Today’s Scrip-Bit 27 February 2021 Romans 8:31.

27 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

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

Romans 8:31.     ​If God be for us, who can be against us?

And thankfully it’s a wet, rainy morning and not a white, snowy one! (smile) Yeh friends, the precipitation out there is unfrozen water, not the cold, flaky stuff, which makes this Saturday morning an even better time and place to enjoy our lazy fantasies. Yes, we all have those fantasies of being able to lie around and do absolutely nothing all day, or do the things that are nearest and dearest to our hearts. And for some of us, Saturday is the only day we can make some of those fantasies come true. 

However, because of the pandemic and the lockdown, some of us are actually having too much lazy time, being able to indulge our lazy fantasies too much, and too much of anything is no good. So if you’re one of those in the latter category, please find stuff to keep you at least reasonably busy, because the pandemic will end someday, and then what? You will be so immersed in your laziness that you won’t be able to easily get back in the swing of things. And that’s my word of wisdom for today! (smile) 

Now let’s see what interesting quotes our friend Anselm sent us this past week. And the first one boldly states: ‘Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.’ And is that ever the God awesome truth! But only if you are a born-again child of God! Yes my people, when you are a child of God, nothing is impossible to you, for nothing is impossible to our heavenly Father. Glory be! And as the Good Book so rightly says: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!’ (Phil. 4:13) 

Wow! So as a true believer in Christ, we don’t have to be afraid of anything in this world, or think that we lack courage and talent, because it’s absolutely not true, since our powerful and ever-generous God has given us the wherewithal to do whatever He desires of us. And furthermore, as the scripture says: ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ (Rom. 8:31) Nobody! Not a single dead or living soul! Then we have this other beautiful and encouraging scripture; the memorable words of Bruh Paul to Timothy. ‘For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of LOVE, and of a sound (disciplined) mind.’ (2 Tim. 1:7) 

Oh my fellow believers, with all those good, God-given, encouraging and faithful words in our tote bag of life, how can we ever doubt ourselves or our omnipotent God eh? Our problem is that we don’t fully believe, our faith isn’t mature enough, and thus we continue to let the unfortunate circumstances of the world scare us. But there is only one way to gain mature faith friends, and that’s by going through adversity, for it’s when the fires and storms of life come against us that we truly grow in faith and emotional strength. 

So if you’re going through any adversity now, don’t let it bother you, yes, it is difficult, but you can still find peace in those rough situations by doing the best you can, then putting the rest in God’s hands. Hn, Hn! I’m chuckling here because I never expected that to go on for so long. Couldn’t think of anything to say in the beginning, but look at how much I’ve said in the end. (smile) 

And the next quote says: ‘Pursue what catches your heart, not what catches your eyes.’ Now, on the Christian side, that’s a somewhat troubling quote. Why? Because we tend to think that our eyes are what really catches the things of the world and lead us astray. But the truth is, that’s also possible with our hearts. It’s oh so easy for our hearts to be captured and captivated by the sinful, lustful, glamorous and heady lures of the world. And believe me, it’s worse when those things capture our hearts than just our eyes. 

For as Jesus puts it. ‘Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man…Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out (eliminated) into the draught. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart 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. 15:11; 17-20) 

So you see my brethren, it’s our hearts and our minds that we must ever be very protective of, for it’s what comes out of them that causes us innumerable problems. And generally speaking, we can see all sorts of different things, but what our hearts and minds concentrate on most, is what we eventually do and become. 

And to the last quote: ‘The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living.’ Indeed it is all those things. As the Rasta bredrin that taught me History in High School was wont to say as he scratched his scraggly beard with his feet on the desk: ‘History is a record of the past. And why do we learn History? So we can understand the present.’ 

And that’s exactly how it ought to be. But unfortunately too many of us in these modern times choose to keep living in the past and thus keep making the same mistakes over and over. We can’t progress if we don’t learn the lessons of the past. That’s what it’s there for, to teach us about the present and help us make good decisions for the future. And if we don’t let go of the past, we end up carrying it around as back breaking and life stifling baggage that doesn’t allow us to do anything new, or move forward in more productive and progressive ways. 

Yes, bad and unfortunate things have happened to all of us in the past, but that’s no reason to keep dragging them along with us and let them cause us to fear the future. Oh friends, it’s time for us to let go of the past, of where we’ve come from, and concentrate on where we’re going. And the best way to do that is to surrender our lives to Jesus. Let Him be our guide and pilot of our ship, and He will take us safely through the many storms that we encounter in this earthly life. 

