Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 February 2016 Psalm 40:4‏‏‏‏‏

04 Feb 2016 Leave a comment

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

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, the ole fella is a bit out of sorts this morning. Chuh! Nothing’s really wrong nuh, I just got up late and somewhat tired. My enthusiasm seems to be a tad low, but not to worry, by the time I am finished writing, I’m sure the Lord will raise it back up sky high! Oh glory to the wonderful God we truly serve and worship!

And with that I’ll share a most appropriate prayer from our One Year Book of Bible Promises with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin. It’s called ‘Heartstrings’ and says: ‘Lord, with no sense of direction I’m forever losing my way. Please tie a string From Your heart to mine So that even in the darkness I’ll feel the tug of Your heart and find my way home.’

Oh my people, there’s no better way to find our way home in the darkness than with our heartstrings attached to those of Almighty God, our Creator and Provider!

And the Bible promise to which that is attached is none other than: ‘He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.’ (Is.40:11)

Oh what a beautiful promise my brethren! And since we know that our great God ALWAYS keeps His promises, there is no need to fear, if we hold close to, hang tight to Him. Glory Hallelujah! But it all depends on us. We must do our best to rise to whatever occasion that besets us.

Now here is a paragraph from Gramps Schuller’s (Dr. Robert H. Schuller) Hour of Power Devotional that wraps up all of that rather nicely.

He says in no uncertain terms: ‘God is good! Yes, He is! No matter what has happened, God is there for you. And as hard and as crazy as it may sound, when the walls collapse and the world tumbles in, and when it looks like everything that we’ve LOVED is lost, that’s the time to say, “Thank you, God!”  

Oh friends, we all know that that is difficult to do when everything is falling down around us, and we’re at a loss as to what to do to make things right again. But as Gramps Schuller says at the end of the day’s devotion: ‘Believe me – that’s when you need to most to say, “Thank you, God.”  

And that’s the gospel truth my fellow believers, because it’s in our greatest time of need that we truly need God, we need to thank Him for all that He’s done for us before, and for all that He’s promised to do. Being rude and unmannerly, or rejecting Him, won’t endear Him to us, or encourage Him to help us. But praise and thanks will!

Then we’ll show that we are indeed true believers. Yeh mih people, I know it’s not at all easy to do, but Christ’s earthly life wasn’t easy either, but He handled it all with timely help from His heavenly Father. The same is expected of us, His followers.

And as I’ve been saying over the last few days, it all comes right down to the state of our faith; how much we believe, and therefore surrender and trust our lives to Him. For as our Bit so wisely and truthfully declares: ‘Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.’

And all of us who sincerely try to implement that in our lives, know that that is indisputable truth! But it’s not always very easy to do, that is why we also need God’s help to stand strong and stay attuned to Him. I guess it’s like the chicken and the egg; which came first? We need to trust and obey God to be blessed, but we can’t truly trust and obey Him without His help. That’s where our faith and belief comes in.

Ah mih people, trusting and obeying God in this increasingly evil and godless world is becoming more difficult with each passing day. But as true believers, it’s just something we HAVE to do, because who else is going to try and change our world back eh?

Certainly not the evil minions of Lucifer who are holding the trumps right now. That’s why we also need to gather together regularly and pray for strength and guidance, as well as constantly raise up individual prayers for ourselves and each other.

And as I just so happened to read today in my One More Day Devotional for People With Chronic Illness; ‘A simple grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.’ That’s a quote attributed to one Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.  And it’s oh so true friends because gratefulness is truly revered in heaven.

And that brings us right back to the giving of thanks, of saying ‘Thank you God,’ when rough times befall us.

And on this last day for this particular Bit – and I hear some of you release a ‘thank you God’ sigh. (smile) But right there we have a part of our problem; where we need to hear a new bit of scripture every day, when we haven’t even fully digested the one before.

However, let’s end with some scripture passages on trust, beginning with these from Psalm 84 – Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. A psalm of the sons of Korah. ‘For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.’ (Ps.84:11-12)

And hear these immortal words of Bruh David from Psalm 5 – A prayer for protection. ‘But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest (protecteth) them: let them also that LOVE thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass (surround) him as with a shield.’ (Ps.5:11-12)

What awesome words of faithful promise my people. So let’s go out today, and every day, with them ringing in our hearts, minds, bodies and souls nuh, so that we will trust and obey, and faithfully and steadfastly do God’s will for us on this beautiful planet Earth. Much LOVE!

…we cannot truly work on God’s behalf…until we truly trust Him to lead and guide us…

Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 February 2015 Mark 6:34‏

04 Feb 2015 Leave a comment

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

 Mark 6:34.    And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people (a great multitude), and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things. 

