Isaiah 2:8. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
Oh Friends, 2013 went out like a lion in respect of the weather, and 2014 has certainly continued lion-like in its wake. (smile) The clean up is still going on in Southern Ontario from the ice storm, added to that there’s been frigid temps and blowing snow causing whiteouts and accidents. We have also experienced an infrequent reality called a frost or ice quake; loud, breaking noises caused by the thick ice cracking up. They don’t appear to be dangerous though.
Meanwhile Atlantic Canada is still digging out from their blizzards, with power outages, and unfortunately is expecting more bad weather. Across the pond though, it’s rain, tidal surges and wind that are causing problems, especially along the coasts of Britain.
And in a strange difference of culture, apparently the Power Companies will be made to pay for the power outages, unlike in North America, where it’s simply blamed on Mother Nature. Now isn’t that an interesting difference.
But Friends… Chuh! I spelled Friends wrong again! I thought I had broken out of that habit. But apparently not. Got it right that last time though. (smile)
As I was saying I have some good new for us, a place where we can all go to get away from this disgusting weather. This comes from an inspirational message I get everyday from a Friend. It’s called Anselm’s Quote for the Day, Inspiring You for a Better Tomorrow.
And this one was so interesting and appropriate to our situation that I decided to share it with all the Scrip-Bit Family. Some of you might have already heard it, but I think I it’s important and inspirational enough to hear it again.
It says: ‘This is my change of address notice for 2014. I have moved out from 1 Beggars Alley, located at 2 Poverty Lane at the corner of Bleak and Buster Circle. As of today, I have a brand new home. My new address is: Living Well on 3 Abundance Drive, located at the corner of Blessings Street and Prosperity Peak.
No longer will I allow myself to travel on Begging Peter to pay off Paul route, located at a dead end intersection called: I Don’t Have, it connects with Borrowers Junction. I no longer hang out at Failure’s Place, near Excuses Avenue, next to Procrastination Point.
I’ve moved on to an Upscale Community called Higher Heights with unlimited potential and opportunities for me to succeed. Look at me, each day that I’m awake, I am thankful to be a product of my new environment. All my clothes are tailor made. I’m dressed in life’s finest.
Let me introduce you to all of them: Conceive, Believe, Act on, Have Faith, Be Persistent, and Always be Prepared to Achieve. Life is Good because God is good! Care to change your address?’
And all God’s people declared a loud and joyful ‘YES!’
Oh Friends, it would be so wonderful if most of us would certainly change our addresses this year and do move to a better neighbourhood, not necessarily in a physical manner, although that might be good for some, but most certainly in a spiritual and emotional manner, because that is exactly what is wrong with our world today; we don’t take seriously enough the things of God.
And that’s all Anselm is talking about there yes; doing life God’s way! It’s in total sync with our faith and all that it entails. But we are so full of pride and our own self-importance that we prefer to live by the dictates of the evil, ungodly world, immortalized in the words of our Bit. ‘Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.’
Ah mih people, can’t we see, don’t we understand that the stuff we’re making, and allowing to rule our lives is basically garbage, and the merchants are simply sucking us into buying stuff that we truly don’t need and can’t afford?
Just look at the i-phone, the smart-phone, the i-pad, and all the other technological stuff that’s been thrown at us as being so necessary. How long does one last eh? Within a year’s time, most of them are obsolete, and the new stuff on the block isn’t even compatible with the old stuff, but you are encouraged to keep in fashion and style and buy the new version.
All it’s doing is making money for the already rich and famous. You all love Facebook so much, the fellow who started it is now one of the richest men in the world, and getting richer everyday. But what are you getting, just more trouble with greater possibility of your personal stuff been stolen, and the improper stuff we are sending over these social media networks causing serious negative consequences.
Oh my people, all that stuff is keeping us so fictionally busy, that we can’t find time for God. That’s disastrous and very unwise. Listen as the prophet Jeremiah conveyed God’s words to Israel, when they were in the same situation, worshipping idols and other gods, too busy to communicate with the ONE who created them.
‘As the thief is ashamed when he is found (out), so is the house of Israel ashamed, they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, Saying to a stock (tree), Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth (begotten me): for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble (calamity): for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye have all transgressed against me, saith the Lord.’ (Jer.2:26-29).
