grow in faith | SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 40:4. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

Oh friends, it’s Sunday! That means it’s church time!

Now please, no simpering excuses why you can’t attend. Remember Jesus said wherever two or three are gathered together He will be there. So please, let’s gather nuh, in great numbers too, because it’s also true that there is strength in numbers, and worshipping God together brings more benefits than if we continually try to go it alone.

Anyway, as true believers, it is our duty to gather in the Lord’s house and send up our thanks and praise and receive His blessings, encouragement, and strength to face another day and another week. We also need to mix and mingle with other Christians, hear their stories, share ours, encourage each other and thus grow in the faith.

That’s the only way we will ever truly mature in Christ. It simply cannot be done alone and/or in private! End of sermon!

Hn! But I’m now thinking why do we have to beg Christians to go to church eh? I mean it’s a part of their faith, the Good Book requires it, wherever Jesus was, He made sure that He attended the synagogue on the Sabbath day. So why are we so anti church eh?

Is it just pure laziness, or is there a deeper reason? I don’t know nuh friends, and I refuse to speculate. All I can do is encourage us to go, and to do so myself. And one of the reasons I’m up so early this morning, is so that I can write the Bit before I go to church. You know I hate the late Bits, even though occasionally I do indulge. (smile)

And today is Harvest Sunday up at St. Patrick’s in Mt. Pleasant! Glory be! All like that friends, where we are supposed to offer our first fruits to God, how can we do it when we’re absent from church eh?

When I was growing up we excitedly looked forward to Harvest Sunday, and more so the Monday after, when school was closed and all the produce was set up there to be sold. I doubt today’s children would have any interest in such mundane things. Thank the Lord I was born when and where I was yes!

But let us move on to the matter at hand, our Bit. ‘Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.’

Ah mih people, trust is such an important thing in our everyday lives. We trust that when we turn the switch, the lights will come on, the cell phone will also come on so that we can text. And when we turn on the tap, we expect to see water flowing out.

We trust all these man-made things, especially computers now, where our entire life is somehow tied to the man-made system, but we have problems trusting Almighty God; the Creator and Provider of EVERYTHING we have and enjoy.

Why do you think the psalmist so adamantly declared? ‘It is better to put your trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.’ (Ps.118:8-9)

Because man is untrustworthy! And all of us have suffered some sort of deceit or untrustworthiness at the hand of men at some stage in our lives, but yet we continue to trust them! However, the great and ever-LOVING and faithful God, who has never let us down or deceived us, we are rather reluctant to trust.

Hn! That just doesn’t compute my brethren. It makes no sense whatsoever. No wonder so many of our prayers go unanswered! The Lord looks at our hearts and sees that they are not truly right. Deep down our motives are wrong, we’re selfish and just want to grab the lusts of our flesh and do our own thing.

And if you don’t believe me, listen to the psalmist in Psalm 146 – The blessedness of trusting God. ‘Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth (his spirit departs), he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.’ (Ps.146:3-5)

Yes friends, even man’s breath of life is not his to control! One minute he’s here, then the next his life is extinguished and he returns to the earth from which he was formed. So why do we insist on trusting him above the One who made him eh?

Good question that? One which I can’t answer with any certainty, so I won’t try. I can just give us scriptures that will help us to trust in the Lord. So let’s start with the wisdom of Cousin Sol from Proverbs.

‘He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat (prosperous). He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.’ (Prov.28:26-27)

And believe me my people, we can only walk wisely when we walk with the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! Without His eternal guidance we’re just like lost sheep wandering in the wilderness.

Now listen to Bruh David as in Psalm 143, he desires of God – Teach me to do thy will. ‘Hear (answer) me speedily, O Lord; my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be (become) like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy LOVING-kindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.’ (Ps.143:7-8)

Yes my fellow believers in Christ, until we truly start not only believing and trusting God to direct our lives, but more so letting go, so that He can have free rein, we will forever be hampered and confused in our earthly sojourn. Much LOVE!

