13 Feb 2015
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, Apollos watered, basic law of God's kingdom, blessed, blessings, Carnival, Carnival Friday, enough, every man shall give as he is able, favour, fellowship, forgiving, Friday chant, fun, furthering God's glorious kingdom, generosity, giving, giving from the heart, go with God, God gave the increase, God is the giver of all things, gospel truth, greatest pleasure, I have planted, I pray in Jesus' name, idyllic, in the eyes of our God, l, LOVE, magnanimous god, mas in yuh mas, Ole Mas, opulence, play mas, principle, relaxation, religious camps, renewed and refreshed in soul body and mind, rest, retreats, serene, share, standards, Store Bay, TGIF! Thank God is Friday, the Lord shall give that which is good, the Lord thy God, the sons of Korah, therapeutic waters, tourist traffic, tranquil scene, wine store
Deuteronomy 16:17. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.
And then it was Friday… and the jamming began: ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday yes! Carnival Friday to boot! Is going to be one big ruckus in the town this weekend! Mas for so! Mas in yuh mas! Play mas! Yes, thank God is Carnival Friday oui, and we going to party down the place!’
Oh Friends, that’s not me, but the vibe of the general population and the thousands of visitors who’ve come to enjoy the spectacle, the bacchanal, of two days – Monday and Tuesday – of partying in the streets like leggo beast. Better them than me yes. My days for all that nonsense done. I can’t handle it physically, and in my opinion the standards have fallen so drastically, that it turns me off.
It’s no longer a display of beautiful, innovative costumes, but mostly nakedness and wining. The music doesn’t thrill me any longer either, for that too has degenerated to simply ‘hands in the air’, and ‘jump and wine.’ As far as I am concerned, the whole substance of Carnival has now been downgraded to an even more ungodly spectacle than it ever was.
And it seems that a lot of Christians over here usually go to religious camps and retreats at Carnival time. Anyway to each his own! I’ll just spend my time in my serene retreat in Tobago; possibly go out the street for Ole Mas on Monday morning, but not much else.
So let’s chant our Friday Chant to give us a better perspective on how to use the weekend. As one 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.’
That’s how we ought to handle the weekend my brethren! Now re adventures; yesterday I didn’t have any really. I just went to the beach, Store Bay, where it was nice and calm, with beautiful light green water. The duchess wasn’t feeling too hot, so she stayed in the car, while I enjoyed the therapeutic waters and did some walking along the golden sandy beach.
Oh the beach was packed with people, and therefore umbrellas and beach chairs, you could hardly find space to walk between them. I just don’t like how Store Bay has become so commercialized. But I guess that many of the locals make their living from the tourist traffic.
After the beach, we just came home, the duchess cooked some food, then retreated to her usual spot on the deck. Uh oh! On the way home from the beach we stopped at a wine store in a small plaza nearby. I didn’t go in, but when the duchess came back, was she ever excited. She raved about the opulence of this wine store; with its comfortable, upscale chairs, like in your living room, etc.
She had never seen anything like it in any other wine store in all her travels. I had to laugh, the way she was carrying on, but when the duchess raves about something, it must be fairly decent, because her standards are pretty high. One day I must go into this wine store myself and check out its opulence.
Later in the evening, as we were sitting on the deck, watching the sun go down, not so spectacularly because of a heavy cloud cover, I was harassing her about the beauty and tranquility of the scene, when she surprised me by suddenly saying; ‘It’s i-d-y-l-l-i-c!’ spelling the word idyllic for me.
Hn, hn! I almost died laughing from her introducing the word by spelling it. And Friends, the word ‘idyllic’ fits the surroundings to a T! It’s truly idyllic! And like the duchess is on a roll, for she came up with ‘serene’ the other day, then with ‘idyllic’ yesterday, and I’m supposed to be the wordsmith.
And children, I understand that you all are worried about getting me to come back to the cold North Country. But on that point, I think it’s the duchess you should be worried about, for a little while after hitting me with ‘idyllic,’ she hit me with another gem, telling me that it was her greatest pleasure to wake up and open the front door every morning and look out on the serene, idyllic scene.
I think it’s gotten to her more than me. She can definitely handle it! (smile) Anyway, when it got dark, we came inside and watched some of the Carnival activities on the television till bed time. That’s one good thing about down here, a lot of the shows are broadcast live on the television. And that’s possibly where I’ll view the majority of my mas.
Now it’s time for our Bit, dealing with another basic law of God’s kingdom. ‘Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.’
Oh Friends, I can’t begin to tell us how true and important that principle is in the eyes of our God! We want Him to give to us, and He does, but He also expects us to give some of what He’s so generously blessed us with to others less fortunate.
And just like with forgiving, if we don’t give, He won’t give to us. It is therefore in our best interest to share His bounty with others not so blessed. And besides, He gives us more than enough for ourselves, so that we have enough to share.
Now let’s check out some scriptures that show the giving, the generosity of our wonderful and magnanimous God. Remember yesterday we said that God is the ultimate giver, and you can’t outgive Him. Listen to these scriptures that support those truths.
In Psalm 85 – God has removed His anger from Israel – the sons of Korah wisely and truthfully declare. ‘Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps (make his footsteps into a way).’ (Ps.85:12-13)
Then Bruh Paul, in his first missive to the Corinthians, when they were arguing about whom they should follow; Apollos or Bruh Paul, tells them straight up: ‘I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.’ (1 Cor.3:6-7)
Now that’s gospel truth my people! Everything we have, belongs to and comes from God. He is the giver of ALL things! Please let’s remember and ponder on that, as we go about our business today. It will only enhance our lives and godliness. More on that tomorrow, God willing. Till then, please go with God, for He is the best guide and protector there is! Much LOVE!
…giving from the heart…is one of the best ways to receive favour and blessings from Almighty God…
11 Feb 2015
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a cheerful heart, a willing heart, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, as we give God gives even more to us, blessings, compassion, every man shall give as he is able, feast of weeks, forgiveness, freewill offering, friends, generous, generously, give from our hearts, giving, giving is a delightful experience, God LOVES a cheerful giver, God never changes, having sufficiency in all things, he that sows bountifully will reap bountifully, he that sows sparingly will reap sparingly, iguana, Israelites, Jesus Christ, Losers compromise on values, loving, loving kindness, mercies, morning neighbour, no givinng up, no turning back, obedient, one hundred and ten percent, Pigeon Point, pressing forward, smile, the Lord thy God, the Word of god, Wednesday, what's cooking, which he hath given thee, Winners stand firm on values, wisdom
Deuteronomy 16:17. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.
Morning Neighbour, morning! What’s cooking on this fine February day eh? A day filled with all sorts of new blessings, mercies and God’s LOVING-kindness!
