Today’s Scrip-Bit 28 February 2020 2 Timothy 3:12.

2 Timothy 3:12.    Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
 
Wow! Just look at the smiles and all the high fives nuh…It must be Friday…and month end too, when some people also get paid! And I can imagine the amount of people who are dying for today, and thus the work week to end, so they can run to the watering holes and drown their tiredness and sorrows in man-made fire-water, before they listlessly journey home to a sad existence. 

But friends, please remember that we are in the Lenten season and we need to cut down on some of our indulgences. Instead of going to the watering hole to expensively drown one’s sorrows, why not go to the church, or to anywhere quiet and have them expunged for free by the mighty psychiatrist Jehovah Rapha – Healer Extraordinaire! 

And the good thing about Dr. Rapha is that besides being free and good, He is ALWAYS available, just a prayer away! And many of us believers are right now caught between a rock and a hard place, so let’s hie us hither to that goodly doctor nuh, who’s record for healing is exemplary. The only condition is that you want to be truly healed! 

Like any other doctor He can’t heal you until you come and seek Him out and ask for His magnificent and magnanimous help. And yuh know I just LOVE those two words – magnificent and magnanimous – because they so admirably fit out wonderful God! He’s big and bright and bold and beautiful! He’s also wealthy and generous to a fault! There’s no one as wealthy and as generous as Him! How can we not LOVE, adore, worship and reverence Him eh? 

That’s because too many of us are looking for handouts and for freebies, we don’t want to work for what we want, and never expect anything to go wrong in our lives because He’s such a good God! But friends, God never promised us that life will be all wine, song and roses. He just promised to be there to help in time of need. And He ALWAYS IS! 

Remember too that Jesus said we’d find tribulation in this world, but we ought to cheer up because He had overcome the ungodly world. (John 16:33) And Bruh Paul puts it thus to Timothy: ‘Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.’ So believers ought not to expect a quiet and easy life, though most of us won’t suffer the trials and tribulation of Jesus, Bruh Paul and a lot of the early Christians. 

Look also at Bruh David’s life and listen to his words: ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.’ (Ps. 34:19)  So things aren’t that bad, and with the Lord’s help we will come through with flying colours.  

And I finally got off the hotel compound yesterday. Went up into the country to visit the area where the duchess grew up and the grave sites of her family. Passed places like Bluefields, Brompton, Fyffes Pen. Stopped at a cousin in Black River, then went on to Negril, where I had a dip in the salt, an exotic cocktail and a jerk-burger. It seems I also lost my watch somewhere on the grounds. 

Ah Lord eh! I seem to be losing a lot of things lately. Is that what maturity brings? (smile) Left here around twelve, didn’t return until almost nine at night, tired like a dog. (smile) I’m supposed to be out on the road again today, but heading in the opposite direction… And yes, I hear you all clamouring for the workingman’s monologue. (smile) 

So here he is in all his glory. ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday and the weekend draws nigh! It’s party time! Oh no, I forgot is Lent and the wife going to be on mih case to not only stop drinking but to go to church too! Steups! But why should I stop drinking just because is Lent eh? I might be Christian in belief, but ah doh practice it, so why be a bleeding hypocrite and stop drink and go to church and hob nob with all them big bleeding hypocrites in there eh? 

Ah not going to fool people and make them feel that I’m something I’m not. I might not be great in many of thems eyes, but I know who I am, and I like mihself and am proud of who I am. So let them keep deh church yes and carry on with all deh hypocrisy, I not going to help them condone it nuh. I have my own way to talk to God, don’t need them strait laced nonsense! Thank God for Fridays and weekends oui!’ 

And yes friends, a lot of people use that excuse for not going to church. And yes, Christ’s church is full of hypocrites and hypocrisy. But yuh know what, we are all hypocrites to some extent, so staying away from church doesn’t make you any better than those who go to church. But that’s another argument for another time. 

Let’s sincerely declare our weekend song, our 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!’ 

Now my fellow church going hypocrites, (smile) that’s what we ought to be about on the weekend; rest and rejuvenation so we can continue to fight for the cause of Christ in the upcoming week with a strong sense of purpose buoyed by enormous confidence and the rightness of His LOVE Revolution! 

Oh friends, it’s ever so important to give of our best in Jesus’ work, so that when our time is at hand, we can truthfully say like Bruh Paul did: ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course (race), I have kept the faith;’ (2 Tim. 4:7) 

And that being true, this will also be true: ‘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. 4:8) 

So my fellow believers, let’s keep on trying to do our best for Jesus nuh, so that at the latter day we can receive the crown of righteousness He has to offer. I can’t think of anything better to work towards in this evil and ungodly world. Much LOVE!

…Jesus desires good work from His ambassadors…so He can reward them abundantly…

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 18 January 2017 Psalm 23:1.

Psalm 23:1.   The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (lack).

Well well my brethren, it seems like it’s going to be another mild but wet and gloomy day in my neighbourhood. But once it’s not the white stuff that’s coming down I am happy. (smile) 

As always, I do hope that we gave our most awesome God sincere thanks and praise for causing us to see another great day on His wonderful planet earth. 

And please don’t laugh sarcastically or get cynical, because every day we’re alive is indeed a great day, and planet earth is indeed a wonderful place! Any negative happenings are our fault, not the Lord’s. 

So what’s happening today, you ask? Well we’re going to continue looking at some wonderful scriptures that corroborate the words of Bruh David in Psalm 23. 

First of all let’s check out a wonderful passage from Ezekiel which encompasses the first two verses: ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (lack). He maketh me to lie down in green pastures (pastures of tender green grass): he leadeth me beside the still waters (waters of rest). (Ps.23:1-2)  

In his prophecy against the sinful shepherds of Israel, Ezekiel declares on the Lord’s behalf: ‘For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 

As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 

And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers (streams), and in all the inhabited places of the country. 

I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat (rich) pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. 

I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgement (justice).’ (Ezek.34:11-16) 

Oh friends, what beautiful promises from our Most High God Jehovah! I’m sure some of us never even knew that such a scripture existed. 

But there are thousands of sincere promises just like that throughout the Good Book, and if we’d take the time to read and seek them out, our lives would so much more encouraged and assured, since our faithful God NEVER reneges on any of His promises. 

And if you say, oh that’s in the Old Testament, so what? That’s why so many of us are lost and suffering; because we don’t know what came before us. As the saying goes: how can you know where you’re going, when you don’t know where you’re coming from? 

And that’s the living truth! Our history is not taught or preached anymore; consequently so many lost souls exist in a vacuum today. 

And if you still denigrate that scripture because it comes from the Old Testament, then listen to this one from the New Testament which fulfills that promise. 

‘Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 

The thief cometh not, but for (except) to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 

But he that is a hireling (hired man) and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.’ (John 10:7-14) 

There you have it friends, the overwhelming promise of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Let’s hope we believe it, and live our lives accordingly. And that’s enough scripture for us to ponder on today, (smile) so let’s go home declaring our Wednesday Wail with a strong sense of purpose nuh. 

As one now: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. 

My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

Much LOVE, my faithful brethren!

…history is a record of the past…that helps us to understand the present…and wisely contemplate the future…