25 Jan 2014
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: accra, appropriate scriptures, associate with, beauty of the people, believers in Christ Jesus, birds, bright morning sun, bring them to Jesus, Bruh Paul, call of duty, cast off the works of darkness, childhood, christ jesus, come up above, cooperation, Corinthians, country areas, covetous, despondent, doing good, don't give up hope, drunkard, episode at Store Bay, exotic brakfast, extortioners, faith getting stronger, fornicators, godly habits, golf course, good example, habitual association, handle it, hang on, humanity, idolaters, insects singing, inspiring, Jesus, judging, lost epistle, loving wings, lusts of the flesh, Maker, may God bless and keep us., memories, mingle together, moral standards, new generation, night is far spent, not to keep company, peaceful, peas soup, poignant, polluting, praising the heavenly Father, problem, provider, ps and qs, purpose, put on the armour of light, reminiscing, reviler, rich batter, Robinson Crusoe's Isle, salted cod, sexually immoral people, shrubbery, spill over, sweetly chirping, tech toys, the day is at hand, Tobagonians, tranquil scene, ungodly ways, wicked person
Romans 13:12. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Oh my beautiful Friends and believers in Christ Jesus, it surely seems like another beautiful day is in the offing on Robinson Crusoe’s glorious Isle! It is a tad cool though. The first time that I’ve experienced it this cool at 7.30 in the morning. And as always, the light, fine breeze is present. That is what makes it seem so cool.
Anyhow, what’s there to say in today’s preamble eh? Nothing much really, for nothing happened after my little episode at Store Bay yesterday. Some of the things the Lord puts us through eh!
But you know, although I became a tad despondent at the very real prospect of losing my glasses, something deep down inside kept whispering; ‘Hang on. Don’t give up hope. The Lord wouldn’t allow this problem if there wasn’t some purpose to it.’
And I guess it just showed me that my faith was getting stronger, but also the beauty of the people with whom I was dealing. But why should that surprise me eh, when I’m always raving about how Tobago people are so wonderful. (smile) Their sincere cooperation and effort was way beyond their call of duty.
And in some small way, it kind of restored some of my lost faith in humanity. And the birthday gathering I went to last night was also wonderful! I met friends and acquaintances I hadn’t seen in donkey years! Some of them as long as forty years ago. I also met some of the new generation of Tobagonians. They seem to be just like the new generation all over the world; into their tech toys and otherwise.
But the reminiscing of the older folks was extremely poignant and inspiring. It brought back long forgotten memories of our childhood. And again, we made new memories to reminisce on at another gathering in the future.
Ah mih people, as we’re wont to say in the past week: ‘I could handle this yuh know.’ (smile) And why not, especially with all the lush shrubbery in front of me, the still empty but immaculate golf course in the middle and the big green trees in the back ground, with the bright morning sun splaying over it all, and the birds sweetly chirping, insects singing, all praising the heavenly Father, their Maker and sure Provider. Just a peaceful, tranquil scene.
And add to that, the fact that the Duchess’ long lost friend called us a short while ago to come for our peas soup (pigeon / gungo) and I had to leave the Bit and go for it, because she had to leave for work shortly. So how could I not be able to handle this eh? Chuh! Now that’s a positive, smiling chuh!
I’m supposed to be going up to check out some of the country areas later today. Don’t know how that will pan out, but I’ll surely let you know at some later date. But enough rambling now. Let’s check on our Bit. ‘The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.’
Yes it’s the same as the last few days, because I still have some very appropriate scriptures to share on the topic, a most important one in the life of EVERY believer.
And we’ll begin with some words on moral standards from Bruh Paul to the Corinthians. ‘I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company (associate) with fornicators (sexually immoral people): Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer (reviler), or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one, no, not to eat.
For what have I to do to judge (with judging) them also that are without (outside)? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without (outside) God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.’ (1 Cor.5:9-13)
Yeh mih people those are some tough standards to maintain, but believers always need to come up above the rest of the crowd, being a good example to them, as Jesus was and is to us.