Ah Friends, I don’t want to say it again, because I know the bad state some of you are in up in the north country, but it’s true: It’s another beautiful day in Paradise! And I am feeling a little better, a little stronger. Praise the Lord! 

Yes, most things are all right in the ole fella’s world. And what isn’t, I’m just leaving them to the Lord to deal with, because I obviously can’t. So if nothing else, there’s peace in the ole fella’s soul. Thank You Lord!

Oh, and I finally got to the real McCoy yesterday; Store Bay! Imagine that nuh! it took me a whole week to get to my favourite beach, which is only a ten to fifteen minutes drive away from me. 

But Friends, after that significant episode in California some years ago, where I hustled to the beach, lost my wedding ring and my way home, I’ve learned my lesson, and just try my best to leave everything in God’s hands and times.

And believe me, Store Bay was not on its best behavior. Though the water was a beautiful aquamarine blue, it was rough, and getting rougher as the tide came in, with the water coming right up to the deck chairs on the beach.

It prevented the duchess from bathing, but not me. I had a couple nice dips, though I couldn’t do much swimming, more like dog paddling, because of my aching right shoulder and arm. But nonetheless I enjoyed myself. How could I come to Store Bay and not do that eh? I walked up and down the golden sandy beach a couple of times and felt energized.

Unfortunately, I rushed from Store Bay to get a roti, but when I got to the Roti Shop at four o’clock, it was closed, although the lady that runs it had earlier on told me she closed at five. Ah Lord eh!

I was disappointed, but I came home, relaxed, ate some left overs, then picked up a novel I had begun reading about two weeks ago, but hadn’t gotten very far. And would you know it, I got so into the book that I just sat down outside on the on the verandah, with some music playing on my computer, and read till I finished it sometime after midnight, then went to bed.

So now you know all… Oh I forgot to tell you about the beautiful full moon that’s been out every night, throwing it’s bright God-sent light down to earth. The first couple nights it seemed like two new moons grafted together; the one on top, showing its upper half, then the other attached to it in the middle showing the whole moon below.

I remember seeing that back home in the north country and mentioning it. But to make sure that I wasn’t seeing things, I called the duchess outside and she verified my assertion.

But even better than that, the past couple nights when there was only one moon, around midnight, I looked up through the skylight in the kitchen and just saw it staring back at me, strangely not as big as the ones back up north, about two thirds the size, but still bright and beautiful! Mama Mia!

Enough about me though, let’s turn now to the most important person in the universe – our most wonderful Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! And all God’s children declared a loud and grateful shout of ‘Praise Him, for He is indeed worthy to be praised!’

And that He is indeed my brethren. And part of that is because of His actions in our Bit. ‘And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people (a great multitude), and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.’

Oh Friends, when I read that verse yesterday, it just touched my heart something special! I do hope it touched yours too, enough to make us improve our selfish ways and attitudes, and show more compassion to our fellow man.

Now here is a very appropriate poem for our Bit, from the One Year Book of Bible Promise’s with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin. It’s simply titled ‘HEARTSTRINGS.’ 

‘Lord, with no sense of direction I’m forever losing my way. Please tie a string From Your heart to mine So that even in the darkness I’ll feel the tug of Your heart And find my way home.’

Oh my people, doesn’t that sound just like the multitudes that Jesus saw that day, and the multitudes today, who also have no sense of direction, living aimlessly like lost sheep with no caring and compassionate shepherd to guide and care for them.

And the Bible Promise that supports that poem is rather appropriate too, and is none other than these comforting and encouraging words from Isaiah. ‘Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand (strength), and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work (wage) before him.

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom (close to his heart), and shall gently lead those that are with young.’ (Is.40:10-11)

Oh Friends, Isaiah promised that hundreds of years before Jesus was born, but He faithfully fulfilled that promise along with so many others. So why is it so difficult for mankind to put their trust in Him eh?

I really can’t say for sure. But I suppose it’s a combination of our sinful nature, plus the fact that in the evil world, we like to see things happen before we believe, but in God’s kingdom, you have to believe before you see things happen.

And we’ll end with the chorus of a song I heard on the radio this morning. It says: ‘Jesus is the answer, For all the world today. Above Him is no other, Jesus is the way! And that’s indisputable, unequivocal gospel truth my people!

So please, let’s write that indelibly in our hearts minds and souls today, as we go out to serve Jesus in the ungodly world that surrounds us, and let it help us work though all the problems, the trials and tribulations that we will undoubtedly encounter. For that my people is the wisdom of Jesus. Have a blessed day in the service of Jesus! Much LOVE!

…we must all serve somebody…and Jesus is the best person to serve…because His is name higher than any other… He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords…