Today’s Scrip-Bit 6 May 2017 Psalm 121:2.

06 May 2017 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 121:2.    My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

And then it was Saturday… and the rains have stopped…though for how long, no one knows. Yes friends Friday was a wonderful rainy day! (smile) I left home to go to my appointment in the city around eleven in the morning, but did not get back home until four thirty in the afternoon, and all throughout that time it rained steadily.

At one stage they were even talking about closing the main north south highway, Don Valley Parkway because it runs near to the Don River which overflows its banks and floods the highway when there is a lot of rain. And strangely enough there wasn’t as much traffic as I expected going into the city yesterday. It was harder traversing the downtown roads than the highway. I guess the rain kept a lot of people away. 

So Jesus and I just rode in companionable silence, looking out at the bleak and dreary landscape, listening to the variety of beautiful tunes emanating from the stereo system, smiling at each other when a particular tune that we liked blared forth. Oh my brethren, it’s such a pleasure riding with Jesus, I just wish more of us would consider it. You’d never go back to riding alone. 

Anyway it’s Saturday, which means we have to check out some of this week’s quotes from our friend Anselm, whose avowed aspiration is to inspire us for a better tomorrow.  Listen to this first one: ‘Plant your garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.’ Yeh, we ought to have a big hand in building our own lives, not merely waiting for others to boost us…with God in attendance though. 

And that leads to this: ‘Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.’ Oh so true my people! We should NEVER allow ourselves to be bullied period! And again, I would add, define yourself…but with God’s wise help. (smile) 

Now hear this last quote: ‘People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.’ 

Now I agree that we should not allow our circumstances to control us, but we must also be very careful in trying to manipulate circumstances to fit our agenda, for they can very often run contrary to God’s plans for us. So again I will have to add a caveat to the quote: do nothing without talking to God first. That’s wisdom 101 my faithful breddren! 

That brings us to our Bit, which espouses that very wisdom. ‘My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.’ 

Yes friends, we saw that in yesterday’s reading of Psalm 121. And if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then that should be the overriding factor in every one of your decisions. For if the Lord made the heaven and the earth, then whom else would you logically turn to for help eh? Obviously the great Creator!  God should always be our FIRST counsellor, not our LAST, as so many of us unfortunately tend to make Him. 

Now let’s check out some scripture that wisely advises us to keep God first place in our lives. Listen to Moses as he blesses the tribes of Israel before his death. ‘Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency (majesty)! And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee (submit to you); and thou shalt tread upon (down) their high places (places of pagan worship). (Deut.33:29) 

Ah friends, those same circumstances pertain to us today, provided we are obedient to God’s law. But since we are so blatantly flouting it, what else can we expect but negative consequences; calamity and disaster.  

And the psalmist puts it this way. ‘Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.’ (Ps.33:20-22) 

And you’ll notice I highlighted that last piece, because there is a rather important proviso contained therein; as we hope and believe in and obey the Lord, He will bless us proportionately. We will only reap what we sow. 

And we’ll end with these interesting verses from the prophet Hosea, as he foretold Israel’s destruction. ‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? And thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.’ (Hos.13:9-11) 

Yuh see friends, the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh, and His wrath is not something we really want to experience. But if we continue down our current road of disobedience, believe me, we will eventually feel it. So true wisdom dictates that we repent and return to the godly ways we once followed, if we want to enjoy the Lord’s grace and mercy. Much LOVE!

…the Lord is my shepherd…I shall not want…

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 22 October 2013 Matthew 5:4

22 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 5:4.    Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
 
Oh Friends, this was definitely not how I had planned to begin today’s message, but having heard of this dreadful happening, I had to change my plans. As Cousin Sol so wisely says: ‘A man’s heart deviseth (plans) his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.’ (Prov.16:9)
 
Now I’m talking about the tragedy of a 12 year old boy in a small town near Reno, Nevada, going to school early yesterday morning and shooting a Math teacher, wounding two other boys, then killing himself.
 
Ah Lord eh! How many times Friends, am I going to bewail the sorry state of our world before we see some improvement eh? In particular, what is America coming to eh? Once upon a time she was the model of godliness… Steups! But now she is the pin up girl for Lucifer.
 
