Today’s Scrip-Bit   18 June 2023 Proverbs 22:6.

18 Jun 2023 Leave a comment

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

Proverbs 22:6.       Train up a child in the way he should go: and (even) when he is old, he will not depart from it.

                                                        HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

Well, a Happy Father’s Day to all you Father’s out there in Scrip-Bit Land. (smile) I do hope that you all will have an enjoyable day as you are feted by your families. And no, this one day of the year is not sufficient to show fathers how much we LOVE and treasure them, it should be a year-round thing, but I guess one day is better than none at all. (smile) 

Anyway, to celebrate Father’s Day Sunday we’re going to open our fellowship and worship in the Lord’s sanctuary with one of my favourite, if not my favourite Contemporary Christian song, ‘Psalm 34: O Taste and See that the Lord is Good,’ Shane Barnard’s reworking of the first ten verses of Psalm 34 to contemporary music, as done by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. I heard it this week and obviously my heart was so moved that I knew right away, we had to sing it today. And by the way, if you’re checking out the video on YouTube, please make sure you get the live version, because that’s the real kicker. (smile) 

And I tend to agree with these comments on the song. ‘Every time I listen to this song, I imagine myself along with all the other saints in heaven worshipping. This song carries a strong anointing. You can feel the presence of the heavenly hosts.’ ‘Every frame, every beat, every note, perfectly executed. THIS is musical perfection in gospel music.’ That’s for sure! (smile) Now, without further ado, let’s raise our voices to heaven in sincere and hearty sacrificial praise to our heavenly Father in a rousing rendition of Psalm 34: O Taste and See that the Lord is Good. 

Singing: ‘I sought the Lord And He answered me And delivered me From every fear. Those who look on Him Are radiant They’ll never be ashamed They’ll never be ashamed. This poor man cried And the Lord heard me And saved me from My enemies. The Son of God Surrounds His saints He will deliver them He will deliver them. Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. 

Oh taste and see That the Lord is good Oh blessed is he Who hides in Him. Oh fear the Lord Oh all you saints He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. (Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. Repeat) (Let us bless the Lord Every day and night Never ending praise May our incense rise. Repeat 4 times) 

Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. {Repeat} Oh taste and see That the Lord is good. He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. Oh taste and see That the Lord is good. He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. …He’ll give you everything…’ 

And that’s the gospel truth; our great and generous God will give you everything if you glorify and magnify Him! Now many of us claim to believe that, but sadly we don’t tend to put it into action, otherwise so many of our lives would not be as miserable and lonely as they are. And that’s the thing about believers, we are very good at talking the talk, but not so hot at walking that talk. Meanwhile the evil unbelievers are steadfastly walking their talk and doing untold evil and ungodliness. Can you imagine if we were walking our talk as much as them, how good and godly our world would be. 

Take for instance if our men would stop siring so many illegitimate children with different women and afterwards have no concern for the mothers or the children. How do they expect them to live and have a healthy life eh? But no, instead they pound their egotistic chests and boast about how many baby mamas they have. And lack of that solid father figure is one of the reasons why so many young men are rudderless, and aimlessly adrift on the billowing sea of life, involved in all sorts of evil and ungodly stuff. 

Unfortunately too, there are also fathers who live in the home but are either working away from home, or are working so much to provide a living for the children, that they don’t have time to pay sufficient attention to the children’s upbringing. And the poor, burdened mothers cannot do everything on their own. Please remember these monumental words of Cousin Sol from Proverbs regarding raising children: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and (even) when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ (Prov. 22:6) 

And there’s much truth to that, for the training a child gets in his or her formative stages is what usually sticks with them for their whole lives. And the scholars tell us that ‘Train up a child refers to the total process of molding a child’s life. Thus, parental training should help children develop a taste for the things of God. The biblical pattern of effective parental training emphasizes a balance of instruction and discipline (cf. Eph. 6:1-4) The verse stresses the simple principle that education in the home forms the man throughout his lifetime.’ 

And we all know what that reference to Eph. 6:1-4 says, since we hear it every year at this time. It says: ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture (training) and admonition of the Lord.’ Yes friends, the scholars say ‘the ideal parent is to be neither overly authoritarian nor overly permissive. Rather he must balance LOVE and discipline so as not to provoke his child to rebellion.’ 

And they further tell us that ‘Fathers can provoke their children to wrath by injustice,  loss of temper, undue severity, cruelty, favouritism, suppression, sarcasm, ridicule, and misuse or abuse of authority. Nurture basically means “training,” here denoting spiritual education. Admonition is instruction that points out one’s responsibilities and duties. Of the Lord means behind the parents’ rearing and instruction of their children stands the Lord as the chief teacher in child education. Parents do not rear their children alone.’ 

That’s for sure, either the Lord will have hand in it or the devil. And it hurts me to say this, but it’s the truth: God didn’t have much of a hand in rearing this current generation, since we, the parents did not invite Him in to lend a hand, because we were either too busy making ends meet, we thought it best to give our children soft, easy, entitled lives since ours was so tough, or we just didn’t care. Whatever the reason, we failed our children by not rearing them in a godlier fashion, that’s why they are failing us now. Much LOVE!