And the scholars have some interesting notes on a couple of those verses. ‘5:9. I wrote unto you in an epistle: This is the “previous epistle.” The letter is now lost, but we know that at least one subject discussed in this letter was that they were not to keep company with fornicators.’
And ‘5:11. Not to keep company: The term translated “to keep company” is found only here, in verse 9, and in 2 Thessalonians 3:14. It is a compound of three Greek terms, and means “to mingle together with.” It has the idea of close, habitual association.’
Now that doesn’t mean we can’t talk to or work with these people, for how else are we going to have a chance to bring them to Jesus? But we must not make it a habit to associate with them, as their ungodly ways can quite easily spill over into us.
And as we said recently, when we encounter the ungodly, we need to ensure that our godly habits control the situation, or we are on our p’s and q’s to avoid the worldly lusts of the flesh polluting our hearts, souls and minds.
And we’ll close there for today. I’m going to have an exotic breakfast; carrot bread and accra (salted cod fried in a rich batter), then get myself ready to head for the country districts, places I have not seen in ages.
Till next time then, if the Lord’s in favour of us meeting again here on earth, please look after yourselves, and may our great and wonderful God bless and keep us all safely under His expansive and LOVING wings. Much LOVE!
…believers ought to follow Jesus’ example…going out every day and doing good…so that we can win souls for Him…
08 Jan 2014
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: abhorred, actions, benefits, body fuel, breathe, Bruh Paul, christ jesus, clean air, connected to God, consciousness, Corinthians, Creator, dead with him, delivered from wicked men, deny him, despised, DETERMINATION, diligently try, do, drink, eat, endure, enjoy life, excellent results, exorbitant promises, faith, faithful, faithful saying, faithfulness, faithless, falling standards, forgiven, garbage in- garbage out, godly thoughts, Good Book, good soldier of Christ, hardiness, health, Health Food Mantra, Holy One, indisputable truth, Israel, jehovah god, Jesus Christ, lion, live with him, LOVE, make a way to escape, mercy of Jesus Christ, Messiah, Patricia Bragg, personal lives, pilgrim's route, poor souls, pray, provider, Redeemer of Israel, sacrifice, saving grace, saviour, say, selling ourselves short, servant, serve and worship, sinner, technologically advanced, temptation, tempted, the Lord's faithfulness, think, true, truly believe, wealth, winter, words
Isaiah 49:7. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his (its) Holy One, to him whom man despiseth (the despised of soul), to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose (has chosen) thee.
And the cold spell continues in the North Country, my people. One improvement though, it’s supposed to be a little warmer… Sorry, warmer is the wrong word, for there will be no warmth, it will be simply less cold. (smile)
But the great thing about it all is that unless the weather is truly awful, nothing much shuts down, and everyone and everything is expected to go on as normal. It speaks volumes for the determination and hardiness of the people. Anyway, you still have to dress warm and be very careful if you’re venturing out today.
And you people now enjoying brilliant sunshine and warm temps, do enjoy it, but remember to pray for us poor souls up here in the cold, that we’ll successfully make it through this winter that’s wanting to prove what a ferocious lion it is. (smile)
Now here’s an interesting note I found among my papers today. I believe it comes from a lady called Patricia Bragg. It says that ‘Your health is your wealth.’ Now that’s certainly true, because without good health, we can’t enjoy life!
Then there is what’s called the Health Food Mantra. Some of you might have heard it before, but it proclaims that ‘You are what you eat, drink, breathe, think, say and do.’
I believe that what you eat and drink is considered the body’s fuel. So whatever food we put in will determine how it runs; like a purring engine or a clanking, stuttering one.
The same goes for what we breathe. If we breathe in clean, highly oxygenated air, then the body will function at an optimum level. However, these days that kind of air is very difficult to find, especially in the big, industrialized towns and cities.
Then what we think is likened to a computer, and the saying, garbage in, garbage out. So if we don’t think healthy, godly thoughts, then all that will be processed and then come out of our minds is the same garbage we’ve put in, and that will show up through the words we speak and the actions we take.
And with the standards in all those areas sadly falling, as we supposedly get more intelligent and technologically advanced, we have to pay even more attention than before to what we eat, drink, think, say and do.
And the best way to do that my Friends, is by being totally connected to our God, our Creator and our Provider! Wow! What a saving grace for us! For unlike the man-controlled companies, that make us a lot of exorbitant promises, then don’t live up to them, our God, unfailingly lives up to everyone He makes, which proves that He’s ever-faithful, ever-true!
And the biggest promise He’s ever made is forever recorded in our Bit. ‘Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his (its) Holy One, to him whom man despiseth (the despised of soul), to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose (has chosen) thee.’
Yes Friends, the Lord promised a Saviour, a Redeemer, a Messiah, and faithfully delivered on it through His Son Jesus Christ! So why are we still so sceptical and reluctant to fully embrace Him and live a life that honours Him eh?
It makes no sense my brethren. We’re just selling ourselves short on the wonderful benefits that accrue to those who truly believe and diligently try to serve and worship Him. And it’s not like we can’t read in the Good Book and see in many personal lives around us the excellent results that come from accepting His promises and His faithfulness.
Listen to these scriptures that detail the Lord’s faithfulness. They all come from Bruh Paul’s writings. The first one is to the Corinthians.
‘There hath no temptation taken (befallen, overtaken) you but such as is common to man: but God is FAITHFUL, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear (endure) it.’ (1 Cor.10:13)
Now that doesn’t mean we’ll escape temptation, but more that He will find a way for us to endure it and come out safely on the other side.
Meanwhile, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, Bruh Paul writes: ‘And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. But the Lord is FAITHFUL, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil (the evil one).’ (2 Thess.3:2-3)
Yes Friends, we all know about the unfaithfulness of men, that’s why it’s so important to hold on to the faithfulness of Jehovah God.
Then in his first letter to Timothy, Bruh Paul declares: ‘And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with FAITH and LOVE which is in Christ Jesus. This is a FAITHFUL saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.’ (1 Tim.1:14-15)
Bruh Paul considers himself the biggest sinner, and well he might have been in his early days, when he diligently persecuted the church. But through the abundant grace and mercy of Jesus Christ he was forgiven.
Oh Friends, today the same thing is available and possible to anyone who trusts Jesus as their Lord and Saviour! So why don’t you take advantage of it eh, RIGHT NOW?
And we’ll end with some moving verses from Bruh Paul’s second letter to Timothy, re being a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
‘It is a FAITHFUL saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer (endure), we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not (are faithless), yet he abideth FAITHFUL: he cannot deny himself.’ (2 Tim.2:11-13)
Oh my people, those are words of fact, of indisputable truth! So please, let’s write them fast and deep in our consciousness nuh, and then faithfully abide by them as we journey along our pilgrim’s route on this troubled earth. That is the mark of true wisdom! Much LOVE!