This shooting up of schools, either by pupils or outside interests, seems to be turning into a habit now. And yet guns are still much easier to get than dope, on which they’ve wasted billions of dollars trying to curb it.
 
They’re not seeing the forest for the trees. Guns are killing many more people everyday than drugs. And you only hear about the gun deaths when it’s a rampage or some other high profile shooting. When is America going to wake up and realize that the old saying is very true: ‘If you live by the gun, you’ll die by the gun!’
 
And sadly, as in so many other things, their culture is being transferred all over the globe. It’s in more than money and economics that as America goes, so does the rest of the world.
 
And why that tragedy struck me more forcefully than normal, is because I’m currently reading a novel, ‘Nineteen Minutes,’ in which a 17 year old boy in small town America goes into his High School one inauspicious autumn morning and rampages through it, killing ten people both students and adults, and wounding many others. 
 
This lad had been teased and bullied from the first day he got on the bus to attend kindergarten, even by his own star pupil brother. Apparently this 12 year old in real life was also being bullied. Now the question is, is life copying fiction, or fiction copying life? But whatever is following what, this bullying thing is really getting out of hand.
 
What is it, are we raising children without any spine, any backbone, so that they have to resort to such serious measures; shoot up the place or commit suicide?
 
I remember growing up that there were bullies around, and that some got bullied more than others, but it wasn’t the incessant type of thing that’s happening now, and I never heard of anyone picking up a gun or other weapon to exact revenge, or kill themselves because they couldn’t handle the pressure.
 
And apparently the supposed social media nonsense, more like the anti-social media, just seems to make matters worse, for some of the atrocities committed by our young people are brazenly posted there and go viral, oftimes with more likes than dislikes.
 
Doesn’t that tell us that our society is truly going to the dogs, when we’re raising children who take such pleasure in demeaning others? What kind of animals are they going to turn out to be as adults eh?
 
And sadly, we the parents don’t seem to have a clue about what’s happening with our children; we simply don’t care, or are too busy trying to make a living to pay serious attention to what’s happening to them.
 
The parents of this boy in the novel didn’t even know that he had guns in his room, or he was a big Internet freak on evil sites. And no doubt a lot of that is happening in real life today.
 
Ah Friends, I don’t have the answers, but somehow or the other we’ve got to stop the nonsense. And unfortunately all of that just links up so smoothly with our Bit. ‘Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.’
 
Ah mih breddren, so far from that disaster, two families are mourning and badly in need of serious comfort. Who will provide it to them eh? I just hope, for their sakes, that they are Christian families. Our Bit is another of the Beatitudes that Jesus delivered in His Sermon on the Mount.
 
And according to the scholars: ‘5:4. Those that mourn…shall be comforted. The depth of the promise of these statements is almost inexhaustible. Those who mourn for sin shall be comforted in confession. Those who mourn for the human anguish of the lost shall be comforted by the compassion of God.’
 
Let’s sincerely hope and pray that those families mourning right now are somehow comforted by God’s compassion, because ONLY Jesus can successfully minimize the yokes and burdens that have just been laid on them. (Matt.11:28-30)
 
Yes my people, for all the unfortunate things that happen to us in this oftimes wretched life, Jesus stands out as the bright light shining in our darkest hours. He is the ONE we can and should always turn to in dire situations.
 
For as Bruh Paul said to the church at Corinth: ‘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 by God.’ (2 Cor.1:3-4)
 
And that’s the undeniable truth Friends! God comforts us so that we can comfort others in their time of need. And we WILL ALL endure trials and tribulations and be in need of comfort at some time(s) in our earthly lives.
 
But please remember Jesus’ faithful promise: ‘These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33)
 
Oh my fellow believers, I know that’s easier said than done, but with strong faith and trust in the Almighty, we can get through it. And we’ll close with a scripture that we’re all looking forward to; the arrival of the new heaven and the new earth.
 
‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’ (Rev.21:4)
 
Yes mih people, then, and only then, will the cause for mourning and comfort cease. Till then, please wisely take hold of ALL God’s promises of help and succour, for they are the only sure means of comfort we have in this wicked, ungodly world. Much LOVE!
 
…when a human heart is hurting…only Almighty God can truly comfort it…