SCRIP-BITS

Deuteronomy 11:26.    Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.
 
Oh Friends, we’ve been generously granted another day on God’s earth! Please, let’s be thankful for it, both in word and deed. And no, we have not finished with this Bit as yet: ‘Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.’ Why? Because we worship such a wise and magnanimous God, who, knowing our penchant for sin and disobedience, provided not only the original rules for receiving blessing and curse, but also a way out of the curse, back into the state of blessing. And all God’s people joyfully shouted: ‘Thank you Father God for LOVING us so much and making a way to reverse the curse on our disobedient lives and bring us back to blessings again!’ And so Friends, in the Lord’s usual, straightforward way, to avoid confusion, the conditions for restoration and blessing are purposely outlined in Deut.30. Oh my people, the change of status, from curse to blessing, hinges totally on sincere repentance, then receiving God’s forgiveness, and last and most important, staying obedient. It’s a call for us to make a rather strong and important decision: Life and blessing, or death and cursing. And yuh better believe that I’m opting for life and blessing! The death and cursing are too horrible for my liking. As for me and mine, we shall follow the Lord! Now, per how the curse and blessing works in real life, we have an excellent example of it with Israel, the Lord’s chosen people, who for their shameful sins and disobedience after entering the Promised Land and becoming prosperous through God’s help, were besieged by the Chaldeans in Jerusalem. The unfortunate outcome was God’s city of Jerusalem left in ruins and it’s people taken captive to Babylon. However, true to the Lord’s Word, some seventy years later, through the prayerful and repentant efforts of faithful people like Ezra and Nehemiah, Israel was eventually restored to the fullness of blessing. Now here are the basic principles for turning curse to blessing:  ‘And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind (cause them to return to your heart) among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the Lord thy God will turn thy (bring you back from) captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, wither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee….And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy father’s possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to LOVE the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous (abound) in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body (offspring), and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers.’ (Deut.30:1-3, 5-9) Ah Friends, it’s so simple: to live long and prosperous, follow God’s commandments. If we don’t, then we’ll be punished with all the curses He’s outlined. But just supposing, now is only suppose we supposing eh, (smile) that we become disobedient and endure His curse, if one day we finally wake up and learn sense, then it is possible to return to that wonderful state of blessing that we’d first known. But my brethren, in that case we have to be real serious about repentance. We can’t just be going through the outward motions because the Lord is going to check our hearts before He showers us with any blessings again. Then, as always, we have to RECEIVE His mercy and forgiveness. And sadly, that’s where a lot of us falter. We ask, but we don’t receive. Oh Friends, there needs to be an actual act of receiving on our part, and then behaving as though we’re forgiven, for many of still unwisely bear the guilt and shame although God has forgiven us. And now mih people, having gone through the blessings, curses and restoration of blessings again in the Good Book, and knowing the ungodliness and disobedience to God’s Word in our world, what is your opinion of it’s overwhelming negative situation? Can you be a true believer and not rack up some of our disasters, our negativity, to our turning away from God, especially after considering the more godly situation of say fifty years ago and the prosperity we enjoyed back then? I don’t think so. But Friends, it’s a decision we all have to make, individually and hopefully nation-wide, else our world will continue to bathe in negativity, to slide down its very slippery slope, until it is finally destroyed, and quite possibly by our own hands too. Fortunately though my brethren, it’s not too late for us to activate those conditions for restoration and blessing. But we have to put them in motion NOW! Not at some later date, for time is of the essence. So please, let’s think about all the wrong we’ve done, in particular not teaching our children to walk properly with the God of our fathers, and let’s sincerely repent and ask our LOVING and merciful heavenly Father for forgiveness, then receive it and live obediently for ever more. It’s the only way to bring about change in our unhappy, violent, evil and confused world. Much LOVE!…is it going to be life and blessing…or more death and cursing…it’s our call…