And that’s all gospel, indisputable truth my brethren! We have not only turned our faces, but more disgustingly, our backs on God. But in times of calamity, even from the mouth of the biggest idolater, the first words to blast forth are ‘Oh God!’ or ‘Help me God!’
Unfortunately Friends, we can’t have it both ways, we either serve and worship God completely, or we stick with the material things and worldly ways that appear to be more important to us. It’s up to each of us, whether we change our address and come up higher, or remain in the slums that we’re currently living in.
I’d strongly advise my people, that we make serious attempts to do the former, because that’s the zenith of wisdom. Much LOVE!
Jesus said it so plainly…no man can serve two masters…ye cannot serve God and mammon… (Matt.6:24)
Today’s Scrip-Bit 3 January 2014 Isaiah 2:8
03 Jan 2014 Leave a comment
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Isaiah 2:8. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
Oh Friends, it’s Friday… And the cheering section cuts in: ‘Whoopee Dee! It’s Friday! Another short work week! Shout TGIF, brothers and sisters! Thank the Lord it’s Friday! For He’s looking down on us poor workers today!’
Today’s Scrip-Bit 2 January 2014 Isaiah 2:8
02 Jan 2014 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: 2014, anger, anger of the Lord, backfire, blessed, bow down, calamity, chosen people, Christmas Season, climb over, come up higher for Jesus, conscious actions, consequences, Controller, Creator, cry out, delivered, depravity, descend to the level, disaster, disgust, dislike, disobedience, displease God, distress, don't quit, emotional, enemies, evil, eyes of faith, faced with a mountain, faith, faith at work, find a pass through, foolish sheep, forgiveness, forgotten Jesus' promise, forsook the Lord, friends, god, gold mine, gone astray, Good Book, hatred, hearts, heavenly Father, high time, humiliate, idolatry, idols, in the sight of, Isaiah, Israel, Israelites, jealous god, Jesus Christ, joyous time, keep on striving, kindness, LOVE, manifested, manmade idols, material things, mercy, minds, negative emotions, obnoxious, of the universe, oppress, pagan gods, peace, Philistines, pleading, ponder, Possibiity Thinker's Creed, Possibility Thinking, propitiation, prosperous year, punished, resentment, rich and fertile soil, righteousness., sacrifice, sake of our children, seek first, serious effort, serious note, sinful attitudes, sinned against, sins, souls, sowing seeds, spiritual, the kingdom of God, tribulation, tunnel underneath, turned His back, vexatious policies, with God's help, work of our own hands, worship
Isaiah 2:8. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
Oh Friends, can you believe it’s already the 2nd of January 2014? (smile) And I’ve made one mistake already. I put 2013 in the big heading above instead of 2014. But the ole fella’s only human, and that kind of error is usual until the new year really gets into our systems.
But my people, on a more serious note, the Christmas season is coming to an end, and I’m pleading with us, please, please, let’s not allow the kindness, mercy, peace, forgiveness and LOVE that we’ve shown throughout this joyous time to die. Let’s not allow it to turn back to the evil, the anger, the hatred, resentment and other negative emotions that we had, and exhibited before Christmas began.
It’s obvious that we can’t LOVE everybody, every minute of every day, but we definitely don’t have to descend back to the level of dislike, disgust and depravity that we were at in 2013. It’s high time we come up higher for Jesus’ sake!
And here’s a word, a reminder, re coming up higher, from Gramps Schuller (Dr. Robert H. Schuller). He calls it the Possibility Thinker’s Creed. And Possibility Thinking my Friends, is just faith at work, because as believers, we need to see the world through the eyes of faith.
So let’s remember and truly believe that: ‘When faced with a mountain, I will not quit! I will keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold mine – with God’s help.’
Yes Friends, let’s start this blessed and prosperous year of 2014, by sowing those seeds of possibility thinking, of faith, deep into the rich and fertile soil of our hearts, souls and minds!
Now let’s turn to our very first Bit of this new year. And it’s a very serious Bit my people. ‘Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.’
Oh my brethren, Isaiah could surely have been writing about us, instead of the Israelites of old! Why? Because we too have such a multiplicity of idols in our lives these days, that it’s not funny. Remember too, the definition of an idol; anything we place before God in our lives.