It’s Wednesday, and we’re halfway through the work week. That means there’s no turning back now, we just have to keep pressing forward with all we’ve got; as the popular saying goes, give a hundred and ten percent! But’s that nothing new to us followers of Jesus Christ, because that’s how we’re expected to operate each and every day. And with God’s help that certainly is possible.
So please, let’s just keep pressing on, possibly faltering a little, but definitely NO GIVING UP! The words ‘giving up’ don’t exist in Jesus’ vocabulary, and neither should they exist in ours.
Now here’s an interesting quote of a few days ago from my friend Anselm, Inspiring you for a better tomorrow. ‘Winners stand firm on values but compromise on petty things; Losers stand firm on petty things but compromise on values.’
Oh Friends, oh Friends, if there’s one thing we should NEVER compromise on, it’s our values, for once we do that, we leave ourselves open to all kinds of evil and ungodly nonsense!
Now, because of the complexities and vagaries of life, there must be some compromises if we expect it to run fairly smooth, but as Anselm points out, they should only be on petty, basically unimportant things, NEVER on anything that has to do with the Word of God; its doctrine, it’s belief system and the way we should live obedient to God’s will.
For that will only bring it into disrepute, and there are enough people around the world already doubting the Word and spreading negative assumptions and assertions about it. No need for us to make things worse by compromising the godly values that it stands for.
As per adventures, I didn’t do anything much yesterday, just went to the beach, Pigeon Point, as the duchess desired. What a good, LOVING, and obedient husband I am eh! (smile) But I wasn’t happy with the beach, at least the one that she liked, because it was very shallow and with no sudden drop down as you entered the water.
But I disliked it with the stones on the beach and in the water, and I couldn’t even float properly, much less swim, since the water where the protective rope was placed, barely reached to my waist, and that’s a fair way from shore. The other side of the rock pile though was better. The rope was further out and the water reached my chest. Still not the greatest, by my standards, but good enough to enjoy.
Oh, at one stage where we were sitting at the top of the rock pile between the two beaches, a small guana (iguana) showed up, sunning himself on the rocks, completely ignoring the duchess, myself and an old British couple who were sitting nearby.
I tried taking some pictures of him, but since I didn’t have my glasses handy, and I’m not versed in the duchess’ I-pad – she was in the water then – I don’t know if any of them came out properly. I completely forgot about them, and must look at them later.
After the beach, we stopped at the grocery for a few things, then came home and rested for the rest of the day, simply enjoying the serenity and beauty of our surroundings. (smile)
And today my people, since we’ve spoken recently of compassion and forgiveness, we’ll talk about another most important aspect of a Christian’s life; giving. Our Bit put’s it admirably and very succinctly. ‘Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.’
Oh mih people, mih people, that was God’s command from way back when to the Israelites, when they celebrated their feasts! And since neither our God nor His Word ever changes, then that command applies even unto us in these present times.
And earlier on in the same chapter as our Bit, Moses spoke God’s command to the people thus: ‘And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. (Deut. 16:10)
Yes Friends, the basic idea is to give freely, from our hearts, according to the provisions with which the Lord has blessed us. What we give depends on what we have. Obviously if we don’t have a lot, we can’t give a lot, but of whatever we have, we ought to be generous with it.
For let us remember and practice these fateful words of Bruh Paul in his second missive to the Corinthians. ‘But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully (with blessings, generously) shall reap also bountifully.
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity (compulsion): for God LOVETH a cheerful (joyful) giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.’ (2 Cor.9:6-8)
Yes Friends, God LOVES it when we give with a cheerful heart, not grudgingly. And remember, as we give, He will give to us, we will always have sufficient for ourselves and some left over to give to others. That’s the beauty of our God!
Now let’s close with some explanations from the scholars re those verses. ‘9:6. One’s return is determined by his investment (cf. Prov. 11:24, Luke 6:38; Gal.6:7). The expression ep’ eulogiais ordinarily translated “with blessings” here has the sense of “generously.” While it does not suggest indiscriminate giving, it does denote “unrestrained” giving.’
‘9:7. Cheerful giver: The giver is to have a willing heart and a sincere desire to participate in the offering. Paul is not so much interested in their money. Nor is God, for that matter, as the passage from Proverbs 22:9 indicates. (Please check it out). The Greek term hilaron, from which the English “hilarious” derives, is best rendered as the English text suggests, “cheerful.” Giving is not a joke. It is serious business, but it is a delightful experience all the same.’
Ah mih breddren, those last two sentences puts giving in the right perspective. For giving is indeed a blessing in itself. When one gives, one feels good. Not a slimy, smarmy (smile) hypocritical, negative good like the Pharisees did. But a cleansing, healing and healthy good, as the Lord desires.
So please, let’s ponder our giving today, and try, with God’s help of course, to bring it into line with His Word. That is the ultimate in wisdom. Much LOVE!
…as we give…God gives even more to us…so that we can increase our giving…
P.S. I checked out the pictures of the iguana, and one is attached. You might have to zoom in or out to see him properly. He wasn’t a big boy, but big enough. (smile) Unfortunately readers of the Blog, I can’t put a picture of the reptile here. Much LOVE!
07 Jan 2015
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: and he delivered me from all my fears, as for me and mine, as I was with Moses, ask and it shall be given to you, be not afraid, be strong and of a good courage, Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, blessings, children of the Most High, circumstances, communication with God, deity, diminish the cold, encouragement, fear, fervent and continual prayer, forgiveness, frequent prayer, giving, God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, God's LOVING-kindness, grace, half-way home, hell freeze over, hope, I sought the Lord, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee, jehovah god, Joshua, knock and it shall be opened, leader of the Israelites, LOVE, magnanimity, magnificence, mercies, no excuse for failure, O taste and see that the Lord is good, oersevrance, omni-present, omnipotent, omniscient, promise, rejoice and be glad in it, reverence, sacrificing Jesus, seek and you shall find, Son Jesus, sunshine, taking, thank you heavenly Father, the death of Moses, the Lord thy God is with thee, the sun is shining, they that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing, this is the day the Lord has made, to eternity and back, trust, walk in god's will, we praise and bless your holy name, we will follow Jesus, Wednesday, words of wisdom, workweek
Psalm 34:4. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Well hello there Friends and Neighbours, welcome to this big and beautiful Wednesday morning! But brother it’s cold as ever, just like the last two days were, probably cold enough to make hell freeze over too! (smile)
Hopefully though, there will be lots of sunshine, like we had yesterday, to sort of mentally diminish the cold, since it never seems as bad when the sun is shining. Hn!
However my people, today is Wednesday, which means we are half-way home through our work week, which I know is proving to be very difficult for some of us, being the first one of the year, and all that. But wherever you are, and whatever the weather situation might be there, I want us to remember a few salient facts.
Firstly, that this is the day the Lord has made, and regardless of our circumstances, we ought to rejoice and be glad in it, for that’s why the Lord made it. Secondly, we’re alive, that means there’s hope that all our situations will be bettered eventually.