…God has proven His faithfulness a million times over…but none as far reaching as sacrificing His only Son Jesus Christ…so that we could be reconciled to Him…what outstanding, all encompassing LOVE and FAITHFULNESS…
01 Jan 2014
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: 2014, almighty god, awesome, battle, be glad, beat the air, belly and backbone, body of Christ, Book of the Law, Bruh Paul, built on the rock, castaway, commanded, continual conversation, Corinthians, corruptible, created, crown, crown of righteousness, day and night, death, departure, desires, discipline, disqualified, dissension, division, essential, evil, evil world, exercise, expectant faith, expectations, fellow believers, fight, finished the race, foolishly think, fought as strong, friends, give thanks, glorifying God, godliness, good fight, gumption, Happy New Year, hearts, heavenly Father, help of Jesus, house divided, hungry hope, image of, imperishable, incorruptible, intelligent beings, intimate walk with Jesus, Jehovah-Jireh, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus' church, joining together, Joshua, joy, kept the faith, last testament, leader, leading and guiding, living for God, Lord your God, LOVE, LOVE Revolution, Lucifer, meditate, minds, mirror image of Jesus, New Year's resolution, obtain, one true God, peace, perishable, practice makes perfect, preached, prize, promise, race of life, reading God's Word, righteous judge, run, running the race, self-control, simple, simple formula, souls, stood up, straight and narrow path, straightforward, strive, stronger, success, temperate, the essence of Jesus, The Israelites, to prosper, to the left, to the right, training, training programme, turn aside, ungodliness, ungodly delights, walk with jesus, we will rejoice, wiser, Yahweh
Deuteronomy 5:32. Ye shall (carefully) observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Oh my beautiful Friends and fellow believers, I’m wishing you and yours a Happy New Year; a bright and prosperous 2014, filled with hungry hope, expectant faith and overwhelming LOVE for our great God, our pilgrim selves and neighbours, who have all been created in the image of the ONE TRUE DEITY, Almighty God, Yahweh, Jehovah Jireh!
Yes my people, 2014 will be a wonderful year, because we will all live up much better to our New Year’s resolution of having a closer and more intimate walk with Jesus, than we did in 2013. The whole point of the exercise is to get closer and closer, become a better mirror-image of Jesus every year that we’re alive.
And 2014 will be no different, for we’ll continue to build the LOVE Revolution that is destined to engulf this evil world, with our most able leader, Jesus Christ at the helm. Oh my people, with Jesus Christ leading and guiding us we can NEVER GO WRONG!
So today, let’s all promise that in 2014 we’ll buckle down, take our faith and it’s world-wide spread seriously, develop plenty gumption, plenty belly and backbone, and with the help of Jesus raise the level of godliness in this too evil world.
And the only way we can do that Friends, is by joining together, for remember that a house divided against itself will eventually fall, but one that’s working together, that’s built on the rock, as Jesus’ church is, will stand forever! That means as the body of Christ we have to start working together instead of against each other, as Lucifer is intent on having us do.
And unfortunately in 2013 he has succeeded much more than he should have; the church has seen its fair share of dissension and division, evil and ungodliness has definitely increased, while believers have not stood up and fought as strong a battle as we ought to.
But all of that is going to change for the better this watershed year of 2014 – isn’t it my brethren? I just know that it will, because we’re getting wiser and stronger and more intimate with Jesus each and every day!
Wow! What a year 2014 will be Friends!
And that’s where our Bit comes in, for living for and glorifying God, is what its all about: ‘Ye shall (carefully) observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.’
Yes my people, it’s that straight and narrow path that leads to God that we must concentrate on walking this New Year. And to get us going today, let’s joyfully declare: ‘This is the day which the Lord hath made, we WILL rejoice and be glad in it.’ (Ps.118:24)
Oh Friends, when we start out with joy, peace and LOVE, the essence of Jesus, in our hearts, minds and souls, how can we go wrong eh? NEVER!
That’s why it’s so essential from the moment we awake, till the moment we close our eyes to sleep, that we give thanks, we keep up a continual conversation with our heavenly Father, who is the ONE that enables us to prosper in this crazy world. And a big part of all that is regularly reading His Word.
As He told Joshua when He anointed him leader of the Israelites: ‘This book of the law shall not depart out of (be constantly in) thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.’ (Josh.1:8)
Oh my people, as I keep saying, our God keeps it clear, simple and straightforward! What’s in there not to understand eh? You read His Word, do what it says and you’ll be prosperous and successful!
Wow! What a simple formula for success!
But we, the great and intelligent beings that we are, or rather foolishly think that we are, just won’t buy it. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s too simple; perhaps we think it will keep us back from enjoying some of the evil and ungodly delights of this evil and ungodly world?
But Friends, whatever is keeping us back from taking hold of God’s Word and running the biggest and best race of our lives, please let’s drop it, or them, this year and concentrate strictly on Jesus and His desires for and expectations of us.
Hear Bruh Paul tell it to the Corinthians nuh: ‘ Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery (competes for the prize) is temperate (has self-control) in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible (perishable) crown; but we an incorruptible (imperishable). I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under (discipline) my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (be disqualified). (1 Cor.9:24-27)
Yes my people, that’s our biggest problem, bringing our bodies and minds under subjection, into a godly kind of discipline. But as Bruh Paul says, if we want to win the race, we have to put in the training time. It’s like everything else in our world; practice makes perfect.
And if we want to have a last testament like Bruh Paul, then we have to get to work seriously on our training program RIGHT NOW! ‘For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure (death) is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course (race), I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that LOVE his appearing.’ (2 Tim.4:6-8)
Oh my fellow believers, each and every one of us ought to be able to make that statement when our time to cross over to the other side draws near. But unfortunately we won’t be able to do so, unless we start training properly and seriously for that awesome race of life in Jesus Christ RIGHT NOW!
So I’ll leave us to ponder on all that now, and please, let’s enjoy this first day of 2014, as though it’s the first day of the rest of our lives, for in many ways it just might be. Much LOVE!
…turn not to the right hand…nor to the left…remove thy foot from evil… (Prov.4:27)
20 Sep 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: apostle's authority, balanced lives, Beelzebub, body, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, celebrity status, christianity, Corinthians, deaf ears, deception, evil intent, Father of lights, fellowship, first fruits, fresh as a daisy, Friday chant, fruitful, fun, generous help, gifts, glorifying God, glorious kingdom, God is good, God is immutable, God's grace, godly principle, good news, good stewards, grumpy, hardworking friends, hunger, in cahoots with, jesus name, leap of faith, live by the Bible, LOVE, material things, mind, miserable, oracles of god, party time, power, powerful, praise and dominion, proverbial expression, redeemed, redemption, refreshed, relaxation, religion, rest, righteousness., scripture, semblance of balance, shed blood of Jesus, soul, stop following men, temptation, TGIF!, Thank God it's Friday, theology, things of the world, time to party, tired, true perspective, variation, vim and vigour, word of truth, workweek, yearn for
John 3:27. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
Well hello there all my hardworking Friends! I have some good news to share – it’s Friday! And all my hardworking Friends shouted as one: ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday! Slavery finish for another week! It’s time to party now!’
No, no, no! Not so fast mih people! The weekend is not just a party time, it’s also, and even more importantly, a time of rest and renewal, so that we can begin the workweek fresh as a daisy, and go about glorifying God with plenty vim and vigour. So let’s chant our Friday Chant, which brings the purpose of the weekend into its true perspective.
All together now: ‘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.’
Sweet chanting mih breddren! But that’s how we’re supposed to use the weekend. Remember we’re in the process of changing our weekend perspective, from being grumpy, tired and miserable on Mondays, to becoming eager, bright-eyed and bushy tailed instead, so that we can be more powerful and fruitful during the week.
And the ONLY way to do that is to make it a habit to get sufficient rest, relaxation and fellowship with other believers, during those two days. So let’s forget this total partying weekend nonsense! If we truly want to do God’s work, then we need to have some semblance of balance in our lives.
And I surely hope that every week the message will fall on fewer and fewer deaf ears, until all God’s people joyfully accept that godly principle. Wow! What a leap of faith! But that’s what it is all about my brethren. Anyway, enough of my preaching, for I’m not a preacher, but more of a teacher. (smile)
Time to get to our Bit, which again comes from John’s conversation with his disciples, re Christ’s ministry increasing and his decreasing. ‘John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.’
Yeh Friends, that’s a truth we cannot dispute, for the Creator of the universe and all therein, also controls all that happens in His dominion. Anything we receive, He either specifically gives it to us, or allows someone else to do so. For NOTHING happens in this great wide world without His knowledge and approval, or disapproval.
Now let’s take a look at some more scriptures which support these facts. And we’ll start with the words of Bruh Paul to the church at Corinth, re the authority of the apostles.
