Today’s Scrip-Bit 31 January 2015 Psalm 63:3

Psalm 63:3Because thy LOVING-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

And then it was Saturday! Oh Friends, I can’t believe that I’ve been here in Paradise for four days now. Chuh! The time’s passing too quickly. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to enjoy it as much as I’d like because I’ve been sick and having car problems.

The car problems have been solved now, and I got up feeling somewhat better this morning, but the heat outside is crazy. It’s supposed to go to something like 78 % F. That’s surely worth a Mama Mia!

The duchess wanted to go up to the hotel for breakfast, so I just dropped her and came back because between the cold and the heat I wasn’t interested in food. My appetite sure has disappeared. All I feel like doing is drinking stuff in a cool place.

As per adventures. Nothing much happened yesterday as I never went anywhere. But people were coming around to fix stuff and whatever. I did have another dip in my waterhole. This time with my shoes on though. Hn, hn! Never thought I’d ever see the day that I went in the sea with shoes.

As they say, after one time is too time yes! But it wasn’t too bad, and I even found a path into the water that was mud and not stones. So I did have my salt water. All praise to His Majesty!

Then my son that lives in Tobago passed by, we had a good visit and the wife and I had dinner on the verandah afterwards. Then I went to bed leaving her watching her favourite soap, Y&R – Young and Restless. It comes on at night on a channel down here, so she’s happy. And once she’s happy my life’s beautiful. (smile)

Right now as I’m writing, some reggae gospel is playing on the radio. And the announcer on the program called ‘Joyride’ is saying that you should LOVE the Lord with all your heart, soul, body and mind. Gospel truth that my people!

And to help us do that this beautiful Saturday morning, here is a poem from our favourite The One Year Book of Bible Promises with writings from Ruth Harms Calkin, this one titled ‘Be Thou Exalted.

Please say with me: ‘”Be thou exalted, Lord In thine own strength; So will we sing And praise thy power.” Yes, Lord, Yes! David’s prayer is my prayer. Be exalted in my day-by-day agenda In my motives and dreams My priorities and goals. Even in my failures, Lord As you turn them into stepping stones Towards spiritual growth.

Be exalted in my worship and praise In my sobbing and singing Be exalted in my secret thoughts My emotional responses. Be exalted in my daily routine The delays, the unexpected emergencies The disappointments that often come. Lord God, As you are exalted In heaven and on earth Be exalted in Your home – my heart.’

Yes my people, that’s where God should be more exalted than anywhere else – in our hearts, where He’s supposed to live. And as they are saying on the radio; ‘It’s the joy of the Lord that has me dancing so!’ And it should. For if there is joy in your heart, especially from the Lord, then you should be very amenable to dancing. (smile)

Anyway, let’s get to our Bit, same as yesterday, but still serving as indisputable truth. ‘Because thy LOVING-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.’

And if you’re a true child of God, then those words should always be present and revolving in your spirit. For God is our Creator, His breath of life is the power that powers us here on earth, and His providence is what keeps us going. So it’s obvious that He should be our NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!

The things of the world are pretty and nice, and some are useful and necessary, but none of them ought to take first place in our lives. That number one spot is reserved for Almighty God. The problem though is that too many of us put the lustful desire for things of the world first, and relegate Jesus to second place, or even further down the totem pole.

That my Friends will only cause you unnecessary problems later on. So please let’s concentrate on putting Jesus FIRST! Remember is just thirty days ago we promised, faithfully resolved to walk closer with Jesus this year of 2015. And sadly, today is the just the last day of January, and many of us have already reverted to our old selves.

That’s not right, nor profitable my brethren. For remember these fateful and wise words of Cousin Sol as the Preacher. ‘When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer (delay) not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.’ (Eccl.5:4-5)

Words of absolute wisdom in all walks of life my people!

Now let’s end with some wonderful words and sentiments of Bruh David from Psalm 138. Pray with me: ‘I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy LOVING-kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

In the day when I cried thou answeredest me, and strenghtenedst me with strength in my soul (made me bold). All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in (of) the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of God.’ (Ps.138:1-5)

Oh Friends I could not say it any better. So please let’s go out today with those words of praise and thanks riding at the top of our hearts, so that we can not only hear them, but even more importantly, LIVE them. That’s heavenly wisdom! Much LOVE!

…God likes to hear our praises…but He also likes to see us live them…living them is just as important… 

P.S. And as the song in the background is saying: ‘Jesus is the best thing, the very best thing that ever happened to me!’ Gospel truth Friends!