…there are consequences for every ungodly action…whether you are a parent or a child… 

 Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ        

Today’s Scrip-Bit   19 June 2022 Ephesians 6:4.

19 Jun 2022 Leave a comment

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

Ephesians 6:4.      ‘And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture (training) and admonition of the Lord.’

HAPPY  FATHER’S  DAY!​

Well, Happy Father’s Day greetings to all us fathers, be we good, bad or indifferent! (smile) The Good Book does say that the father is the head of the household, the leader, the spiritual guide and should be a good example to his children as he raises them in accordance with godly principles. In the words of Bruh Paul to the Ephesians. ‘And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture (training) and admonition of the Lord.’ (Eph. 6:4) 

Yes friends, fathers have an immense responsibility in rearing children and leading a household. As the scholars say, we must not provoke our children to wrath through things like ‘injustice, loss of temper, undue severity, cruelty, favouritism, suppression, sarcasm, ridicule, and misuse of authority.’ 

Brother! No wonder many men run away from that kind of awesome responsibility. It is indeed a lot to handle. And on top of all that we have to teach them about the Lord; rear them in proper LOVE and reverence to the Lord God Jehovah. Do as Joshua did, let it be unconditionally known; ‘but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ (Josh. 24:15d) A father should also be ‘One who ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.’ (1 Tim. 3:4) That means managing his family in the right way, making sure that the children learn obedience in a dignified manner. 

Wow! The good thing about it all though my fellow fathers, is that once we embark on the right track, the Lord helps us to run our families and raise our children. He just doesn’t leave us in a vacuum; tell us to make sure we do this or that and raise them according to His Word, then disregard us and leave us to rear them on our own. As true believers we ought to know that’s not how our wonderful God operates. Whatever He asks or expects of us, He also enables, gives us the tools to accomplish the task. 

Unfortunately though, in today’s world where God is no longer recognized as being a very important part of our lives, many fathers don’t have the knowledge they need to carry out their responsibilities, or just don’t care, or are not living with their children, and thus the family, the smallest and most important group, the foundation unit of our society is sadly falling apart, leading to the malfunctioning and degradation of society as a whole. Yes friends, when the smallest part of an organism or organization is being ruined, it’s not long before the whole edifice collapses. 

And yes, women do a fantastic job of keeping families together, but they can’t do it all by themselves, they need a male partner to help, if the job is to be done properly. And, unfortunately, it’s the children who suffer the most from these broken or dysfunctional homes. And since the males don’t have a decent example of what fatherhood ought to be, they continue in the same dysfunctional manner when raising their families. How many of us fathers are like Job eh? 

The Good Book says: ‘And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about (his children’s feasting was over), that Job sent and sanctified them (set them apart, consecrated them), and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually (regularly).’ (Job 1:5) Isn’t that beautiful my people. Job knew the value of continually praying for his children. How many of us fathers do that nowadays eh? Not enough. 

And yes, like this week we’re having the sermon before we get with the praise and worship. (smile) But that’s just how the spirit moved me this morning. But let’s get to today’s song, one that we all know and LOVE. It’s titled ‘My Hope is built on nothing less,’ written by the British Baptist minister Edward Mote (1797-1874). Oh, I know it’s an old song, but that just attests to its staying power, because it deals with assurance and refuge, of strength and a solid foundation that we find only in Christ Jesus, which I believe is a good sentiment for we fathers to seek this Father’s Day. 

So, let’s offer up our scintillating sacrifices of praise in a joyful mid-tempo version, letting our sincerity pour out of both our mouths and our hearts. In perfect unison and harmony, let’s sing: ‘My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. (Refrain: On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.) 

When darkness veils his lovely face I rest on His unchanging grace In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil. (Refrain) His oath, his covenant, his blood Supports me in the ‘whelming flood When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. (Refrain) Not earth, nor hell, my soul can move; I rest upon unchanging LOVE. I trust his righteous character, his counsel, promise, and his pow’r. [Refrain] 

When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. [Refrain: On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand… On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand… Oh thank You Lord…You solid Rock!’ 

Now didn’t that make you feel reenergized and reassured? It ought to…if you were sincere in your vocalizing. (smile) And it’s been said that the song was based on Jesus words from Matthew 7, as He winds down the Sermon on the Mount. It’s a story we all know about the two foundations. ‘Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a (the) rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded up a (the) rock.’ (Matt. 7:24-25) 

Yes mih bredrin, wisdom dictates than when we hear the teachings of Jesus that we build our lives and that of our families on Him, because He is the ROCK! A sure place of refuge for all and sundry! Where you are never turned away or left to die on your own. No one else can offer what Jesus offers, so please let’s wake up and heed His urgent call nuh, especially we fathers, for our children, our families and our society as whole are suffering because we are not doing our bounden duty to lead them in a righteous manner in Christ Jesus. Please. I implore us to let today be a serious and sincere turning point in our lives! Much LOVE!

…no other foundation but Jesus…will withstand the battering evil forces of the world… 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8​