SCRIP-BITS

Isaiah 40:31.    But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
 
Oh Friends, January is over! Praise the Lord! One less month of this sordid, disgusting winter to go! But chuh! February seems intent on coming in like the proverbial lion, for we’re supposed to have another wretched snowstorm today and tomorrow, with much accumulation of the white stuff. The traffic, normally horrendous, will be even worse, and no doubt the numerous accidents will factor into the rise in auto insurance rates next year. And by the way, you U.S. Friends, please note that contrary to popular opinion, this storm, and all the others we’ve had so far, have sadly begun in the U.S, then wended their destructive way up north, not vice versa. And having gotten our facts straight (smile) let’s hear an interesting quote from the one and only Mother Teresa. She is supposed to have said that ‘We can do no great things…only small things with great LOVE.’ Far be it from me to question her wisdom, but I’ll say that whatever we do, big, small or in-between, we ought to do it with great LOVE, for that’s Jesus’ nature, and as His followers, we ought to have the same feelings and attitudes just oozing out of our pores. (smile) So you say that’s not easy to do in the kind of world we live in, with the evil, selfish, ungodly people that surround us. So what? Jesus did it! And though we don’t have all the godly and saintly parts that He had, if we’re truthful, we’ll agree that there’s lot’s of room for improvement. And strange as it might seem, our Bit, a scripture that every Christian knows, or ought to know, does have a lot to do with those godly and LOVING character traits we desire to establish. ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.’ Wow! What a true and moving testimony that is my people! But unfortunately, like so much of the godly straight and narrow way, it’s so difficult to truly put into practice, especially with the current ‘want it now, if not yesterday,’ mindset that exists in our society. And I’m chuckling here mih breddren, because the Spirit is coaxing me into sharing a little personal testimony. Ah well, what can I do but obey! The truth is that I have a couple of important decisions to make in my personal life in the next few weeks, and my spirit is calm and peaceful about them, but a couple of my confidantes are busy trying to get me to make those decisions, sooner rather than later, and sometimes the pressure annoys me. Now don’t get me wrong, I am concerned about them, and have been talking to the Lord about them, though with no definitive answers as yet, but when my old, arthritic knees begin to seriously ache and the basic aspects of my life like walking, bending, sitting, standing and sleeping reach frustrating proportions, I just put aside everything else. However, in the last few days I’ve been drawn to reading some material on waiting on the Lord. And as He would have it, tonight, just before looking for a Bit, I picked up the January issue of the In Touch monthly magazine and began reading the articles. Now I do this in a zigzag way. I read the devotions everyday with my mother, but then, at the end of the month, I begin reading the articles at the front. And lo and behold, what does Uncle Charles (Charles Stanley) talk about in January…obviously waiting on the Lord. As usual I had to chuckle, for when I can’t fathom what the Lord’s trying to tell me, I ask Him to read and spell for me; that’s break it down into the simplest terms, show me exactly what He means or wants, so that even a fool could understand. Well if this isn’t one of those cases where He is reading and spelling for me, I don’t know what is, for the signs couldn’t be any clearer than for me to wait on Him. Therefore the Bit was also a no-brainer. But mih people, waiting on the Lord, as most of you know, is one of the hardest things to learn, if not the hardest. And waiting patiently, as we ought to, is even harder. Now please note that waiting, and waiting patiently doesn’t mean that we just sit down with our arms folded and wait for the Lord to do His thing. No sir! In every situation that calls for waiting, there is stuff that we’re supposed to do while waiting, be it praying, meditating, learning and/or straightening up things that need doing before the big day comes. So waiting is never an idle, lazy time, but one where we still diligently do the small, sort of insignificant stuff to prepare ourselves for God’s decisive action. And note too, that the waiting must also be of an expectant kind; meaning waiting expectantly, with faith, that God will lead us to the right decision, and on time too. The timing though should not be a problem, because I can confidently tell you from long, hard experience, even before I was so spiritually involved, that He’s NEVER LATE. Oh Friends, the number of times the Lord’s shown up in the nick of time for me are too numerous to count. But that’s enough for today. There’s much more to come, our God in favour. So please remember to include the Lord in all your activities and decisions. Prayerfully ask His advice on everything, big, small and otherwise, then wait patiently, with expectant hope for His sure and correct answer. Much LOVE!…all the days of my appointed time (hard service)…will I wait…till my change come… (Job 14:14) And I just tuned in to Wack 90.1 to hear some gospel and what blasted out at me, but ‘God is LOVE…God is LOVE…God so LOVED the world that He gave His only Son, He laid down his life for you and me…Please remember that…God is LOVE…so hold on tight…doh let go…Much LOVE!