The Overwhelming Importance of Christians Continually Seeking Greater Intimacy With God!

Psalm 37:25.        ‘I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed (descendants) begging bread.’

Okay! At last it’s our lazy-day Saturday, where anything goes…well, anything within reason. (smile) For we are followers of and believers in Christ Jesus, and that means there are some things we ought not to do, for He does not condone many of the things the world considers all right. But there are enough things allowed to keep us joyful and contented on this chilly, windy but bright and sunshiny Saturday, and one of them is to offer up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer. 

So let’s do so with all sincerity and truth. ‘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!’ 

Now, if our prayer was truly sincere, if we truly desired to get a li’l closer to God, to develop some more intimacy with Him, then we’ll soon be feeling that sense of peace and calm washing over us, for there’s nothing He LOVES more than His human creations seeking to get close to Him. And if our hearts and motives are right, He will surely grant our request for greater communication and involvement. And that’s why so many of our lives are dull, dreary and without good purpose; we refuse to get closer to the One who controls our lives and all that’s in the world. 

Remember what the Bible tells us: ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods (rivers). (Ps. 24:1-2) So that tells us that the Lord is sovereign over all the earth and all that’s in it, which includes us human beings. Consequently, wisdom ought to be leading us to pay much more attention than we’re currently doing to the Creator and Ultimate Sovereign of the universe. 

Remember our lives are in His hands. He controls our birth, life and death. And also as Moses wisely informed the Israelites: ‘But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish (confirm) his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. (Deut. 8:18) Ah mih people if everything in and on the earth belongs to the Lord, then it must also be in his power to cause us to be prosperous. Simple logic decrees that. 

So, if the Lord has so much power over our lives, why are we so reluctant and consequently foolish in trying to ignore Him as much as possible, instead of running to Him and being greeted with open arms? Because we’ve fallen for the foolishness of Satan, who promises us all sorts of things but cannot keep those promises. And whatever he is able to give has so many strings attached to it, like a spider’s web, that we can never get loose from his avaricious grasp without the help of Jesus. Remember that; Jesus is the ONLY ONE who can take us from Satan’s greedy and evil grip. 

It’s also worthy of note that Satan, like us, is a created being, and if he was as powerful as he pretends, he would not have been kicked out of heaven for trying to overthrow the Lord. And like us, his time is finite. Yes, he’s living on borrowed time, for when the Lord is ready Satan will come to the end the Lord promised. ‘And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.’ (Rev. 20:10) 

And is that the same fate we desire to meet? I sincerely hope not! Not when we can achieve the exact opposite of life in heaven on earth with Jesus, where ‘God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’ (Rev. 21:4) 

Now please look at both those scenarios and tell me which you prefer? The one for Satan might look somewhat rosier on earth, but the end certainly is unacceptable. And I don’t know why we sell our souls to the devil to get material wealth and power, when we can get the same things from the Lord if we live the way He desires. Living sincerely for God doesn’t mean a poor, downtrodden, primitive, sad, desperate life. No way! Remember Jesus came to earth not only to save us from our abominable sins, but also that we could have an abundant life right here on earth. He said it quite clearly: ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’ (John 10:10b) 

And an abundant life doesn’t mean scratching and scraping to make ends meet. No. But to get that abundant life, we also have to do as Jesus declared. ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt. 6:33) And what better way to close today than with these most reassuring and faithful words of Bruh David from Psalm 37. He assuredly states: ‘I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed (descendants) begging bread.’ (Ps. 37:25) 

Now, if we can’t believe Bruh David, who went through so many trials and tribulations in the service of the Lord, then who will we believe eh? So what are we to do? It’s like Cousin Sol says: ‘Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.’ (Prov. 4:7-8) 

And where do we get that wisdom and understanding? From Almighty God obviously! Where else? As Cousin Sol so profoundly declares: ‘The fear (reverential awe) of the Lord is the beginning (principal beginning) of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.’ (Prov. 1:7) 

Please my people, let’s not be foolish, but be wise on this lazy-day Saturday and seek the Lord while He may be found. Much LOVE!

…it all begins with God…flows through God…and ends with God…

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

The Importance of Christians believing that Nothing is Impossible with God!

