Today’s Scrip-Bit 15 February 2020 Proverbs 4:23.

15 Feb 2020 Leave a comment

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

Proverbs 4:23.    ​Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are (flow) the issues of life.
 
Well friends, here’s hoping you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day and you did the LOVE thing with excellence! The duchess and I had a grand old time, making some more memories to add to the box-load we’ve already made. Oh, it wasn’t anything special, but simple and fun-filled. We went out for brunch, then drove around the city running some errands and while doing that we happened to put in a random CD into the juke box. And oh, did it ever have some glorious old tunes that also brought back memories of when we were young and in LOVE and ardent party-goers. 

Brother! You should have seen the duchess when some tunes came on and her memory flooded back to those youthful days in the Student’s Union back on the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. At one stage I had to tell her; ‘Hold down duchess, hold down! The way yuh carrying on somebody might see you and think I have a mad woman driving out in mih car. As Jeeves would say; just a modicum of circumspection nuh.’ (smile) And that’s our memory for this Valentine’s Day! 

But look at how life changes eh? Now we don’t even know what party is! But that is why I keep saying you have to make the memories when you’re young, because you don’t know what will happen when you get into the autumn and winter of your days. Anyway, it’s Saturday, so let’s turn to the quotes that our friend Anselm sent us this past week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. 

And the first says: ‘In a gentle way, you can shake the world.’ I’m not sure I understand what he means nuh. Is it that it is best to only shake the world gently, or that we only have the power to shake it gently? If it’s the latter, then that’s definitely not true because there have been so many people down through the ages who have violently shaken the world; like all those famous army commanders including Alexander the Great who conquered the world at a young age, and Napoleon who rose to such great military heights and power from a humble beginning. 

There are also the many dictators down the through the ages, like Hitler and the Russian boys. And even today we have our own group of dictators making stormy waves in the world. And nobody has shaken up the world more than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! So I guess he’s saying that we ought to shake it up gently, not as violently and conspicuously as we’ve done down through the years because it doesn’t do much good anyway. A gentle shake is all we need to get it properly realigned. (smile) I wouldn’t count on that nuh! A little nudge has never done anything to correct mankind’s path! 

Anyway, the next quote sort of complements the first one. ‘There is nothing permanent except change.’ And I guess we can say that’s true because everything and everyone seems to go through changes at some time or other, no one or nothing stays stagnant forever…with one great exception, our magnificent God and His Word. Yes friends, neither our God or His Word ever change, they are steadfast and steady from beginning to the end, whenever that might be, that’s why we can put our total faith and trust in them both and expect to gain victory in this life and the one to come! And all God’s children declared a loud and grateful: ‘Praise the Lord!’ 

Meanwhile the next quote declares (steups!): ‘Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.’ And that’s gospel truth my people! We learn from the hard knocks of life. The more hard knocks we encounter, the greater bank of information we have from which to learn from. That’s why it’s ever so important to learn from our mistakes, so that we don’t keep making the same ones over and over. But unfortunately we’re all human, made from a frail and fickle, sinful mould, so we often don’t do the wise things and learn from our mistakes, so we end up having to pay the price for not learning. I can personally testify to that! (smile) 

Then there’s this: ‘As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.’ And at no other time in the history of man do we need to be reminded of that as much as today, my people! Oh yes, today we talk a whole lot, but we don’t walk much of that talk. In fact it’s just aimless talk. We seem to talk because we can talk, and we talk much about things of which we know very little, or even nothing! And the Good Book has a whole lot to say about it, but we don’t have the time nor space to get into it today. Read it for yourself. (smile) 

And the last quote says: ‘Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.’ I don’t know if I would use the qualification, very little, but basically, happiness is definitely within our grasp. And it all begins with how we see and approach it, our attitude and desire for it. And it all does begin with our thinking, because that’s where all of our thoughts, attitudes and behaviour begin. As Sister Joyce (Joyce Meyer) calls it, ‘The Battlefield of the Mind.’ And that’s where the enemy centres His attacks, because he knows that if he can disrupt our minds, our thinking, he can have us do his evil, dirty deeds. 

No wonder Cousin Sol in his awesome wisdom declares (yes!): ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are (flow) the issues of life.’ And the scholars explain: ‘4:23. Heart could often be translated “mind” in the book. Since the Hebrews had no separate word for “mind,” the word “heart” often served to represent the seat of the intellect. The key to the whole man is his mind. Whatever captures the mind captures the man.’ I couldn’t put it any better than that nuh friends: your very life depends on your mind; the greatest piece of machinery the Lord’s ever made! That’s why mankind can still not find out precisely how it works, because he doesn’t have the mental capacity. 

And Jesus, in explaining a parable to the disciples said: ‘For out of the heart (mind) proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.’ (Matt.15:19-20) 

Consequently, Bruh Paul later on emphasized to the Philippians: ‘’Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest (noble), whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise (anything praiseworthy), think (meditate) on these things.’ (Phil.4:8) 

And that’s our homework for this long weekend in Ontario, where we celebrate Family Day on Monday. Let’s get together with our families and think on the good and noble things of life as Jesus desires of us! Much LOVE!

…as a man thinks…so is he…

Today’s Scrip-Bit 10 June 2013 Matthew 18:20

10 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 18:20:       For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.
 
‘Monday, Monday! How I LOVE that day! Monday, Monday! It just chases all my blues away!’
 
Yeh mih people, it’s Monday once again, time to go out and labour. And the trick to not letting that get us down, is in how we look at it, how we perceive it. Too many of us perceive it in a negative light, that’s why we feel so tired and lousy on Mondays, even when we’ve spent the entire weekend resting. 
 
