Today’s Scrip-Bit 27 August 2017 Matthew 9:29b.

27 Aug 2017 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 9:29b.   According to your faith be it unto you.

Welcome once more to the Lord’s Day my fellow believers in Jesus Christ! It’s another wonderful opportunity to gather in the Lord’s house with other believers and praise and worship, exalt and glorify Him, hear His Word and leave strengthened and confident, assured and re-energized, able to face the upcoming week without any qualms, fears or anxieties. 

Wow! We serve such a mighty and LOVING God my brethren that we can’t help but place our complete and total trust and surrender in Him. That’s why to open the festivities, we will sing this song of faith and trust based on Psalm 56.3 – ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.’ So let’s raise our voices to heaven, offer the sacrifice of praise from lips and hearts sincere and true in the statements we sing. 

As one now: ‘When I am afraid, I will trust in You. Worries fill my heart; I will trust in You. O God my Father, Come do Your work in me. When I am afraid; I will trust in You. When my life is pain, I will look to You. Darkness all around; I will look to You. O God my Father, Come do Your work in me. When my life is pain, I will look to You. God of all my life, I will trust in You. Always, only LOVE, I will trust in You. Through joy and pain, Lord, You form Yourself in me. God of all my life, I will trust in You. God of all my life, I will trust in You.’ 

Yes friends, that last line is the most important and heart stopping: ‘God of all my life, I will trust in you.’ It says it ALL my people. I will indeed trust in the God who holds my life in the palms of His hands and LOVES me like no other of His wonderful creations! Glory to the Most High God! I would indeed be foolish to do otherwise. And so would any of you who claim to believe in Him, because He is our BE ALL and our END ALL! He made us, and has infinite power over all aspects of our lives, so why wouldn’t we bow to Him and worship and trust and have faith in Him eh? 

That’s only basic common sense. (smile) The unfortunate thing is that nowadays common sense seems to be sadly lacking in our society, as more people are turning away from God than are turning to Him. And no doubt that’s partly because they can’t handle His ways, which are higher and wiser than ours.  So foolishly, they choose to go their own way, down the wide and winding path that leads directly to Lucifer. They fail to realize that interacting with Jehovah God is not a now for now thing, but a gradual process based on our faith. 

As Jesus says in the words of our Bit: ‘According to your faith be it unto you.’ It’s simple and straightforward my people, as most of Jesus’ statements are. The more you believe, the greater your faith, the more you will see Him work in your life. But faith doesn’t happen overnight and also involves ‘sufferation’ and adversity, which too many of us try to run from. As the old people would say, ‘yuh could run, but yuh can’t hide;’ neither from God or trials and tribulations, because they are all integral parts of earthly life. 

And since Lucifer can’t help you when things get rough, our heavenly Father is the only logical person to turn to. But as a friend of mine would say, ‘enough palavering,’ let’s get some biblical info on faith. First up is the story of the Canaanite woman, a Gentile, who beseeched Jesus to heal her daughter, possessed by a devil. The disciples urged Him to send her away. 

But Jesus said: ‘I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel (to the Jews). Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet (right, good) to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to the dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt (you desire). And her daughter was made whole (well) from that very hour.’ (Matt.15:24-28) 

Ah friends, faith is a helluva thing yes! It can certainly work wonders when used right. Listen though to this explanation of that passage by the scholars. ‘15:26-28. By children the Lord means Jews, and by dogs, Gentiles. His attitude was intended to test the woman’s faith, which was rewarded by a miraculous healing. 

The term used for dogs (Gr. kuhariois) means little dogs (pets) not wild, scavenging beasts. She replied that such dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table. She knew what could be hers, even as a Gentile, and thus became an illustration of millions of Gentiles who would later be blessed by Israel’s messiah. Great is thy faith: Jesus again commends Gentile belief (cf. 8:10).’ 

Ah mih people, it certainly seemed that the Gentiles were somewhat wiser than the Jews, when it came to acknowledging Jesus’ power. And we’ll close with these stellar words of Jesus on faith. After telling the disciples that they should forgive as often as a trespasser repents; ‘And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine (mulberry) tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.’ (Luke 17:5-5) 

What a bam bam mih people! Even as much faith as can hold in a li’l mustard seed can work mighty miracles. Unfortunately, a lot of us don’t even have that much faith. 

