A Reminder for Christians to WAKE UP, for Jesus is coming back soon, and the Darkness of the World is quickly closing around Us!

28 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

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

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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Today’s Scrip-Bit 3 October 2016 Psalm 66:4.

03 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 66:4.   All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.   Selah.

Ah friends, the second big day of the week is here, and our journey through it will depend on how we handled the first big day of the week. (smile) Yeh mih people, it’s work time once again, and if we’ve  used the weekend properly, we’d be all set and ready, enthusiastic and can’t wait to get out into the world and show the godless and the heathen how a true believer in Jesus, a true Christian behaves. 

But since many of us have compromised ourselves on the weekend, consequently, we are not ready and able, or willing to face the evil hordes that abound in the working world. But there’s no reason to be anxious or afraid, for we have the right antidote for your problem.  It’s called our Monday Morning Battle Hymn and it energizes us, gets our adrenaline running so that we can go out and do good work for Jesus. 

So without further ado, let’s raise our voices heavenward in harmony and praise. ‘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 wasn’t too hot nuh; out of tune and not very enthusiastic, and our choirmaster, Jesus, definitely wasn’t pleased. You could see that by the serious look on His comely face and His unsmiling eyes. Nevertheless, most of us now have our motors idling smoothly, so let’s make like jack nuh, hit the road and do Jesus’ bidding, as per the Great Commission. (Matt.28:19-20) 

That brings us to our Bit: ‘All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.   Selah.’ 

Oh my brethren, that is ever so true! In due course of time, everyone on planet earth will be singing the praises of our wonderful God! Why? Because He is just such a magnificent, magnanimous, omnipotent, omniscient, omni-present, ever-LOVING, ever-caring, ever-faithful, kind, forgiving and compassionate Deity! Wow! 

He’s also the Creator of the universe and all therein! And there’s NO OTHER like Him! So why wouldn’t we worship and sing praises to Him eh? Not unless we’re foolish and unwise. And, unfortunately, there are way too many of that type in today’s world. They think that God is a joke, or He just doesn’t exist. 

But that’s the furthest thing from the truth my fellow believers, and we know that because God is at work in us, doing all sorts of wonderful things in our lives, as we work for Him down here, spreading the good news of Jesus, while storing up eternal rewards in heaven. Glory Hallelujah! 

Listen to how the psalmist continues after our Bit. ‘Come and see the works of God: he is terrible (awesome) in his doing toward the children of men, He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood (river) on foot: there did we rejoice in him. He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves.   Selah.’ (Ps.66:5-7) 

Now that last statement is a very serious warning to the unbeliever; they ought not to think too highly of themselves, for with the same speed that they are exalted, the Lord will pull them back down for their false pride and egotistic disregard of His sovereignty. Not aligning oneself with the Creator and Controller of the universe and paying Him great homage is a fool’s wisdom my people.  

Hear the psalmist from Psalm 117, the shortest chapter in the Bible. ‘O Praise the Lord, all ye nations (gentiles) praise (glorify) him, all ye people. For his merciful (LOVING) kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.’ (Ps.117:1-2) 

And the scholars offer up these explanations on the psalm. ‘Psalm 117. This little psalm contains a great message. Though some have denied it an independent existence, attaching it to Psalm 116, Psalm 117 has all three elements of the hymn of praise: a call to praise (v.1), a cause for praise (v.2a, b), and a conclusion, which in this case is a simple praise ye the Lord (v.2c). 

The fact that the nations and people (lit. “peoples”) are addressed in verse 1 makes this psalm the only one in the Psalter addressed in its entirety to the Gentile world. Its evangelistic mood was still baffling to some of Paul’s readers. This is one of four passages that Paul quotes from the Old Testament, in Romans 15, to prove that God is interested in saving Gentiles.’  

Yeh friends, that’s one of the reasons Almighty God is worthy of much praise; He’s interested in saving EVERYBODY, not just some. Our God doesn’t play favourites, He wants all of His creation to come to Him, and that’s a part of our job. So please let’s get out there today and do it to the best of our ability nuh, obviously with the help of God, through His Holy Spirit that dwells within us. Much LOVE!

…praising our God should be an automatic, joyful and continuous response from believers…not a halfhearted, sometime thing…