And lastly, that today, new mercies, new grace, new forgiveness, and new blessings are being prepared in heaven to shower down on us all later on.
Wow! That’s the magnificence, magnanimity and LOVING-kindness of our omnipotent, omniscient and omni-present God!
And all the children of the Most High declared a loud and heartfelt: ‘Thank You heavenly Father! You are so good to us! We praise and bless Your holy name! And much much thanks again too for sacrificing Your One Son Jesus, so that we could have LOVING communication once more with You.
You are indeed the very best! We truly do LOVE You, and will endeavour to walk sincerely in Your will this new year of 2015; with Your help and encouragement of course! This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!’
Oh Friends, Jehovah God is such a wonderful Deity, that I don’t know what we’d do without His LOVING-kindness!
Now that segues very smoothly into our Bit: ‘I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.’
Oh my fellow believers, that only proves what we’ve said above! Which other supposed god does stuff like that eh? None of them! They are only interested in taking, while the living, LOVING and very active God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is much more concerned with giving!
I don’t know about you all nuh Friends, but I’d much rather have a God that gives than one that takes. That brings us to our first scripture passage showing where and how the Lord quells fear in His obedient subjects, and that’s when He appoints Joshua as the leader of the Israelites, after the death of Moses.
Hear these wonderful words of encouragement and promise that the Lord told him back then. ‘There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Be strong and of a good courage… Only be thou strong and very courageous… Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.’ (Josh.1: 5, 6a, 7a, 9)
What a display of encouragement my people on the part of our kindly and LOVING God! Three times in four verses, He tells him to be strong and of a good courage. With all of that, if Joshua obeyed, He couldn’t help but succeed!
Now listen to some further words of Bruh David on the subject, which ought also to enlighten us and boost our courage. ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear (reverence) the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want (lack) to them that fear (reverence) him.
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want (lack) any good thing. Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear (reverence) of the Lord.’ (Ps.34:8-11)
Oh my people, how can we not be encouraged when we hear those wonderful words from a man who lived them eh?
And we’ll close, as we like to whenever possible, with words from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself. Hear these challenging but righteous and very truthful words from the Master.
‘Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?’ (Matt.7:7-11)
Oh Friends, what beautiful sentiments from our Saviour!
Now here are some interesting and relevant notes on those verses from the scholars. ‘7:7-10. The three imperatives ask, seek, and knock are in the present tense of the original language, suggesting both perseverance and frequent prayer.
Fervent and continual prayer is to be made on behalf of those for whom we are concerned. God promises to answer all genuine prayer (vs.8). Everything we need for spiritual success has been promised to us. God leaves us no excuse for failure.’
Oh my brethren, in light of those fateful and moving words from Jesus and the scholars, what more can a humble human like myself add eh?
Not much nuh, except to advise and encourage us to follow them, if we want to be successful down here on earth, as well as in heaven above, for they are indeed words of heavenly wisdom. Much LOVE!
…as for me and mine…hn!…we will follow Jesus…all the way to eternity…and back too… (smile) …that’s how much trust and faith we have in Him…
08 Oct 2014
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a man of God, abusing our physical bodies, alive, best buddies, blessed, bounden duty, breakdown, bring glory to God, burning the candle at both ends, busy world, Christian, constant jammings, conventional human standards, desires of my heart, diligently, don't shoot the messenger, edifice will collapse, Elijah, enjoy, enough is enough, faith, faithfully, flour, foolish, forgave, foundation, free from the bondage of sin, friendship, from the goodness of our hearts, generosity, giving, glory hallelujah, god's great scheme of things, God's work, help, her whole livelihood, hope, Hour of Power, hugs and kisses, I'll try not to do it again, I'm sorry, inequity of resources, Jesus, Jesus smiles down on us, just flesh and bones, LOVE, mea culpa, meaningless, misfortune, misusing, mites, of their abundance, oil, omnipotent and loving god, out of her poverty, please accept my most humble apologies, please forgive me, poor widow, praise God, prosperity, put into practice, raised her son from the dead, rebelled, rebellion, rocket science, sacrificed, selfish society, selfless act, sensible, simply mortal, smile, standing steadfast and strong for Jesus, stress and strain, superficially, the Good Book, the middle of the week, the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer, the word of the Lord is truth, treasury, trite, truth, Wednesday, winning the battle, wisdom, wise, worldly pursuits, worthless
1 Kings 17:24. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.
Aye Friends, it’s just one of those days when the old body completely rebelled. It finally said: ‘Enough is enough! You can’t have me constantly going to bed late and yet expect me to get up early! I’m not superman, just flesh and bones yuh know; a simple mortal…and a fairly old one at that! I’m not as young as I used to be, so I can’t stand the constant jammings like I used to before!’
And what could I say eh? Nothing but, ‘I’m sorry, and please accept my most humble apologies…and please forgive me, and I’ll try not to do it again. Mea culpa…mea culpa…’
And yuh know what, being the good Christian body that he is, he LOVINGLY forgave me. Glory Hallelujah! Now we’re best buddies again, with hugs and kisses all around! Oh what a wonderful friendship, just like the kind we’ve been speaking about the last few days.’ (smile)
Ah mih people, that might all sound a bit trite and foolish, but it’s loaded with truth and wisdom. We can’t keep on misusing and abusing our physical bodies without suffering its eventual rebellion and breakdown.
Unfortunately though, in this superficially busy world, too many of us are trying to light the proverbial candle at both ends simultaneously and keep it lit there for a long time. But that only brings misfortune in the end, because our bodies, as well as our minds were not made to take that kind of stress and strain on a long term basis.
And I’m sure all of us will agree that the amount of physically and mentally broken people in our society nowadays is way too high, especially amongst our young people, especially with the kind of prosperity we’re experiencing.
Although the facts and figures do show that our supposed prosperity is only superficial, like everything else around us, for actual prosperity is only going to the already rich, who are becoming richer with each passing day, while the poor are in fact becoming poorer.
Our society is suffering from a terrible inequity of resources, and until that is straightened out, things will only get worse, not better. So please, my people, let’s try to be wise and sensible where our minds and bodies are concerned nuh, since they are our basic foundation, and like all foundations, once they get too weak, the whole edifice which they support will eventually collapse.
And I have to laugh here, because that is definitely not the beginning I envisaged for today’s Bit. But I guess the Lord had a different plan in mind.
Here is what I had written while listening to some music from an Hour of Power religious programme: Oh Friends, it’s Wednesday morning, the middle of the workweek, and we’re alive… All praise to God! And even better yet, we’re winning the battle, standing steadfast and strong for Jesus! What else can one ask eh? Nothing really.
However, while listening to the music I was blessed with this great idea… And it’s not rocket science either. The way I see it, the things I want, the desires of my heart that God has put there, are basically to write words and music and to run horses…and TO HELP!
