church’s health | SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 11:1. In the Lord I put my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

Oh friends, let’s fittingly begin this glorious Thursday’s proceedings with some praise and worship nuh. Please sing with me this old, but still ever-important standard from our hymnal.

‘Onward Christian soldiers! Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus Going on before. Christ, the royal Master, Leads against the foe; Forward into battle, See, His banners go! Onward, Christian soldiers! Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus, Going on before.

At the name of Jesus Satan’s host doth flee; On then, Christian soldiers, On to victory! Hell’s foundations quiver At the shout of praise: Brothers, lift your voices, Loud your anthems raise! Like a mighty army Moves the Church of God:

Brothers, we are treading Where the saints have trod; We are not divided, All one Body we— One in faith and Spirit, One eternally. Crowns and thrones may perish, Kingdoms rise and wane; But the Church of Jesus Constant will remain.

Gates of hell can never ’Gainst the Church prevail; We have Christ’s own promise, Which can never fail. Onward, then, ye people! Join our happy throng; Blend with ours your voices In the triumph song. Glory, laud and honor Unto Christ, the King; This through countless ages Men and angels sing.’

Oh my people, what a wonderful hymn! Remember when we used to sing such military songs like this and ‘Stand up for Jesus?’ They are still very important to our movement, because we are still in a raging battle with the enemy, the prince of darkness, therefore we need military procedure to fight it properly.

We also need to be well dressed everyday with our spiritual armour, backed up by sincere prayer, otherwise the enemy will have no trouble infiltrating our defences.

Now let’s move forward on the offensive by declaring our Thursday Blessings that will keep us rolling on to victory. With true sincerity, trust and confidence in Jesus Christ, let’s passionately speak blessings over our lives now:

‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline!

I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life!

I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’

Oh my brethren, what a powerful declaration of blessings over our lives! Wow! Remember a blessing is not truly a blessing until it’s spoken over someone, so please let’s continue to speak since blessings over our LOVED ones and ourselves! That’s the only way they will truly take hold.

And that brings us to what I think is a most appropriate Bit for all of what we’ve spoken about so far. ‘In the Lord I put my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?’

Yes friends, if we put our strong and steadfast trust in Almighty God, why need we to flee anywhere eh? No reason whatsoever! Our God is the mightiest Being that exists, so there’s need to run from anything at all!

And Bruh David continues the psalm: ‘For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily (secretly) shoot at the upright in heart.’ (Ps.11:2) But the reality of that situation my fellow believers, is if we’re wearing our spiritual armour, no arrow of the wicked can penetrate it to harm us.

And all God’s people boldly and gratefully declare: ‘All glory be to our great and wonderful God! Let His holy name be praised now and forever more!’

Then Bruh David further asks: ‘If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ (And answers) ‘The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try (test) the children of men. The Lord trieth (tests) the righteous: but the wicked and him that LOVETH violence his soul hateth.

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares (burning coals), fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest (a burning wind): this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord LOVETH righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.’ (Ps.113-7)

Yes my faithful brethren, our God is a righteous God and thus despises wickedness. So once we are walking in His will, protected by His sure armour, we have nothing to fear from the wicked, for in the Lord’s time, He shall rain fire and brimstone, burning coals and a burning wind up them. So there’s no need for a true and sincere Christian to be afraid of anything or anybody!

As the scholars explain: ‘Psalm 11. A vision of the Lord on His throne (v.4) is all the righteous need for security in the face of the threat of the wicked (v.2).’

Oh my people, please, please, let’s stop being fearful nuh. Instead let’s stand up and fight the foolish foe, who thinks he can push God’s people around! Let’s push back! Let’s stop the wicked from trying to take Almighty God completely out of our society!

Let’s strengthen our belly and backbone and truly fight for what we believe in! It’s the only way we will ever accomplish much for Jesus; ever win the LOVE Revolution!

So let’s end today’s proceedings the way we began nuh, with a powerful verse of military might. ‘Onward Christian soldiers! Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus Going on before. Christ, the royal Master, Leads against the foe; Forward into battle, See, His banners go! Onward, Christian soldiers! Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus, Going on before.’ Much LOVE!

…soldiers are not immune from fear…but they let their courage conquer their fear…

Ephesians 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Oh Friends, oh Friends, our God is a great and most wonderful Deity! Please give Him praise and thanks, oodles and oodles of it, for He is most deserving of our thanks and praise!

And I say that, because as I walk down memory lane today, I note where in the past two weeks He’s unexpectedly brought so many people from my past into my present orbit. Thank You Lord! And from the very depths of my soul, again I say, Thank You!

It has certainly been interesting and overwhelming to say the least, for like every day, someone else just unexpectedly comes out of the woodwork. And that shouldn’t be so surprising since our God majors in the unexpected.

