The Importance of Christians Highly Exalting Almighty God for His Amazing Largesse to the Undeserving Children of Men!

Psalm 108: 5.        ‘Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth.’

So finally it’s Friday; the day we’ve all been looking forward to, and although it’s somewhat cloudy, we really don’t care, and have offered up our Friday Mantra: ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday and the weekend is here!’ But please note, that doesn’t mean we can laze around at work today. No! It means we still have to be diligent and do whatever is needed in the name of Jesus, because that’s what He expects of us.

And today we’ll look at an interesting poem from our One Year Book of Bible Promises, with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin. This one doesn’t sound familiar to me, but who knows, I might have shared it before. The fact is that they are all worthy to be shared again and again for they are inspiring, encouraging and tell lots of truths about our situations. This one is titled ‘Rare Moments of Delight.’

So please read with me: ‘Because you are God And Your Word is unquestionable There are things I assuredly know Even when my heart is a brambled desert And every ounce of emotion is drained: I know Your LOVE is everlasting I know You will never forsake me Nor will you leave me comfortless I know I can come to You boldly I know you will teach and instruct me You will guide me with Your eye I know my past is forgiven And my future is secure. But, oh, dear God How I praise You for the marvel Of those rare, mysterious moments when suddenly, without a flash or a sound You add to my knowing The ecstasy of feeling and I am lifted to peaks of delight!’  

Oh friends, the poem doesn’t only gives us some of the many promises that our great God has made, and what we know from reading His Word, which keeps us safe and secure, but there’s an even greater feeling, one where He just intuitively flashes us some information that we were not expecting, which brings us even closer to Him. It’s what we sometimes call receiving a Zeppo. That sudden intuitive feeling that something is right, or it’s what we should do. It’s like when I was looking through the book today for a poem to offer, when I came to the one we just read, there was this feeling like the Lord was saying that’s the right one. So I just used it. At times like those we feel and extra connection with our God, renewing our convictions that He is indeed real and looking out for us.

And all I want to do now is remind us of some of the scriptures that we spoke of in the poem. For instance God’s everlasting LOVE. The Bible says it in different ways in several scriptures, but this one from Jeremiah probably says it the best. ‘The Lord hath appeared of old (from afar) unto me, saying, Yea, I have LOVED you with an everlasting LOVE: therefore with LOVING-KINDNESS have I drawn thee.’ (Jer. 31:3) And as per never leaving nor forsaking us, there are again several scriptures that point out that promise, but Moses said it quite early to the children of Israel. ‘Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee.’ (Deut. 31:6)

Then as per never leaving us comfortless, there’s this great scripture from Bruh Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, where he talks about the Comfort of God. ‘Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble (tribulation), by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.’ (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

Wow! What a magnificent scripture! God comforts us so that we can comfort others with the comfort we receive from Him. And don’t forget the Holy Spirit that dwells within us is also know as the Comforter. (John 14:16; 15:26) And Jesus also promised, ‘I will not leave you comfortless (as orphans): I will come to you.’ (John 14:18) So there’s lots of comfort to be had from our Holy Trinity!

Then, as per going boldly to God, we all know the scripture from Hebrews that says: ‘Let us therefore come boldly (confidently) unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ (Heb. 4:16) Now, boldly there doesn’t mean proudly or arrogantly, but humbly with the confidence that God will not turn us away. And as per His teaching and instructing us, Bruh David says it quite clearly in Psalm 32: ‘I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.’ (Ps. 32:8)

And finally, as per our forgiven past and safe futures, there are many scriptures that address those points, but for time’s sake we’ll only check out a couple of statements from Jesus. The first is one we all know: ‘For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.’ (John 3:17-18) Then later on Jesus declares to His accusers: ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck (snatch) them out of my hand.’ (John 10:27-28) You cannot get any safer or more secure than that my faithful brethren!

And lest we forget, (smile) the Bible Promise for today’s poem comes from Psalm 108. ‘Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth.’ (Ps. 108:5) That’s the NLT (New Living Translation). Meanwhile the KJV (King James Version) says: ‘Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;’ (Ps. 108:5) And though we are King James people here, (smile) I like the NLT version, and we’ll use it as our Bit. Now let’s go to the throne of grace, confidently, but humbly, through our Friday Chant seeking divine aid to help in these very troubled times.

Altogether: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough…  because our many serious problems are escalating instead of improving. And it’s obvious we can’t fix them on our own, so Lord, we’re desperately crying out for your help. Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat the simmering unrest in our land. We therefore ask you Lord to give our leaders the wise guidance to handle these unexpected storms properly. And please help the rest of us to be responsible and to stay safe amidst all the anxiety and confusion of these ungodly times.

We fervently pray too Lord that you’ll use the discontent and dissatisfaction in our land as a means of restoring faith in you. Return backsliders to your fold. Show them the error of their ways. And please introduce a new flock of believers, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example, we, your faithful believers set. So that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, wake up and smell it sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

And though we pray good prayers, friends, the truth is that until we come together as the supposed one body of Christ, and begin seriously living for Him, getting divine aid will always be a problem for us. Much LOVE!

