harvests | SCRIP-BITS

Matthew 7:20. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Well friends let me begin by apologizing for the fiasco that was yesterday’s Bit. I don’t know how and why it really happened but it did, and consequently, in the header, I made the mistake of quoting the Bit as being from Job 17 instead of Job 27. But I do know that you, my astute and well-versed readers would have known exactly where it came from. (smile)

Please excuse the ole fella for that. But I just hate to make mistakes when writing about the Lord’s word. Oh I know He’s forgiven me, so in your godliness, I hope you will too. (smile)

And since it’s Saturday, let’s turn to some quotes that our friend Anselm sent us this week, as he nobly aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. Here is the first one, which says: ‘Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.’ And that’s oh so true.

And it’s well encapsulated in a quote from a Rasta breddren who taught me history in High School eons ago. As he thoughtfully scratched his scraggly beard, with his brogued feet up on the desk, he would ask: ‘What is History? And why do we learn History?’ And His answers were: ‘History is a record of the past, and we learn it so we can understand the present and predict the future.’

And especially if you are child of God, you need to be continually questioning and learning and growing in the faith; hopefully moving from glory to glory, becoming more Christ-like everyday!

And the second quote is like unto the first: (smile) ‘Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it’ll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay of.’

Yeah friends, there are no serious rewards without serious work. As the Good Book says, you reap what you sow. And that’s gospel truth. You can’t put in a little work, or only plant a small crop and expect to reap huge rewards and harvest.

And it doesn’t matter how long you have to work hard before you reap those rewards and harvests either, for as the Lord said to the people of Judah through the prophet Azariah, when they were going through tough times: ‘Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.’ (2 Chr.15:7)

And if you don’t believe that, then listen to Bruh David from Psalm 31: ‘O LOVE the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth (fully repays) the proud doer.’ (Ps.31:23)

And if you still don’t believe that, (smile) then listen to Bruh Paul to Timothy: ‘For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the labourer is worthy of his reward (wages).’ (1 Tim.5:17) So friends, whatever effort we put into our work, that is what we will gain from it.

And all of that runs smoothly into our third and last quote: ‘The value of life is not in its duration, but in its donation. You are not important because of how long you live, you are important because of how effective you live.’ And wiser words were never spoken in that regard my people!

Listen to this discourse of Jesus on the subject. ‘Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening (ravenous) wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil (bad) fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil (bad) fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.’ (Matt.7:15-20)

Yes my brethren, it’s ever so important how you live, not so much how long you live. And the longer you live, the more good fruit you are expected to bear in Jesus’ realm. And that good fruit must be exposed to the unbelievers so that they can see it and accept Christ themselves.

That’s why Christ also said that we are the salt and light of the earth, and we’re not supposed to hide our lights under a bushel, for what good is flavourless salt or a hidden light eh? None whatsoever! (Matt.5:13-15)

And we’ll end with this oh so important admonishing of Jesus on that subject. ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.’ (Matt.5:16) Now that friends, is what all we supposed Christians, believers and whatever we call ourselves are supposed to be about.

But I don’t think we’re doing such a good job; we’re not bearing as much good fruit as we should, or being as flavourful and bright shining to the heathen world! And that’s why Jesus’ LOVE Revolution is faltering; why more people are seemingly leaving it, than joining it. And we just can’t have that my people!

So today, I implore us to take a good look at ourselves and truly ruminate on the role we are playing in Jesus’ body, where we are falling down, because all of us have faults and foibles, and sincerely make the effort to do better. Let’s take it to God in prayer and ask for His help, for with God’s help, we can all do better! Much LOVE!

…truly living for Jesus means…being flavourful…a bright shining light…and producing good fruit…in this evil, corrupt world…

Ephesians 6:11. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles (evil schemes) of the devil.

‘Ah feelin’ hot, hot, hot…! And friends, if you believe that, I have some beautiful land to sell you in Florida; no alligators, so swamps, no snakes, just lush parkland! (smile) And believe me, I could handle that Florida weather right now yes, despite it’s somewhat unsafe natural habitat because it’s a chilly Saturday morning in my area. But no such luck, so I’ll just have to grin and bear it.

And since it’s Saturday, let’s look at a trio of quotes from our friend Anselm, who always aspires to inspire us. The first one is a tad heavy, (smile) and says: ‘Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.’ And that’s gospel truth my people!

And this second quote is a companion to the first. ‘Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.’ Yeh friends, for serious and sincere change to occur in our lives, or around us, we must be the instigating factor, with the Lord’s help obviously!

And this last one is indeed a gem. ‘All rewards require initial toil.’ Now that’s an eye-opener for a lot of people in these modern times of supposed entitlement. But that’s how God’s economy runs; you have to work first before you can get paid, sow good seed, before you can reap an abundant harvest.

Unfortunately though, too many of us, Christians, included want to reap harvests without sowing seeds, and get rewards without any toil. That’s why there are so many layabouts and hangers on to those who have. The celebrities must have their large entourages to show off their wealth, power and importance, but once the money’s gone, so are the good time friends.

Anyhow, let’s move on to our Bit. ‘Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles (evil schemes) of the devil.’ Now I know that many of you are tired with it, but it is of the utmost importance in our fighting off the enemy, and if you don’t know all that it entails, then our chances for success are seriously lessened. This is the last day for it anyway – I promise. (smile)

Now there’s one more extremely important verse in Bruh Paul’s dialogue to the Ephesians. Having put on the whole armour of God, one must continue the action by: ‘Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.’ (Eph.6:18)

So my brethren, the mere putting on of God’s armour doesn’t do the trick, it needs constant prayer and supplication too. Listen to the scholar’s explanation of that verse.

‘6:19. Praying is grammatically linked to “stand” in verse 14. Without prayer God’s armour is inadequate to achieve victory. Prayer is indispensable. Always means “on every occasion,” that is, when Satan attacks. In the Spirit signifies that with the Spirit’s help such prayer for divine aid is to be made. Watching thereunto means “being vigilant in this very matter” of prayer. They are to pray not just for themselves but also for all saints; spiritual combat is both an individual and corporate matter.’

Ah mih people, you see that prayer is the catalyst that gets the whole show going. Without it, nothing of any significance happens. And for all our benefit, I’ll stress here again, just in case we didn’t notice when the scholars declared: ‘PRAYER IS INDISPENSABLE!’

And that it certainly is my fellow believers! It’s basically how we communicate with our wonderful, awesome, omnipotent God, so where there is no prayer, there is no communication with the Lord God Jehovah, and mankind cannot live successfully without God in his life. Now another important point of it all, is that we must not just pray for ourselves, but for ALL believers too!

And as a reminder of all we’ve been talking about recently, let’s remember on a practical level, to: Put on Daily: The helmet of salvation to guard our minds. The breastplate of righteousness to guard our emotions. The belt of truth, to stay centred in the Word – walk, talk, live in and testify to the truth. The sandals of peace – so that wherever we go, we’ll go in peace and tranquility – anchoring our feet boldly in the bedrock of Jesus.

The shield of faith – so that we can deflect the fiery arrows of the enemy, and stand safely behind the massive protection of faith. The sword of the Spirit – the Good Book – the spiritual weapon that cuts deeply to bring about conviction and repentance. And then follow it all up with prayer.

Yes friends, we need all those accoutrements of battle, not simply bits and pieces, if we hope to be successful in fighting for Jesus against the prince of darkness. Much LOVE!

…in warfare…the better protected soldier…begins with the upper hand…and can thus dictate the battle…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 17 November 2018 Matthew 7:20.

Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 February 2017 Ephesians 6:11.

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