Today’s Scrip-Bit   15 October 2023 Matthew 25:13.

15 Oct 2023 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 25:13.       Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Oh friends, the big day, Sunday, the Lord’s Day is here at last! That joyful day when believers gather in the Lord’s sanctuary, or wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, to celebrate our blessings, to praise and worship our wonderful God with grateful hearts, and have our confidence and faith renewed and uplifted! And all God’s people said a loud and proud ‘Amen!’ 

And today we’ll begin the celebrations with the singing of an old but favourite gospel spiritual titled ‘Give Me Oil in My Lamp.’ Remember those days when we use to sing that ditty as children? Unfortunately, in these supposed modern times, the children are not taught simple but very inspirational songs like that. 

Now, in the Old Testament ‘Oil” is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, as well as ‘wealth, abundance, health, energy, and a vital ingredient for a good life. It can likewise represent spiritual abundance, only possible through what God gives. As Isaiah 55:1-7 shows, this oil is “bought” through listening to God, delighting in what He gives, and seeking to be like Him.’ 

And thus, in this song it can be said that we’re technically asking for “Oil” of the Holy Spirit to light up our lamps and our lives, to keep them “burning” so that we can keep being on fire for our God. Therefore, in accordance with that sentiment, let’s sing a joyful, up tempo, sincere heartfelt version to set the stage for today’s proceedings. 

Singing: ‘Give me oil in my lamp, to keep me burning. Give me oil in my lamp, I pray. Give me oil in my lamp, to keep me burning, burning, burning. Keep me burning till the break of day. (Refrain: Sing hosanna, sing hosanna, sing hosanna to the King of kings! Sing hosanna, sing hosanna, sing hosanna to the King!) Give me LOVE in my heart, to keep me sharing. Give me LOVE in my heart, I pray. Give me LOVE in my heart, to keep me sharing, sharing, sharing. Keep me sharing till the break of day. (Refrain) 

Give me joy in my heart, to keep me singing. Give me joy in my heart, I pray. Give me joy in my heart, to keep me singing, singing, singing. Keep me singing till the break of day. (Refrain) Give me faith in my heart, to keep me praying. Give me faith in my heart, I pray. Give me faith in my heart, to keep me praying, praying, praying. Keep me praying till the break of day. (Refrain: Sing hosanna, sing hosanna, sing hosanna to the King of kings! Sing hosanna, sing hosanna, sing hosanna to the King!) (Repeat).’ 

Oh my people, that ought to have brought back memories of our youth to some of us old fogeys, and thus enlivened our spirits this Sunday morning. (smile) I know it sure did mine. And what’s it all about eh? I guess there could be several interpretations, but I like this one commentary that claims, ‘it signifies a thirst for spiritual food – spiritual food to get one through the darkest of times in hopes of s brighter day, a clearer vision of one’s path or until one gains their salvation.’ 

And I can surely imagine the slaves on the plantations singing something like this as they unfairly toil in the burning sun, awaiting their day of freedom down here on earth or up in heaven. The song does give one encouragement to keep on keeping on, like Bruh Paul wrote to Timothy: ‘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. 4:7-8) 

Yes my brethren, that’s what we need, stamina, faith and perseverance to fight the good fight for Christ and to finish our earthly race as winners, so that the Lord can give us that awesome crown of righteousness! And that’s what this song helps us to do; stand strong and steadfast in Christ Jesus! But how can we do otherwise eh, with LOVE, joy, and faith in our hearts for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? 

It seems that the song is based on Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins, which indicates readiness and stewardship of believers. He likened the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins, who were invited to light the way with lamps for a bridegroom when he arrived at the ceremony. But the bridegroom was delayed and didn’t show up until midnight. 

And as the virgins went out to meet him, five realized that they didn’t have enough oil to keep their lamps burning and asked the other five who had brought extra oil to sell them some. But they refused, and so the five without oil, or the five foolish went out to buy some, but by the time they got back the bridegroom had arrived and closed the doors and they were left out of the celebration. (Matt. 25:1-12) 

And the moral of the story? There are all sorts of controversies over the parable, even to whether Jesus even spoke it, or it was later added. However, the general consensus is that believers must always be in a state of readiness for whenever Jesus returns, for He is liable to come at any time, night or day. As Jesus says at the end of the parable: ‘Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.’ (Matt. 25:13) Or, as the saying goes, He can return like a thief in the night, and if you’re not ready, then crapaud smoke yuh pipe! 

And as per the question as to why the wise virgins didn’t share their oil? I like how this commentary answers it. ‘The reason why the wise virgins couldn’t share their oil is because their oil isn’t oil. Their oil is their faith. Our faith is what prepares us for the day of our judgment and the coming of Christ. And you cannot share your faith.’ That means you cannot rely on anybody else’s’ faith, you must have your own! And the only way to get that is by receiving Christ as your Lord and Saviour, then studying His word and putting it into action in your life. That is the wisest decision a human being can ever make! Much LOVE!