Please remember His awesome words of indisputable truth: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’ (John 14:6) And please remember too, that the truth will set you free; the truth of Jesus that is! Much LOVE!

…until you make Jesus the pilot of your soul…you’ll keep drifting aimlessly on the sea of life… and eventually wash up lifeless…on some rocky shore…

Today’s Scrip-Bit 16 September 2017 Luke 8:50.

16 Sep 2017 Leave a comment

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

Luke 8:50.   But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.

Well friends, it’s Saturday, we’re alive and kicking and into the weekend in full swing now! For that we should be grateful and give our great God some thanks for His grace and mercy, because that’s the only reason why we’re still alive today. Many people have not been so fortunate or blessed. 

But then again friends, is there ever a day when some sort of disaster isn’t taking place in our world? I understand that tropical storm Jose has now strengthened back to hurricane status and is heading for the East coast of North America, including the Eastern Canadian Provinces. 

And on another sorrowful note, the island of Barbuda, which was flattened by hurricane Irma now has no one living there, for the first time in some three hundred years. 

It was so badly devastated that they had to move all the residents to the sister island of Antigua. It’s a good thing that Antigua did not feel the full force of Irma, otherwise it would have been truly catastrophic. 

But what to do eh? We just have to have hope and carry on, for we know that once there is life, there is hope, and once there is hope, anything’s possible. And normally on a Saturday, we’d turn to those priceless quotes from our friend Anselm, in his heroic endeavour to inspire us for a better tomorrow. 

However, because of hurricane Irma, I have only received one missive him from him this week, and that was yesterday. He lives some where in Florida and was most likely without power until then. He is apparently one of the fortunate ones, because there are millions down there who are still without power. 

And yesterday’s quote aptly said: ‘Believe in yourself.’ And that’s something we all need to do friends, if we hope to have any success in any and every aspect of our lives. However, I would like to add one proviso to that statement…but first, believe in God! 

Now that’s the kick-starter for ALL things; belief in Almighty God! For without that assurance and trust in our Creator and heavenly Father, nothing will go right in our lives. 

That brings us to our Bit, where, Jesus, on his way to a synagogue ruler’s house to heal his daughter, got waylaid into some other healing, and then a messenger came and told the ruler: ‘Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master (Teacher). But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.’ 

Yeh friends, everything in our lives first has to start with belief of some kind, and the best kind of belief is that which is based on Almighty God! It’s only logical my brethren. If He is the creator of everything, then there is none better to put our belief, our faith and our trust in! 

How did Jesus put it? ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.’ (John 14:1) And so should we, seeing that Jesus IS the Son of God, as well as our Lord and Saviour, who sacrificed His sinless life so that we could be cleansed and set free from our sins. 

Oh my people, our Christian experience is based strictly on belief, on faith, on sincere trust in the Holy Trinity, consisting of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If we don’t believe in their ascendancy, then our Christian faith is valueless. 

Jesus made the connection very often. Look at when the woman with the issue of blood for twelve years, believing she could be healed if she could only touch the hem of His robe, pushed through the crowd and did exactly that. She was healed immediately. 

And what did Jesus say to her afterwards? ‘Daughter, be of good comfort (cheer): thy faith hath made thee whole (well); go in peace.’ (Luke 8:48) 

And it works both ways friends. Hear how Jesus admonishes the crowd that followed Him only to be relieved from their physical hunger and not their spiritual lack. ‘I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye have seen me, and believe not.’ (John 6:35-36) 

And like wise He chastises Phillip, when he asks Him to show them the Father. ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, show us the Father? 

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself (on my own authority): but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works‘ sake.’ (John 14:9-11) 

And we’ll end with this admonishment to Thomas who refused to believe that Jesus was indeed risen from the dead until he saw His scars. ‘Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’ (John 20:29) 

Yes faithful followers, that pertains directly to us, who have believed in Jesus and all that He has said and done, without actually seeing Him in the flesh, like the disciples did. We are indeed blessed for that act of faith! Please don’t doubt, or ever lose that belief. Much LOVE!

…again we say…belief in Jehovah God…is the true beginning…and the sure foundation of…EVERYTHING…