SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 102:1-2.    Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.
 
Oh Friends, the heat wave in the northern climes rides on, with another beautiful, hot summer’s day in the offing! And that’s good in one respect, because we’re glad to see and experience the sunshine in these few, short summer months. But too much of any one thing is not good. And our God knew that when He created the universe. That’s why He synced and balanced everything. Unfortunately though, right now our world is badly out of sync, out of balance and the overriding factor is lack of rain. The ground is parched, the crops are drying up, which means increased prices for basic foodstuff, in an already devastated economy. Animals are becoming dehydrated, weak and faint, that includes some human ones too. (smile) The brush is dry like tinder, a veritable magnet for the smallest flame, to unleash forest fires like what we recently saw in Colorado. Oh Friends, we badly need some rain, so please pray that the Lord will soon, if not before, send us some veritable showers of blessings, both up here in Canada and the U.S. Otherwise crapaud soon smoke we pipe! That’s why we couldn’t find a better Bit today than the opening verses of Psalm 102; the psalmist’s cry in distress. ‘Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.’ It’s what we all should be praying right now my brethren in these dire times! As the caption at the top of the Psalm describes it: ‘A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.’ And it’s a sad truth Friends, that we’re currently very afflicted and also very overwhelmed by our affliction. We’ve got to do like Bruh David and boldly declare: ‘Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle (tent) for ever: I will trust in the covert (shelter) of thy wings.  Selah.’ (Ps.61:1-4) Yes Friends, it’s those kinds of strong, faithful, but yet humble and needy prayers we need to send up to heaven these days of so many serious, unexpected disasters and calamities! If we claim to believers in Jesus, then it’s Jesus we ought to be looking to for succour and relief. We shouldn’t get all worried, bitter and sad about the stuff that’s happening to us, but we have to turn to our heavenly Father and ask for sustenance, because that’s what Jesus ordered us to do. ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ (Matt.7:7-8) But then as James says, oftimes we ask and do not receive, because we ‘ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (pleasures). (James 4:3) And that’s the awful truth my people! We usually ask for worldly, pleasure seeking stuff, and sometimes that’s fine, but our prayers must be more than just asking. They must also be accompanied by confession, adoration, thanksgiving and fellowship with other believers. It must be an all-encompassing lifestyle my brethren. Only then will the Lord look on us with compassion and mercy. So Friends, in this ungodly, evil and calamitous time, prayer is an essential, extremely important tool in the believer’s arsenal. So let’s all we believers turn to it in true sincerity, with due diligence nuh. Let’s ask the Lord to bless us, help us through these rough days, as we praise and worship His holy name and try to live according to His will. As Bruh David cried out: ‘But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O Lord; for thy LOVING-kindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily (quickly).’ (Ps.69:13-17) Yes mih breddren, I’ll say it again, it’s that kind of strong, sincere prayer we need to float up to heaven. Remember James says that ‘The effectual (effective) fervent prayer (supplication) of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are (with a nature like ours), and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth (land) by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.’ (James 5:16-18) Oh Friends, there are enough righteous still in our ungodly world, that if we all prayed earnestly and fervently, the Lord will look down upon us with mercy, both for rain and some of the other troubles we’re currently experiencing. Ah mih people, it’s time to put our prayer powers to work, both for ourselves and the whole world, because it’s only the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph who can help us now. And that’s the gospel truth! Much LOVE!…and he spake a parable unto the to this end…that men ought always to pray…and not to faint (lose heart)… (Luke 18:1)