Proverbs 3:25-26. Be not afraid of sudden fear (terror), neither of the desolation (trouble) of the wicked when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken (caught).
Oh Friends, at long last the nonsense in the U.S. House of Representatives seems to be over! Ah Lord eh! And would you believe some of them are still griping, figuring that the country should have been allowed to go even further to the dogs than it has already gone, simply because of their petty, selfish ideology! Steups!
And I’m sure most of those who are still whining can afford to put up with some economic pressure, so they were quite content to put millions of poor and needy Americans out of work for two weeks. And in any case, they, the Reps, were still getting paid. What does that say about them eh? What a travesty of justice!
However my people, as they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And that’s gospel truth where Christ’s followers are concerned!
Now I want to share an interesting quote attributed to Richard L. Evans (1906-1971) a writer and Mormon scholar, who apparently delivered many inspirational messages over Mormon Tabernacle Radio. He solemnly and wisely advises: ‘Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.’
That’s more gospel truth, my fellow believers! For to get from one place to the next, you have to begin wherever you are. As the old Chinese proverb asserts: the longest journey begins with the first step. And that first step is usually the hardest.
So this morning I want to encourage us, not to let changes in life discourage us, for we can always start again if necessary. And remember, when you’re working in league with, in close alliance with the most potent and powerful force in the universe, Almighty God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!
So please don’t give up, or give in to the vicissitudes of life, for they are simply what life is all about; alterations to the way we live and changes of circumstances. And though our lives can be drastically altered, and our circumstances seriously changed, we have to keep hanging in, stay tuned to God, and eventually we’ll see positive transformation, because that’s what our ever-faithful God has promised.
And please remember it’s by faith we live, not by sight, and we cannot please God if we don’t believe and behave like He is whom He says He is; One who rewards those who diligently seek Him. (Heb.11:6)
Now let’s check out our Bit, where Cousin Sol confidently proclaims: ‘Be not afraid of sudden fear (terror), neither of the desolation (trouble) of the wicked when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken (caught).’
Oh my brethren, what encouraging and comforting scripture! Who else is like unto our God eh? NOBODY! That’s why we have to keep keeping on in faith during those hard and scary times.
And it’s now time to look at some other scriptures which corroborate the advice of our Bit. First up is scripture from the Book of Job, where Eliphaz, Job’s buddy is rebuking him.
‘Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: for he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power (hand) of the sword.
Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou shalt be in league (have a covenant) with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle (your tent) shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin (find nothing amiss). Thou shalt know also that thy seed (descendants) shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth (plentiful).
Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. Lo, this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.’ (Job 5:17-17)
Oh Friends, I never intended to use all that scripture, but after reading it, I realized that we needed it all, for it shows just how good and great is our God to us.
And we’ll end with one more passage of scripture, that from Psalm 112, superscripted, Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. And the psalmist unhesitatingly declares: ‘Surely he shall not be moved (shaken) for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed (steadfast) in the Lord.
His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies. He hath dispersed (distributed abroad), he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn (strength) shall be exalted with honour. The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away; the desire of the wicked shall perish.’ (Ps.112:6-10)
Oh my people, there’s no more to say, for it’s all been said right there! The righteous shall be prosperous and the wicked shall be extinguished.
So please, today, let us all go out into this evil, unfriendly world and do our best to be righteous servants and followers of Jesus Christ, so that we can be good representatives – unlike those in the U.S. House of Reps. -worthwhile ambassadors of His heavenly government, thus furthering His glorious kingdom. Much LOVE!
…the faithful promises of Almighty God…keep His followers faithful…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 24 March 2013 Isaiah 51:12
24 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: asap, bitterness, blessed day, disastrous pit, drought, earthly hell, faith, faithful prayer, famine, fleshly lust, forces of destruction, glorification, great deeds, great LOVE, heavenly Father, joblessness, LOVE, loving kindness, negative forces, no time to lose, noble emotion, poverty, praise, resentment, rule the roost, rumours of wars, Saint of the Little Flower, sickness, sincere repentance, son jesus christ, spiritual rebirth, spirituality, St. Therese, strife, The Lord who comforts, trust, wars, workers of iniquity, worship
Isaiah 51:12. I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass.