Yes Friends, HELP! That’s the most important of those four things. Why? Because regardless of how successful we are at our worldly pursuits, if we don’t HELP, then they are all worthless and meaningless in God’s great scheme of things.
Remember what Jesus came to earth to do? To HELP us, to save us from our sinful selves. And we term that most wonderful selfless act of Jesus as LOVE!
So therefore, if Jesus LOVED us so much that He wanted to HELP us and willingly sacrificed His life that we could be free from the bondage of sin, then that logically means that HELP is certainly akin to LOVE! And when you add Faith, and Hope, the most important become HELP and LOVE!
The problem though is that in our basically selfish, I, me, and mine society, the words LOVE and HELP don’t resonate with us the way they used to a generation or so ago. And to make matters even worse, there are more people desperately seeking LOVE and HELP than ever before, especially in a time of general peace.
That unfortunately makes it even more difficult since there’s less LOVE and HELP to spread round now to more people. Ah Lord eh! What a mess we’ve made of our world my fellow believers! And I know a lot of us who are expected to help, also need help in a bad way.
But yuh know what: when we give of the little we have, like Jesus noted of the poor widow who threw her last two mites into the collection plate, then our lives become even more blessed.
Here is how the Good Book recounts it: ‘And Jesus sat over against (opposite) the treasury, and beheld how people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites (small copper coins worth something like one-eight of a cent), which makes a farthing (a Roman coin).
And he (Jesus) called unto his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance (surplus); but she of her want (out of her poverty) did cast in all that she had, even all her living (her whole livelihood).’ (Mark 12:41-44)
Oh my people, as the scholars explain: ‘12:43-44. God does not measure giving by conventional human standards.’
Yes my brethren, when we give of the little we have, our wonderful God sees the generosity of our hearts and expands our source so that we can give even more.
It’s like how He sent Elijah to the poor widow of Zarephath for food, who herself only had a little flour and little oil to make the last cake for her son and herself, then she was expecting to die after that. But she listened to Elijah’s plea instead and fixed her last bit of food for him.
And yuh see what happened? She and her household miraculously had food for many days after that. Elijah even raised her son from a death-like state. (1 Kin.17:8-23)
That finally brings us to our Bit: ‘And the woman said unto Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.’
Yes my people, that is what is expected of us, every time we open our mouths – truth! And even more so if we are expounding on the Word of our omnipotent and LOVING God!
So please, as we diligently and faithfully go about doing God’s work today, let’s make sure that we try to HELP and LOVE others, and that every word we speak is truth, so that we can bring glory to Him, like Elijah did with the poor widow. That’s our bounden duty! Much LOVE!
…oh when we…HELP and GIVE and LOVE…from the goodness of our hearts…Jesus smiles down on us with even more blessings… Glory Hallelujah!
P.S. Sorry about the lateness and length of the Bit Friends, but all I can say is that the Lord had His special purpose for it, allowing me to write the things I’ve done. So don’t shoot the messenger, (smile) just enjoy it and put it into practice in your lives. Much LOVE!
28 Jun 2014
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a consistent basis, angry, another day of life, blessings, breath of life, broken, business, busyness, caring, choose to view the world, consequences, contagious, Danish Proverb, despair of the world's goodness, disarray, disfavour, earthly pilgrimage, Elementary my dear Watson, encourage, enthusiastic, excuses, friends, give the Lord genuine thanks, giving, go astray, God is with us, God's promises will be faithfully fulfilled, God's Word, gospel truth, gracious God, gratitude, guide to earthly living, heartfelt thanks, heifer dust, hogwash, hope, I might not sin against God, I've hidden God's word in my heart, joyful, lives would blossom, lost in the darkness, LOVE, make time, obedient to God's will, optimistic, planet earth, resentful, responsibility, sad, sin, study God's Word, take heed to God's word, take it for granted, thankful, that fateful day, the blind man doesn't see it, the Good Book, the Holy Bible, the reality of the world, the sky is not less blue, true believers, truth, witness another sunrise, words of wisdom
Psalm 119:11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Oh Friends, once more our gracious God has seen it fit to bless us with another day of life on planet earth. For such a wonderful blessing we ought to be most thankful, since a large number of our fellow earthlings, for whatever reason (s) have not been so gifted.
The breath of life is one of the most important blessings we have received from our Creator, and too many of us take it for granted, and are most surprised on that fateful day when we don’t open our eyes. (smile)
So please, every morning that you open your eyes to a new day, please remember to give the Lord genuine thanks for allowing you to witness another sunrise, or even another rainy, gloomy day, for every day, many who don’t arise, would have given all they possessed just to see another day, regardless of how it turned out. And you know that there’s nothing our God likes better than our heartfelt thanks and gratitude for His blessings.
That brings us to an interesting sentence hiding under the guise of a Danish Proverb. ‘The sky is not less blue because the blind man doesn’t see it.’
And really my people, we can’t find any fault with that statement because it is the truth. But Friends, the same thing can be said about our lives. The choices most of us make don’t change the reality of the world around us.
We can choose to be optimistic, caring, giving and joyful, or to be angry, resentful and despair of the world’s goodness. But none of that will truly change the world; it will still be whatever it is. However, our choice will either make us broken and sad, or optimistic and enthusiastic. It all depends on how we choose to view the world around us.
And I strongly advise that choosing the optimistic and enthusiastic route is the much better one for true believers, in fact for every single soul on planet earth, because it gives us hope, despite what is actually happening around us. Hope that God is with us, and that ALL His promises will be faithfully fulfilled in His time, if we are obedient to His will. Hope is also contagious and helps us to encourage others.
But where can we find that hope that sustains us in all kinds of weather eh my brethren? In God’s Word of course! Listen to the psalmist as he asks that question, then wisely declares the answer. ‘Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.’ (Ps.119:9)
‘Elementary my dear Watson!’ as our renowned sleuth Sherlock Holmes would say. Unfortunately though, in this modern world, reading the Good Book and following its dictates has fallen into great disfavour. But then we wonder why our lives and the world around us are in such a terrible state. Hn!
Now hear how the palmist continues: ‘With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.’ (Ps. 119:10-11)
Oh what words of wisdom my Friends! If only more of us would sincerely allow those desires to permeate our hearts and souls, we’d all be much better off. I particularly like the expressed intentions of our Bit: hiding God’s Word in our hearts, so that we don’t disobey Him. How resourceful my brethren!
But before we can hide His Word in the uttermost depths of our being, we first need to READ IT!
That however is where the problem comes in. It’s awfully hard to get people, even sincere believers, to read the Good Book on a consistent basis these days. But that’s the only way we’ll ever know what it says, and be able to hide it in our hearts.
