The Overwhelming Importance of Diligently and Sincerely Seeking God, if One Wants to Live the Abundant Life!

08 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Scrip-Bit   8 March 2025   Deuteronomy 4:29.

Deuteronomy 4:29.       ‘But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him, with all thy heart and with all thy soul.’

And it’s another sunshiny, clear, dry day in my neck of the woods, although some snow fell during the midnight hours. But that’s all gone now. So, we can be out and about frolicking on this lazy-day Saturday, or simply stay inside, and enjoy the comforts of home, with the added joy of knowing that it’s beautiful outside. (smile) And to ramp up our joy even further, let’s offer up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer, with all sincerity and truth. 

As one strong voice: ‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’ 

And there’s nothing more pleasant or desirous than having God’s peace and presence increased in our souls! And it’s assured when we pray sincere prayers like those, because our God LOVES nothing more than to hear us asking Him to come deeper and more plentiful into our lives, spirits and souls. For that’s why He made us; to have good and strong communion with us; to shower His LOVE on us, and receive our LOVE in return. 

Now that’s why there are so many scriptures in the Lord’s Word about seeking Him. So, let’s check out a few today nuh, starting with this one from Jeremiah that we all know. ‘Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto (listen to) you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye search for me with all your heart.’ (Jer. 29:12-13) It could not be any clearer or more straightforward than that my fellow believers! 

And, earlier on, Moses told the Israelites the very same thing when cautioning them about repentance of sin. ‘But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him, with all thy heart and with all thy soul.’ (Deut. 4:29) Then Isaiah, in his reminder that God abundantly pardons, tells his people: ‘Seek the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’ (Is. 55: 6-7) 

Oh my people, that is exactly what our evil and ungodly world desperately needs RIGHT NOW! A return to God and acceptance of all the good things He has to offer. As Bruh David so sincerely and truly puts it in Psalm 103: ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with LOVINGKINDNESS and tender mercies. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’ (Ps. 103:2-5) 

Wow mih bredrin! Who wouldn’t want all those wonderful benefits eh? Well, they are readily available by simply turning to the Lord God in repentance and becoming the new man that requires, with the awesome help of His Holy Spirit. And if you’re wanting more scripture about getting good things from God, listen to these two nuh. The first from Isaiah, from that scripture on God’s continual strength and unsearchable understanding: ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.’ (Is. 40:31) 

We all know it, but do we practice it? Now that’s another quandary, or difficult position in which we find ourselves; there’s something that we want, but apparently are not willing to do what it takes to get it. The same goes for this scripture from Psalm 37, titled Trust in the Lord. Bruh David writes: ‘Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed (feed on his faithfulness). Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.’ (Ps. 37:3-5) 

And that’s only a few of the things we can do to get the desires of our heart from God! So who’s to blame if we don’t get them eh? No one else but us! But let’s get back to some more modern scriptures that blatantly tell us to seek the Lord. Here’s this one from James, where he admonishes us: ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh (near) to God, and he will draw nigh (near) to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded….Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.’ (James 4:7-8, 10) 

And Peter echoes the same sentiments: ‘Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.’ (1 Pet. 6-7) And we spoke about that early on when we said that God created us to LOVE us, and be LOVED in return. That’s because He cares the whole world about us. Why else would He send His Son to earth to die for our sins eh? The basic reason was LOVE for his sinful, disobedient creation, as Jesus so eloquently puts it. ‘For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ (John 3:16) 

That’s as good as it gets my fellow saints, and why Jesus therefore strongly advised us; ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt. 6:33) The long and short of the story then is we have all the information and tools before us, it’s our choice how we choose to use them. But please, please hear this last admonition from the scriptures; where Moses tells the Israelites as they are preparing to enter the Promised Land. ‘I call heaven and earth to record (witness) this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.’ (Deut. 30:19) 

I offer this same admonition to us today my people. Why? ‘Because the quality of your life isn’t determined as much by the breaks that you get, as its determined by the choices that you make.’ Much LOVE!

…one can only find God….when one seeks Him diligently and sincerely…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

The Power of Prayer in Times of Ill Health!

