SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 89:18.       For the Lord is our defense; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

And the last few days have been perfect winter days in my neighbourhood; cold, but dry, with clean, snowless streets, with the residual snow now residing on the banks of the roads and the rooftops. and above all, bright, glorious sunshine! Glory be! Yes friends, the sun has indeed blessed us recently with its bright and encouraging presence. Wherever it had flown to in those earlier damp and cloudy days, it has certainly returned with a vengeance, shining bright and clear, all day! Now that state of affairs definitely pleased me, because in my opinion, it shouldn’t be cold and also bleak. (smile) 

And although there are warnings of upcoming precipitation from the weather forecasters, it’s evident and wonderful that that’s not going to happen today, because our heavenly Father has generously served up yet another blazing day of sunshine! Bless His Holy Name! Just wish though that I could say blazing hot day! But that’s okay. It’s winter, and I’ll take sunshine anytime over darkness. (smile) And let’s hope and pray that the forecasted precipitation holds off for at a least another couple of days, so that we can enjoy a li’l more of that welcome sunshine! 

But you know what friends, regardless of it being cold or hot, raining or snowing, as faithful children of God, we should all endeavour to do like Ethan the Ezrahite wrote in Psalm 89, subtitled – God’s sure promises to David. He declares: ‘I will sing of the mercies (LOVING-kindness) of the Lord for ever: with my mouth shall I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.’ (Ps. 89:1) 

Now that’s something that should come naturally to all believers, especially those of us who have walked with the Lord for some time and doubtlessly have enjoyed much of His faithfulness and LOVING-kindness along the way. But unfortunately, it seems like a lot of us supposed believers are lacking in sincere gratitude and thankfulness these days. We don’t give our great and faithful God the thanks and praise He deserves, neither do we talk of His LOVE and faithfulness to others like we ought to. 

And whenever we do offer some acknowledgement of His goodness, oftentimes it’s through simplistic platitudes, or dull, meaningless statements that don’t come from the heart. That’s because we are focusing too much on the world and its ungodly ways and schemes, so we don’t have the time nor the inclination to truly thank Jehovah God for all that He’s done, is doing, and has promised to do. But please listen carefully to what the psalmist says later on. ‘And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?’ (Ps. 89:5-6) 

And if we should all be asked those questions, we’d probably all answer ‘No One!’ So why then aren’t we doing as the psalmist says in the next verse? ‘God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had (held) in reverence of all them that are about him.’ (Ps. 89:7) And please don’t try to tell me that we supposed believers are holding God in sincere reverence, because we are not. Otherwise, the church would not be in such bad shape; disunited, disjointed with lots of false teaching, too many false and evil leaders and Satan would not be ruling the roost in the world, as he now does. 

Oh my fellow believers, it’s time for us to stand up strong, faithful and true and take control of our world, unless we desire to see it destroyed by the prince of darkness and his evil cohorts. I don’t want to keep knocking our efforts, but the truth is that they have been so far futile and meaningless. We just aren’t being as courageous and faithful as we ought to be. And if we don’t do something serious and worthy now, in the long run we all will suffer for our fear, laziness or whatever it is that’s holding us back from doing the work we were created to do. Remember Jesus’ words of warning: ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.’ (Matt. 11:15) 

Enough laying on of guilt though, (smile) let’s just read the scriptures and enjoy them. And continuing with Psalm 89, the palmist writes: ‘O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab (Egypt) in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. 

The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon (mountains) shall rejoice in thy name. Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thine hand, and high is thy right hand. Justice and judgement (righteousness and justice)are the habitation (foundation) of thy throne: mercy (LOVING-kindness) and truth shall go before thy face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn (strength) shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defense; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.’ (Ps. 89:8-18) 

Now my fellow saints, I do hope we enjoyed those scriptures that dealt with the strength and faithfulness of our God. For He is strong….and He is faithful. He is indeed our defense and our King too. Thus, He is the most appropriate One to go to for help in our evil, topsy-turvy and ungodly world. So, let’s do that right now through our Monday Morning battle Hymn. 

As one strong and sincere voice: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. 

Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. That’s why we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading with You to give us wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. 

And Father, we pray that you will ease the pain of the many who are suffering from negative situations. Please show them Your awesome grace and mercy, and keep Your promise that You’ll hear our prayer, forgive us, and heal our land if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

Now,  if we want to receive positive answers, then we need to do like we promised; pray, seek God’s face and turn from our evil ways. It’s as simple as that! Much LOVE!

…the faithfulness of God…ought to raise the faithfulness of His believers… 

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