Mark 9:23.       If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Monday, oh Monday, we’re ready for you this week! We went to church yesterday, fellowshipped with other believers, sang the praises of God, gave Him much thanks and received His awesome blessings and grace to enable us to go out and do His work this new work week! Then we rested and privately meditated on God’s Word, and got up with the rising sun! 

Wow! That’s why you’re so shocked to see us up and about our Father’s business so early on a Monday morning! Yes, I know, because we’re usually complaining and dragging, tired from all the weekend’s activities. But not today…and hopefully on many other Mondays too! From here on in, we’re going to try and do it right…with Almighty God’s help of course! 

We know it’s not going to be easy because the world has so much stuff, so many carnal distractions to throw at us, to get us off course, but we are heaven bent on doing a better job in the days to come. We’re going to do our best to both talk our talk and walk our walk, all in Jesus’ strong and mighty name! 

Yes Monday, that’s our faithful promise! And you can laugh and carry on all you want, but just remember that he who laughs last, laughs best. And what does that mean? Basically, it means that ‘the person who has control of a situation in the end is most successful, even if other people had seemed originally to have an advantage.’ 

Oh Monday, as Jesus told the mothers of Israel as they followed Him to the cross, weeping. ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.’ (Luke 23:28) Yes Monday, don’t weep for us, because we’ll do just fine. Instead weep for yourself because we’ll be taking over things from now on. 

No more long faces and frustrated sighs on a Monday morning. We’ll even take the traffic jams in a godly manner; no more complaining about them, but handling them with a sense of peace and calm, even listening to some uplifting music or preaching while slowly crawling along the highways and byways. 

Yes, that’s what we’re all about in these upcoming days. So prepare yourself to meet much godly resistance. You won’t be lording it over us any longer. We’re taking charge of the whole week, right from the start on Monday, to end on Friday. For this is our time now! You’ve been usurped, kicked out, and we’re now the power behind the throne, the new rulers on the block. So take that Monday! 

And if you don’t like it…tough potatoes. There’s nothing you can do about it. We suggest you just stay quiet and dormant in your lair as the new kids on the block take over and run the new show… our way! And all God’s children said a loud and proud: ‘All praise to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, who were since the beginning of time, and will be forever more! Amen!’ 

Ah friends, if we could only turn that make believe scenario into reality! And it’s not impossible, because with God, our heavenly Father, nothing is impossible. I didn’t say it nuh, but the angel Gabriel to Mary, Jesus’ mother when he came to tell her about finding favour with God and being the future mother of the Son of God. He confidently tells her: ‘For with God nothing shall be impossible.’ (Luke 1:37) Referring to her cousin Elisabeth’s earlier barrenness, but who was then pregnant with John the Baptist. 

And furthermore, Jesus expanded on that saying when he told the father of a demon possessed son: ‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’ (Mark 9:23) That includes us my brethren. And why is nothing impossible to us through God? This commentary explains it simply and succinctly: 

‘He (God) gives us the strength to overcome obstacles, the courage to face our fears, and the wisdom to make wise decisions. When we believe that “nothing is impossible with God,” we are opening ourselves up to a world of possibilities. We are saying that we believe in God’s power and that we trust Him to work in our lives.’ 

And of course it’s easy to say, but rather difficult to do, unless we are totally ‘in for a penny and in for a pound.’ In other words, we are prepared to meet all the challenges involved and make all the sacrifices necessary. But that’s where most of us fall down, for we’ve become so addicted to the comfortable way of life that we now have no desire to meet challenges or make sacrifices. 

Consequently, our Christian faith is suffering, it’s on a downward spiral and the enemy is thus gaining a greater stronghold in the land. But that’s not the way the Lord desires it. No! He desires that we rule the roost, not the evil and ungodly enemy. And we’re going to have to come up real strong and courageous to turn things around. But we know we can do it, because nothing is impossible to us believers through the power of our God. We just have to get up the gumption to do it. (smile) 

And to help us do that, let’s go to the Father, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, seeking divine aid in our fight for supremacy. Altogether: ‘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. Heavenly Father, You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. 

Yes, we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but 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. So, we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading for wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. 

Oh Father, please ease the pain of the many suffering from negative situations, show them Your awesome grace and mercy. And faithfully keep Your promise to prosper us 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!’ 

But friends, that aid won’t come until we turn from our evil ways, humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek God’s face! Nuff said! Much LOVE!

…we need to stop crying and complaining…and truly start believing…that nothing’s truly impossible with God…

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