SCRIP-BITS

Proverbs 1:7.    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom.
 
Oh mih people, it’s a new day and we haven’t read our names in the obits, so that means we’re still alive and kicking! All praise and thanks be to God Almighty! Yes Friends, the Lord in His mercy saw it fit to gift us with another beautiful day on Planet Earth, filled with His goodness and blessings, so let’s enjoy it with a right heart and clean spirit as He desires nuh. By the way, I got my eaves trough fixed, now I’m praying for rain again to see how the new set up works. Hope when it does come I don’t have to pray for it to stop. (smile) Anyway, let’s get into our Bit without further ado. ‘The fear (reverential awe) of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.’ Yesterday we heard from Dr. Samuel Shoemaker, re the only viable example to follow and bow down to is Jesus Christ – gospel truth – and from the scholars, who informed us that the fear of the Lord is the controlling principle in seeking wisdom – more gospel truth. Today we’ll get into some scriptures that corroborate our Bit. I’ve found so many, that I doubt we’ll get all in today. And to start, we’ll go all the way back to Moses’ exhortation to Israel. ‘ And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to LOVE him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good (benefit or welfare).’ (Deut.10:12-13) Please note Friends, that the first requirement is to fear the Lord. Yes my brethren, in any dealings with Jehovah God, the first and foremost provision is always to respect and revere Him. Admit His omnipotence and humble your spirit in His sight. Without that attitude all your prayers and pleadings will be in vain, for there’s nothing the Lord despises as foolish and arrogant pride. That doesn’t mean we’ve got to come to Him dragging in the dust, because through Jesus, ‘In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of (in) him.’ (Eph.3:12) And also because Jesus our high priest experienced temptations, but was without sin. ‘Let us therefore come boldly (confidently) unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ (Heb.4:16) So we can go confidently to the Lord, but not arrogantly. Then we need to serve and LOVE Him with every part of our being. And how do we do this? By acquiring, knowledge, wisdom and understanding, which all come from having a healthy respect and adoration for the Lord. Yuh see Friends, it’s an unbroken circle. You can’t LOVE the Lord and serve Him as you ought to, unless you’ve gained the wisdom and understanding it requires. But then you can’t get those last two requirements unless, or until, you develop a reverential awe and respect for Him. And that’s why so many of us are faltering today; we want to get the wisdom and understanding without acknowledging the Lord’s superiority. Unfortunately Friends, we can’t have the benefits without first paying our humble respects. And please note the end of Moses’ statement: ‘for thy good?’ That’s because all the things the Lord requires of us are not for His good, but for ours. And if we don’t do them, we are the ones who’ll suffer, not Him. And right now our world is a very good reflection of that, for all the societies, regardless of colour, creed or race are struggling mightily, suffering one calamity after the other. Why? It’s simply because we have turned away from God, turfed Him out, and trying to do our own thing, based on Lucifer’s evil principles. We have chosen to forget Jesus’ words: ‘for without me ye can do nothing.’ (John 15:5)  Oh my people, please realize that Lucifer knows God’s power better than us because he was once the first angel, but foolishly tried to overthrow the Father. So he knows exactly what’s happening, and he’s looking for others to keep him company in his long and lonely journey in hellfire, that’s why he assaults us with all his wiles and lies. Look at how our world is sinking in the bloody mire because we’ve accepted his wicked schemes to gain earthly power and wealth. This brings us to a rather apt and poignant scripture from Job, when he talks of wisdom being a gift from God. ‘And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. (Job 28:28) That’s the truth in spades my brethren! Wisdom comes from dealing faithfully with God, and that wisdom will teach us to refute evil, because we’ll only spoil the good thing we have going with the Father, if we engage in the evil deeds of Lucifer. And spoiling our good thing with our Creator can never be characterized as wisdom. That’s why those who choose to follow Lucifer are considered fools. So Friends, since we all want to be considered wise and understanding, we therefore have to overthrow Lucifer, relegate him to the dump heap, and bring back Jehovah God into our hearts, souls, minds, bodies and societies. It’s the only way our children’s children will ever live to see a glorious morn of peace and LOVE in our currently much troubled, wicked and calamitous world. Much LOVE!…the attributes of evil…eternal death and destruction…the attributes of wisdom…salvation and eternal life…so which will you choose…