But hear the scholars. ’17:5-6. The magnitude of the command in verse 4 (re forgiveness) leads to a plea for assistance. Faith, understood here not merely in a mental sense, but also in the sense of active “faithfulness,” is the key. One’s faith often increases as one steps out in trusting obedience.’ 

So friends, let’s try growing our faith by stepping out in trusting obedience today nuh, for that’s the wisdom of heaven. Much LOVE!

…without faith…there is no hope…and without hope…there is no faith…

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 24 January 2012 Isaiah 41:6‏

24 Jan 2012 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Inspirational Living Tags: , , , , ,

Isaiah 41:6.    They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
 
Oh Friends, this life can be so amusing and annoying at times eh! A few moments ago, I was sitting here at my desk, looking at all the stuff around me, lost, like in limbo – not the dance. (smile) The Good Book was opened in front of me and I had asked for guidance, but I still didn’t know what to write. I was there, like the Canaanite woman with the demon possessed daughter, who had come to Christ, saying ‘Lord, help me.’ (Matt.15:25) A little while later, in a moment of inspiration, I got up and went over to my ‘P.S. I LOVE YOU’ Poster, and began reading the quotes I had never used before in the Bit. Lo and behold, this one struck me as being very relevant. ‘Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers, why not gather your own bouquet.’ Now that’s both a very interesting and truthful statement. Sometimes we sit around waiting for others to bring or do stuff for us and end up waiting in vain, when it would be much easier and more productive if we just did it ourselves. This waiting for, or expecting others to do stuff is one of the bad habits our world has recently adopted. We all want the glory that can come from actually doing, but none of the hard work or the possible negative side effects. We see this especially in North American styled societies, where for example, we’re very reluctant to help someone in distress, afraid that later on, if something negative happens, they will turn around and sue us. Oh my people, these days basic fear and fear mongering are widespread in our society, and sadly, instead of the positive emotion of faith being the backbone of our society, it’s quickly moving to the negative emotion of fear. But we all know that’s not right, faith should be our most active and widespread emotion. Our great God explicitly states: ‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’ (Is.41:10) And we know that whatever Jehovah God proclaims is the living truth! So why my Friends are we still so afraid of life and the problems it brings eh? Why are we afraid, reluctant and too selfish to help others eh? Look at what our Bit says, when talking about the final restoration of Israel: ‘They helped every one his neighbour: and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage (Be strong).’ Unfortunately my brethren, we can’t afford to wait until the end times – though these might even be it – to start coming together and helping each other. We used to do it before when our society wasn’t as busy and self-centred as it now is. And we can certainly do it again, if we so desire, with the Lord’s help of course. The Psalms make it abundantly clear that our source of help comes from God. ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills (mountains), from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.’ (Ps.121:1-2) ‘Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield.’ (Ps.33:20) ‘God is our refuge and strength; a very present (an abundantly available) help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear…’ (Ps.46: 1-2) Ah Friends, that’s only a small sample of scriptures showing God to be our source of help, but what it all boils down to is that though these times are very troubled and worrisome, believers should not be afraid, for whatever happens, the Lord has promised to protect us, and we should be strong enough in faith to stand on His promise. That doesn’t mean we should sit and do nothing, but rather be more active than ever in His Name. We need to get up off our hefty rear ends and begin helping ourselves as well as others. Do consider the negative possibilities, but don’t let them intimidate you and drive you to inaction. Remember, Christianity is an action movement. Note the word play there: both action and movement. It’s not like a limpid, unmoving pool with no natural outlet, waiting there for someone to come and stir it up, but more like a strong flowing river, continuously moving towards its destination, in many cases, the open sea. That’s how Christianity ought to be my people; continuously moving towards the greater good, the way of Jesus, that leads to our eventual destination – heaven. Oh Friends, no true believer can be happy with the way Christianity is shaping up today. It needs to be much improved in all areas if we are to give the world a realistic and faithful image of what Jesus desires. So please, in this fateful year of 2012, let’s all get a move on and try to improve it, for time is running out, and Jesus is definitely not happy with our efforts. Much LOVE!…we’re all to blame…for we have all sinned…and come short of the glory of God… (Rom.3:23)