Isaiah 2:8. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
Oh Friends, the ole fella’s in a lousy state this first Sunday morning in January of 2014. Steups! I’ve been fighting a rather challenging cold for the last few days. Ah Lord eh! All I’ve been doing is resting and taking stuff to try and minimize its effects, but… Chuh! Every morning I get up and expect it to be better, I find like it’s gone back to an earlier stage.
And you know that there’s no sickness in this whole wide world that makes you feel as miserable as the common cold. You know you’re not dying, but you feel so lousy, that you might as well be. (smile) I don’t even think I’m going to church this morning.
However Fridns… What a beautiful spelling of Friends, Fridns! We’re not going to do this nonsense again today are we? I made more spelling mistakes in writing the Bit yesterday than I’ve ever done before. The spelling check didn’t even have to point them out to me, they were so glaring. Like the cold’s affecting my mental capacity, which already isn’t the greatest. (smile)
Anyway, as I was about to say, though I can’t seem to physically get rid of the cold on my terms, must let it run its course, I do have the medicine for my spiritual and emotional well being. And it’s to be found in this old but very beautiful hymn: Just A Closer Walk With Thee. So please sing it with me my brethren.
‘I am weak, but Thou art strong; Jesus, keep me from all wrong; I’ll be satisfied as long, As I walk, let me walk close to thee.’
Now let’s raise the roof with the chorus Friends: ‘Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea, Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.’
Wow, mih people! That sure hit the right spots in my soul! Hope it did in yours too! But that’s exactly what we need in this New Year, a single-minded resolution that will take care of everything else.
Yes my fellow believers, we can’t ask for, or have a better resolution than walking closer with our faithful Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! For when we do that, our lives just blossom like the lilies of the field!
As the second verse of the hymn says: ‘Through this world of toil and snares, If I falter, Lord who cares? Who with me my burden shares? None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.’
And that’s the gospel truth my people! Only our wonderful Lord and Saviour truly cares about our troubles, and furthermore, is willing to help us bear our burdens down here on this hellish earth. Our fellow man might say they do, and sometimes they really do, but none of them can’t help us the way that Jesus Christ can.
That’s why it’s ever so important Friends, to not let our Bit be a true reflection of our society. ‘Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.’
For if that is the true state of our land, then we can’t expect much, if any help from our Lord and Saviour, because that means we’ve broken our covenant with our God; not to worship any gods but Him. And in fact, then we’re not only being unfaithful, but also stupid, because THERE ARE NO OTHER GODS BUT HIM! HE IS THE ONE AND ONLY GOD; ALIVE AND KICKING FROM DAY ONE UNTIL TIME EVERLASTING!
I don’t know what it will take for us to get that through our thick heads nuh Friends. Now hear these prophetic words of the Lord of Hosts, as spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, re the broken covenant.
‘Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; And say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God….
Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked everyone in the imagination (stubbornness) of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did not. And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil (calamity) upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto (hear, listen to) them.’ (Jer.11:2-4, 8-11)
Ah mih people, there’s not much to debate there, because all of that also applies to our time. There’s no doubt that we’ve turned our back on God, and that there is a definite conspiracy to take Him out of our lives and societies. So what else do we expect eh?
And the sad and senseless part of it all is that a lot of the calamity that we’re now experiencing, isn’t so much the Lord sending it on us, but it’s more the result of our own foolish choices and stubbornness, e.g. the widespread strife that exists in our rather fragile world, and the scary, unpredictable weather patterns that are now becoming the norm, because we’ve so badly polluted the atmosphere. We’ve recklessly disrupted the finely tuned mechanisms of God’s universe!
Ah mih people, all I can say is, I hope that we soon come to our senses and realize the error of our ways, before it’s too late to make a positive change. So let’s go home, singing the last verse of our hymn.
‘When my feeble life is o’er, Time for me will be no more; Guide me gently, safely o’er, To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore. Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea, Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.’