We have all sorts of excuses why we can’t read the Word regularly, like being so busy and otherwise. But Friends, that’s pure hogwash, pure heifer dust! We find time to do all sorts of other stuff of much less importance. Don’t tell me if the Lord was important enough in your life that you couldn’t find a fifteen minutes or half an hour each day to study His Word.
And note I said STUDY, not merely peruse, or give a cursory glance through. Like all the other stuff we need to study to enhance our careers, so too we need to STUDY GOD’S WORD, so that we can know what it says and be obedient to it!
I’m tired with all the business and busyness we claim to have. Something must be wrong with me then, because I don’t seem to have that much business or busyness, but I still have to consciously make the time to read the Word, or else my time will be taken up with much less important things.
Friends, we DON’T FIND TIME, we MAKE TIME, especially when it comes to God’s Word!
And most of us would be surprised to find that our lives would blossom ever so brightly, if we just made the time to spend a few minutes everyday poring over the Word. Yes my brethren, please remember that the Good Book is our guide to earthly living, and if we don’t pay serious attention to it, then we WILL go astray.
And I don’t have to tell us that that is the gospel truth, because it is highlighted right before our very eyes; the total disarray in which our world now finds itself, because it has ceased making the Word of God its guide.
Oh my people, I can only encourage us to read and follow God’s Word, every individual has to take the responsibility upon him or herself to do so or not. Remember though, that you will also have to bear the consequences of whatever path you follow. Much LOVE!
…to truly find our way on our earthly pilgrimage…to not get lost in the darkness of this evil world…it’s essential to read and follow our guide book…THE HOLY BIBLE…
09 Dec 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: #One, abhor, advice, almighty god, aura of love, battles, Bruh Paul, caring, cheerfulness, Christ's Church, Christian's conduct, cleave, cling to, cockles, communion, confidence, conquerors, Creator of the universe, denominations, detest, diligence, dissimulation, divide and conquer, divisions, duties, enthusiasm, evil, evil doers, exhortation, exuberant, faith, fighting against each other, functions, further your glorious kingdom, genuine, gifts, giving, good, grace, guilty, harmonious choir, heavenly Father, holy spirit, humble servants, hypocrisy, infeigned, inroads, invincible, Jesus Christ, jesus name, jobs, joy of the lord, keeping families together, lead and guide, liberally, LOVE, LOVE Revolution, members, mercy, ministry, Monday Morniing Battle Hymn, ONE body in Christ, Oneness, overcome, problems, prophecy, prosperity mode, razor-like sharpness, rejuvenation of spirit, renewed vitality, reverence, righteous fruit, rule, salutations, simplicity, soar to great heights, Son and Father, spirits, spiritual lives, stand up strong, steadfast faith, teaching, umbrella, under the weather, ungodly world, useful purpose, vanquish, warrior mentality, wisdom, working together, worldly circumstances
Romans 12:4-5. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office (function): So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one (individually) members one of another.
Aye mih people! How you all doing this bright and picturesque Monday morning eh? Oh, I know that many of us are under the weather, probably undergoing serious problems, be they physical, material, financial or emotional. But I sincerely hope that at least our spiritual lives are in prosperity mode this morning, which will allow us to at least stand up strong to, if not overcome, whatever problems are coming against us.
For remember that the joy of the Lord is indeed our strength, (Neh.8:10) and it’s only when our spirits are in good communion with our heavenly Father that we are able to bear up under unfortunate worldly circumstances and eventually vanquish them. Wow! What a mouthful! (smile)
And Monday is the day that we most desperately need perfect communication with Almighty God, that we can be lifted up, enabled to go back out and labour after overdoing it on the weekend. Chuh! Be quiet nuh Lucifer! God’s people aren’t overdoing it… stop trying to make them feel guilty! Hn! Hn!
Anyway Friends, just in case, let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn with proper reverence and sincere salutations, so that our spirits can be lifted, our joy in our great and wonderful God restored, and our warrior mentality honed to razor-like sharpness for the upcoming battles of this new work week.
Now, as one big, exuberant and harmonious choir, let’s sing: ‘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 mih people, yuh know that our singing is getting better and better each week! And it not only warms the cockles of my heart, but also those of the heavenly host. Mama Mia! They’re delighted, in fact overjoyed to see that their earthly family is finally coming together in the ONENESS that the Son and the Father so avidly desire.
And logically speaking Friends, the only way we can ever improve in any area of life is by working together. And please remember that Jesus died that we could all be gathered together as ONE; ONE BODY, ONE CHURCH, ONE SAVIOUR, ONE SPIRIT, and ONE GOD!
As Bruh Paul so eloquently puts it in his letter to the church at Rome, featured in our Bit: ‘For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office (function): So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one (individually) members one of another.’
Yes my fellow believers, though we are individuals with differing functions, yet we are all expected to operate as one overwhelming body under the harmonious umbrella that’s Christ’s church.
Then Bruh Paul further explains: ‘Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity (liberality); he that ruleth with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.’ (Rom.12:6-8)
Hn! So my brethren, though we all have different gifts and different duties to perform as a part of Christ’s church here on earth, we’re supposed to perform, to operate like the smooth, well-oiled, awesomely engineered, finely synchronized apparatus that’s the human body!
But unfortunately that’s the furthest thing from the truth these days, for instead we’re all fighting against each other with all the denominations and divisions within those denominations. I’m sure that Jesus sometimes sits down, shakes His head and sadly sighs: ‘What else do I have to do to make them work together eh?’
And that’s the gazillion dollar question Friends! For until we stop working against each other and begin working more closely together, the way Jesus envisions it, His church will never soar to great heights that He desires, and sadly Lucifer will continue to have a field day at His expense. And I’m sure that’s not what we truly want to see happen.
Now listen to this telling verse from Bruh Paul in the same sequence as above. ‘Let LOVE be without dissimulation (hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cleave (cling) to that which is good.’ (Rom.12:9)
What wonderful advice my brethren!
And the scholars have an interesting note on that verse. ’12:9. Without dissimulation (lit. “without hypocrisy”). The Christian’s conduct in the local church toward fellow believers is to be a volitional (desire, will) caring for others, LOVING faithfully in spite of the responses received. THE LOVE IS TO BE GENUINE AND UNFEIGNED.’
The bold capitals are my doing, because I consider that statement to be rather important, and right now we’re nowhere close to achieving that desired result. So my people, if we truly want to please Jesus and grow His church substantially, we have to start working seriously together, embrace and uplift the LOVE REVOLUTION, and stop allowing the evil doers to divide and conquer us.
That, my fellow believers, is both earthly and heavenly wisdom! Much LOVE!
…only by working together as one…can we truly bear righteous fruit…in Jesus’ Name…
P.S. Oh Friends, please excuse the lateness of the Bit, but I had some technical problems. Much LOVE!