‘And in these things brethren, I have in a figure (figuratively) transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up (proud) for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another (who distinguishes you)? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (1 Cor.4:6-7)
And here’s a note from the scholars, re verse 6. ‘Not to think…above that which is written is a proverbial expression. Paul is telling the Corinthians not go beyond Scripture. In other words, learn to live by the Book, and stop following men.’
Oh my people, those words are so appropriate today it’s not funny. For the majority of us are unfortunately still too caught up in the things of the world, and following what rebellious, ungodly man, in cahoots with Beelzebub, tells us we ought to do and follow. But it’s all a lie, a gross deception, my brethren!
Our guidelines and principles ought to conform to the Good Book, not Lucifer’s evil deceptions. I’ll leave that topic alone for now though, because I wisely realize that I can talk till I’m exhausted, blue in the face, yet too many of us will still hunger, yearn for, and run after the glitzy, glossy, but useless material things of the world, plus power and celebrity status.
So getting back to our scriptures, let’s check in on James, where on the topics of faith and humility, he writes: ‘Do not err (be deceived), my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness (variation), neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.’ (James 1:16-18)
And some notes from the scholars will help us to better understand those verses. ‘1:17. Three great principles are presented: (1) God is the Father, or Creator, of the heavenly bodies. (2) As their Creator, He is certainly more stable than they. With God there is not even the slightest change; He is immutable. (3) God is only good – and always good.
This third principle relates verse 17 to the preceding context. It answers the implication of verse 13 that God may sometimes tempt man to evil. Though God tries the saints (John 6:6; Heb.11:17), He never tries with evil intent so as to tempt them.
1:18. All the redeemed are God’s firstfruits in that they are the first step in God’s redemption of all creation. (Rom.8:18-23).’
Now Friends, please check out those references, for they are very beneficial in our understanding the Word. And we’ll end with this important and encouraging message on being good stewards of God’s grace, from the Rock – Petros, Peter. (smile)
‘As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles (utterances) of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.’ (1 Pet.4:10-11)
And all God’s people, loudly and gratefully declared: ‘Thank You Lord for all the gifts You’ve so graciously bestowed on us. We LOVE You, and pray that You’ll help us use them to the best of our ability, to enlarge Your righteous kingdom and glorify Your Holy Name. On the shed blood of Jesus we pray. Amen.’
Now my fellow believers, please, let’s go out and sincerely try to do all that we’ve spoken of today, for it will only further endear us to Jesus and the Father. Much LOVE!
…to know, know, know Him…is to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Him…
19 Sep 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a day in the life, abhor evil, Apollos, bear witness, beautiful reflections, beheaded, bind, bitter fights, bland, blessings, bridegroom, calm, caring, cheerfulness, Christ, Christian faith, Christian's conduct, christianity, cleave, cling to good, co-workers, Corinthians, decrease, different colour thread, diligence, disjointed, dissimulation, divided, encouragement, endowed, exhortation, faith, fellow believers, forgiveness, fountainhead, fragrance, friend, fulfilled, genuine, gifts, giving, God's Holy Will, God's plan, grace, hearts, help of God, hope and pray, hypocrisy, hypocritical actions, imprisoned, increase, indisputable fact, jean paul richter, joy, labourers, liberally, light of the world, local church, LOVE, members, mercies, mercy, minds, ministry, mish-mash world, Most High God, ONE body in Christ, opportunities from heaven, Paul, peace, planted, prophecy, prophesy, purposes, rainbow, reflections, rejoice, religion, ruling, salt of the earth, same old, scriptures, segue, short attention span, souls, source, spiritual challenges, spiritual undercurrent, spirituality, storm, strong cord, sweet smelling flower, take root, teaching, Togetherness, truth, uneventful, unfeigned, ungodly earth, watered, weak, wise words, wonderful god
John 3:27. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
Oh mih Friends, it’s another day in the life! And I know that many of us live the same bland, same old, uneventful lives from day to day, but if we truly believe in Almighty God, then though the events might seem the same – home, work, home – the spiritual undercurrent and happenings will definitely be different. Everyday we’ll be faced with different spiritual challenges.