Yes my people, please ponder seriously on all that we’ve said, and let’s make 2014 the year that we truly walk closer with Jesus, because it’s the wisdom for all ages! Much LOVE!
…true wisdom declares…obey God…or face the negative consequences…it’s that simple…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 5 January 2014 Isaiah 2:8
05 Jan 2014 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: 2014, all ages, as I walk, blossom, burden, but thou art strong, calamity, come to our senses, command, common cold, conspiracy, covenant, cursed, daily walking close to thee, day one, dear Lord, disrupted, emotional, error of our ways, evil, evil heart, faithful Lord and Saviour, falter, feeble life, feel lousy, fellow believers, fighting a cold, fingers, foolish choices, forefathers, fragile world, friends, god, God's universe, gospel truth, guide me, hellish earth, help, hymn, I am weak, I'll be satisfied, idols, inclined their ear, iniquities, Jerusalem, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Judah, Just a closer walk, keep me from all wrong, let it be, lilies of the field, lord of hosts, mechanisms, medicine, mental capacity, my plea, negative consequences, obey, obey God, one and only God, other gods, polluted the atmosphere, positive change, prophet jeremiah, prophetic words, refused to hear, resolution, snares, spelling mistakes, spiritual, strife, stubbornness, stupid, thick heads, time everlasting, too late, troubles, true reflection, turned back, unfaithful, unpredictable, weather patterns, well-being, wisdom, world of toil, worship their own work
Today’s Scrip-Bit 30 December 2013 Deuteronomy 5:32
30 Dec 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: 2013, 2014, Anglican Journal, anxiety, appreciation, astute generation, aura of love, battle, blessings, blues, commandments, confidence, consequences, correct behaviour, covenant, Creator of the universe, curses, Deuteronomy 28, diligently, disastrous, disgusting behaviour, disobedience, disobedient, disobey, do as God commands, don't turn aside, edicts, enemy, enthusiasm, error of our ways, evil, further God's glorious kingdom, Holy Name, holy spirit, humble servants, invincible, Israelites, jehovah god, Jesus Christ, jobs, judgement, keeping lives and families together, lead and guide, lies, lord god almighty, LOVE, Love God, Love your neighbour as yourself, material things, modern times, Monday Morning Battle Hymn, Moses, negative emotion, New Year's Eve, obedience, Old Testament, opinions, praise, Praise the Lord, promise, rejuvenation of spirit, renewed vitality, sally forth, saviour, sinful, sovereign God, spiritual armour, statutes, steadfast faith, stimulus, sure conquerors, surrender, Ten Commandments, the Good Book, tightening the screws, tiredness, to the left, to the right, truth, ungodly world, useful purpose, walk in God's ways, weary souls, wicked taunts, wiles, wise, work week, worthwhile inroads
Deuteronomy 5:32: Ye shall 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.
And another bright Monday morning dawns my Friends; the last one in this topsy turvy year of 2013! But the good news is that we don’t have to work for the whole five days, because New Year’s falls in the middle of the week… And all working people gave a joyful shout of ‘Praise the Lord!’
Well mih breddren, please let’s allow some of that enthusiasm to flow into our spirits this morning nuh, so that we can leave the blues, the tiredness, the anxiety and whatever other negative emotion that has us in grip, far behind. Let’s concentrate on the mid-week joy of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and consequently belt out our last, but also our most emphatic and enthusiastic Monday Morning Battle Hymn of 2013. That’s the least we can do to show our appreciation for a shortened work week. (smile)
As one now mih people, let’s bring the roof down: ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together.
We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies.
But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle.
Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’
Oh Friends, that was most wonderful! We obviously can’t wait to ring out the old year and ring in 2014. But yuh know what? I have to tell us that if we behave the same sinful, disobedient way like we did in 2013, 2014 won’t be any better. In fact it might just be worse, be more disastrous, because I believe our God is truly getting tired of our disgusting behaviour and is intent on tightening the screws.
Again, I’m calling on us people, to walk in God’s ways, as He directed the Israelites so long ago in our Bit. ‘Ye shall 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.’
Now is that so difficult to do my fellow believers, especially when the very existence of our way of life and our world is involved? I should think not!
I read recently in a copy of the Anglican Journal where one reader was castigating another for trying to hold this generation to the same edicts as the Israelites in the Old Testament. Now some of what he said was true, and he put forward the argument that what we should concentrate on in these supposedly modern times are the two commandments that Jesus gave us: LOVE your God, and your neighbour as yourself.
Now that’s all well and good, but the simple truth is that we can’t even seem to obey those two simple commands. Judging from the behaviour of our society and our world in general, too many of us obviously DON’T LOVE GOD, OURSELVES, OR OUR NEIGHBOURS!
So what kind of world do we expect to have under those conditions eh? Not a very good one. And in any case, to fulfill those two commandments of Jesus, we basically still have to live the life set out in the Old Testament; e.g. the Ten Commandments.
Ah my fellow believers, if we truly believe that the Good Book was inspired by God, and what it says is true, then we definitely need to refresh our minds by reading Deuteronomy 28, where Moses spells out the blessings of obedience, as well as the consequences of disobedience to the Israelites.
And remember, the Word of our Sovereign God DOES NOT CHANGE! That means those words still apply to us TODAY!
Listen up as I quote the first two verses of Deuteronomy 28: ‘And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth: And these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.’ (Deut.28:1-2) Then the blessings are spelled out from verses 3 to 14.
Now hear the Good Book re the consequences of disobedience. ‘But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto (obey) the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do (observe carefully) all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.’ (Deut.28:15) And the curses are then spelled out from verse 16-68. That should tell us something people; that the curses are much worse than the blessings.
The scholars note: ‘This is probably due to human nature. The threat of severe judgement on the covenant-breaker seems to act as a stronger stimulus to correct behaviour than any promise of blessing.’
I beg to disagree though, for if it did, we would not be as sinful, evil and ungodly a society and world, as we are today. It’s obvious that we don’t care about the blessings or the curses, we’re just interested in the foolish material things and opinions that the evil world holds dear, considers so important that we must even disobey Jehovah God to have and do them.
Anyway Friends, enough for today. But Friends, please, please read Deuteronomy 28, for yourselves, and hopefully it will bring a lot of us to our senses, and we’ll finally realize the error of our ways, and try to do better, so that the curses of Almighty God won’t rain down on us anymore than they are currently doing. Then will we be considered a wise and astute generation. Much LOVE!
…in any language…or court of opinion…the blessings of obedience…are much, much more valuable…than the curses of disobedience…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 14 June 2013 1 Corinthians 13:4
14 Jun 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: absolute wisdom, anger, bitterness, busybodies, christianity, detriment of friendships, envy, errant believer, error of our ways, fellowship, forgiveness, Friday chant, generous help, glorious kingdom, glory hallelujah, gospel truth, gossip, hate stirs up strife, heed God's call, hurricane season, imminent danger, itinerant musicians, jealousy, kind to each other, live in the Spirit, Love covers all sins, Love doesn't envy, Love doesnt boast, Love is kind, Love isn't arrogant, Love suffers long, multitude of sins, negative emotions, praise his holy name, qualities of Love, ramp up our faith, refreshed in soul, relaxation, rest, rising floodwaters, sacrificial blood, seek Love, sinful behaviour, sufficent fun, TGIF! Thank God is Friday, the pit of corruption, the weekend, trangressions, trust in Almighty God, truth, walk in the Spirit, walk with Christ, wisdom, wrath
1 Corinthians 13:4: Charity (LOVE) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (LOVE) envieth not; charity (LOVE) vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
Oh Friends it’s Friday! And some workers gathered around a group of itinerant musicians, raucously applaud: ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday! The weekend’s here, and work soon done. Ah say, thank God is Friday yes!’
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