…seek ye first the kingdom of heaven…and it’s righteousness… 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 31 August 2013 Isaiah 54:17

31 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

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

Isaiah 54:17.    No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of (from) me, saith the Lord.
 
Oh Friends, I won’t venture to say what kind of weather we can expect today, but I will say that yesterday’s contradictory forecasts turned out that the day time was hot and sunny, while the evening hours had some rain. So to some extent there was truth in both forecasts. (smile) I wouldn’t want a weather forecaster’s job now for all the tea in China! Aye mih old time West Indian breddren, you remember that one?
 
Anyway, today is Independence Day in the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, better known as T&T, the home of sweet pan, kaiso, roti, doubles and limbo. Wouldn’t mind checking out some of all of them right now. (smile)
 
To tell the truth though, I was in the middle of my teenaged years, in High School, when the country received Independence from Great Britain in 1962, and I cannot remember what I did over that holiday period of great excitement and enthusiasm, but I do know that the festivities were plentiful.

There was also much talk about freedom from Colonial powers in the air, as the mother countries were beginning to relinquish their strangle holds on their former colonies. But everyone in T&T saw it as a day of freedom, freedom to assert ourselves as we saw fit.
 
However Friends, unfortunately, 51 years later, T&T, and for that matter most of the other countries who gained independence around that time, have all made a mess of the freedom they were granted back then. It seems that no one thought about the immense responsibility that freedom to govern oneself, or any kind of freedom confers on a freed man or nation. We were all apparently too concerned with severing the umbilical cord that bound us to our colonial masters.
 
And sadly now, T&T, despite its oil wealth is tottering economically, its crime and violence are world renowned, so too is its corruption, with inept governments ruling the roost for some time now, with too many people who don’t seem to care about what’s happening, once things are okay with them, and the Carnival mentality is just as strong as it’s always been.
 
But by the same token Friends, most of the world’s countries are being plagued by the same negative things, so T&T is not alone in its shortcomings. And say what yuh want, it is still one of the most beautiful countries in the world, with a mixture of beautiful women you won’t find anywhere else on God’s great earth, as well as festivals celebrating races, creeds and cultures from all over.
 
So All Hail T&T! You might be a bit down for the count right now, but you’re definitely not out. And I know for sure that we’re a very resilient people, a nation that can bounce back from adversity like no one else. So have a Happy 51st Independence Celebrations T&T!
 
And please do like the Wack 90.1 morning show theme song says; sincerely and reverently ask the Lord to stay His hand on T&T, if He has any further disasters to bring upon the country. And my people we all know that’s a very probable outcome if we’d only turn back to Almighty God and be obedient to His will, because He’s promised that in His Word, as evidenced by our Bit:
 
‘No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of (from) me, saith the Lord.’
 
Yes my fellow believers, that’s one of the many promises that our ever-faithful God has given us. But the problem is that we need to show Him some faithfulness too. Many of His promises are conditional on our behaviour towards Him and His edicts. And that’s what we can’t seem to get through our thick skulls, so mesmerized and hypnotized as we are by Lucifer and the material and flimsy things of this evil, ungodly world.
 
And we have a good example of that in Isaiah 17, where Damascus and all those aligned with it, are prophesied to be destroyed because of their turning away from their God. Listen to the Good Book tell it. ‘At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made either the groves (incense altars) or the (wooden) images (of Asherah, a Canaanite god).
 
In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength (stronghold), therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips (set out foreign seedlings): In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.’ (Is.17:7-11) 
 
Oh Friends, that’s a universal promise! And according to the scholars the prophecy was fulfilled when Damascus was destroyed by the Assyrians in 732 B.C and there was a big famine followed by the devastation of the land and deportation of the northern tribes by Sargon of Assyria in 722 B.C.
 
So isn’t it time we pay serious attention to the Lord’s promises, whether they’re for good or for evil? And coincidentally, Damascus and its allies are right now in a serious fight for survival. Shouldn’t that tell us something?
 
But then again our God is so marvellous and wonderful to those who worship Him in sincerity and truth. Here’s what he says at the end of the chapter. ‘Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
 
The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not (no more). This is the portion of them that spoil (plunder) us, and the lot of them that rob us.’ (Is.17:12-14)
 
So Friends, the moral of the story is that it does pay to serve and worship the omnipotent and ONLY true God of the universe, He of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Please, let’s try our best to get our fellow man to follow that eternal wisdom nuh. It would do so much for our calamitous world right now. Much LOVE!
 
…if you don’t hear…you most certainly will feel…