…truly trusting God…means to completely let go…and let Him do His thing in our lives…

Hebrews 10:23.    Let us hold fast the profession (confession) of our faith (hope) without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Oh Friends, it’s already Tuesday! Wow! That means Friday and Freedom soon come! (smile) Yeh mih people, I know that many of us are labouring under less than ideal conditions, in less than ideal jobs. But as we sang in our Battle Hymn yesterday, we’re still thankful for them because they at least keep life and limbs together.

Unfortunately though, there are so many many today, in this supposedly prosperous society, who don’t have jobs, in fact can’t find one, even though they have excellent qualifications, and sadly, many more are being laid off every day.

Ah Lord eh! What a mess of things these foolish, misguided, inept, corrupt politicians whom we call leaders, have made of this world!

That’s because they aren’t true leaders, but just the lackeys of the greedy, short-sighted, inhumane captains of industry, who are only concerned about the almighty bottom line and the abnormal profits they can make. They don’t give a damn about those they condemn to ‘sufferation’ through their inhumane practices!

And all this talk about globalization and a global village is just that, a ruse, an excuse for them to move their money, means of production and power anywhere around the world so that they can maximize their profits on the backs of the struggling poor of the new country, without an iota of concern for those unfortunates they’ve left high and dry behind in their last location.

But Friends, as the Good Book says so many times over, the wicked, the greedy and the proud will eventually pay for their evil deeds. Yes, my brethren, all will be made right in God’s good time. There’s absolutely no doubt about that, because we know that our God has promised it, and He’s eternally faithful, as the end of our Bit declares.

Therefore ‘Let us hold fast the profession (confession) of our faith (hope) without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)’

Yes my people, since our great God promised us eventual peace, LOVE, salvation and eternal life, and since He never reneges on a promise, then it is absolutely essential, totally necessary for us to keep hold of the hope and expectation that’s to be found in our faith.

And I like how somebody termed it, a hungry hope. Yes my brethren, we must exhibit a hunger and thirst for righteousness as our faith demands. For without a palpable hunger gnawing at our souls, our faith is very liable to waiver, and then we’ll become insecure, double minded and very wobbly, with no peace of mind about the issues of our faith.

And that is definitely not a welcome trait in a believer, for as James so wisely points out: ‘A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.’ (James 1:8) And that’s a proven fact Friends!

In any case, even if we have nothing else, a believer ought to have peace of mind, because that’s one of the reasons Christ sacrificed His sinless life for us on that ghastly cross.

Listen to His assuring words on the subject. ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’ (John 14:27)

So my fellow believers, having received that unsurpassable peace of Jesus, let’s look at some scripture that then assures us of God’s faithfulness, starting in 1 Corinthians.

Right from the very beginning, in his introduction and greeting, Bruh Paul confidently assures them that, ‘God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (1 Cor.1:9)

Now hear this useful explanation from the scholars. ‘Unto the fellowship of his Son: The term ‘fellowship’ includes both union and communion. The Corinthian believers have been brought into union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly, this great truth implies that they had been brought into communion with one another. Here in a nutshell is the theme of this epistle.’

And so have we also my brethren, been brought into union and communion with Christ and each other. Unfortunately though we don’t seem to regard those two things as highly as we should, otherwise our lives would not be as lacking as they are in true LOVE and unity, both with Christ and with each other.

But that’s a topic for another day. And anyway, if there’s real truth in our hearts, we all know that we’re not being as Christ-like and righteous as we ought to and can be.

Now let’s end with this scripture from 1 Thessalonians, where Bruh Paul exhorts them to stand strong in the faith, and do what is right, because ‘Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.’ (1 Thess.5:24)

And that’s the gospel, gospel truth my Friends!

Once the Lord calls us to Him, or to do anything for Him, He will faithfully see us through it. Please have no doubts about that, cause I can testify to it from personal experience.

However, it is still very necessary that each and every believer should experience that faithfulness for themselves, because it’s only as each of us personally experiences God’s goodness, mercy, LOVE and faithfulness that we’ll individually grow in faith.

So please hang in there, even if times are rough, and do whatever God calls you to do. You’ll see that He won’t ever let you down, and your faith will grow as a consequence of it all. Much LOVE!

…if God had not planned on being faithful to us…He’d never have sent Jesus to die for us…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 31 January 2016 Psalm 40:4‏‏

Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 June 2013 Hebrews 10:23

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