24 Jan 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jeremiah 17:14.       Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

And the shouts have gone up: ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday, with the weekend right around the corner!’ And the ole fella is back after a couple of days of illness. Please accept my apology for those two missed days. It seems that being out Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning in some very cold conditions didn’t agree with me, and when I came back from my church group on Wednesday morning I was tired, having had little sleep during the night, so obviously I had to have a nap. (smile) 

But during that supposed nap time, the chills began trembling my body, although I was wrapped up under heavy covers. Then my stomach joined in. At first, I thought I was hungry and got up to get something to eat. But lo and behold, whatever I ate came right back up. Now, regurgitation is something I don’t normally do, (smile) even the Duchess said she’s never seen me do it, but in less than 24 hours she saw or heard me do it six times. 

The problem apparently was a stomach pain that I’d had some years before, but after a whole lot of tests, they’d found nothing wrong, so they simply gave me some tablets to take whenever it occurred. And the few times the pain occurred; the tablets did take care of it. But not this past Wednesday. Brother! The whole day was a mixture of chills and stomach pains and regurgitation. 

And when the chills settled down in the afternoon, I thought about writing the Bit, but the stomach pain nixed that idea right in the bud, for it just got worse, and nothing I took could ease it. And it’s not to say that it was a bright and blazing pain, but a steady gnawing in the upper left side of my stomach, like some rodent was there just eating away at it, enough to drive me crazy, and not allow proper concentration. 

Well, on Thursday morning after the sixth regurgitation, tired, worn out and empty, I went to the Emergency Department of the nearby hospital. I got there at ten o’clock, but didn’t leave until five in the evening, having done all sorts of tests and waiting for reports to come back. And even then, there was no firm diagnosis, so pain tablets and further tests were prescribed. And that’s where we sit right now. Please pray that they come up with something firm and simple, very soon, because I don’t want to get addicted to this narcotic based pain medication. 

And I guess since we’ve been talking about illness and healing, we can just continue by renewing our hearts and minds on some scriptural truths on the subject. And there’s no better verse to begin with than this one from Isaiah. ‘But he (Jesus) was wounded (pierced through) for our transgressions, he was bruised (crushed) for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with (by) his stripes (cruel blows that cut into him) we are healed.’ (Is. 55:5) 

Then there are these marvellous words of encouragement from Bruh David in Psalm 103. ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with LOVING-KINDNESS and tender mercies. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’ (Ps. 103:2-5) 

And there’s nothing better than Jesus’ personal touch, as Matthew recounts. ‘And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.’ (Matt. 8:14-15) Oh, how I wish could get such a touch from Jesus right now, so that this annoying pain could go away. I would certainly minister to Him with everything I have. (smile) 

Excuse me, but I just had to go upstairs and get another pill to ease the pain because the first one had apparently worn off. Ah Lord eh! But them’s the breaks, we simply have to keep on pressing on regardless. Then there’s this prayer from Jeremiah. ‘Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.’ (Jer. 17:14) Now, that’s my prayer for today my fellow believers. (smile) 

And scriptures on healing would not be complete without this one from James. ‘Is any among you afflicted (suffering)? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults (trespasses) one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual (effective) fervent prayer (supplication) of a righteous man availeth much.’ (James 5:13-16) 

And I would certainly appreciate some effective supplication from you righteous bredrin in our Scrip-Bit family. (smile)  Now, let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Friday Chant for divine aid to help in these times of desperate need. Altogether: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough…  because our many serious problems are escalating instead of improving. And it’s obvious we can’t fix them on our own, so Lord, we’re desperately crying out for your help. 

Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat the simmering unrest in our land. We therefore ask you Lord to give our leaders the wise guidance to handle these unexpected storms properly. And please help the rest of us to be responsible and to stay safe amidst all the anxiety and confusion of these ungodly times. We fervently pray too Lord that you’ll use the discontent and dissatisfaction in our land as a means of restoring faith in you. Return backsliders to your fold. Show them the error of their ways. 

And please introduce a new flock of believers, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example we, your faithful believers set. So that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, wake up and smell it sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ And before we do like the man who sees his face in the mirror and immediately forgets what he looks like, remember that we need to increase our Christian witness to get divine help Much LOVE!

…who is the Great Physician…Jehovah Rapha…the God who heals…our Jesus…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien