09 Jan 2014
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a bed of roses, action word, agape, antibiotics, awesome truth, believers, between a rock and a hard place, bravely, Bruh Paul, charity, cooped up, disciples, doesn't boast, doesn't envy, dr robert h schuller, each generation, eros, evil, exciting thought, eye-opening experiences, faith is dim, fantastic, fantastic lesson, God LOVES me, God's help, God's LOVE, good fortune, good news, grace and favour of God, graceful truth, gumption, happy report, heahten, holy sentence, holy spirit, Hour of Power Devotional, hypocrites, ice, incomprehensible, iniquity, Jesus Christ, laugh, life's a blast, LOVE, Love does no harm, LOVE FOR EACH OTHER, Love fulfills the law, LOVE one another, LOVE Revolution, marathon session, negative emotions, never fails, new commandment, no waiting, not arrogant, not evil, not rude, not selfish, petty problems, pharmacy, prophecies, put in my heart, ran the race, rejoice, root canal, sadly lacking, scoff, short of Love, slush, snow, sparsely populated, suffers long, temptations, tests, Thank you Father, the Way of LOVE, tongues, troubled world, truth, ugly reality, unbeliever, ungodly world, unloving attitude, walking with Jesus, warm cocoon, wisdom, withstand
Romans 13:10. LOVE worketh no ill (does no harm) to his neighbour: therefore LOVE is the fulfilling of the law.
Aye mih breddren, life’s certainly a blast yes! For the first time in about ten days, I actually ventured out of my safe, warm cocoon yesterday, and faced the ugly reality that is the outside world. It’s the longest I’ve ever been cooped up in a house that I can remember.
At least when I had prostate cancer surgery a few years back, it was summer, and I could sit outside on either the front porch or the back deck. In any case though, I never really felt cooped up this past week because for most of it I was sick and the weather was terrible. And it seems that quite a few people did the same thing, for the same reasons.
Anyway, would you believe I did a marathon session out there yesterday! Wow! Bruh Paul would have been proud of how I ran that race! (smile) I left home, went up the street to a nearby Walmart, then went all the way down to the other end of the city, to the banker, the barber, the grocer and the doctor.
Mama Mia! In truth though, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds, because the last four places were in close proximity to each other, about two blocks separated them all. So I got up my gumption and bravely walked through the snow, ice and slush that covered the sidewalks and parking lots.
And wonder of wonders, in NONE of those four places did I have to wait, for all of them were sparsely populated! As soon as I walked into everyone, I was immediately served. I had to laugh at my good fortune, because as most of you know those four places usually call for a fair amount of waiting.
But then I realized that it was our wonderful God pouring out His abundant grace and favour on me, since I wasn’t in the best of shape, and it was still windy and cold. Obviously I let Him know that I was very thankful. The only place I had a short wait was at the Pharmacy later on where I went to get some antibiotics that the medic prescribed.
That’s why Friends, today, like Gramps Schuller (Robert H. Schuller) I can certainly attest to and loudly proclaim that ‘GOD LOVES ME!’ And also say along with His prayer from His Hour of Power Devotional.
‘Thank you, Lord, for this holy sentence, this good news, this happy report, this exciting thought, this graceful truth, this fantastic lesson. GOD LOVES ME! Even when I’m at my worst — GOD LOVES ME. Even when my faith is dim — GOD LOVES ME ANYWAY! It’s incomprehensible and fantastic! Thank you, Father. Amen.’
Ah mih people, I keep reminding us that walking with Jesus is not a bed of roses, but betwixt and between the tests and temptations, there are indeed wonderful, refreshing, rejuvenating, interesting and eye-opening experiences. The only problem now is that I have to go to the dentist today for some root canal work. Let’s see how that will play out. (smile)
But enough of my petty problems, let’s turn to our Bit, which deals with LOVE, something that our troubled world so badly needs but unfortunately is sadly lacking.
As the old song so truthfully stated back then, and is even more appropriate now, in these sad days of strife and the preponderance of negative emotions: ‘What the world needs now, is LOVE, SWEET LOVE. That’s the only thing, there’s just too little of…’
And oh my brethren, is that ever so true! LOVE comes from our God, and is what makes our world go round, or function properly, but right now we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place because we’re so SHORT of LOVE.
We claim to know about God’s LOVE for us, but what we seem unable to fathom and put into place is OUR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER. And a long while back, Bruh Paul put it to the Romans this way in our Bit: ‘LOVE worketh no ill (does no harm) to his neighbour: therefore LOVE is the fulfilling of the law.’
Now that’s the awesome truth Friends! For even before Bruh Paul’s comment, Jesus Himself commanded His disciples, and therefore us, and all His true followers: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.’ (John 13:34-35)
Oh my fellow believers, Jesus was talking there about revolutionizing the world through LOVE! It was the beginning of the LOVE Revolution, which each generation of believers is supposed to carry on, but which, unfortunately we’re not doing, since we’re not showing LOVE to each other.
Remember it’s through our showing of LOVE to each other that the world will know that we’re disciples of Jesus. And since we’re not doing it, that means we’re not His true disciples.
No wonder the unbeliever, the heathens and many others laugh and scoff at us, and consider us hypocrites because they quite plainly see our ‘UNLOVING’ attitudes and behaviour towards each other and the world in general.
That’s why I keep reminding us that LOVE is an ACTION WORD! We simply can’t talk it and expect it to happen. LOVE only takes place when we DO SOMETHING TO SHOW IT!
Consequently, Bruh Paul, who saw the need for LOTS OF LOVE in the evil, ungodly world, penned one of the most beautiful chapters of the Bible; re the WAY OF LOVE. And we’ll close by quoting a few appropriate verses from it, just to remind us what TRUE LOVE is all about.
And we’re not talking about ‘Eros’ or romantic LOVE, but ‘agape’, the spiritual LOVE that flows from God, and is supposed to be so jubilantly and vibrantly working in us through the Holy Spirit that indwells us.
So please listen up Friends, neighbours, heathens, whoever you are, for only these things will ever right our wrong-sided world.
‘Charity (LOVE) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (LOVE) envieth not; charity (LOVE) vaunteth not (does not brag on) itself, is not puffed up (arrogant), Doth not behave itself unseemly (rudely), seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil (keeps no accounts of evil);
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity (LOVE) never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail (cease): whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.’ (1 Cor.13:4-8)
And that’s the God-awesome truth my people! Therefore, let’s ponder all these things today nuh, and with God’s ever-present, never-ending help, make the necessary changes in our attitudes and behaviour, so that we can leave this world a much better place for our children. That’s the only wisdom there is! Much LOVE!
…if we’re not actively doing LOVE…then we’re not true disciples of Christ…as simple as that…
P.S. Friends, the Bit’s long and late, but it’s what God put in my heart to write today. Much LOVE!
07 Dec 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: absentee father, absolute truth, acquire, anxiety, apartheid, apartheid South Africa, better future, challenges, characteristic priority, clothes, constant seeking, continual, Cousin Sol, Creator, daily needs, disciples, divine advice, divine help, don't worry, drink, eat, evil, father of freedom, fear, flowers, food, friends, gospel truth, guides, heavenly Father, history books of life, hope, hypothethical problems, idols, impatience, incarceration, Jesus Christ, kingdom, lack of faith, Leaders, life, little faith, Lord and Saviour, LOVE, magnanimous god, masthead, material things, meat, mortal fathers, mourn, need, Nelson Mandela, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, phoenix, pledged allegiance, ponder, poverty, pratfalls, problems, provides, racial injustice, racist, raiment, righteousness., safe, secure, seek, Sermon on the Mount, serve, set on high, snare, Son of Africa, South Africa, spiritual, statesman, straightforward talking, stress, struggle, Sunday best, the kingdom of God, things, things of the world, tomorrow, trap, trouble, troubles, true followers, trust, unsupportive, wear, wisdom, worship
Matthew 6:25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for (do not worry about) your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink: nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat (food), and the body more than raiment (clothes)?
Oh Friends, at last Nelson Mandela, ‘the Son of Africa, father of freedom’ as the newspaper termed him, has gone home to be with his Maker. His early days on earth were filled with poverty and struggle in a racist, apartheid South Africa, then his middle years with lonely incarceration on a barren island, from which though he arose like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes to lead his nation to democracy.
And although his last days on earth were filled with sickness and family dissension, he will always be remembered as a giant of a man in personality and decency, whom the whole world gathered around to fight poverty and racial injustice.
Oh my people, if our troubled world only had a few more decent, upstanding leaders like him, then it would be a much better place to dwell. And though his country, South Africa is still riddled with problems, his name will always stand at its masthead as being the one who finally set it on the right path.
Nelson Mandela, you will always be remembered as a statesman extraordinaire. We mourn your passing, but it was time for you to rest from the problems of this world, to finally go home.
We LOVE you, and will always think fondly of you, as we write your name indelibly in the history books of life. And that’s as it should be Friends, because he gave people hope for a better future. Wish the same could be said of the leaders who remain.
Now let’s turn to our Bit. ‘Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for (do not worry about) your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink: nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat (food) and the body more than raiment (clothes)?’
Gospel truth my brethren! As Jesus proved to us yesterday, showing how nature is taken care of by our wonderful Creator, with the flowers of the fields even better dressed than Cousin Sol in his Sunday best. And since we’re much more important than they are, why wouldn’t He look after us in an even better manner eh?
Jesus then ended by pointing out that our problem stemmed from a lack of, or only a small amount of faith in our heavenly Father. (Matt.6;26-30) And we know if Jesus said that, then it must be true.
Today we’ll continue with Jesus’ discourse on the subject, where He sincerely advises us: ‘Therefore take no thought (do not worry), saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.’ (Matt.6:31-32)
And Friends, if the God that we serve and worship is truly our Creator, then we shouldn’t need Jesus to tell us that. We claim that He’s omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, can do anything at all, and above all else, WE ARE His children. So what are we saying then when we don’t depend on Him, that He’s an absentee, unsupportive father, like so many of us mortal fathers?
It would seem so, by the way we try in our own strength, and that of our fellow man, to get the material things of life, idolizing them so much that we often suffer from debilitating stress and abnormal anxiety in our rush, our impatience, to acquire them. And though we know the pratfalls of running down material things, yet we still do it. That’s certainly not wisdom my people.
Now let’s hear the wise way as declared by Jesus. ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt.6:33)
Wow Friends! That’s more plain, simple and straightforward talking by our Lord and Saviour! Again, to be considered His true followers, we need to live by His dictates, which unfortunately too many of us aren’t doing, and thus we are experiencing all kinds of problems in our lives.
And now that we know why we’re experiencing so many problems, (smile) let’s smarten up and take His divine advice nuh. ‘Take therefore no thought for the morrow (therefore do not worry about tomorrow): for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil (trouble) thereof.’ (Matt.6:34)
More words of absolute truth from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! When are going to listen to Him eh, to take Him seriously? When it’s too late? Oh my fellow believers, please let’s stop running down the material things of the world, especially if we can’t truly afford them and have to almost literally kill ourselves to get them!
Now let’s end with some thoughts form the scholars on those last two verses, perhaps something they say will get through to us. (smile) ‘6:33-34. This portion of the Sermon on the Mount is summarized by the statement seek ye first the kingdom of God. The disciples who have pledged their allegiance to the King must continue seeking the kingdom and its righteousness.
The present imperative form of the verb (Gr. zeteo) indicates a continual or constant seeking. The contrast between the spiritual and the material is again emphasized. The believer is to seek first the righteousness that is characteristic of God’s kingdom and then all these things (material things) shall be added to him. When our priority is spiritual, God will take care of the material, for where God guides, He provides.
We need not worry about tomorrow, for sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof (v.34). This means that each day has its own troubles and challenges to be responsibly handled, without worrying about the hypothetical problems that could arise tomorrow.‘
So my people, having heard all the reasons for not worrying and truly depending on our magnanimous God to take care of our daily needs, let’s get serious and cut back on the worrying and running down the things of the world, for we can only use so much stuff at any one time, and even more exasperating is that we can’t take any of it with us.
Please, let’s ponder those words today, and ask God for His divine help. You know He will never say us nay. Much LOVE!
…the fear of man bringeth a snare (trap)…but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe …secure…set on high… (Prov.29:25)
05 Nov 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: absolute, adamant, arms manufacturers, Beatitudes, bloodbath, Christian living, Christians, conduct, depravity, die by the sword, disciples, discipleship, easy asquisition of guns, edification, encouragement, enlightenment, eternity, follow fashion, food banks, give account for behaviour, glory, god, grace, greed, gun culture, guns in Canada, heaven, high heaven, incompetence, increasing prices, indispensable, inner state of mind, insistent, Jesus, Jesus taught them, Jesus' kingdom, Jewish lifestyle, life, live by the sword, Los Angeles Airport, losing jobs, low paying, manifestations of character, minimum wage, multitudes, New Testament, Paramus. N.J., part time, pray harder, proliferation of guns, proponents of gun rights, quality of life, recession, remuneration, right to bear arms, rising like high tide, salvation, saviour, Sermon on the Mount, service oriented jobs, shame and a disgrace, shameful and disgraceful working conditions, shooting at L.A. Airport, shooting at New Jersey mall, spiritual character, spiritual strength, the church, the Lord's looking down, the straight and narrow path, the Wild Wild West, true believers, truth, vehement
Matthew 5:1-2. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set (seated), his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them saying…
Ah mih people, this wasn’t the way I planned to open today’s Bit nuh, but after perusing the news, I just had to change my plans. As I keep asking, when is it going to end eh?
Last night, between 9 and 9.30 p.m. a man apparently walked in to the Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus New Jersey, all dressed in black, with something like a motorcycle helmet on his head, and began shooting up the place with his high powered rifle, then calmly walked back out.
Ah Lord eh! Thankfully though, he didn’t seem to shoot anyone. And if it’s the mall I remember stopping at in that area, some years ago on a visit to the U.S. it’s a pretty big one, and he would have had lots of targets.
The sad part is that that shooting only complements the one in Los Angeles Airport last Friday, when a lone gunman entered a supposedly secure area and killed a Transportation Security Department worker and wounding 3 other people.
Oh Friends, this unfettered proliferation of firearms, and their rather easy acquisition, seems to be taking the U.S. back to the days of the Wild Wild West. But they’re still insistent, adamant and even vehement about their supposed right to bear arms.
And sadly, the nonsense will only stop when people close to the greedy arms manufacturers and other proponents of gun rights have suffered by those same guns. For the same old adage of ‘if you live by the sword, you’ll die by the sword,’ still holds true today, you just have to interchange the gun for the sword.
We’ll just have to pray harder and more sincerely that the U.S comes to its senses before a real big bloodbath occurs. Unfortunately that gun culture also endangers other countries, especially Canada, where the follow fashion fools, who adopt any foolish U.S. custom, are getting guns cheaply down there and smuggling them across the border. It’s reputed that now, guns can almost be as easily purchased, even rented, in Canada, though not legally.
Pray for us Friends, please pray for us all! And while praying for the gun situation to be tuned down, please pray also for the approximately 800,000 – yes Friends, eighth hundred thousand Canadians who are still forced to use Food banks to supplement their food stocks, despite the recession being ended almost four years ago.
But who says the recession has ended eh? People are still losing their jobs and livelihood left right and centre! And the only jobs that are being created are the low paying, part time, service oriented ones. The ones that pay a minimum wage that’s a shame and a disgrace, even in the better places like Ontario.
But the price of everything is steadily increasing, for stuff that’s mostly made cheaply overseas, under even more shameful and disgraceful working conditions and wages. Meanwhile, the remuneration and lifestyles of the management groups, the ones who in the first place caused the recession with their greed and incompetence, are soaring, rising like the sea at high tide.
But thankfully my people, the Lord’s looking down from His high heaven, and one day, we’ll ALL have to face Him and give account for our earthly behaviour.
Anyway, turning to our Bit: ‘And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set (seated), his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them saying…’
That Friends, is the intro to the Beatitudes, which open Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We’re wrapping up the series of messages on the Beatitudes today, and I sincerely hope that you’ve gotten useful info, encouragement, edification and spiritual strength from them over the past week or so.
I know that they’ve been very enlightening to me. And I particularly want to wrap it up with this longish (smile) but important excerpt from the scholars, re the Sermon on the Mount. So here goes.
‘5:1-2. The opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount (the Beatitudes) indicate that this message deals with the inner state of mind and heart that is the indispensable absolute truth of true Christian discipleship. It delineates the outward manifestations of character and conduct of true believers and genuine disciples.
Thus, the life of the believer, described by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, is a life of grace and glory, which comes from God alone. To make this quality of life the product of man’s human efforts (as does the liberal) is the height of overestimation of man’s ability and underestimation of his depravity.
To relegate this entire message, Jesus’ longest recorded sermon, to a Jewish only lifestyle, as do some dispensationalists, is to rob the church of her greatest statement of true Christian living.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus states the spiritual character and quality of the kingdom He would establish, and the basic qualities of this kingdom are fulfilled in the church He would establish. Virtually every section of this message is repeated in substance elsewhere in the New Testament.
Nothing here indicates that this message is to be limited in its application to the people of Israel only. Notice in the opening verse that his disciples had come to Jesus and he…taught them the following message.’
And I hope that we too my brethren have gone to Jesus and have heard His message and learned from it, because that will eventually determine where we’ll spend eternity. Much LOVE!
…only by truly following Jesus…can we ever successfully walk the straight and narrow path…the one that first leads to salvation…and then finally…to eternity in heaven with our Saviour…
10 Oct 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: abject poverty, action of God, anxieties, autumn morn, basic necessities of life, be confortable, blinkers, brotherly LOVE, caring, celebrity status, commandments, desires of your heart, despise God, disciples, eyes of faith, fears, follow Jesus' example, follower of Jesus Christ, God's unconditional LOVE, holiness, holy spirit, in your own skin, increase in LOVE, Jesus' manifesto, kindness, laugh, liars, logic, LOVE one another, LOVE Revolution, Love the Lord thy God, Love thy neighbour as thyself, material wealth, negative emotions, pattern of success, Pharisees, physical looks, positions of power, practice being peaceful, practice Love, problems, public facades, refuse to share, right direction, selfishness, sow Love, terrible want, uncleanness, utopian position, we reap what we sow, with all thy heart soul and mind
John 13:34. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another.
Oh Friends, oh Friends, I’m here to tell you a few wonderful things this beautiful autumn morn! First off, that God LOVES you unconditionally, and that He will give you everything your heart desires, provided it lines up with His will. I’m here to also let you know that you are indeed heading in the right direction by being a sincere follower of Jesus Christ.
Wow! What a rush that brings! (smile) And following as a direct consequence of all that, the action of God is now flowing through you in a pattern of success! Therefore, please make it a habit to be happy; practice LOVE, practice being peaceful, because no one, or nothing ever becomes successful or succeeds without much practice. And thus ends the sermon for today! (smile)
Ah mih people, life is hard enough without us making it even harder by having sour, miserable, fearful and anxious attitudes. We need to laugh and be comfortable in our own skin, look at ourselves in the mirror and like what we see, not in a narcissistic manner, for we truly can’t like other humans until we like the one that looks back at us in the mirror. It’s just a natural fact of life. If we dislike ourselves, we’ll simply dislike a whole lot of other people, for dislike will come more naturally to us than like.
And one more thing, let’s stop wishing that we were other people, for God made us to be who we are, not somebody else. Forget the material wealth, the physical good looks, the powerful positions, or the celebrity status that they may have. Their material and physical attributes won’t last forever.
And believe me, if you knew the real truth about their lives, how they got what they have, and the messy situations in which they’re embroiled, you won’t give up your bland and simple but godly life. Plus they all have fears, anxieties and problems like you, they just hide them better behind their public facades.
Yes my people, we cannot be kind to, or LOVE others until we are kind to and LOVE ourselves, wherever and whatever we are. That’s what Jesus is saying in our Bit. ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another.’
He’s asking that we follow His example; just the way He LOVED us, we ought to LOVE each other. And as He so wisely continues: ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.’ (John 13:35)
Ah Friends, that logic follows so logically, (smile) like the day follows the night, and vice versa. Jesus’ manifesto is LOVE! That’s what He came to earth to spread; the LOVE of our heavenly Father. He came to begin a serious LOVE Revolution, one that would revolutionize the entire world!
And as His followers, He expects us to continue building that LOVE Revolution, so that others will know we’re part and parcel of His world movement. But it’s obvious my brethren that we’re falling far short of Jesus’ expectations, because true or real LOVE is one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing to find in this wicked, deceitful, ungodly world.
And we’re not talking about romantic LOVE here, but a simple caring for each other, kindness to make sure that we all at least have the basic necessities of life. But Friends, we’re very very far from that utopian position, for too many are suffering from terrible want and abject poverty, while too few have too much, enough to last them several lifetimes, but they selfishly refuse to share with their unfortunate brethren in this life.
How sad eh! And that definitely doesn’t fall under Jesus’ directions. Remember too, when the Pharisees, in trying to entangle Jesus in His own words… What fools they were eh, how can mere mortals tangle up God! And sadly they’re plenty like them still around today.
Anyway, one of them, a lawyer – had to be – (smile) figuring he was so bright, asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment? ‘
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt LOVE thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Matt.22:37-40)
There we have it again Friends: It’s all about LOVE, about sharing and caring and being kind to each other. First we LOVE the Lord God Jehovah, then we LOVE ourselves, and then we LOVE our neighbours as ourselves. But how can we LOVE our neighbours if we don’t LOVE ourselves? It’s not possible.
And unfortunately that’s what we’re seeing, that is the prevalent attitude in our world today. There’s a complete lack of real LOVE for self, but a selfishness that’s so great it cannot be measured. LOVING ourselves doesn’t mean being proud, arrogant and selfish, but strong, confident, caring, giving and faithful, walking in the footsteps of Jesus.
And we’ll end with some strong words from Bruh Paul to the Thessalonians, regarding his appeal for purity. ‘For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth (rejects), despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
But as touching (concerning) brotherly LOVE ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to LOVE one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more.’ (1 Thess.4:7-10)
Yes Friends, the Thessalonians were getting the message of LOVE for each other and putting it into action, but Bruh Paul just wanted them to increase that action, spread it further and further. Now that’s exactly what we need to do today too my people!
We claim to LOVE God, but hate our brothers. As John so aptly puts it, that makes us liars: ‘for he that LOVETH not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he LOVE God whom he hath not seen?’ (1 John 4:20b) That says it all my fellow believers!
So today, let’s turn back to God and live in true LOVE nuh. Let’s put aside all the foolish things that lead us away from God and true fellowship with each other. Our world is in serious decline because it’s sadly lacking in true LOVE. And the only way we can advance Jesus’ LOVE Revolution is by spreading LOVE, not the negative emotions that are currently predominating.
So let’s take off our blinkers, put on our 20/20 eyes of faith and get out into this wicked world and sow some, no lotsa LOVE, as Jesus desires of us. Remember, we reap what we sow. You can’t plant corn and expect to reap peas. Much LOVE!
…you can only reap LOVE and its wonderful benefits…when you first sow LOVE…
30 Aug 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: advantages, banner, believers, blazing fire, blessings, brotherly LOVE, christ-like attribute, christianity, commandments, conundrum, Cousin Sol, dangerous times, death, despised, dilly-dallying, dire enemies, disciples, discipleship of Christ, doing a good job, drunk or sober, exciting, extinguished, feelings and actions of LOVE, fellowship, fight a good fight, flames, floods, forgiveness, Friday, Friday chant, Friends in Christ, fun, further God's kingdom, generous help, heavenly Father, humble, hunger, impossible task, increase more and more, indwelling Holy Spirit, jealousy, jesus name, joyful shouts, Labour Day, labour day weekend, let it all hang out, liars, lies, LOVE, Love cannot be bought, love cannot be destroyed, LOVE FOR EACH OTHER, Love makes the world go round, LOVE one another, LOVE Walk, loving, loving kindness, mama yo, material things of the world, mercies, mind yuh business, modicum of circumspection, napping, opportunities, oppression, party down, party-hearty attitude, perennial warning, poverty, pre-eminent position, prevention, prowling, refreshed in body and soul, relaxation, religion, rest, right perspective, rudiments of brotherly love, selfish ways, sickness, special emphasis, spiritual armour, spirituality, strong as death, suffering, summer's day, tests of true knowledge, TGIF! Thank God it's Friday!, the evil one, the grave, the LOVE of God, titivating, trolling, true disciples of Christ, true predator, truth, very vulnerable, walk as Jesus walked, weather forecasters, weather patterns, week of work, wiles, wise words
John 13:35. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one for another.
Oh Friends, through the eternal LOVING-kindness of our heavenly Father, we’ve been granted another day on planet earth, with all its new mercies, blessings, and forgiveness! Wow!
And it plans to be either a bright, scorching hot summer’s day, or a hot rainy one, to kick off the last long summer weekend of this year, which culminates on Labour Day on Monday.
I’ve said that it could either be sunny or rainy because I’ve seen and heard forecasts for both types of weather. We definitely have to say some prayers for the poor weather forecasters yes, for their job was hard and unrewarding enough before, but now with the changing weather patterns that are devastating our world, it becomes an even more impossible task.
But Friends, be the day sunny or grey, it’s still Friday…
And that obviously brings forth joyful shouts from tired workers. ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday again yes! We’ve been working hard all week, and with this long Labour Day weekend on tap… Mama yo! We going to party down the place like we crazy!’
Oh mih breddren, please take care, we can’t let it all hang out like that, for remember the evil one is out there prowling, just trolling for defenceless victims, like the true predator that he is. And it’s in these throw down, anything goes party times that he catches us napping and very vulnerable to his wiles and lies.
So here’s Granny’s perennial warning, that most of us don’t like because we feel it inhibits us, but which we certainly cannot afford to set aside. ‘Son, drunk or sober, please mind yuh business.’ And that’s a most essential warning for this weekend my beautiful friends in Christ!
Now to tone down the party-hearty attitude somewhat, not to kill it completely, and thus get things in their right perspective, let’s chant our Friday Chant, with extra special emphasis for this long and dangerous Labour Day weekend.
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.’
Yeh Friends, we definitely need to handle this weekend with a modicum of circumspection and prevention! And please, let’s wear our spiritual armour all the time! Don’t leave home without it! (smile) Because that’s the only way we can fight a good fight when the enemy calls us out to do battle.
And all that we do this day my people, please, pretty please, let’s do it with feelings and actions of LOVE nuh. For as Jesus tells us in our Bit: ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one for another.’
And I know that we all desperately want to be true disciples of Christ… but we aren’t ever going to be, if we’re not dealing in that wonderful emotion termed LOVE, the exciting, titivating and Christ-like attribute that makes the world go round.
Awright Friends, so I’m laying it on a bit thick, (smile) but isn’t that what LOVE is supposed be all about? But anyway, enough with the dilly-dallying, let’s get to the rest of the scriptures I promised yesterday.
And we’re going to begin with John, from his first epistle, re tests of true knowledge and LOVE, where he wisely declares: ‘And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the LOVE of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk, even as he walked.’ (1 John 2:3-6)
Yes Friends, that’s the conundrum many of us face. We claim to know Jesus, but we don’t keep His commandments, or walk as He walked here on earth, humble and LOVING, so therefore we’re liars and only fooling ourselves and each other.
And Bruh Paul had this to say to the Thessalonians: ‘But as touching brotherly LOVE ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to LOVE one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;’ (1 Thess.4:9-10)
He didn’t need to teach them the rudiments of brotherly LOVE, because Christ Himself, through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit plus hearing of the Word had taught them that. And furthermore they were doing a good job of showing it towards the believers throughout all Macedonia.
What Bruh Paul expected of them was that they continually increased in the showing of that brotherly LOVE!
AND MY PEOPLE, THE VERY SAME THING IS EXPECTED OF US TODAY!
Please note I put it in capitals and also highlighted it, because it’s very important that we understand the pre-eminent position that walking in LOVE plays in our discipleship of Christ, especially in these very trying and dangerous times.
And since we have many more advantages and opportunities than the Thessalonians had, why can’t we, or aren’t we doing a better job than them of showing brotherly LOVE eh? Why are so many millions of people still suffering sickness, poverty, hunger and oppression all over God’s great earth eh? Possibly because we’re still too caught up in the selfish ways and material things of the world.
But if that’s so, then Friends, we’re not doing what Jesus expects of us, we’re not showing that we’re His true disciples. In fact we’re being more His dire enemies, because we’re turning others away from Him by our selfish, worldly ways.
And we’ll end with some of Cousin Sol’s wise words from his Song. And though in this particular instance, it pertains more to romantic than brotherly LOVE, it truly shows the power of ALL and ANY kind of real LOVE. Listen up now my brethren.
‘Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for LOVE is strong as death; jealousy is cruel (hard, severe) as the grave: the coals (flames) thereof are coals (flames) of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench LOVE, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance (wealth) of his house for LOVE, it would be utterly contemned (despised).’ (Song 8:6-7)
Now this is what the scholars have to say about those two verses: ‘These verses are clearly the climax of the story. The maiden describes in the most vivid terms the unquenchable nature of true LOVE: it cannot be destroyed by death or the grave; it burns like a blazing fire that cannot be extinguished; and it cannot be bought.’
And that my fellow believers in Christ is everlasting truth! True LOVE cannot be bought or extinguished!
Let’s ponder on that today nuh, and see if we can’t improve on our own LOVE-walk, because then, and only then, will we be true disciples of Jesus Christ. Much LOVE!