19 Nov 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: abominable sins, Abraham, absence of love, actions, all and sundry, ancestral line, appointed time, awesome God, circumcision, close to home, contribute, covenant, dead inanimate objects, deaths, destruction, doubt, eight days old, failures and misgivings, faith, faithful, faithless moments, favoured few, fellow believers, fool says, foolishness, friends, give suck, giving, God's promise, helping, homes, hope, hurting, ignorance, ingrates, insights, is anything too hard for the Lord, Isaac, Jesus, joy, laughter, lives, Living Deity, Lord and Saviour, LOVE, mankind, Messiah, miraculous, natural disaster, needy, one and only true God, power, pray, praying, pure foolishness, Quebec, rebuilding, reminder, sacrifcial giving, sacrifices, set time, shelter, sins, Southern Ontario, surrender, the Lord did unto Sarah as promised, the Lord visited Sarah, the time of life, those in need, thunderstorms, times of joy, tornadoes, true reality of Love, true wisdom, trust, truthfulness of God's Word, U.S. Midwest, unique creation, unselfish, workings of God
Genesis 21:1. And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
Oh Friends, what our world needs now is LOVE, sweet LOVE! Not just for some, for a favoured few, but for everyone, for all and sundry! It’s the only thing that there’s too little of.
Most definitely my people! Our world badly, most desperately needs lots more LOVE, as the words of that old song so rightly declare. And if you look closely at our problems, you’ll discover that the majority of them are derived from, or arise from the lack thereof, or absence of LOVE.
And what is this LOVE, you ask? Well according to this definition, which I believe I got from Uncle Charles (Charles Stanley), ‘LOVE is the unselfish, sacrificial giving of oneself.’
And therein lies the rub my brethren; ‘the unselfish, sacrificial giving!’ Hn! Our world is anything but unselfish and sacrificial, more like selfish and non-sacrificial.
And when we think of unselfish and sacrificial giving the first person that comes to mind is obviously our Lord and Saviour Jesus, for He was so unselfish that He sacrificed His sinless life for us; a bunch of ingrates, flagrantly committing abominable sins.
And that’s what true LOVE is all about Friends! We don’t necessarily have to go to the lengths that Jesus did and sacrifice our physical lives for others, but our sacrifices must come from actions like praying for, giving and helping those in need, even though we might also be needy and hurting.
That brings to mind the latest natural disaster to hit our world, and one fairly close to home too. We’re talking about the serious tornadoes and thunderstorms that yesterday lashed the U.S Midwest and parts of Southern Ontario and Quebec. There have been some deaths, lots of destruction, and lots of people without power or shelter.
So please let’s pray for them in their time of need, and also contribute whatever we can to assist them in rebuilding their lives and homes. That’s the true reality of LOVE, my fellow believers!
Now turning to our Bit: ‘And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.’
Oh my brethren, those are words which ought to build enormous hope and faith in our souls! Remember God’s promise from yesterday? ‘And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son…. Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’ (Gen 18:10,14)
So now the Lord, faithful as ever, returns as He had promised. And what happens? What else but what He promised? ‘For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac (lit. Laughter).
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh (lit. made laughter for me), so that all that hear will laugh with me.
And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck (nurse children)? for I have borne him a son in his old age. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.’ (Gen.21:2-8)
Ah mih people, what other supposed gods keep their word, their promises, like ours eh? NONE WHATSOEVER! Because they are all dead, inanimate objects, some even man-made. Whereas our God is the ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD, A LIVING DEITY, faithfully looking over His remarkable creation, our universe, and His unique creation, mankind. What could be better than that eh Friends? Nothing really!
Please note Friends, that Abraham circumcised Isaac eight days after his birth, in keeping with the covenant sign he had made with God.
Now a couple notes from the scholars. The first says: ‘Thou shalt call his name Isaac: The name means “He laughs” and was to serve as a reminder to Abraham of the unlikely means by which he was brought into the world, and his response in 17:17, and Sarah’s reaction in 18:12′
Yuh see Friends, how our God can be sweet but also devious, doing things to remind us of our failures and misgivings. So in the name Isaac, Sarah and Abraham would forever remember their doubt and laughter when the Lord promised them a son in their old age.
However, as the scholars further state: ’21:3: Isaac was the miraculously born son of Abraham and Sarah and was the forefather of the Jews. Both Abraham (17:17) and Sarah (18:12) laughed at the promise of a son in their old age, but later laughed for joy at his birth (vv.1-8). He represented the ancestral line of the promised Messiah.’
That my Friends, is the wonder of our amazing and most awesome God! He always wraps up our doubtful and faithless moments in times of joy! So how and why we don’t truly trust Him, I just can’t understand. That’s simply foolishness, ignorance of the highest order on our part my brethren!
Anyway, it’s time to close. I surely hope that we have gained some good insights into both the workings of our great God and the truthfulness of His Word.
So let’s ponder it all and thereby try to increase our hope, faith and trust in Almighty God to a point of total surrender. For therein lies the ultimate expression of true wisdom, my people! Much LOVE!
…the fool says in his heart…there is no God…pure foolishness that…
19 Sep 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a day in the life, abhor evil, Apollos, bear witness, beautiful reflections, beheaded, bind, bitter fights, bland, blessings, bridegroom, calm, caring, cheerfulness, Christ, Christian faith, Christian's conduct, christianity, cleave, cling to good, co-workers, Corinthians, decrease, different colour thread, diligence, disjointed, dissimulation, divided, encouragement, endowed, exhortation, faith, fellow believers, forgiveness, fountainhead, fragrance, friend, fulfilled, genuine, gifts, giving, God's Holy Will, God's plan, grace, hearts, help of God, hope and pray, hypocrisy, hypocritical actions, imprisoned, increase, indisputable fact, jean paul richter, joy, labourers, liberally, light of the world, local church, LOVE, members, mercies, mercy, minds, ministry, mish-mash world, Most High God, ONE body in Christ, opportunities from heaven, Paul, peace, planted, prophecy, prophesy, purposes, rainbow, reflections, rejoice, religion, ruling, salt of the earth, same old, scriptures, segue, short attention span, souls, source, spiritual challenges, spiritual undercurrent, spirituality, storm, strong cord, sweet smelling flower, take root, teaching, Togetherness, truth, uneventful, unfeigned, ungodly earth, watered, weak, wise words, wonderful god
John 3:27. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
Oh mih Friends, it’s another day in the life! And I know that many of us live the same bland, same old, uneventful lives from day to day, but if we truly believe in Almighty God, then though the events might seem the same – home, work, home – the spiritual undercurrent and happenings will definitely be different. Everyday we’ll be faced with different spiritual challenges.
And getting logical, (smile) how can each day be truly be the same eh, when we’re getting new mercies, blessings, forgiveness and opportunities from heaven above? Our God is so wonderful that He threads the needle of each day with a different colour thread, so that our lives will all seem to be beautiful reflections of His rainbow. (smile)
And to add some encouragement to all of that, because that’s what we try to do here at the Bit, here is this interesting quote. I might have shared it before, but if I did, it’s certainly worthy of sharing again. It comes from the German writer, Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825).
