SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 97:10.    Ye that LOVE the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
 
Well hello there all you beautiful brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus! I hope this fine Sunday morning meets you all in good health, enjoying the new mercies and blessings that come with each new day from our magnificent and magnanimous God. I also hope that you offered up some thanks and praise on awakening, because it’s the right thing to do in terms of our obeisance, and it does get our day started on the right track. Now here’s a quote from my ‘I LOVE YOU’ poster. It simply says that ‘True wealth is what you are, not what you have.’ And all believers know that’s gospel! For earthly wealth will rot and be destroyed, but our character, our integrity, our faithfulness and such things will live on forever. Note too how easy it is to acquire and lose wealth, but once our character is destroyed, it’s nigh impossible to resurrect it, because that little seed of doubt remains in people’s minds. Just look at how innocent people falsely accused of crimes suffer. Although their innocence is proven, a certain stigma remains attached to their name and character. So be careful how you go in this world, for character assassination is big business these days. Now turning to our Bit: ‘Ye that LOVE the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.’ As you can see, it consists of three parts; LOVING the Lord and hating evil, the preservation of saints, and deliverance from the hand of the wicked. Today we’ll deal with the first part: ‘Ye that LOVE the Lord, hate evil:’ That’s a cut and dried statement my people, a no-brainer! If you LOVE the Lord, then you must obviously hate evil, because the two things simply don’t go together, they are total opposites. The Lord is LOVE, and in Him is no evil or wickedness whatsoever, therefore to be true followers we must follow His path, His directive on the matter, that of LOVE, and renounce all that’s wicked and evil. Hear these scriptures on the subject: ‘What man is he that desireth life, and LOVETH many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile (deceit). Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.’ (Ps.34:12-14) Yes Friends that’s perfect advice from Bruh David. If we want to live a good, long life, then we have to do good, walk in LOVE and forsake evil. Meanwhile, Cousin Sol, in his godly wisdom declares: ‘The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy and the evil way, and the froward (perverse) mouth, do I hate.’ (Prov.8:13) And the prophet Amos, in his call for Israel to repent, said it thus: ‘Seek good and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and LOVE the good, and establish judgement (justice) in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.’ (Amos 5:14-15) Now here is Bruh Paul’s take on the subject when writing to the church at Rome. ‘Let LOVE be without dissimulation (hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cleave (cling) to that which is good.’ (Rom.12:9) Oh my brethren, all these scriptures are simple, self-explanatory statements: If you want to serve the Lord, then you have to LOVE good and reject evil. Why then does a majority of our world seem to love evil and hate good eh? I guess because they prefer to serve Lucifer who fools them with earthly trinkets that pander to their human lusts and greed, which eventually leads to their demise, death and eternal separation from God. Now that’s the worst thing that could ever happen to a human being! But Friends, the wise amongst us know that serving Almighty God is the only true way to go, because He provides us with salvation and eternal life. And all God’s people gladly shouted: ‘Glory Hallelujah!’ Because that’s the best thing that could ever happen to a human being! Till tomorrow then, God willing, when we’ll look at the other parts of our Bit, take care, and please choose to follow good and not evil. It’s the wise way! Much LOVE!…as for me and mine…we will serve the Lord…
 

