Assurances that Our Omnipresent God will NEVER LEAVE OR FORSAKE US!

02 Jan 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 55:22.      ‘Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer (permit) the righteous to be moved (shaken).

And then it was Thursday; the second day of this new year of 2025! Can you believe it? All the festivities, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, are now over and we, unfortunately have to go back to the daily grind and common task. It’s back to work and the slogging it entails, especially when we got a bit of snow this morning, which makes driving and walking even more hazardous than normal. 

But we are God’s children and are expected to endure whatever trials and tribulations come our way, with a good attitude, still filled with joy and thanksgiving, knowing that our wonderful God has promised to work everything out for our good eventually. (Rom. 8:28) And if there’s one thing we’re sure of is God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises. So let’s get out and do what we have to do to glorify His great name! End of Sermon! (smile) 

And today I want to share an interesting and a most appropriate writing for these turbulent and uncertain times, from Our One Year Book of Bible Promises with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin. This one is titled: ‘I Asked for a Sign.’ Don’t know if I’ve ever shared it before, but if I have, it’s very worthwhile sharing again. (smile) So please read with me. 

‘Even as I answer your letter, you are perhaps still waiting while God sends only silence. There is no sudden hailstorm, no writing in the sky. The crisis is real, and you don’t want to be presumptuous. Like Gideon in Judges 6, you want to feel the wet fleece. Or the dry fleece – you don’t care which one. You just want to know! 

You don’t stand alone! All of us who walk with God face conflicts that involve urgent decisions. God is not a God of confusion. We can know His will. When our faith is very new, He may send a sign to fortify us. However, I am convinced that God’s highest intention is to free us from unnecessary “props.” He wants to buttress us, not baby us. Above all, He wants to train us to trust His Word, not the wool! 

When He encourages us to hope in a promise, that hope may be our only evidence. At this moment you can’t see ahead. However, you can still be incorrigibly (not given to change) hopeful! You can anticipate as you wait, knowing that God will never disappoint the hope He Himself implants. He is never too late. Remember: Not the wool but His word.’ 

And will it ever do us much good if we remember that for this new year. It’s not about signs and wonders, but about trust and faithfulness in God’s promises found in His inalienable (cannot be altered), infallible (flawless) Word! And yes, many of us seek signs before we step out to do God’s work, and sometimes we might be blessed enough to get them, as when we’re young believers, but as the writing says, the Lord wants us to stand strong, on our own two feet, as it were, not always desiring ‘props’ from Him. 

Once we know that He is faithful and will not let us go astray, we can stand strong and step out in faith. Obviously, we must seek His advice on the matter, but we don’t always have to be like Gideon and need a physical sign. No. We read His Word and the Holy Spirit will speak to us His indomitable but calm and quiet manner…if we’re listening. 

And there are two statements in the writing that I think bear reiterating. The first is that we don’t stand alone! No! Never! For our omnipresent God is always by our side. He promised that way back in time to the Israelites, when Moses assured them: ‘And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.’ (Deut. 31:8) 

Jesus also assured us of His faithfulness when He promised the disciples: ‘… and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’ (Matt. 28:20b) And so did the author of Hebrews, when speaking of the Lord as our helper. ‘Let your conversation (conduct) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ (Heb. 13:5) So there you have it; God is always with us. 

And the second statement I want us to consider is that God is not a God of confusion. Certainly not! He has every move planned out down to the last minute, to the last detail. And Bruh Paul states it loud and clear when talking about the Author of Peace to the Corinthians. ‘For God is not the author of confusion (disorder), but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.’ (1 Cor. 14:33) 

And what does that mean? This commentary explains it thus: ‘God never contradicts himself. He never has to go back and apologize because he “misspoke.” His agenda is the truth, pure and simple. He LOVES his people and provides wise advice through his written word, the Bible.’ 

Yes friends, it’s in the Bible, the Lord’s Word, our Guidebook for Earthly Living, that we will find the basics of all we need to know. That’s where we truly get to know Him, and we will never know Him unless and until we dig deep into it and meditate constantly on what it says. 

And before we forget, (smile) the Bible promise for today’s reading comes from Psalm 55; these most encouraging words of Bruh David: ‘Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer (permit) the righteous to be moved (shaken). (Ps. 55:22) Now that’s another important promise that we need to take to heart if we’re to grow in spiritual maturity and intimacy with God in this new year. 

And the great thing about our God is that He gives us all the tools we need to do His work; for instance what we call our undeserved Thursday Blessings. So let’s declare and thus activate them right now nuh. As one sincere voice: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! 

I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to, will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and every day! Amen!’ 

And having said all of that, it’s now our bounden duty to go out and use those undeserved blessings to help others, just as generously as the Lord shared them with us! Much LOVE!

…to live a successful Christian life…one must sincerely believe in God…and the promises in His Word…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 13 March 2021 John 8:12.

13 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

John 8:12.     ​I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Come on friends, it’s Saturday, let’s get some lazy time going! And some of us unhappily reply: ‘Lazy time? I don’t want any more lazy time! That’s all I’ve had for the past week…in fact for the past few months. So you know what you can do with your lazy time!’ 