…Christ has given us the victory…we now have to make sure we don’t lose it…

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 December 2019 Ephesians 6:11.

Ephesians 6:11.    ​Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles (schemes)  of the devil.
 

Well friends, it’s the first Sunday in Advent! And why is that important eh? Because in the church’s calendar, this is the time of year we begin preparing for Christ’s coming! Originally it seems like it was a time to think of Christ’s Second Coming, a cry for the Messiah to come back and take over the evil world. But apparently down through the years it got intertwined with the First Coming of the Messiah, what we call Christmas, so now we celebrate Advent by looking back nostalgically at the First Coming, while excitedly and expectantly looking forward to the Second One! Only in the Christian faith can we have such double celebrations my people! (smile) 

Anyway, as we gather today in joyful fellowship in the Lord’s sanctuary, to give thanks and praise and worship His Holy Name, we not going to open with an Advent hymn because I got a zeppo intimating that the Lord wanted to hear this particular tune, ‘Stand up for Jesus!’ I guess He’s feeling that believers are not being strong and steadfast enough in the faith. We’re being too fearful and wishy-washy, sitting on the fence, wavering like a leaf in the wind, and too ready to compromise so that we can go on with our comfortable lives! 

Consequently, He wants us to get our acts together, get really serious about our cause, and like true warriors come out fighting valiantly under Jesus’ banner, even to the death, if needs be! So let’s raise our voices in strong and solemn song, as we sing these most excellent sentiments, but also truly fighting words, written in 1858 by George Duffield (1818-1888) in honour of his dear departed friend and leader, Dudley Atkins Tyng (1825-1858) in a tragic farm accident. It’s reputed that Tyng’s last message to his associates was for them to, ‘Stand up for Jesus,’ and this became the theme of Duffield’s song. 

And to make it even more powerful, we going to do a scintillating, rocking Reggae version, a la Miss Carlene Davis. Wow! Rockers time mih people! (smile) So altogether now: ‘Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross! Lift high his royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory his army he shall lead, till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the solemn watchword hear; if while ye sleep he suffers, away with shame and fear. Where’er ye meet with evil, within you or without, charge for the God of battles, and put the foe to rout. 

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in his strength alone; the arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel armour, each piece put on with prayer; when duty calls or danger be never wanting there. (Bridge: Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus, children stand up. Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus, children stand up. Standing on the promises of Christ my Saviour, standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ my Saviour, standing on the promises of God. Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus, children stand up, Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus, children stand up.) 

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long; this day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song. To him that overcometh a crown of life shall be; he with the King of glory shall reign eternally. (Extro: Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus, children stand up, Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus, children stand up. Standing on the promises of Christ my Saviour, standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ my Saviour, standing on the promises of God. Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus, children stand up, Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus, children stand up….!’ 

Aye friends, I hope we truly meant what we just sang, because our world is desperate for somebody, for serious somebodies to stand up to the evil one in Jesus name! And it’s sad that we all know the scripture that characterizes that song, but we’re not putting it into full and proper use. Hear Bruh Paul as he articulates to the Ephesians, re the whole armour of God: ‘Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.’ (Eph.6:10) 

As Christians we’re engaged in a spiritual battle from now until Christ’s Second Coming that we’re looking forward to this first Sunday in Advent. And there must be ‘no quarter given, no ceasefire, no temporary truce, no cessation of hostilities.’ But to do that successfully, we have to stand strong, be strengthened in and through the Lord’s might and power. And this next verse is also of the utmost importance: ‘Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles (schemes)  of the devil.’ 

Yes my faithful brethren, no soldier worth his salt, goes into battle without armour, without protective gear. And since in this case our battle is not physical but spiritual, we need specialized protection: Our loins must be girded with God’s truth; the knowledge of the truth of God’s Word. Our chests must be protected by a breastplate of righteousness, holy character and moral conduct, through obedience to God’s truth. And then our feet must be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We must be eager and willing to take on the satanic one and his demoniac cohorts, take the fight to him, and we get that from the gospel of peace, that frees us of any anxiety and fear. 

Then we need the shield of faith so we can repulse all the fiery darts of the wicked one. That means taking God at His Word, believing His awesome promises, dispelling all doubt Satan might try to induce. And we must have a helmet; that of salvation; the hope of and assurance of salvation, the surety, that we’re saved. And you can’t fight without a sword, in this case the sword of the Spirit; the powerful and ever-conquering Word of God! 

But along with all of that protective armour friends, we still need to use the most powerful tool in the universe; prayer! Without it, the armour is useless. So let’s hope all of this has lit a fire in our bellies, reignited our passion for Christ, so that we can become better soldiers in His victorious army! Much LOVE!

…Christians…put on your spiritual armour…the time to fight is NOW…