Psalm 39:4.     Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
 
Oh Friends, ‘I’m getting better! Thank God, I’m getting better!’ Yes mih people, the ole fella’s battered and bruised body is healing. Wow! At long last the wound from my surgery is healed. That deserves another rousing, ‘Thank you Lord!’ Unfortunately though, while one part is healing, another part is breaking down. The old knees are again causing havoc, severely curtailing my mobility. For some reason that God alone knows, He seems intent on keeping me immobile. And if that’s the case, then I have no choice but to grin and bear it; ‘unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.’ (Col.1:11) That’s my new mantra. (smile) But believe me, it works, because every time I get to the joyfulness part, I begin to chuckle, and that certainly eases the tension, relieves some of the pressure of the negative situation. Oh my brethren, sometimes our discernment of God’s directions for our lives is truly difficult. With some things moving in positive directions and others in negative, we often get confused about the path we ought to follow. No wonder, Bruh David, in his prayer for self-understanding, cried out to God: ‘Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.’  And we are frail my people. Both in terms of the fragility of our bodies; easily injured, as well as our life span; that we can be here today and gone tomorrow. Now I don’t know if our Bit is a prayer we should really petition the Lord with, because for many of us, the answers might not be to our liking. Our end might be terrible, and our days much shorter than we expect. And Bruh David, never one for mincing matters, spells it out: ‘Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth (hand span); and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity (vapour). Selah.’ (Ps.39:5) Yes Friends, in the context of God’s eternal character and eternity, our lives are nothing. In God’s sight we come and go as quickly as a vapour appears and then vanishes into nothingness, as though it never existed. Moses, in Psalm 90, his only psalm, which makes it the oldest in the Psalter, puts it this way: ‘For all our days are passed away in thy wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told (a sigh). The days of our years (lives) are threescore years and ten (70); and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years (80), yet is their strength (boast) labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away…. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (gain a heart of wisdom).’ (Ps.90:9-10,12) Those are such true words my people! Moses lived it. He saw a whole generation of unbelieving, disobedient Israelites wander aimlessly in the wilderness for forty years, right next to the Promised Land, and then perish without ever setting foot on it. He never did either, because of the people’s wickedness. The Lord was nice enough though to show him it in the distance, from a high hill. (Deut.34: 1-5) Friends, the same can be expected to happen to us, if we don’t faithfully bow to God’s will. He will allow us to journey round the same mountain oodles of times until we smarten up. And if we don’t, then we’ll keep going around in futility until our frail lives disappear in a puff of vapour. The author of Psalm 119 also asked about the length of life. ‘How many are the days of thy servant? When wilt thou execute judgement on them that persecute me?’ (Ps.119:84) I humbly submit my people, that we should not concern ourselves with either of those questions. Our sole concern is to be grateful and appreciative of our earthly days, be they few or many, and to do as Moses pleaded: ‘that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.’ Yes my brethren, seeking after God and His wisdom, should be our life’s goal, while leaving all the other incidentals to be fulfilled through His promises, in His impeccable taste and timing. We know we’re only on this earth for a relatively short period, and can vanish in an instant, so please, let’s pay attention to the truly important matters. Much LOVE!…though we’d all like to know God’s plan for our lives…sometimes it’s best that we don’t know… 

Psalm 100:3.    Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
 
Oh Friends, another balmy summer’s day has dawned in my area! And wonder of wonders, I’m alive to see it and to enjoy the new blessings that come with it! Therefore let me say a grateful, humble and enthusiastic, ‘Thank you Lord!’ Yes Friends, it’s imperative that we give the Lord thanks for His goodness everyday we awaken, regardless of our individual circumstances, for just being alive is a most wonderful gift, a true blessing. Psalm 100 is a psalm of praise, a call to praise the Lord, and as the first two verses so appropriately declare: ‘Make a joyful noise (shout joyfully) unto the Lord, all ye lands (all the earth). Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.’ (Ps.100:1-2) Now that’s the way we ought to praise our omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God! And our Bit gives the reason, the evidence for such gushing sentiments. ‘Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.’ Wow! What better reason can there be to serve and praise our God! We must first admit though that the Lord is God; the Almighty Being, the Highest of the High, that there’s no one above Him, in neither might, stature, splendour or any other category devised by man. Neither can He be pigeonholed by our simple definitions, for He is much greater than our lowly minds can comprehend. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ (Is.55:9) Then we need to understand and gratefully acknowledge that the Lord is our Creator: ‘it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.’ Oh Friends, that alone is great cause for us to worship and serve Him obediently. He made us with tender, LOVING care. It was a highly planned and orchestrated affair, not just some wishy-washy scheme that suddenly came to His mind. As the scriptures confirm and joyfully proclaim: ‘For thou hast possessed my reins (formed my inward parts): thou hast covered (weaved) me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right (very) well.’ (Ps.139:13-14) Yes my people, we need to understand that we were all made from a heart of great LOVE. Thus we are entitled to be proud of our royal heritage. But please be careful, don’t let that pride run away with us, so we get too big for our breeches, else the Lord will topple us from our man-made heights, abase and humble us before His mighty throne. It’s very important that we always remember who’s the boss; the Creator, not the created. Now let’s look at a couple of other scriptures that speak to the situation. Job, in bewailing his calamity, woefully declared: ‘Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine (look favourably) upon the counsel of the wicked?…Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.’ (Job 10:3,8) Though Job’s situation was terrible, he had no doubts or illusions about his Creator. Then we turn to Psalm 119:73, which leaves no doubt either as to man’s Creator. ‘Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.’ And we’ll give the final word to Bruh Paul: ‘For we are his workmanship (creation), created in Christ Jesus unto (for) good works, which God hath before ordained (prepared) that we should walk in them.’ (Eph.2:10) There we have it Friends, indisputable evidence re our Creator and creation. And the most wonderful part of it all is that though we have been rebellious and disobedient to our Creator’s will, from way back when, He has not, and has promised never to leave or forsake us. So great is His LOVE for us, His greatest creation, that he offered up His only Son, Jesus, as a pure and living sacrifice for our abominable misdeeds. How can we then not be everlastingly thankful and show it by requiting His LOVE with our own, by faithfully serving, worshipping and praising Him with each breath we take? That’s the only response that can be considered worthy of us in light of God’s saving grace and mercy. So please, let’s go out into the evil world and show that we are truly His proud, obedient children, by LOVING Him, LIVING our Faith, and SPREADING His Word. More on this topic tomorrow, God in favour. Till then, please walk safely under the protection of His mighty wings. Much LOVE!…to know, know, know Him…is to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Him…
 