Oh Friends, isn’t it most excellent to see another blessed day on God’s wonderful earth? It certainly is! So let’s all take a deep breath, hold it for a moment, then slowly let it out, while simultaneously contemplating the miracle of life that exists in us, and the goodness of God that enables us to keep on breathing minute after minute, day by day. And having done that, and realizing what rich and exquisite gifts the Lord has bestowed on us, both through ordinary physical life and spiritual rebirth, reconciliation through His Son Jesus Christ, all His earth bound children declared a heartfelt: ‘Thank You Lord! We LOVE You and praise Your Holy Name! We know that it’s nothing we’ve done, but Your monumental, unconditional LOVE for us that causes You to continue looking upon us with such awesome and amazing LOVING-kindness. We faithfully pray that our wonderful LOVE relationship will continue forever, throughout eternity. In Jesus Name. Amen.’ Yes Friends, what a great LOVE our heavenly Father bears towards us, and consequently desires us to bear to each other. No wonder St. Therese of Liseux, the Saint of the Little Flower, emphasized in her short, rough but productive earthly sojourn, that ‘What matters in life, is not great deeds, but great LOVE.’ And if that isn’t an undeniable truth, then I don’t know what is! Sadly though, of all the emotions, that noble emotion of LOVE, which we need the most, is what we have the least of. Granted, the word is constantly bandied about, but there’s no true substance to it. It’s used mostly in a worldly, carnal manner, oftimes as a synonym for fleshly lust. But when coming to true LOVE for God, and true LOVE for our fellow man, our world is sadly lacking. True LOVE for God doesn’t mean continually disparaging Him and removing Him from our society. And true LOVE for our neighbours certainly doesn’t mean the worldwide strife, resentment, bitterness and other stressful emotions that currently dominate our days and nights. And unfortunately my people, without real LOVE, we’re just spinning our wobbly wheels in self-destruct mode. That’s because the negative emotions opposed to LOVE aren’t conducive to building or creating, but are all forces of destruction. And if we keep letting those negative forces rule the roost, then we’ll just keep going the way we are now…falling, falling, falling into the disastrous pit of an earthly hell. It doesn’t take a genius to see that my brethren. But it does take a wise, considerate and LOVING human being to want to do something to stop the carnage, the ever-quickening downward trend. And as I keep reminding us, it’s only the true believers who are capable of catching the reins of this runaway horse and carriage we call modern-day life and bringing it to a halt and then reversing its sordid direction to that which leads to sincere repentance, praise worship, glorification and LOVE for our Creator, Jehovah God. Ah mih people, unless this reversal of directions happens, and happens soon too, we’ll all end up in dire circumstances. The terrible plight of our world is there for all to see; what with the tough and getting tougher economic situations creating worldwide joblessness, the immense poverty, sickness, homelessness, famine, drought, climate change and all the other negatives now consuming us. None of that speaks of real LOVE, especially when there’s more than enough of everything to go around. And we haven’t even mentioned the numerous social uprisings, the wars and rumours of wars that are concurrently taking place alongside all the other disastrous situations. Oh Friends, what a mess we’ve made of God’s wonderful creation! And it all stems from a sad lack of LOVE. The unfortunate thing about LOVE though, is that it takes time to build, because it needs trust and faith, things that cannot be had instantly. Meanwhile, hate, anger and strife can be raised up immediately and produce immense destruction at the proverbial drop of a hat. Anyway my fellow believers, the moral of the story, the purpose of this epistle (smile) is to have us wake up and realize that it’s imperative we get the ball of LOVE rolling as quickly as possible. There’s absolutely no time to lose, since Lucifer and his wicked cronies already have a substantial head start on us. That means we have lots of ground to make up, before we can even think of forging ahead of the evildoers. So please, if we seriously and sincerely LOVE Jesus and want to please Him, want to help build His glorious kingdom, then let’s get it together nuh. Let’s cut out all the pussyfooting and blah blah blah, and get some real action going. We can’t allow the immense sacrifice of Christ’s sinless life on Calvary’s cross to be wasted, to go for naught under the evil onslaught, because we’re too comfortable, lazy and/or afraid. Remember Bruh Paul’s strong assurance to Timothy: ‘For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of LOVE, and of a sound mind.’ (2 Tim.1:7) Therefore, as true believers, we ought to come out swinging, giving no quarter to the workers of iniquity in this LOVE Revolution, if we want to see a return to God and all the things that make for a safe, satisfied, wonderful, godly and righteous life. Now let’s allow our Bit, and the three verses after it, to take us home, so that we can ponder on the truth contained in them, and how our lives reflect that truth. ‘I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a (mortal) man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready (preparing) to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.’ (Is.51:12-15) Oh my people, please let’s contemplate today on those harsh words of our mightily displeased God. Yes, He is mightily displeased because we’re doing just like, and even worse than the Israelites of old, to whom Isaiah directed those words. And having pondered them, let’s then rise up and do better. If not for our sakes, then for Jesus and our children’s. It’s the wisdom of the ages. Much LOVE!…he who has ears to hear…let him hear…otherwise he’ll surely feel the wrath of God…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 11 August 2012 Jeremiah 24:10
11 Aug 2012 Leave a comment