And that covers a multitude of things Friends, because we seem to place all the material things of the world, as well as all its evil, obnoxious and vexatious policies before the Creator and Controller of the universe. I don’t know how many times we must be reminded that our God is a very jealous deity and wants us to bow down to no other supposed deity but Him. And surely not those that we’ve made with our own hands!
It also seems that we’ve completely and conveniently forgotten Jesus’ promise, that if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, that all the stuff we need, material, spiritual, emotional and whatever else, will be provided to us by our Heavenly Father! (Matt.5:24-34)
Please read that again my fellow believers, so that it can sink into our minds and spirits, and thus be manifested in our conscious actions. It’s the only way we’ll ever remove the idolatry from our lives.
And just to show how all this idolatry could backfire on us, we’ll recall one occasion from the Good Book, where the Lord turned His back on His chosen people, Israel.
‘And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth (Baals and Ashtoreths), and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served him not.
And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.’ (Judg.10:6-7)
Yes Friends, the Lord allowed their enemies to humiliate them.
‘And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry (out) unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation (distress). (Judg.10:10-14)
What more is there to say my brethren? Not much. The children of Israel knowingly and wilfully abandoned, turned away from the God of their fathers to worship pagan gods and man-made idols. And the Lord, as promised, punished them severely.
Now tell me, why do you think that our individual societies, and our world in general are in such a mess eh?
It’s simple Friends; we too have turned away in droves from worshipping the ONE and ONLY TRUE GOD, who created us, who LOVED us so much, that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be a propitiation, a human sacrifice for our sins.
And now, like foolish sheep, we have all gone astray, forgotten Him, and instead turned to idols of our own making. So what else can we expect but disaster and calamity eh?
Please ponder on these things today, my fellow believers, and then let’s make a strong and serious effort to overcome those sinful attitudes that we know displease our God. If we don’t want to do it for our sake, then please do it for the sake of our children and those who come after us.
Let us not allow it to be said, that our generation caused it all to fall apart. It’s not too late… if we begin RIGHT NOW! Much LOVE!
…when will we ever learn…that disobedience to God’s will…will ALWAYS bring serious consequences…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 30 December 2013 Deuteronomy 5:32
30 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: 2013, 2014, Anglican Journal, anxiety, appreciation, astute generation, aura of love, battle, blessings, blues, commandments, confidence, consequences, correct behaviour, covenant, Creator of the universe, curses, Deuteronomy 28, diligently, disastrous, disgusting behaviour, disobedience, disobedient, disobey, do as God commands, don't turn aside, edicts, enemy, enthusiasm, error of our ways, evil, further God's glorious kingdom, Holy Name, holy spirit, humble servants, invincible, Israelites, jehovah god, Jesus Christ, jobs, judgement, keeping lives and families together, lead and guide, lies, lord god almighty, LOVE, Love God, Love your neighbour as yourself, material things, modern times, Monday Morning Battle Hymn, Moses, negative emotion, New Year's Eve, obedience, Old Testament, opinions, praise, Praise the Lord, promise, rejuvenation of spirit, renewed vitality, sally forth, saviour, sinful, sovereign God, spiritual armour, statutes, steadfast faith, stimulus, sure conquerors, surrender, Ten Commandments, the Good Book, tightening the screws, tiredness, to the left, to the right, truth, ungodly world, useful purpose, walk in God's ways, weary souls, wicked taunts, wiles, wise, work week, worthwhile inroads
Deuteronomy 5:32: Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
And another bright Monday morning dawns my Friends; the last one in this topsy turvy year of 2013! But the good news is that we don’t have to work for the whole five days, because New Year’s falls in the middle of the week… And all working people gave a joyful shout of ‘Praise the Lord!’
Well mih breddren, please let’s allow some of that enthusiasm to flow into our spirits this morning nuh, so that we can leave the blues, the tiredness, the anxiety and whatever other negative emotion that has us in grip, far behind. Let’s concentrate on the mid-week joy of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and consequently belt out our last, but also our most emphatic and enthusiastic Monday Morning Battle Hymn of 2013. That’s the least we can do to show our appreciation for a shortened work week. (smile)
As one now mih people, let’s bring the roof down: ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together.