1 Corinthians 10:13.    There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
 
Oh Friends, who says life isn’t amazing and amusing eh? It sure is! Case in question: Yesterday afternoon when my nurse came to change the dressing on my prostate wound, I told her about the knee incident the previous day, and since we change the dressing in my bedroom, I decided to re-enact the scene for her. Hn! So I stand by the bedside, then take one step sideways to the left…and Whoa! My knee gives out again, I cry out in pain, and only prevent myself from falling by hastily grabbing on to the bed and nearby chair. Was I ever surprised by that recurring situation! The possibility had never even crossed my mind. Ah Lord eh! But yuh know who isn’t taking anymore sideways steps to the left, (smile) provided I can remember not to. And though I’m still hobbling around on painful knees, I’m chuckling as I write this because as I said yesterday, the only way to truly handle patience and longsuffering is with joyfulness. (Col.1:11) Yes Friends, many believers definitely need to laugh a little more than they now do, cause a cheerful heart makes its own song, and when we laugh, we reduce the pain, the pressure, the tension, the negative energy in ourselves, and then we can put that released energy to positive use. I know that’s hard to do at the best of times, and even harder on a continual basis, but practice makes perfect, and Jesus said, most reassuringly: ‘These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33) So though we will certainly have problems in this world, if we follow Jesus, we can also have peace, and we should be of a cheerful spirit, because He has already overcome the world and there is nothing for us to fear. But I think there are more sour, surly believers around than non-believers. Too many of us seem to think that putting on a stiff upper lip and a serious, uptight demeanour is the badge of believers, but unfortunately it is not. The badge of believers is a peaceful, cheerful countenance, as Jesus says above. And then we have our Bit: ‘There hath no temptation taken (overtaken) you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear (endure) it.’ That’s another promise of great magnitude my people! We can’t avoid temptation, but if God promises to help us bear it, then why are we always so sour and miserable eh? Oh my brethren, until all believers consciously and faithfully adhere to these directives of Jesus and Bruh Paul, we’ll actually be disputing God’s faithfulness, being disobedient for not doing as he says. For if He’s nothing else, our God is most certainly faithful, as Bruh Paul joyfully declares: ‘God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (1 Cor.1:9) Yeh people, there’s no doubt about the Lord’s faithfulness, and if He says that we won’t be tempted to a greater degree than we can handle, then it will be so. And even when we are tempted, He promises to help us bear the brunt of that temptation. So why do we still doubt His promises and live in fear and worry eh? Is it because our faith isn’t strong enough? Or are we simply not taking God as seriously as we should? Whatever the answer Friends, we definitely need to get ourselves standing much more firmly on the strong, secure and faithful promises of our God, especially in these difficult and troubled times. We all know that living a Christian life is not easy, but it’s because of those very promises that we can, and should live a better and more peaceful life than the unbeliever. Now here is another bit of encouraging scripture from Psalm 125, titled, ‘God surrounds His people.’ ‘As the mountains are round about (surround) Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever. For the rod of the wicked (the scepter of wickedness) shall not rest upon the lot of (the land allotted to) the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands (reach) unto iniquity.’ (Ps.125:2-3) Oh Friends, the operative word in a Christian’s life is ‘believe.’  That’s why we’re called believers. We need to believe what God has said more strongly than we currently do. We need to have immense faith in His Word. As the author of Hebrews so rightly puts it: ‘But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ (Heb.11:6) Please Friends, let’s live that faith as we’re supposed to. Much LOVE!…if we stand on all God’s promises…we’ll never fall…for He is faithful…and will abide by them all…