in Inspirational Living Tags: calamity, corruption, drought, evil, famine, Jesus, natural disasters, political upheaval, strife, wars and rumours of wars
Jeremiah 24:10. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
Oh Friends, it’s good to see that we’ve had two wet days consecutively; Wednesday and Thursday! Wow! That hasn’t happened in my area for ages. And then it was only yesterday that we had what you’d truly call rain, not just a series of on and off drizzles. And it’s surely good to hear that some parts of the vast drought stricken areas in the U.S. have also gotten some rain, though still not enough to make any substantial difference. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, places like Manila, the capital of the Philippines and the surrounding area received a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours this past week, causing the place to look like a vast wasteland. And sadly they’re soon expecting even more monsoon like weather. I believe North Korea and parts of China have also recently been seriously flooded. Oh Friends, let’s pray for them in their time of disaster, and hope too that the current flood waters will recede before the next bout of torrential rain comes. Ah mih people, that brings us to our Bit: ‘And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed (destroyed) from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.’ And I have to chuckle here as I verify that our Lord does move in mysterious ways. That’s because earlier on, when I opened the Good Book to look for a Bit, it opened at Jeremiah Chapter 24, and verse 10 was the first thing I read. I considered it for a Bit since it seemed so appropriate to what’s currently happening around our world. But then I decided I wanted something more positive and went looking for something else. However, after writing the intro, the Spirit sent me back to Jeremiah’s words. And they really are thought provoking Friends, for there’s never been a time when our world has been so rich, yet so poverty stricken; so healthy and medically capable, yet plagued by so much sickness and disease. Neither have we ever been so mentally brilliant, with so much possibility for wisdom to be far flung, yet our world is ruled by foolishness; the foolishness of Beelzebub, instead of the wisdom of God. The same goes for strife: our world is being torn apart by it. It’s much easier to name the few places where there’s little or no strife, than to name the many where strife has more or less become the norm. Floods and other natural disasters are causing havoc right around the world. And when we talk about famine and drought, they too are so widespread that even the rich, developed countries are not immune to them. Everywhere hunger and poverty are raising their cruel heads, while the rich and famous continue to live a dissolute lifestyle, which too many of us are hungering for and trying to imitate. So my brethren, what does all of that tell us eh? Something must be wrong somewhere, if our oh so highly evolved and developed world is so beset by calamity in all areas of life! And we won’t even talk of the political and economic upheavals that are plaguing us. The problem’s simple though Friends: we have foolishly turned away from serving and worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our Creator, to the worshipping of idols, in particular things like money, pride, earthly possessions and power. They have now become our focus rather than Almighty God. But what else can you expect but calamity when the majority of society are just seeking their own good and don’t care about anyone else. A selfish and greedy society is obviously going to be plagued by serious problems like fraud, theft, murder, societal unrest and finally anarchy, because no one’s really interested in the overall society, only their personal aggrandisement. My brethren, please listen to these wise, truthful words of Bruh David from Psalm 37, re the true state of the wicked. ‘A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs (splendour of the meadows): they shall consume (vanish); into smoke shall they consume (vanish) away. The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again (does not repay): but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth. For such as be blessed of him (The Lord) shall inherit the earth (land); and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off (destroyed).’ (Ps.37:16-22) Oh my people, why can’t we understand that wickedness and all that it connotes, might pay in the short term, but eventually it all falls apart, is consumed, vanishes like smoke in our God controlled universe? And the sad part is that many of our leaders – political, economic and religious – know these things, but yet they refuse to stand strong against the evildoers who only want to perpetrate Lucifer’s negative agenda. That brings us to this serious warning from Jesus: ‘Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers (various) places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.’ (Matt.24:4-8) Yes Friends, it is clearly the beginning of the end! But unfortunately only a handful is paying attention to the warning signs of the Saviour. How foolish can we really be eh, with our world crumbling around us, and we obviously unable to fix it in our own strength! Oh my brethren, there are not enough voices crying out in the wilderness of our world, re the second coming of Jesus in all His glory. That means we believers need to do a lot more than we’re currently doing to wake up and shake up an evil, sedentary world where the evildoers are ruling the roost. Please note my people, that though wickedness is in the ascendance, its perpetrators are not sitting on their laurels like we are. They are still working as hard as ever to achieve their evil goals. We have to do likewise Friends, otherwise we’re going to lose the war and bring disgrace to Jesus and His Church. And we certainly don’t want to do that! So please, let’s get real active nuh, and get as many people prepared as possible, for we don’t know when Jesus will come again. He might come tomorrow…or even TODAY! Much LOVE!…whoso readeth…let him understand… (Matt.24:15)
SCRIP-BITS 