Today’s Scrip-Bit   2 December 2023 Psalm 31:24.

02 Dec 2023 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 31:24.       Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.

And it looks like the first lazy-day Saturday in December will be just like the first Friday yesterday; wet and cloudy with promises of rain and intermittent snow. But it’s a perfect day for staying inside and allowing all the stress and tension to flow out of you, as you get quiet and somewhat lazy (smile) and contemplate your position in life: like where you’re going, how you’re going to get there, are you improving, especially your spiritual self, becoming more Christlike… 

Yes friends, today, at the beginning of the Christmas Season, when we celebrate the incarnate birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, it’s a perfect time to reconsider our goals in life and see if they line up with the Lord’s will and Word. And to help us do that, let’s say our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer with sincere hearts, minds, bodies and souls. 

As one voice: ‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’ 

And it never ceases to amaze me, that every Saturday when we say that prayer, how quiet, relaxed and thoughtful I become. I surely hope it does the same for you, because at the end of our busy work week, we certainly need something to quiet our spirits and keep our souls in communion with God and His awesome plan for our lives. And there’s nothing better than prayer to do so! In fact, that’s what prayer was designed for; to bring us closer to our heavenly Father. 

So anytime you feel like you’re drifting away from Him, please turn to prayer, sincere prayer, so that you can get reconnected and be safely ensconced, hidden in the refuge of His ever-LOVING embrace. For, as Moses so wisely wrote in the book of Deuteronomy so long ago: ‘There is none like the God of Jeshurun  (righteous people), who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them.’ (Deut. 33:26-27) 

Yes my faithful brethren, that’s the strong and powerful and ever-LOVING God we righteous serve. As one commentary puts it. ‘Deuteronomy 33:26-27 Prays For Those Who Are Struggling, saying: Oh God, that they would rest in you, the eternal God as their dwelling place. That they would find deep rest in you today, right now in this moment, and they would know underneath them are the everlasting arms of the eternal God.’ 

And that’s our prayer for all of us this lazy-day Saturday my fellow saints, for in this troubled and chaotic world we all need a safe and secure refuge when the enemy comes with his evil minions to tempt and test our souls and spirits. And the only place we believers can find such security and refuge is in the everlasting arms of our great and wonderful God, who has faithfully promised to protect us from all the attacks of the enemy if we would only surrender our souls and lives to him. 

That’s why Bruh David could afford to write in Psalm 27: ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?’ (Ps. 27:1) Oh my people, those sure are powerful words of faith and trust! And until we can declare (yesss!!!) them with the utmost certainty and sense of purpose, we will be forever doubtful when the enemy tempts and tests us. 

Now, we’re not saying that those are easy words to proclaim, but we can only do so if we keep practicing what they say. That means we need to be continually turning to the Lord for whatever we desire in our everyday lives, for only with practice can we ever come close to perfection. And Bruh David could utter those words with complete conviction because he had personally experienced the safety and security of God in his everyday life, especially in those crazy times when he was running from King Saul who desperately wanted to kill him.  

And these words of Bruh David from Psalm 31, subtitled ‘My Rock and My Fortress,’ gives us more insight into how it is when we walk sincerely with God. Please read with me: ‘Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear (reverence) thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence (secret place) from the pride (plots) of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion (shelter) from the strife of tongues. 

Blessed be the Lord: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplication when I cried unto thee. O LOVE the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth (fully repays) the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.’ (Ps. 31:19-24) 

Oh my fellow saints in Christ, I could not put it any better than that, and I do hope that what we’ve said this lazy-day Saturday will help to fill us with the strength the courage and the will to sincerely turn to Almighty God, to surrender our all to Him, and be obedient to His will, because that is the highest form of wisdom for all the ages! Much LOVE!

…the One who created you…He’s the One who will keep you safe from all harm… 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 12 January 2021 Luke 18:42.

12 Jan 2021 Leave a comment

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

Luke 18:42.     ​And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.

Morning mih bredrin – and afternoon to some of you! (smile) And I do hope that we’re all thankful for the grace and mercy of God to allow us to see another day, rough and tumble though it may be, and that we all gave Him thanks for so doing. And this life is certainly interesting yes! Have you ever noticed that whenever you’re late, behind schedule in something, that something else always crops up to further delay you? 

Well that happened to me this morning. I was up a tad late, had a couple things to do before I began writing, then when I finally got here, the ole computer, well it’s fairly new, decided that it had a whole lot of updates to do, then restart, before I could get to doing my business. Steups! 

And have you ever noticed too that the computer only breaks down when you truly need it? (smile) But I guess them’s the breaks. You have to pay the price for the convenience of now for now action! And why do we keep trusting these man-made machines eh? I guess it’s because we have faith in them. A lot of people trust their smartphones more than they trust Jesus! 

