The Overwhelming Importance of Sincerely Believing In Jesus Christ although We have never seen Him!

28 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

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

John 20:29b.        blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

So we move on to Saturday, our lazy-day Saturday, where we try to do as little as possible, after a hard and frustrating week’s work. (smile) And it’s a beautiful day, with more sunshine than cloud, plus a brisk, cool breeze, and temps supposedly on the rise. But Mother Earth is clean, after a thorough cleansing in the midnight hour, when the thunder roared, the lightning flashed and the rain fell in torrents.

And by the way, yesterday afternoon, the sun did valiantly overpower the clouds and come out shining in all its glory, so it’s not impossible for us to be valiant and get up and do God’s will. Just a reminder that we need to get up and get a move on, if we ever hope to make any productive and positive changes in our chaotic world. (smile) And we can begin right now by offering up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer.

As one strong and sincere 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!’

Ah friends, how good it is to be close to our God; our Creator and Controller, the One who LOVES us more than we can ever think or imagine, so much so that He gave His only begotten Son as a sacrifice so that our sins could be forgiven! Now, if that doesn’t show true and real LOVE, I don’ know what does! And it’s ever so wise for us to get close and stay close to Him, so that He can LOVE us the way He desires, to bask in it, while returning it through our surrender to and trust in Him and His awesome Son Jesus Christ!

That brings to mind the situation after Christ rose from the dead and appeared to the disciples. Thomas though was absent, and after hearing about it, claimed that He would not believe unless he put his hands in the nail prints of Jesus’ hands and the javelin wound in His side. And you must LOVE the wit of Jesus, for He specifically chose a time when Thomas was with the other disciples to appear again.

Jesus headed straight for him, and said, ‘Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless (unbelieving), but believing. And Thomas said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’ (John 20:27-29)

Yes friends, Jesus is there talking about people like us, who did not see Him in the living flesh while He was here on earth, but nonetheless have believed His story, and fervently placed our trust and lives in His faithful and trustworthy hands. That’s why Bruh Paul could write thus to the Corinthians: ‘(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (1 Cor. 5:7) And to the Romans: ‘For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience (perseverance) (eagerly) wait for it.’ (Rom. 8:24-25)

And that’s what our faith is all about; eagerly waiting with perseverance for Christ’s return! As the author of Hebrews writes: ‘Now faith is the substance (realization) of things hoped for, the evidence (conviction) of things not seen.’ (Heb. 11:1) So faith and hope help us to understand as well as wait for those wonderful things that Jesus promised would eventually come to pass.

And I like how Peter puts it when talking about an Incorruptible Inheritance that’s laid up for us. He says: ‘That the trial (genuineness) of your faith. being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried (tested) with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing (revelation) of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye LOVE; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.’ (1 Pet. 1:7-8)

Wow! What a manifestation of our faith! Though we haven’t seen Jesus in the flesh, like so many others did, yet we LOVE Him like no other; more than any human being, and rejoice with unspeakable joy and give Him all the glory! Now, many other beings have the power to entice others into joyfully LOVING them and basking in their glory, but NONE of them have the power to keep the promises that Jesus made and instill the marvellous and miraculous faith that He’s been able to instill down through the ages in so many humans who have never seen Him in person, and is still instilling in numerous believers.

And I believe these are some excellent words for us to go out on this lazy-day Saturday, the last one of June 2025. They come from the first epistle of John, where he confidently declares: ‘We LOVE Him, because he first LOVED us. If a man say, I LOVE God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that LOVETH not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he LOVE God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who LOVETH God LOVE his brother also.’ (1 John 4:19-21)

Oh my people it could not be any clearer than that. We cannot say we truly LOVE God while hating our brother. Remember the second great commandment is to LOVE our neighbours as ourselves, (Matt. 22:39) and our neighbours are all those we come into contact with. So, I implore us this lazy-day Saturday, to spend some time considering our faith; if we truly believe in Jesus, although we’ve not seen Him, and if so, how are we relating to our brothers and neighbours in this crazy and ungodly world. That ought to give us much pause for thought! (smile) Much LOVE!