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 26 October 2014 Psalm 47:1-2‏

Psalm 47:1-2.    O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. for the Lord most high is terrible (awesome); he is a great King over all the earth.

It’s Sunday Friends, Sunday…the day of ‘gatheration!’ (smile) It’s that first day of the week when we gather to praise and worship our most wonderful God and fellowship with each other, offering encouragement, friendship, peace and LOVE!
 
Wow! What a great time will be had by all! Why is that you ask? Chuh!  Because there’s nothing, no celebration in this world that compares to true believers getting together to sing and praise and worship the ONE TRUE LIVING GOD of the Universe!
 
And that’s because the occasion is filled with that wonderful, adorable and heartwarming emotion of LOVE, which stems directly from Almighty God, and in turn, is His most marvellous and important attribute!
 
And all God’s children boldly proclaimed: ‘Thank You Lord for Your LOVE! Without it we couldn’t even begin to function in this ungodly and troubled world! Please keep on LOVING us, and help us to LOVE You too, as we ought to. We pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen!’
 
That brings me to an interesting quote I want to share again, on the subject of LOVE and LIFE. This comes from Jürgen Moltman, a German Theologian and Emeritus Professor, born in 1926, and noted as a proponent of his ‘Theology of Hope.’
 
And Jürgen wisely tells us that: ‘The more passionately we LOVE Life, the more intensely we experience the joy of Life!’
 
What wisdom my people! And to explain that, the One More Day Devotional for those with Chronic Illness says: ‘We can’t hide from the real-life drama around us, though we’d like to sometimes. We need to live the drama, LOVE it, cry with it, and at times even hate it. Choosing to live life on its terms brings enthusiasm and passion into our experience.’
 
And that’s no lie my Friends! For trying to avoid, to run from the pain and hurt inherent in life, only ‘blinds us to the joys and wonderment of living fully!’
 
Truer words were never spoken my people! That’s why the most joyful people are the ones who face life head on, who deal with the situations as they come up, without trying to avoid everything that’s painful, because life at its best is a combination of joy and sorrow.
 
Job recognized that most salient fact when he admonished his wife. ‘What? shall we receive (accept) good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil (accept calamity)?’ (Job 2:10)
 
 Likewise Friends, until we also realize and accept that most salient fact, and stop trying to have no painful moments, we’ll never fully understand, appreciate and enjoy life! That’s why I want us to proclaim and acclaim today: ‘I choose to be enthusiastic about my life!’
 
Yes Friends, life was made for living, and you can’t live life fully unless you’re enthusiastic about it. And the  psalmist, writing Psalm 47, from which our Bit is taken, understood this principle.
 
Though life is sometimes difficult, he still oh so wisely advises: ‘O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord most high is terrible (awesome); he is a great King over all the earth.’
 
And make no mistake my brethren, that is indeed gospel truth!
 
And as the psalmist continues later on in full confidence: ‘God reigneth over the heathen (nations, Gentiles): God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shield of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.’ (Ps.47:8-9)
 
And that my fellow believers is exactly what we need to do today and every day; exalt our great God, because He reigns supreme, as King of Glory!
 
Yes my people, as we come together to praise and worship the omnipotent God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, let’s remember these true and moving words of Bruh David from Psalm 68, superscripted – God has gone before His people.
 
‘Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. O God, thou art terrible (awesome) out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.’ (Ps.68:34-35)
 
And most important of all my brethren, let’s remember that when we leave God’s sanctuary today, be it a multi-million dollar building, or under a mango tree, we need to take the joy, the glory, the enthusiasm, encouragement, fellowship and LOVE that we receive there, out into the evil and ungodly world that surrounds us and share it with others who unfortunately don’t know Jesus.
 
Don’t hoard it, don’t try to save it all for yourself, because God blesses us so that we can also bless others. Jesus expects nothing less from us, that’s why He gave us the Great Commission before He ascended back to heaven.
 
‘Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’ (Matt.28:19-20)
 
And all God’s children declared a loud, grateful and enthusiastic: ‘Praise the Lord! Amen!’
 
Now Friends, let’s go out and do as Jesus asks, or as our Bishop recently quoted another clergy member: ‘Get up; get out, and get lost!’ That means, take our Christianity into the world and let it shine, with Jesus as our guide, mentor, Lord and Saviour. Much LOVE!
 
…to be really true believers…we must be truly seen…as the salt of the earth…and the light of the world…