It says: ‘Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance as before a storm. When a storm approaches thee, be as fragrant as a sweet smelling flower.’
Ah mih people, those are certainly wise and encouraging words, but not always easy to live by in this mish-mash world. But whoever said that living on this ungodly earth was meant to be easy eh? We’ll all endure times of storm and times of peace and calm, we just have to hope and pray that the latter will greatly outweigh the former.
And regardless of what comes against us, we can only face it as a sweet smelling flower with the help of Jehovah God!
And with that indisputable fact, we’ll segue smoothly into our new Bit. ‘John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.’
Now Friends, that is the truth of all truths! And we’ll prove it with some scriptures in a minute. But first let’s get some background on the subject.
John gave that answer to his disciples when they came and told him: ‘Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.’ (John 3:26)
Then after our Bit, John continued: ‘Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.’ (John 3:28-30)
John’s ministry and that of Jesus ran concurrently for a short period. And as Jesus’ was increasing, John’s was decreasing. This however didn’t bother John, because He knew that was God’s plan. John’s ministry didn’t really end until he was imprisoned and then beheaded.
And with that bit of background, let’s check out some supporting scriptures, beginning with Bruh Paul’s exhortation to the church at Rome, re the service of LOVE to all.
‘So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one (individually) members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity (liberality); he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.’ (Rom.12:5-8)
Yes mih breddren, we have all been endowed with different gifts for different purposes, but they all come from the same source, the same eternal fountainhead; the Most High God, He of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! And we are all supposed to use those gifts, whatever they may be, in doing God’s holy will; being the salt of the earth and the light of the world, not hiding our lights or abusing and abandoning God’s gifts.
And as Bruh Paul continues to the Roman church: ‘Let LOVE be without dissimulation (hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cleave (cling) to that which is good.’ (Rom.12:9)
Now that, my people, is the greatest thing a believer can ever do!
And as the scholars advise: ‘The Christian’s conduct in the local church toward fellow believers is to be a volitional caring for others, (exercised through one’s will), LOVING faithfully in spite of the response received. The LOVE is to be genuine and unfeigned.’
Unfortunately though, that doesn’t happen in our churches today as much as it ought to. Some of the bitterest fights and most hypocritical actions are currently consuming our churches, that’s why the body of Christ is so divided, disjointed and much weaker than it should be.
And since I’m so concerned about our short attention span, (smile) we’ll end with one more scripture. Don’t want you all to blame the length of the Bit for your not reading it. Hn, hn! But we all know that’s one of our favourite complaints today for anything that takes a few minutes to comprehend.
And this last scripture is from Bruh Paul to the Corinthians, trying to make them understand that Christians ought to be co-workers, not simply individual labourers. Remember there was some confusion as to whom the Corinthians should follow, Bruh Paul or Apollos?
Well he straightaway tells them: ‘Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.’ (1 Cor.3:5-7)
And on that note of gospel truth, my Friends, we’ll close today. Let’s hope that the words we’ve read will reach deep down into our hearts, minds and souls and take root, and thus make a sincere difference to the way we treat each other, especially those of the Christian faith, for it’s all about togetherness and LOVE.
Much LOVE, my fellow believers!
…LOVE is the strong cord that’s supposed to bind Christ’s body together…
25 Jul 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: bless the Lord, blessed, bring the wicked to Jesus, cutting corners, cutting costs, disastrous times, do not be discouraged, fat of rams, giving, God doesn't forake His own, God LOVES justice, homelessness, human error, hunger, inherit the earth, la guardia airport, Leaders, man's nature, mechanical problems, mercy, oppression, overwhelming concern, plane crash, politicians, poverty, powers of evil, Praise the Lord, pridefeul ways, psalm 104, safety reduction, sharing, sickness, sinful ways, sinners, straddle the fence, testimony, the bottom line, the evil time, the righteous shall be upheld, the wicked, the wicked shall be destroyed, time of famine, train derailment, unnecessary suffering, wisdom
Psalm 104:34. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord.
Oh Friends, more tragedy again! This time a Spanish train derailment yesterday evening, that has taken seventy something lives so far. Ah Lord eh!
Now that disaster, plus the plane crash at La Guardia Airport in New York City, earlier on in the week, they’re certainly spreading more doubt in my mind about planes and trains. They’ve been touted as being safer than cars, with fewer accidents per capita, (smile) but when they do happen, the life toll is much heavier. And they’re happening a little too often for my liking.
And for the umpteenth time, I ask, how come in this age of such high technology and computer designed and built stuff, so many accidents are happening eh? Is it mechanical problems or human error, or a combination of both? Is the overwhelming concern with the bottom line, and thus cutting costs and corners playing a greater part than we know?
I believe so. Just look at how the airlines are ramping up the price of a flight to anywhere. You have to pay for everything, even a blanket on a cold plane. Very little, if any food is provided, and that simple-minded snacks or other tasteless stuff.
Then one Canadian airline has gotten the foolish government to lower the help on planes from one (1) stewardess to every 40 passengers, to one (1) for every 50. Now tell me, how does that help with my safety or convenience on the plane eh? It simply doesn’t! For there are ten more people for the one stewardess to look after in flight, as well as in times of disaster.
But it all boils down to costs and the bottom line. Just like the recent train derailment in Quebec, where you had one engineer for a train with over seventy cars. There too, the foolish business oriented government allowed the train company to operate with only one engineer for so many rail cars. Steups!
Have you ever heard any of them talking about increased productivity or safety? Not on your life! But every day they find some new way to increase the cost of travel, while giving even less for the traveller’s money. It’s a good thing I’m not big on travelling, and all of those new fees, plus the nonsense you have to go through in the airports now, are turning me off even more.
Anyway Friends, please remember to offer prayers for those unfortunates involved in the recent disasters. Oftimes, that’s the best we can do for them.
That brings us to our Bit: ‘Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord.’
Yes Friends, sometimes it would be so much better if the Lord would just remove the sinners – well the terrible ones – from the world, because they are just spoiling things down here in their wickedness. All like some of those selfish, greedy, couldn’t care less people running the companies that are gouging and deceiving the ordinary man.
And don’t forget too, plenty, if not most of our leaders and politicians who are in league with the powers of evil and are causing such catastrophe and unnecessary suffering in the world.
No matter how you shake it my brethren, there ought not to be so much suffering in our world. The poverty, hunger, sickness, both physical and mental, the homelessness, the oppression and such should never be as bad as they are because there’s more than enough to go around.
But unfortunately, those who have the most, are the least inclined to share, while those who are inclined to share, don’t have that much to do it with. But isn’t that the way it always is, you ask? True, because sadly, that’s the nature of man.