But once we train our minds to see it as a positive occurrence, then the blues and the tiredness will just disappear. Remember what we learned from the scholars last week; that whatever captures our minds, captures our hearts?
 
Well that certainly applies in this case. We’ve allowed too many negative images of Monday to capture our hearts and minds, thus our habitual Monday grouchiness.
 
Now let’s try and change that mindset, replace it with a positive one, by singing our endearing, moving and motivational Monday Morning Battle Hymn. Let’s raise the levels of joy, both on earth and in heaven, with a loud, enthusiastic, sincere, harmonious and gusto-filled rendition.
 
All together now: ‘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 that was excellent mih breddren! All of heaven’s hosts were standing and applauding, including the Father, who hugged Jesus and joyfully whispered, ‘Nice going J!’
 
So Friends, with all that joy we’ve brought to heaven this Monday morning, let’s ride that powerful wave, by journeying forth into the evil, ungodly world that currently surrounds us, and spread LOVE, in Jesus’ name, build the LOVE Rev Club which we all joined yesterday, and thus make all heaven proud of us.
 
Let’s not allow Jesus’ sacrifice to be wasted through fear, shame, petty dithering and simple laziness, so that all knees will eventually bow and everyone call Him Lord and Saviour.
 
Oh Friends, when I tell you all about the magnificent workings of the Holy Spirit, some of you think I’m joking, but I’m not. And the preamble above is a perfect example of that, because I was just sitting here wondering what to write about, pondering how to bring a slightly different but still interesting angle to the proceedings, when the idea from the popular Mama’s and Papa’s tune, ‘Monday, Monday’ suddenly floated into my consciousness, and the rest just naturally unfolded.
 
Now that wasn’t just my natural brilliance, (smile) neither was it Lucifer’s evil prodding, since his style isn’t positive. That leaves just the Holy Spirit as the only other contributor. And I’m using this testimony to further encourage us to not give up on Jesus and His indwelling Spirit because there are numerous possibilities, in fact ‘the whole world’s our oyster’ when He’s our guide and leader.
 
Now please don’t expect it all to happen overnight, because it’s an on going process, a life long one, involving much faith, trust, hope, surrender and an extremely large dose of those two sweeteners, patience and perseverance.  
 
Ah mih people, the ole fella seems to be in fine form this morning… But I’d better shut up yes, before the Lord takes it as a sign of foolish pride and cause me to struggle tomorrow. Doh laugh nuh, He does have a way of doing things like that.
 
Oh, oh! Sorry Scotty mih brother, I almost forgot to write about our wonderful church picnic yesterday. And I know you’re expecting to read a l’il something about it in today’s Bit. Well here goes mih bruh, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.  
 
Yes Friends, my church had our annual picnic and church service; our annual communing with nature, in the rustic and natural setting of a park yesterday. We had the river flowing close by, I believe it’s the Credit River, everybody was in fine voice and spirits, with Father Jeff at his exuberant best.
 
There was definitely a sense and presence of God in the atmosphere, both in the natural surroundings and in God’s most wonderful creation -man! The music was uplifting with acoustic guitars and ukulele accompaniment. And the fellowship provided by the communion circle, where each person administered the sacrament to the person next to them, I think definitely heightened the whole proceedings.
 
Unfortunately though, given today’s busy world, the crowd wasn’t as big as we expected, but it was surely large enough to make it most worthwhile. And everybody had a grand old time!
 
Now just to show how our God does move in mysterious ways and believes in families being the nucleus of all His creation, be they human or animal, at one stage during the service, two groups of ducks, or geese, came floating down the river, each with one adult leading the way, the young ones in the middle and another adult bringing up the rear. Only we foolish humans think we know better than our Creator and are thus trying to destroy the family as He designed it.
 
And the food, as always, was most excellent mih people! It was a pot luck style festival, with as many varieties of food as there different races and backgrounds in our very diverse congregation. Then after the food was devoured, with lots left over, since all of us were brought up to cook enough to entertain unexpected guests, the sports took over, with stuff like soccer and badminton, as well as just mere lounging and chatting.
 
Again, with our busy schedules, although our world is filled with every conceivable kind of aid, most of which our forefathers never had, but were never as busy as we are, people don’t see each other very often. And when we’re in church, the atmosphere tends to make us a tad pious and quiet. That’s why it’s important for congregations to get out into nature, or some ‘unchurch-like’ setting so they can let down their hair, just be themselves and have fun and Christian fellowship, the way the Lord planned it!
 
And I guess that’s it for today, since time and space have run out. And I know we won’t feel totally put upon because there aren’t any scriptures to ‘confuffle’ us. But I do have to go and find an appropriate Bit to tie this all together. But no worries, the Lord will guide me to one, hopefully sooner than later, because He’s promised that, and we all know He’s totally faithful. So soon come! 
 
Oh Friends, I’m back, back with a killer Bit! (smile) And it only took about six minutes. Listen to these most encouraging and reassuring words of Jesus. ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.’
 
Gospel truth my people, undeniable gospel truth!
 
So let’s take it all to heart nuh, and go out and gather, make gatherings on behalf of Jesus, so that we can promote His wonderful LOVE Revolution, whereby all will come to know and acknowledge Him as Lord and Saviour. That’s not only wisdom and common sense but also our bounden duty as believers. Much LOVE!
 
…true Christian fellowship amongst mankind…is what our world is dying for…