We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies.
But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle.
Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’
Oh Friends, that was most wonderful! We obviously can’t wait to ring out the old year and ring in 2014. But yuh know what? I have to tell us that if we behave the same sinful, disobedient way like we did in 2013, 2014 won’t be any better. In fact it might just be worse, be more disastrous, because I believe our God is truly getting tired of our disgusting behaviour and is intent on tightening the screws.
Again, I’m calling on us people, to walk in God’s ways, as He directed the Israelites so long ago in our Bit. ‘Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.’
Now is that so difficult to do my fellow believers, especially when the very existence of our way of life and our world is involved? I should think not!
I read recently in a copy of the Anglican Journal where one reader was castigating another for trying to hold this generation to the same edicts as the Israelites in the Old Testament. Now some of what he said was true, and he put forward the argument that what we should concentrate on in these supposedly modern times are the two commandments that Jesus gave us: LOVE your God, and your neighbour as yourself.
Now that’s all well and good, but the simple truth is that we can’t even seem to obey those two simple commands. Judging from the behaviour of our society and our world in general, too many of us obviously DON’T LOVE GOD, OURSELVES, OR OUR NEIGHBOURS!
So what kind of world do we expect to have under those conditions eh? Not a very good one. And in any case, to fulfill those two commandments of Jesus, we basically still have to live the life set out in the Old Testament; e.g. the Ten Commandments.
Ah my fellow believers, if we truly believe that the Good Book was inspired by God, and what it says is true, then we definitely need to refresh our minds by reading Deuteronomy 28, where Moses spells out the blessings of obedience, as well as the consequences of disobedience to the Israelites.
And remember, the Word of our Sovereign God DOES NOT CHANGE! That means those words still apply to us TODAY!
Listen up as I quote the first two verses of Deuteronomy 28: ‘And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth: And these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.’ (Deut.28:1-2) Then the blessings are spelled out from verses 3 to 14.
Now hear the Good Book re the consequences of disobedience. ‘But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto (obey) the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do (observe carefully) all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.’ (Deut.28:15) And the curses are then spelled out from verse 16-68. That should tell us something people; that the curses are much worse than the blessings.
The scholars note: ‘This is probably due to human nature. The threat of severe judgement on the covenant-breaker seems to act as a stronger stimulus to correct behaviour than any promise of blessing.’
I beg to disagree though, for if it did, we would not be as sinful, evil and ungodly a society and world, as we are today. It’s obvious that we don’t care about the blessings or the curses, we’re just interested in the foolish material things and opinions that the evil world holds dear, considers so important that we must even disobey Jehovah God to have and do them.
Anyway Friends, enough for today. But Friends, please, please read Deuteronomy 28, for yourselves, and hopefully it will bring a lot of us to our senses, and we’ll finally realize the error of our ways, and try to do better, so that the curses of Almighty God won’t rain down on us anymore than they are currently doing. Then will we be considered a wise and astute generation. Much LOVE!
…in any language…or court of opinion…the blessings of obedience…are much, much more valuable…than the curses of disobedience…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 29 December 2013 Deuteronomy 5:32
29 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: 2013, Abraham, action, adamant, annals of history, brethren, brother, calamituous, calamity, Christian, Christmas, conviction, copy of the law, corrupt, covenant, demise, disasters, disastrous, disobeyed, downfall, earthly situation, economic contraction, Egypt, ehtic, Europe, exalts, failed, fear God, flooding, freezing, God doesn't change, God's Word, godly, hearsay, heart, hight time to wake up, historical lessons, ice, inconsitent weather, intimate knowledge of God, Isaac, Israel, Jacob, Jesus Christ, judge, king, kingdom, Law, lawgiver, Leaders, leading the people, levites, lifestyles, live lives that honour God, live without God, living extravagantly, LOVE, Maritimes, melting, Moses, Mt. Horeb, multiply, natural intelligence, obedience, obeyed, one and only true God, one solution, prolong your days, prospered, rain, reisistant, repentance, rich and powerful, rich getting richer, saviour, silver and gold, simple, sinful rebellion, socio-economic ladder, stand in awe of, statutes, straightforward instructions, stranger, strife, stuggling to make ends meet, subborn, Ten Commandments, the Good Book, the Lord's command, throne, to the left, to the right, Toronto, trampled, turn aside, turn to Almighty god, walk in the ways, wise, wise and honourable, worship, wrath
Deuteronomy 5:32. Ye shall observe (be careful) to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
And the ice melteth… but then the melted ice freezeth… Yes Friends, that’s the kind of action we had going yesterday; mild temps melting the ice, but with that run off freezing up again during the colder night. What a bam bam! And with the inconsistent weather we’ve been experiencing, there’s no telling how it will all end.
