SCRIP-BITS

Romans 13:12.       ‘The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.’

And then it was our lazy-day Saturday; a bright, sunshiny but somewhat chilly day in my neighbourhood! Yes friends, it’s the day when we can do as we wish; no work to go to, and hopefully no set of household chores or grocery shopping to do, simply lazing around the old homestead if we so desire. (smile) It’s also the last day of February. Can you imagine two months of the year are already over, when it just feels like yesterday we were partying to ring in the new year.

Yes, the days of these last years seem to be flying away faster than ever, that’s why we’ve got to get up and get ourselves in order, for who knows what’s going to happen. Anything is possible, so it’s time to get ready. As Bruh Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, it’s time to wake up, Jesus is coming back soon – possibly sooner than we think, and in the meanwhile darkness is overtaking the land like a stormy black cloud. And talking about darkness overtaking the land, I just heard that the U.S and Israel have made a warlike strike against Iran!

Ah Lord eh! I don’t even want to contemplate the additional suffering that’s going to emanate from that action, and resonate all around the world. When is it going to end? Everyday another theatre of strife seems to be opening up while none of the existing ones are being closed with peace. So friends, it’s becoming even more urgent for us to get up, since ‘The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.’ (Rom. 13:12)

And sadly, there’s not much the ordinary man can do to stem the abuse of power happening in high places, but we can pray, and do whatever we can in our own area to improve matters there. And talking of prayer, let’s offer up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer, so that we can find peace in our own souls. As one strong and sincere voice: ‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’ 

And if our prayer was sincere, it’s only a matter of time before we feel that wonderful peace that our finite minds can’t comprehend flowing through our souls and bodies, for the Lord, our wonderful God, does not refuse a heartfelt plea for greater intimacy with Him, since that was one of the reasons He created us in the first place. And unfortunately, that is why so many of us live miserable lives; we refuse to get intimate with our Creator. Consequently many of us therefore keep Him on the sidelines of our lives instead of the Beacon of Light we ought to be confidently and eagerly looking up to.

That’s why Jesus firmly and resolutely declared in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt. 6:33) For when we put God first place in our lives, we don’t lack anything we truly need. That’s why Bruh David also made the resolute, unshakeable statement: ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.’ (Ps.23:1) He was convinced that if he kept his eyes steadfastly fixed on his God, then all would eventually turn out well for him. And that was his experience for most of his life, except when he messed it up through his adulterous affair with Bathsheba, and the subsequent murder of her husband Uriah.

And so it is that many of us bring problems on ourselves when we don’t follow the Lord’s bidding, or His guidelines, and instead do our own thing.  Doing our own thing without God’s presence or influence is like a boomerang; when we throw it, it eventually comes back to haunt us in more difficult and perverse ways than we ever imagined. Remember, there are consequences for every action, and bad actions can bring very terrible, lifelong, life altering consequences. That’s why Uncle Charles (Dr, Charles Stanley) always warned us to obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.

Yes, obeying God is the number one requirement of a Christian’s life, and if we don’t, then there’s no one else to blame but ourselves, when we suffer the consequences of our disobedience. Remember, God LOVES us, but He will not allow us to get away with things like pride, rebellion and disobedience. As the author of Hebrews reminds us: ‘For whom the Lord LOVETH he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.’ (Heb. 12:6) Yes my fellow believers, whom the Lord LOVES, He disciplines! There’s no getting away from it. So we might as well make up our minds to take our discipline with a smile, because it’s going to come sooner or later, when we run afoul of God’s desires.

And living a godly life in this evil and ungodly world is not easy. The Lord knows that, but at the same time, He desires us to make a better effort than many of us are currently making. It’s all about effort, about our trying. Too many of us are wrapped up in the things of the world, ofttimes living like the world from Monday to Saturday, then trying to put on a godly appearance at church on Sundays. Remember we can fool our fellow believers, but we cannot fool God, for He sees us exactly as we are.

So, as we said earlier, it’s high time we wake up and smell the stench in our world, and do whatever we can to reduce it. For come the judgement day, when the Lord asks us what we did to help the kingdom here on earth, we will have to speak the truth, and we cannot afford to say, ‘I did nothing Lord.’ For there will be consequences; not hellfire and damnation, but loss of otherwise glorious rewards. And who wants to lose heavenly rewards eh? I’m sure none of us do. So please, let’s spend some time on this lazy-day Saturday at the end of February, pondering what we can do to enhance God’s kingdom here on earth. It will surely pay big dividends in the long run! Much LOVE!

…one cannot be a true Christian…and live in constant disobedience to Almighty God…

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