Oh Friends, for our children’s sake, let’s wake up, let’s smarten up and diligently encourage our evil world to return to the God of our fathers, if we want to avoid certain destruction. Much LOVE!…if the evil nation repents…I will relent of the punishment…says the Lord God of Hosts…