SCRIP-BITS

 Psalm 9:2.  I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Most High.

Well Friends, September is here, meaning the end of carefree summer vacations, the resumption of school and the descent into winter in the northern climes. It’s also the last morning for me to enjoy my California home office with the scenery outside, to watch the bright sun come up over the mountains. (smile) Tomorrow morning I’ll be back in my comfortable but cluttered basement office with no scenery. But that’s life! I’m sorry too that I don’t have any adventures from yesterday to share with you. I had planned to go to another beach, Marina Del Rey, but once I heard about my mother’s untimely passing, I just lost the enthusiasm to drive there by myself, and there was no one available to go with me. So I just hung around the house; ate, slept, read, cried, contacted some people, and pondered the life and times of my darling mother. In the evening, the family gathered together for some fellowship. We ate some food, played a little music, then some went out, some went home and some went to bed. Include me in the latter group. So it was just another sad, mundane but peaceful day; like so many of our days are. That shouldn’t stop us from enjoying them though, else we’d miss enjoying most of our life. Excitement and adventure are nice, but you can only handle so much of them. They are the exception rather than the rule, which is boring, same old, same old days. However, as believers, we ought to have the attitude Bruh David talks of in our Bit: ‘I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Most High.’ Yes Friends, that’s the way we ought to live our earthly lives!  If we truly believe that we have such a wonderful, LOVING, merciful and forgiving God, then it follows that most of the time we should exist in a state of joy and peace. Otherwise we’re just wasting all the great benefits and blessings of our omnipotent God. And as the psalmist so rightly says: ‘I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.’ (Ps.104:33-34) Yes my people, being full of peace and joy, with meditation and songs of praise is the best way to serve the Lord God Jehovah! For as Bruh David advises in Psalm 5: ‘But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest (protects) them: let them also that LOVE thy name be joyful in thee. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass (surround) him as with a shield.’ (Ps.5:11-12) And that sure is gospel Friends! So we’ve got to stop allowing the world and all its negativity from getting us so despondent and miserable that we forget the amazing and awesome benefits available to us as believers through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, many times when the world comes against us, we tend to forget about Jesus and try to handle the problems in our own strength. But that’s oh so wrong my brethren! For it’s in the rough times that we most need to remember and cling to our wonderful God and Saviour. It’s only with their sterling help we can successfully ride out and/or overcome the many trials and tribulations that beset us in this primarily evil and ungodly world. If our God is so great, powerful, merciful, forgiving, LOVING and kind, then we should indeed be leaning on Him at ALL times. ‘That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the earth.’ (Ps.83:18) Ah Friends, I know I sound like the proverbial pain in the rear end because I keep repeating that if we supposed Christians would truly live the Christian life, then we’d be much happier, with much more peace and joy than we currently have. But as usual, the problem is that we talk the life very well, but don’t truly live it. However, it’s the living of that righteous way of life that’s important to our God. So please, let’s turn our focus, channel our energy to truly living the believer’s life nuh. Let’s allow the unbelievers, the wicked, the worldly to see the joy and peace we obtain through living for Jesus. Then we can get them to want what we have and further Christ’s kingdom. And the best way to do that is by following the wise advise of the psalmist: ‘It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: To show forth thy LOVING-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night…For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.’ (Ps.92.1-2,4) Oh Friends, if we do that constantly, then there’ll be no stopping us; our God will  certainly be magnified and His kingdom multiplied! Much LOVE!…it’s a believer’s duty…to LOVE the Lord…and LIVE that LOVE…