…and his banner over me was…LOVE… (Song 2:4b)
14 Aug 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: 2 corinthians 1, adoration, adversity, attributes of God, awesome truth, blessed be God, bounden duty, comfort, comforted of God, compassion, countenance, deliverance from the world, disciples, don't quit, eternal life, ever-LOVING God, evil, faith, faithfulness, foolishness, forgiveness, foundation of the world, generous, god, god of all comfort, God's LOVE endures forever, good hands, gospel truth, grace, guidance of the Holy spirit, hand to hold, heavenly places, hold our heads up high, holy, hope, jehovah god, live a life that magnifies Jesus, lord jesus christ, lost souls, LOVE, LOVE for one another, loving, made right, made whole, magnanimoud God, mediocrity, mercy, New Testament, peace, praise, promises, reconciled to God, religion, respect, reverence, sacrifice for sins, salvation, Satan, saving, sin, sincere adoration, spiritual blessings, stand strong in Jesus' Name, standing strong for Jesus, surrender your will, the Father of mercies, the God of All Comfort, the Lord of all creation, theology, tribulation, true believers, true wisdom, trust, unjust ungodly world, wallowing in the mire of unbelief, without blame, wonderful gifts, worship
2 Corinthians 1:3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.
Aye mih Friends, is Wednesday, the middle of the week! How we doing eh? We still standing strong for Jesus? I surely hope so, because that is the only true wisdom that exists in this world. Anything else is foolishness.
So please let’s keep standing strong in and for Jesus, since He is the ONLY ONE who has all the parts to see us happily and joyfully through this evil, unjust, ungodly world.
And it all stems from the hope, trust, and faith that we find when we come to Jesus in sincere adoration and worship. But unfortunately too many of us don’t use the power that we have, we keep on wallowing in the mire of unbelief and mediocrity.
But what’s the purpose of having all that power which emanates from Jesus; all those wonderful promises, all the faithfulness, compassion, mercy, grace and LOVE, if we don’t use them productively? None whatsoever!
That brings us to our Bit: ‘Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.’
And isn’t that the God-awesome truth my brethren? It surely is!
And Bruh Paul continues: ‘Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble (tribulation), by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.’ (2 Cor.1:4)
Yes Friends, God comforts us in our trials and tribulation so that we can comfort others going through their own periods of adversity.
Now here’s what the scholars say about those two verses. ‘Blessed (Gr. eulogetos), “well spoken of”) is used in the New Testament of God, (e.g. Eph.1:3). It is a term of adoration and praise.
The Father of mercies: The mercies in view here include everything from deliverance from the world, sin, and Satan, to participation in sonship, light and life. But the force is even more than this. The stress is that the Father is characterized by mercy (cf. Ps.86:5; Dan.9:9; Mic.7:18)’
Oh Friends, please take a moment to read those scriptures because they give us a very good picture of the wonderful God that we serve and of His attribute termed mercy.
Let’s remember though that His main attribute is LOVE, and that everything else springs from that LOVE; a LOVE that is shown to us through His mercy, grace and forgiveness, and above all the sending of His Son, Jesus to die as a sacrifice for our sins, so that we could be reconciled to Him, receive salvation and eternal life.
Wow! What an awesome God we worship my people! There’s no other supposed God who offers His subjects, no not subjects, but His children such wonderful gifts. That’s why His LOVE still endures, and will endure forever!
Oh my brethren, in this crazy, troubled and wrong-directioned world, there’s no better hand to hold on to than that of Jehovah God! If you think All State has good hands, that’s a joke compared to what the Lord of All Creation has.
So, as expected of true believers, let’s hold our heads up high nuh and live a life that magnifies Jesus, and glorifies God the Father, through the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, by bringing lost souls to Him for saving and LOVING.
And this is admirably borne out by Bruh Paul’s greeting to the Ephesians: ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. 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.’ (Eph.1:3-4)
Ah Friends, I’ll say it again: What a mighty and magnanimous God we serve and worship!
The sad part though is you’ll never know it unless you surrender your will and all else to Him. And I’m talking here from personal experience, because everyday I experience His LOVE and faithfulness in some manner or other, just like all those who sincerely believe and trust and live for Him.
And in closing, I want to remind us, just in case we forgot (smile) that in Christ Jesus there’s no quitting, regardless of how hard life gets. There’s just no quitting because that word is not found in the dictionary of a true believer. That means if you don’t have the word, then you can’t do the action.
So let’s just stand strong together in Jesus’ Name and bring the world to His feet in proper reverence and respect, as is our bounden duty. What did Jesus say about that? ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.’ (John 13:35)
So fellow believers, may our great, wonderful, generous and ever-LOVING God, bless and keep us safe from all harm. And may He also shine His awesome countenance on us, so that we can be filled with the overflowing LOVE and Peace that flows from His majestic and magnanimous grace.
This we pray, in the holy name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by the shedding of whose blood, we have been cleansed, made whole and right with the Father. Amen. Much, much LOVE my people!
…no one comes to the Father…but through the Son, Jesus Christ…and that’s the gospel truth…
30 Jul 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: angry protests, antagonism, attributes of jesus, compassion, condescending connotation, disappointment, disciples, dismay, downtown toronto, downtrodden, empathy, enmity, floundering, foolish platitudes, forgiveness, Good Samaritan, grace, greater good, harvest, hostage taking situation, Jews, justice, labourers, lost, lost souls, LOVE, LOVE our enemies, macabre life, mercy, mire, needy, negative emotions, opened arms, pity, police behaviour, poor, prayer, running roughshod, salvation, Samaritans, scattered souls, sheep with no sheperd, sick, staple emotion, streetcar, sympathy, the prodigal son, training, unstable people, unworthy, wisdom, wonderful god
Luke 10:33. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him.