Yes my people, there’s a lot of dissatisfaction and anger in our souls right now because of the pandemic and many other problems in our world, but being sour and miserable won’t solve them or make them easier to bear. The only thing that will soften them is a good attitude in conjunction with knowing Jesus as Lord and Saviour and putting all your trust in Him! So let’s concentrate on doing that nuh, rather than letting resentment breed and take bitter root in our souls. 

Anyway, since it’s Saturday, let’s take a gander at the quotes our friend Anselm sent us this past week. Here’s the first one: ‘Once you realize you deserve a bright future, letting go of your dark past is the best choice you will ever make.’ Now that’s basically what we were just saying; regardless of the circumstances we have to look on the bright side. We can’t let unfortunate circumstances stymie our growth by keeping us in negativity and that dreaded darkness of the soul that the enemy wants us to wallow and sink in. 

And how do we find the light? By sincerely seeking it; by moving through our darkness like a tired swimmer heading for a distant shore. They know that the shore is a way off, but they don’t intend to fall victim to the deep, dark water in which they are currently flailing around. So they keep on fighting….until they reach the shore and safety. The good thing though, re those who are actively seeking light, is that they don’t have to go very far to find it. It’s right at our fingertips in the person of Jesus Christ! He proclaimed it thus: ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ (John 8:12) 

It’s a plain and simple, yet profound statement. If you follow Jesus, the light in your life will replace the darkness that’s naturally found there if you hold on the world’s values. Now here is an interesting commentary on the subject from the biblestudytools.com website. “I am the light of the world,”is rooted in Jesus’ relationship with His Father. John Piper states, “Jesus speaks from God and for God and as God.” Apart from Jesus, we live in darkness. We have limited capacity to understand who we are or what we see in the world. And Aimee Joseph writes, “The beauty of our humanity is still evident, but ugliness abounds.”

Hear John Piper again: “The light of Christ is the brightness of God shining on the retina of the human soul.”Life can be wonderful on earth, but not fully complete without Jesus. We are all created to crave the Creator, our Father, and only through a relationship with our Savior Jesus can the dark parts of our hearts brighten. And Aimee Joseph adds: “When I admit I am not enough, I’m freed to run and cling to the God who is.” The Light of the world paid for our freedom on the cross.’ 

And that’s the indisputable truth my brethren! I didn’t intend to spend so much time on that quote, but that’s where I was led, and I think it was worth it. Hope you do too. And the second quote segues nicely from the first. ‘We have to be honest about what we want and take risks rather than lie to ourselves and make excuses to stay in our comfort zone.’ Oh friends, is that ever so true. We all want to be special people and do special things, but too many of us don’t want to step out of our comfort zone to be and do what we really want. However, unless we take some risks and venture into the unknown, we will never rise to the level we desire. 

Wishing and talking and envying don’t get it done. Only sincere action and genuine desire do. So let’s stop wishing and hoping and get a move on nuh. And again, the best way to do that is in the company of Jesus. If we tell Him the desires of our hearts, He will willingly and LOVINGLY guide us through life to them. 

One problem though. The desires of our hearts must fall within Jesus’ will for our lives, for when we surrender our lives to Him, then what He wants becomes uppermost, and our will becomes subjected to His. But the good news there is that He only wants the best for us, and though He may lead us in a direction we didn’t expect, be assured that it will be a good direction, or rather the best direction. 

And I can personally testify to that. I never intended or expected to be doing what I’m now doing, and when the Lord suggested it, I laughed, because I figured I didn’t know enough scripture to write about it. But He persisted, and over the years I can vouch for His amazing faithfulness, because I could not be writing this blog for fourteen years now without His awesome help. 

 Now here’s the next quote, which also segues nicely with the other two. ‘Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.’ Now that’s the gospel truth. And do we ever need to stop the annoying and often unfair and untrue criticism that is so prevalent in our world today, especially on the social media platform. It’s so sad that anybody, fool or wise, can get on social media and sling criticism at others and have it take off around the world in seconds. 

But friends, when we are wrapped up in ourselves with Jesus, busy doing His work, we don’t have time for unjust and unfair criticism. And remember what He said: If you criticize, others are going to criticize you too, and just as unmercifully. (Matt. 7:1-2) Let’s not forget that, because we all like to criticize, but very few of us can take criticism. 

And the last quote is another wonderful one. ‘Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.’ And what shall we say to that eh? The first point is that while we are alive, there is ALWAYS hope. And when you’re walking with Jesus, that hope is everlasting, for there’s no giving up in His vocabulary. And He is our living hope! Hear the apostle Peter tell it in his writing to the scattered believers of his day. ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again in to a lively (living) hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.’ (1 Pet. 1:3) 

Yes my fellow saints, we have a living hope because Jesus rose from the dead and is alive and well! That means we who believe in Him will also see a resurrection morn! All praise and glory to the Father! One more point on our last quote; storms never last forever, but they don’t always make people stronger. Ofttimes they weaken people and make them hopeless, but when you’re walking with Jesus, when He is your guide and pilot through the storms of life, that’s when they strengthen you! 

Oh my people, I do hope that what we’ve said has proven that we desperately need Jesus in our lives to fully live this earthly life, the abundant life that He came to give us, and then gain eternity with Him in heaven. Nothing less will suffice! For only He can fill the empty space in our souls! Much LOVE!

…if Jesus is not first in your life…then you’re lost…now and forever…