That’s foolish, but unfortunately it’s true. They would never leave their homes without that tiny piece of equipment, but how many thousands, millions, or even billions, leave home every day without Jesus eh? Who don’t even know Him, much less consider Him important in their lives? 

Ah mih friends, it’s so sad that we trust, have faith in a whole lot of man-made things, but don’t trust, or have any faith in the very ONE who made us, the universe, and all therein! And then you ask, why you should not trust man-made things you see, but a God whom you cannot see? Isn’t it logical to believe what you see, and not what you cannot see? 

I grant that position, but that’s in the man-made world, but in God’s divine economy, seeing is not believing, not seeing, but believing is the dominant force. As Jesus told His doubting disciple Thomas: ‘Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: but blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’ (John 20:29) That’s the whole crux of the matter my people; believing in Jesus through faith, yet never having seen Him in living colour! 

And some of you might ask, what’s this faith business eh? The Good Book tells us that ‘faith is the substance (realization) of things hoped for, the evidence (conviction) of things not seen.’ (Heb. 11:1) Yes, faith is eagerly expecting something you haven’t seen, and waiting patiently for it. Just like we wait, ofttimes impatiently, but with lots of eagerness, to see what presents we have under the Christmas tree. (smile) 

We haven’t seen Jesus, but we know that He came to earth on a Christmas day long ago, grew up here on earth, died, was buried, rose again, then ascended into heaven, and will come back to earth again as He has faithfully promised! Now yes, that might be a stretch for many of us to believe, but if we start believing, Jesus will divinely show up in our lives and prove to us that He is indeed who He claims to be. 

And that’s where that thing called faith, comes in my brethren; you have to believe in Him, before you can see Him. And we have an excellent example of not seeing but believing in the story of the blind man, Bartimaeus who sat in the Jericho area begging, but when he heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried out to Him, saying, ‘Jesus thou son of David, have mercy on me.’ (Luke 18:38) 

And we wonder how a blind beggar could know about Jesus and His healing capabilities eh? Well the scholars tell us that most likely by that time Jesus’ ministry had spread far and wide across the country. And the blind man’s faith is even more pronounced when those around him tell him to shut up, to ‘hold his peace; but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.’ (Luke 18:39) Yeh friends, how did that blind man know of Jesus’ Messianic status eh, which is what ‘son of David’ indicates? Who knows? But know it He did. 

Oh precious people, this next act of Jesus is so wonderful, so heartwarming, so Christlike. The Good Book tells us: ‘And Jesus stood (still, stopped), and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord that I may receive my sight.And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people when they saw it, gave praise unto God.’ (Luke 18:40-43) 

And yuh better believe, those scripture verses highlight several interesting things. First it highlights the awesome faith of the blind man, which, according to Jesus, is what really caused him to see. And how many times during Jesus’ earthly ministry did He make mention of people’s faith enabling their healing or whatever they pleaded for eh? Numerous! And yet, we still refuse to rely on our faith in Jesus, but our sight in man-made things. 

Then, most importantly, did you notice how Jesus just stopped and attended to the blindman’s needs? Oh friends, that’s one characteristic of Christ that all of us need to adapt and adopt or whatever! Jesus was never too busy to stop and attend to some person’s needs, be they rich or poor. Not so we people pleasers and social climbers! We’re always in a hurry, going nowhere fast, except when someone who can do something for us, asks for our help. But that’s not Christian-like my friends. 

The scholars explain that verse thus:‘18:40. Stood,that is, He came to a halt. Jesus’ command also serves to rebuke those who lacked compassion for the beggar. In the midst of the attempt to hear Jesus, one must take care not to be insensitive to the plight ofothers.’Oh how much better our world would be, if the insensitivity that currently chokes it was released! 

Notice too, how Bartimaeus, after he was healed, followed Jesus and glorified God. How many of us have had divine intervention in our lives and yet have not made it our avowed purpose to follow theONEwho divinely intervened eh? Too many! That’s for sure! We either take it for granted, or just don’t care. But when troubles engulf us, we quick to call out, ‘Oh God, help me nuh!’ That recalls the ten lepers that Jesus healed, and only one returned to thank Him, a Samaritan to boot, the enemy of the Jews. (Luke 17:11-19) 

And lastly, I wonder how many of those who witnessed the divine miracle that day and simultaneously praised God, continued doing so afterwards eh? My guess is not a whole lot. But time and space have run out my brethren, so let’s go home declaring (steups!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting the whole world know who and whose we are; let them know to whom we proudly belong! 

Altogether now: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world. Amen!’ 

What we waiting for then eh? Let’s go out and share the amazingLOVEand friendship of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!Much LOVE!

…without faith in Christ…our lives are meaningless…without real purpose…