…saying we LOVE God is easy…but doing it in real life is definitely not easy…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 20 October 2017 1 Peter 5:8.

20 Oct 2017 Leave a comment

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

1 Peter 5:8.   Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Ahoy there mates! How are your sails holding up today eh? I do hope that they are full and billowing with a strong wind so that you can be pushed smoothly along life’s wide and plentiful waterways. 

And if Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour is breathing His powerful heavenly breath upon your sails, then you can be assured of a safe journey. It won’t always be smooth sailing, for life is never completely calm, but you will reach your destination safely. With Jesus as your guide and pilot, I can guarantee you that! 

And as most of us know, (smile) it’s Friday, so it’s no surprise to hear the workingman singing his song. ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday oui! Massa slave work soon done, then my time is all mine! Glory to God! Ah going to party and sleep and laze about … then party and sleep and laze about some more…all weekend! Thank God for Fridays and weekends, for the short respite from back-breaking labour for li’l pay!’ 

Ah mih people, the ordinary man’s life is getting harder though our society is prosperously reinventing itself at phenomenal speed. Why is that eh? In an age of so much, so many have so little… 

And it doesn’t seem to be getting better though millions of voices are crying out for help. In fact it seems to be getting worse, for the rich are indeed getting richer and greedier, while the poor are getting poorer and falling further behind, if that is at all possible. 

Ah Lord eh! When will mankind ever learn to share his bounty with others eh? I guess not until Jesus comes to set up His eternal kingdom and greed and such negative things are removed from His world. 

Anyway, for believers, we do have HOPE… lot’s of it, and we just need to hold tight to Jesus and we’ll be okay. Now let’s refute the workingman’s song with our own Friday Chant. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. 

Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’ 

And that’s a more sensible prayer, one in keeping with Jesus’ philosophy. It doesn’t allow us to go overboard in any area of our lives, but does it’s best to keep us on the straight and narrow, where we can have rest, enjoyment and fellowship, while being rejuvenated in body and soul, so we can start out strong next week. 

Wise, faithful believers will tend towards that guideline, while the unwise will want to overdo the partying and lazing around aspect, then come Monday morning and time to go back to work, they are of no use to themselves or anybody else. 

Boundaries, friends, boundaries, limits, cut offs, are very necessary in a believer’s life, for if we go too far, we’ll simply allow the enemy to gain footholds, toeholds, etc, in our lives, a situation that is totally unacceptable. 

Hence our Bit for today: ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in (experienced by) your brethren that are in the world.’ (1 Pet.5:8-9) 

And that is the gospel truth my brethren! Lucifer and his evil henchmen are constantly on the lookout for ways to invade a believer’s spirit and thus get him or her off of Jesus’ program of salvation and eternal life. Even the teeny, ‘weeniest’ chink in our spiritual armour will have them salivating. 

And remember that Lucifer and his bandits are no respecter of persons, they attack everybody, especially believers. So please don’t think that you are alone in facing and experiencing temptation. It’s a worldwide game. 

Now here is some invaluable insight from James into keeping the enemy at bay. ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh (near) to God, and he will draw nigh (near) to you…’ (James 4:7-8a) 

Yeh friends, keeping the enemy at bay involves two basic actions; vigorously and continuously resisting him, while drawing ever closer to God. They are not always easy actions to perform, but if we’re serious about our walk with God, and sincerely ask for His help, we can do it. 

And why are we sure of that? Peter explains. ‘But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish (confirm), strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.’ (1 Pet.5:10-11) 

Oh friends, I know we’ve heard this message over and over again, but it’s one we need to repeatedly hear so that we can stay on the right path, to remember that the enemy is always lurking, trying to bring us down to his unholy level. 

So today, I implore us to pay serious attention to our faith walk, stay close to God, and not give the enemy any chance whatsoever to devalue it. I pray this in Christ’s name. Amen! Much LOVE my brethren!

…be on the lookout…always…for the enemy’s wiles and lies…