Anyway, let’s hear some reassuring scripture on the subject. And from Psalm 37, ‘The true state of the wicked,’ come these words of wisdom from Bruh David. ‘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 rams (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 shall inherit the earth (land); and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off (destroyed).’ (Ps.37:17-22)
Yes Friends, that’s how the wicked operate, but the Lord will deal with them in His own way and time. So please don’t get discouraged when you see the wicked prospering and carrying on in their sinful and prideful ways. Their end will soon come.
And instead, let’s do what Bruh David says later in Psalm 37: ‘Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore. For the Lord LOVETH judgement (justice), and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off (destroyed). The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.’ (Ps.37:27-29)
Yes my people, the Lord’s justice will eventually befall the wicked. But yuh know there’s an even better way to get rid of the wicked… And what’s that you ask, wrinkling your forehead in thought? ‘Elementary my dear Watson!’ as Sherlock would say.
The best way to deal with the wicked of this world is to bring them to Jesus. Have them get down on their knees and beg for forgiveness and then change their evil ways. Oh, I know that’s easier said than done, and it will also mean upgrading our Christian talk and walk, which so many of us are not prepared to do.
We still prefer to straddle the fence, with one foot in the world and one on the path to heaven. But Friends, that’s a fool’s wisdom! This is one instance where we can’t play both ends against the middle, because our God is omniscient, He sees all, and knows all, and He definitely won’t stand for it. Remember James’ talk about the double-minded, wavering man. (James 1:5-8)
To end though, I’m going to implore us to improve our Christian efforts, so that instead of imploring God to remove the wicked, we can instead bring them to Jesus through the testimony of our lives. And you know the Lord would much prefer that, since it would mean losing fewer souls to Lucifer.
So please think on that today, talk it over with the Lord, then let’s make the necessary improvements to put it into action. That’s truly wisdom in the making! Much LOVE!
…the best way to handle the wicked…is to bring them into the fold of Jesus…Long live His LOVE Revolution!
12 Mar 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: aggrandizing ourselves, bad habits, bickering, Brother Leo, cloud of witnesses, conceits, covetousness, crown of righteousness, doing, endurance, finished the race, giving, glory hallelujah, good example, good fight, good habits, hebrews 12, humility, idolatry, Jesus Christ, leadership positions, leadership secrets, lies, new creation, old man, perseverance, public office, rejoice, religion, run with patience, serving, sin, spirituality, steadfast faith, theology, weep, worthwhile behaviour
Hebrews 12:1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Oh Friends, it’s another day in our earthly sojourn! ‘Glory Hallelujah!’ And it looks like it will be another rainy one in my area, as it was yesterday. But that’s wonderful! I’ll take the colourless fluid any day over the more solid white stuff, even though the former reminds me that I still have a leak in the laundry room of my basement. But that’s a relatively small matter, which we’ll eventually solve, with the help of the Most High obviously. Now here’s an interesting and very appropriate story I recently read in the newsletter of a Real Estate Agent. It’s a legend about a French monastery, re the ‘extraordinary harmony due to the leadership of a man called Brother Leo.’ One day, several monks from a bickering monastery set out on a five-day journey to visit Brother Leo and find out his leadership secrets. True to the pattern of their monastery, they began arguing about the doing of chores as soon as they set out. However, on the third day of their journey, they met another monk on his way to the same monastery. But unlike them, when it came to doing chores, the new arrival never complained, and when the others were fighting over a chore, he’d pleasantly volunteer and do it himself. And as often is the case, when someone sets us an example, by the last day of the journey, the five other monks were working very well together. Oh how I wish we had more people like that sixth monk in our world, especially our church! Anyway, when they reached their destination, they asked the gatekeeper to see Brother Leo. Much to their amazement and consternation, the gatekeeper laughed at them. Then he pointed to the sixth monk and told them that was Brother Leo. The moral of the story Friends is that in these troubled times, those seeking public office and leadership positions are more interested in aggrandizing themselves, seeking what they can get personally from those positions, rather than what they can do to improve the positions. As the story concludes: ‘The parable about Brother Leo teaches a service model of leadership, where leaders are preoccupied with serving rather than being followed, with giving rather than getting, with doing rather than demanding.’ Yes Friends, that’s what leadership is really all about. But sadly, there are way too few of those types in power today. Please ponder that story and see if and how it affects us, or those we know. Then let’s consciously try our best to improve the model of leadership we, and those around us are currently following. For that’s the example that Jesus set for us. He came to save and serve, stooping so low as to even wash His disciples feet. (John 13:5-12) And in God’s mysterious way of moving, all of that ties in beautifully with our Bit, because it’s also talking about providing Christian leadership through serious, worthwhile behaviour, non-complaining service and humility as Christ did. ‘Wherefore seeing (since) we also are compassed about with (surrounded by) so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset (ensnare) us, and let us run with patience (perseverance, endurance) the race that is set before us.’ Now let’s look at some scripture that details stuff we should and shouldn’t do as Christians, desiring to grow and mature in Christ. And we’ll begin with some of the bad things from Bruh Paul’s letter to the Colossians. ‘Mortify (kill) therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection (passion), evil concupiscence (desire), and covetousness, which is idolatry. For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. In the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond (slave) nor free: But Christ is all, and in all.’ (Col.3:5-11) Yes my people, we have to discard all that old stuff we did before we were born again in Christ, and instead do stuff like this: ‘Let LOVE be without dissimulation (hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cling to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned (affectionate) one to another with brotherly LOVE; in honour preferring (giving preference to) one another. Not slothful (lacking in diligence) in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient (persevering) in tribulation; continuing instant (steadfastly) in prayer; Distributing to the necessities (needs) of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one to another. Mind not (do not set your mind on) high things, but condescend to men of low estate (associate with the humble). Be not wise in your own conceits (estimation). Recompense (repay) to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest (have regard for good things) in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in (depends on) you, live peaceably with all men.’ (Rom.12:9-18) Oh mih breddren, yuh see the great difference between the two types of characters available to us? And the last one (see also Col.3:12-17) is that which we’re supposed to pursue and present as Christians, as true followers of Christ. But obviously we’re not following it as closely and perfectly as we should, otherwise Christ’s church and society as a whole, would not be in the state of confusion, turmoil and strife they’re currently in. Therefore Friends, I’m pleading with us today to seriously and consciously try to improve our lives and the image we portray to others as Christians by adopting more of the good habits and discarding the bad ones. And if we consistently do what’s right, then at the end, we’ll be able to give a last testament like Bruh Paul. ‘For I am now ready to be offered, and the time my departure (death) is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course (race), I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that LOVE his appearing.’ (2 Tim.4:6-8) Oh my brethren, that’s what we should all be striving for in this earthly pilgrimage! May the Lord help us all to achieve it. Much LOVE!…to win the race of life…we must first discard the character of the old man…then put on that of the new creation in Christ Jesus…
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