Oh Friends, what is our wonderful city of Toronto coming to eh? A couple days ago the police fired nine shots at an 18 or 19 year old youth on a streetcar, who apparently only had a knife. And it seems like they also tasered him. Now, from what I’ve gathered, there wasn’t any hostage taking situation or anything like that, but they still took him down the easy way.
Yesterday though, hundreds of angry family and citizens marched through downtown Toronto expressing their disappointment and dismay, vociferously protesting the heavy handed display of force by the police in that particular incident, and the cowboy, Wild West behaviour of cops in general these days.
They seem to think that they are a law unto themselves and can do as they please, and the sad part is that nothing ever seems to happen to them when they step out of line. Not one cop has been found guilty of any offence, serious or otherwise and sentenced to jail time. The investigating body always seems to find that the cops did no wrong.
Meanwhile, the Police Chief and the head of the Board that oversees them, just keep on mouthing a set of foolish platitudes and excuses, while the cops continue running roughshod over those they’re supposed to be protecting. And the funny thing about justice is that it must only be done, but it must also appear to be done. And that’s certainly not happening around here these days.
And why do you have to fire nine shots at a man in an enclosed streetcar, surrounded by law enforcement officers, who didn’t seem to be causing anybody on board any problems? Nine shots sure are a lot. Those cops should be taken back to the range and taught how to shoot.
Anyway Friends, let’s see if we can get some understanding of this oftimes macabre life, by turning to our Bit. ‘But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him.’
Now yesterday we weighed in on the enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans, as well as the point that Jesus wanted to prove, re LOVING our enemies. Today, we’ll look at how we can do that, despite the dislike or other negative emotions in our souls.
And the main way to do that is by having and showing compassion to them. LOVING here doesn’t necessarily constitute or involve hugging and kissing etc, but more treating others we might dislike with compassion, as the Samaritan treated his natural enemy, the injured Jew, while his fellow Jews passed him by on the other side.
Oh my brethren, at times like those, our personal feelings or feuds MUST be put aside for the greater good of mankind!
And how does the dictionary define compassion? ‘Pity inclining one to spare or help, sympathetic pitying.’ I don’t like the use of the word pity there, because it implies a sort of negative, condescending connotation. I believe empathy might be a better word.
However, from that definition, we can clearly see that the cops in the situation above displayed no compassion whatsoever. They were not interested in helping the young man, but simply in putting him down, in quelling the dangerous situation. And it’s been proven over the last few years that the cops don’t have sufficient training in how to deal with unstable people, and apparently little or no inclination to learn.
However, let’s look at some scriptures that deal with that great word, compassion, which should be a staple emotion in each and every believer in Jesus. Unfortunately though, many of us don’t show it, and instead react with the same take down mentality as the trigger-happy cops.
The first scripture deals with another parable of Jesus, that of the lost, the prodigal son, who, when he realized the mess he had made of his life, decided to go back home, apologize to his father and ask for a servant’s position. ‘And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.’ (Luke 15:20)
Note Friends, that the father didn’t even wait to hear what the son had to say, but immediately welcomed him with opened arms, his only interest being that the son he’d lost had been found, and returned home in good shape.
And that’s exactly how our heavenly Father deals with us! His main concern, regardless of our failures and apologies, is that we come back home to Him, safe and sound. Just returning home to Him brings forgiveness and compassion.
Wow! What a wonderful God we serve my people! It amazes me everyday when I think about the LOVE, mercy, compassion, forgiveness and grace that He confers on us, even though we’re lost, unworthy and like the things of the world, like the prodigal son did.
Now the important question is, do we act like that towards our fellow man? Not as often as we should. Even our close friends and family we try to beat down when they do wrong. How then can we be compassionate to strangers and enemies eh?
The only way is if the Holy Spirit of Jesus is actively working in our souls, since our normal human nature is to react in an antagonistic manner. That means then that compassion is something we have to consciously and actively work on, since it doesn’t come naturally. And we all know it’s not easy to LOVE and be compassionate to neighbours and enemies, but it’s what Jesus desires and fully expects from ALL of His followers.
And we’ll end with this description of Jesus, when He saw the many lost and scattered souls that daily flocked around Him, just dying to be saved. ‘But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted (were weary), and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.’ (Matt.9:36)
Oh my brethren, the same can be said of today’s generation! There are enormous numbers of people running around lost, looking for a shepherd to take care of them, and we believers are the ones who are meant to bring them to salvation, for we are Jesus’ latter day disciples.
And as He told the ones He actually walked with: ‘The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.’ (Matt.9:37-38)
Yes Friends, let’s pray that the Lord will move in many hearts of His people, to go out and help to save the lost, the poor, the downtrodden, the sick and needy, because our society desperately needs it.
Yes my people, if we’re ever to climb out of the mire in which we’re currently floundering, many more believers have to go forth and harvest the lost souls, with lots of compassion. That’s heavenly wisdom! Much LOVE!
…true compassion comes from a heartfelt feeling of…LOVE, kindness, mercy and forgiveness…in other words…from a heart filled with the attributes of Jesus…
Next Newer Entries
SCRIP-BITS 