And talking about the unexpected, yesterday afternoon while hanging out at the Duchess’ friend’s bar with my Uncle Foster, who had earlier come from Trinidad to visit me, my cell phone rang.

When I answered it, I discovered that it was another old friend from school days, who was also in town. He now resides in New York, and I had seen him at Caribana in Toronto a few years ago, so the time span between contact wasn’t as great as with so many others.

But while talking to him, I learned that since I last saw him, he had gone through several surgeries for some internal problems. And that was after having been through many more before that. It’s good to see that he has that fighting, never say die, never give up attitude.

And it’s also nice to know that he gives the Bit some credit for helping him make it through some of the rough times, both in the hospital and at home. He says it helps him keep his faith strong, and not give in to self-pity and the desire to give up this painful earthly life.

I went to visit him this morning after church, and he does look strong, but he has to go back to Trinidad for some tests and other medical procedures tomorrow. Let’s pray that the Lord will bless him and cause everything to go all right. His name is Anthony Massiah, so please remember him in your prayers.

And that was about all the out of the ordinary memories I made yesterday, because after dropping my Uncle Foster home, we just came home and relaxed, watched the Leafs beat Ottawa in a high-spirited ice-hockey game, then went to bed, got up this morning and went to church.

On the church matter though my fellow believers, I was greatly disappointed to see the small number of people in the congregation. If you were to put everybody together, it might have taken up possibly one quarter of the church.

Now that certainly doesn’t speak well of the church’s health. But I’m not privy to their problems, so I can’t offer any positive critique and /or advice. I just know that the three times I’ve been there recently, the crowds were noticeably smaller than the two occasions on my last trip to Tobago, some fifteen months ago.

Ah Friends and fellow believers, we need to pray for the state of Christ’s church all over the world, because in many cases, for one reason or another, the numbers are sadly dwindling, and we definitely can’t allow that negative trend to continue. Through heartfelt prayer and seriously addressing the problems causing this fall away, we need to actively participate in the renewal of Christ’s earthly body, for it’s a godly trust given to us, to strengthen and grow it.

Unfortunately though, for whatever reasons, we’re falling down on the job. And how can we allow that to happen after reading our Bit eh? ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.’

Yesterday we saw how many things, faithful blessings and benefits, those few words of Bruh Paul contained. And continuing on, we note even more blessings and benefits.

‘According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in LOVE: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children (as sons) by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.’ (Eph.1:4-5)

Yes Friends, the Lord chose us to be His adopted children through Jesus, long before He even laid the foundations of the world! That means, even before time began He was totally interested in us, LOVING us, through His own will, not through anything we would or could do. He had set us apart, sanctified us, to be holy and blameless before Him, walking in LOVE.

Now here are a few interesting notes from the scholars. ‘1:4. The connecting thought linking verses 3 and 4 is this: Just as (According as) God has blessed believers with every spiritual blessing “in Christ” (v.3), so in like manner it was in (or by) him that he hath chosen us. God never intended to bless man apart from Christ. All God does for man, He does through His Son.’

And they continue: ‘1:4-5. The last two words of verse 4 (in LOVE) may well belong to verse 5; the link between verb forms in these two verses is expressed in this rendering: “He chose us…in that He LOVINGLY predestined us.” So the divine choice of verse 4 is further defined by the divine predestination of verse 5.

Predestinated means “marked out in advance,” “determined or appointed beforehand.” Prior to creation God appointed those who would believe unto (or, for) the adoption of children; that is, He appointed them to be His sons. This divine appointment was according to (because of) the good pleasure of his will; it was due not to anything good in ourselves, but due solely to His kindness.

These verses stress the divine sovereignty in salvation. Verses 12 and 13, which mention our trust and belief in Christ, emphasize the human responsibility in the process.’

Yes my people, the Lord put a whole lot of thought and LOVE into His plan of creation, putting us believers first in it. We therefore owe Him a large debt of gratitude and thanks for all those wonderful benefits and blessings He’s currently showering down on us, and also has stored up in heavenly places, marked with our names.

So please, let’s endeavor to do a better job of living and working for Him than we’re presently doing nuh. Yuh know all He asks of us is just to try and follow in the footsteps of His Son, become more like our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. That’s not too much to ask, after all He’s done for us. Much LOVE!

…to know, know, know, Him…is to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Him…

P.S. Oh Friends, the wife just called me outside on the balcony to see a beautiful rainbow, after a light shower of rain. Mama Mia! It seems like I only see rainbows in Tobago. (smile) The last one I saw was coming over in the plane from Trinidad on my last visit. I’ll take it as the harbinger of good tidings. Much LOVE!

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 9 June 2016 Psalm 11:1

Today’s Scrip-Bit 2 February 2014 Ephesians 1:3

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