Sadly too, there are still many people without power here in Toronto, down in the Maritimes and also over in Europe, where the weather has played havoc with them too this past week, although their problem was mainly rain and flooding.
Oh my people, this Christmas of 2013 definitely won’t go down as a wonderful one in many parts of the world. In fact, 2013 won’t go down in the annals of history as such a wonderful year period! What with all the disasters, both natural and man made, we experienced, plus what appears to be endless strife in so many parts of the world. And last, but definitely not least, the significant global economic contraction. Hn!
The sad part about the whole situation though is that the wealthy are getting wealthier and still living extravagantly, while the rest of the society is struggling to make ends meet, with their lifestyles plummeting down the socio-economic ladder. But what to do eh Friends? Yes, what to do indeed?
Ah mih people, there is ONLY ONE solution to our problems! Turn to Almighty God in serious, sincere and heartfelt conviction and repentance, then live lives that will honour Him! And until we do that, our earthly situation will continue to be disastrous and calamitous.
Oh Friends, this no hearsay, but what the Lord commanded Israel, His chosen people, from early on. Note when Moses called the people together and reminded them of the covenant the Lord had made with them at Mt. Horeb, which included the Ten Commandments, which he again reminded them of, and also how they were afraid and promised to do as the Lord said. (Deut.5:1-28)
Then the Lord sent them to their tents and told Moses the words of our Bit, which he was commanded to teach them. ‘Ye shall observe (be careful) to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.’ What’s so difficult to understand about that eh mih breddren?
And the Lord continued: ‘Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord you God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.’ (Deut.5:33) Again my Friends and fellow believers, very simple and straightforward instructions.
And it’s interesting to note that when the Israelites obeyed, they prospered, and when they did not, great calamity befell them. But although they experienced both the good and bad, subject to their obedience or disobedience, they still never learned and continued their naturally sinful rebellion against their God and King.
So I guess the question can be asked, why should we be any different, or rather any better? Firstly because we’ve have a much more intimate knowledge of God, through Jesus Christ and the Good Book. Then we’ve evolved to possibly a higher level of natural intelligence, plus the historical lessons from the many nations down through the ages, who’ve tried to live without God and failed.
Unfortunately though, all of that just seems to have made us more stubborn and resistant to God’s Word, and more intent on doing our own, sinful, rebellious thing. But Friends, we keep saying that our God doesn’t change, neither does His Word, so why should our society fare any differently to all those others who were crushed for their disobedience eh? No reason whatsoever!
And it’s not like the Lord didn’t repeat His message numerous times to His people. But since time and space are against us, we’ll just look at one instance. Even in the choice of a King, the Lord was very adamant about how he should be chosen and behave.
‘When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear (stand in awe of) the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
That his heart be not lifted up (proud) above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his day in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.’ (Deut.17:14-20)
Oh my people, nothing there has changed. We still need to have godly leaders, not corrupt, ungodly ones who are only intent on making themselves rich and powerful, but rather wise and honourable, leading the people in obedience to the Lord’s commands.
Obviously those conditions aren’t being maintained today, so why should we be so surprised at our demise eh? Our countries were built on the Christian ethic, so if we lose that Christian ethic, there’s only one possible result; our eventual downfall.
It’s high time for us to wake up my brethren, and return to sincerely worshipping the ONE and ONLY TRUE GOD: He of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
Remember what we’ve been saying for the past few days? That the Lord’s our Judge, our Lawgiver, our King, and that He will save us. Now if that’s true, and we really believe it, then let’s put all it entails into serious action nuh, for then we’ll truly be considered wise. Much LOVE!