1 Corinthians 10:13.   There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
 
Oh Friends, let me apologize for the Bit being so late, but the ole fella’s a mess this bright sunny, summer Tuesday morning. As the old folks would say, when it isn’t one thing, it’s another, and what ent meet you, ent pass you. The situation developed yesterday afternoon while standing at my bedside, preparing to lie down. For some unremembered reason though, I took a sideways step to my left, and the next thing I knew I was crying out in pain while my left knee buckled below me. Luckily, I was able to hold on to the bed and a nearby chair and did not hit the ground. I don’t remember stumbling. In fact there was nothing at my bedside to stumble over. It just seems as though my surgically repaired left knee simply gave out on me. But that was the beginning of a mini-hell, which continues as I write these words. The pain was wonderful… And can you see my big, cheery smile? Hn, hn! I can laugh a little now, but yesterday when the excruciating pain hit, and continued, despite the ice packs and pain killers, I certainly wasn’t laughing. It reduced me to lying in bed, or hobbling around with a cane, or holding on to stuff, occasionally crying out in pain when I made a bad step. And obviously the right knee, having to compensate for the left, has begun to act up more than normal. Ah Lord eh! You should have seen me putting out the garbage a short time ago. While hobbling down the driveway with the recycling box, I stumbled and cried out in pain. This fellow walking his dog on the other side of the road quickly spun around to see what was happening. Then check me out shortly thereafter, coming down the basement steps to my study, trusty cane in one hand, refreshing cup of coffee in the other, bracing myself against the walls, taking one step at a time. Hn! What a sorry sight! And to make matters worse, I sit down at my desk, and this reminder that I have stuck up there quietly greets me. ‘Our task is to take hold of God’s grace, to endure our afflictions with patience, without growing weary. In time He will perfect, establish, strengthen and settle us. We must wait on the Lord and be of good courage.’ Oh Friends, the ole fella’s trying, but yuh know sometimes the spirit’s willing, but the flesh is sort of weak…especially when there seems to be no good reason for the adversity. And I have to chuckle here, as I remember writing yesterday about withstanding tests of the Lord, about standing strong and steadfast through them, so we can eventually receive the victor’s crown. Then too, I remember that awesome scripture from Colossians: ‘Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.’ (Col.1:11) Yes my people, that’s how believers ought to handle their adversity. But please note the most important words in that sentence are the last two; ‘with joyfulness.’ That’s because you can’t truly handle patience and longsuffering any other way. It’s the joyfulness that allows you to handle it with some amount of peace and calm. So take a valuable lesson from my experience Friends; anything you write or talk about in the Lord’s name, sooner or later, He’s going to test you on it, to see if you can practice what you preach. I’m trying my best, asking the Lord for His help in handling the adversity. And believe me, He does help. He might not take away the pain or the problem, but He does make a way for me to bear it. And that’s all He’s promised, as our Bit so encouragingly states: ‘There hath no temptation taken (overtaken) you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear (endure) it.’ Yes my brethren, no temptations come against us that’s not common to all humans. We all experience the ‘wily wiles’ of the enemy in some form and fashion, but through the faithfulness of our God, we won’t be tempted above the intensity or level that we can bare. He knows our temptation tolerance level and won’t allow it to go above that level because then we’ll succumb to it, which He obviously doesn’t want us to do. But by the same token, He will not necessarily allow us to totally escape from it. He simply guarantees to bring us through it without more ‘sufferation’ than we can handle, or as the scholars say: ‘He will enable us to land intact on the other side.’ That’s a whole lot more than we deserve. Oh Friends, time and space are against us, so we’ll continue this topic tomorrow, God willing. Till then, let’s ponder the scriptures we’ve spoken of, apply them to our lives, and stand strong in the face of temptation, with God’s help. Much LOVE!…in this evil world temptations abound…but with God’s help…we can fight them off…every single one…
 

Proverbs 17:3.    The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts.

Proverbs 17:3.    The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts.

Hebrews 13:1.     Let brotherly LOVE continue.