And getting logical, (smile) how can each day be truly be the same eh, when we’re getting new mercies, blessings, forgiveness and opportunities from heaven above? Our God is so wonderful that He threads the needle of each day with a different colour thread, so that our lives will all seem to be beautiful reflections of His rainbow. (smile)
And to add some encouragement to all of that, because that’s what we try to do here at the Bit, here is this interesting quote. I might have shared it before, but if I did, it’s certainly worthy of sharing again. It comes from the German writer, Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825).
It says: ‘Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance as before a storm. When a storm approaches thee, be as fragrant as a sweet smelling flower.’
Ah mih people, those are certainly wise and encouraging words, but not always easy to live by in this mish-mash world. But whoever said that living on this ungodly earth was meant to be easy eh? We’ll all endure times of storm and times of peace and calm, we just have to hope and pray that the latter will greatly outweigh the former.
And regardless of what comes against us, we can only face it as a sweet smelling flower with the help of Jehovah God!
And with that indisputable fact, we’ll segue smoothly into our new Bit. ‘John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.’
Now Friends, that is the truth of all truths! And we’ll prove it with some scriptures in a minute. But first let’s get some background on the subject.
John gave that answer to his disciples when they came and told him: ‘Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.’ (John 3:26)
Then after our Bit, John continued: ‘Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.’ (John 3:28-30)
John’s ministry and that of Jesus ran concurrently for a short period. And as Jesus’ was increasing, John’s was decreasing. This however didn’t bother John, because He knew that was God’s plan. John’s ministry didn’t really end until he was imprisoned and then beheaded.
And with that bit of background, let’s check out some supporting scriptures, beginning with Bruh Paul’s exhortation to the church at Rome, re the service of LOVE to all.
‘So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one (individually) members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity (liberality); he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.’ (Rom.12:5-8)
Yes mih breddren, we have all been endowed with different gifts for different purposes, but they all come from the same source, the same eternal fountainhead; the Most High God, He of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! And we are all supposed to use those gifts, whatever they may be, in doing God’s holy will; being the salt of the earth and the light of the world, not hiding our lights or abusing and abandoning God’s gifts.
And as Bruh Paul continues to the Roman church: ‘Let LOVE be without dissimulation (hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cleave (cling) to that which is good.’ (Rom.12:9)
Now that, my people, is the greatest thing a believer can ever do!
And as the scholars advise: ‘The Christian’s conduct in the local church toward fellow believers is to be a volitional caring for others, (exercised through one’s will), LOVING faithfully in spite of the response received. The LOVE is to be genuine and unfeigned.’
Unfortunately though, that doesn’t happen in our churches today as much as it ought to. Some of the bitterest fights and most hypocritical actions are currently consuming our churches, that’s why the body of Christ is so divided, disjointed and much weaker than it should be.
And since I’m so concerned about our short attention span, (smile) we’ll end with one more scripture. Don’t want you all to blame the length of the Bit for your not reading it. Hn, hn! But we all know that’s one of our favourite complaints today for anything that takes a few minutes to comprehend.
And this last scripture is from Bruh Paul to the Corinthians, trying to make them understand that Christians ought to be co-workers, not simply individual labourers. Remember there was some confusion as to whom the Corinthians should follow, Bruh Paul or Apollos?
Well he straightaway tells them: ‘Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.’ (1 Cor.3:5-7)
And on that note of gospel truth, my Friends, we’ll close today. Let’s hope that the words we’ve read will reach deep down into our hearts, minds and souls and take root, and thus make a sincere difference to the way we treat each other, especially those of the Christian faith, for it’s all about togetherness and LOVE.
Much LOVE, my fellow believers!
…LOVE is the strong cord that’s supposed to bind Christ’s body together…
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