…the Lord exalts the obedient…but the disobedient are trampled by His wrath…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 28 December 2013 Isaiah 33:22
28 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: Abraham, Adam, almighty god, antidote, Boxing Day, calamitious state, celebrations, Christian music, Christmas, circumcision, consideration, covenant, destroy, disastrous mess, disobedience, doer, evil, exalted, foreskin, generation, God's Word, good, Holy Trinity, house of god, ice, inspiration, Isaiah, Israelites, Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, joyous spirit, judge, king, Law, lawgiver, LOVE, Love the Lord, love thy neighbour, Lucifer, mind games, mountain of the Lord, negativity, ploughshares, Promised Land, pruninghooks, rebellious, rebuke, reproach, restore, righteousness., salvation, saviour, scriptures, sinful nature, snow, spears, spiritual armour, swords, Ten Commandments, the day of the Lord, the last days, tree of knowledge, unfavourable weather, uplift, wake up call, war, word of the Lord
Isaiah 33:22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he shall save us.
Ah Friends, it’s Saturday and the ole fella is tired. I don’t know why, because I didn’t do much over the Christmas and Boxing Day celebrations. I didn’t over eat or over drink. In fact I rested quite a lot; perhaps too much. (smile). Where was I to go though, with all the ice and snow and unfavourable weather?
I guess the tricky Lucifer must be playing some mind games with me. But I have the perfect antidote for that, my spiritual armour. Yes my people, I’m going to put it on right now, and I know that as soon as I do, then begin writing about God’s Word, His joyous Spirit will pick me up and restore a bright and sparkling outlook to my weary spirit. Yes Friends, one of the great things our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ does for us is to uplift and restore our tired and sagging spirits.
And contrary to my hope yesterday, I didn’t finish sharing all the scripture on the ‘lawgiver’ aspect of our Bit, so today we’ll forgo a lot of preamble and get right to it. ‘For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he shall save us.’
And I’m chuckling here Friends, because I’m listening to the radio while writing, which I don’t usually do because it tends to distract me. But for some reason I tuned into Radio Trinidad, 730 AM, where they’re playing some nice Christian music and the writing just seemed to flow. So who am I to deny God’s inspiration eh? (smile)
Anyway, turning to the ‘lawgiver’ aspect of our Bit, let’s continue with some appropriate scriptures. Isaiah, that faithful and much inspired prophet, boldly proclaims, re the day of the Lord: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks (pruning knives): nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’ (Is.2:2-4)
Oh, what a beautiful day that will be, my brethren! But long before that the Lord was handing down laws to His chosen creation. The first basic law was given to our forefather Adam. ‘And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat freely: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.’ (Gen.2:16-17)
But as we all know, Adam didn’t obey, and thus we’ve all been possessed of a sinful, rebellious nature since then. Then the Lord made circumcision the law for those of Abraham’s lineage, who wanted to covenant with him. ‘This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child (male) among you shall be circumcised.
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token (sign) of the covenant betwixt me and thou. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.’ (Gen.17:10-12)
And we can’t talk about laws without talking about the Big Ten, the Lord gave to the Israelites on leaving Egypt bound for the Promised Land, (Ex.20: 1-17) with the biggest being the first: ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’ (Ex.20:3)
Unfortunately though, neither the Israelites, nor many of us who came after them, have sufficiently heeded those Ten Commandments. And that foolish action, that disobedience sadly bears a direct link to why our world is in such a calamitous state today. And if you don’t believe me, then read those Ten Commandments and take out all the negativity that disobeying each one brings to our world, and see how beautiful the remnant is!
Now let’s turn to Isaiah again with some more interesting words from our Maker. ‘Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.’ (Is.51:7-8)
Then Jesus came and broke it all down to just two laws. ‘Thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt LOVE thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Matt.22:37-40)
But you think we could even keep those two? Obviously not! Therefore we’re surrounded by a negativity filled world!
And we’ll end with some provocative words from James on that last commandment; consideration for a brother. ‘Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?’ (James 4:11-12)
And that Friends, say it all! Until we stop judging and truly start LOVING, our lives and our world will continue to be one, big, disastrous mess. Let this be a wake up call for us nuh. Much LOVE!
…there is only ONE Lawgiver…ONE Judge…ONE King…ONE able to save us…Almighty God…the Holy Trinity…
SCRIP-BITS 