Today’s Scrip-Bit   19 February 2024 John 11:25a.

19 Feb 2024 Leave a comment

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

John 11:25a.        I AM, the resurrection and the Life.

Monday, oh Monday, you’ve come around again, letting us know it’s time to get back out into the evil world and earn a living!  (smile) But, on this third Monday in February, many Canadians will not be working as two thirds of the provinces celebrate Canada Day, or some other name chosen by the particular province. Unfortunately, it’s not a Federal but regional holiday, so Federal workers will still be on the job. Meanwhile in the U.S, they celebrate President’s Day or Washington’s Birthday, referring to the 1st U.S. President, George Washington (1732-1799) 

Now, last week we studied some of the ‘I AM’ statements of Jesus. So far, we have reviewed ‘I am the Bread of Life.’ (John 6:35) ‘I am the Light of the World.’ (John 8:12) ‘I am the Door.’ (John 10:7,9A) ‘I am the Good Shepherd.’ (John 10:11,14) Hopefully, we can finish the other three ‘I AM’s’ today…but I won’t bet on it. (smile) And the next ‘I AM’ statement we’ll look at is ‘I AM, the resurrection and the Life.’ Jesus spoke these words to Martha, Lazarus’ sister when she rebuked Him for not coming earlier to save her brother from death. 

But Jesus told her, ‘Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I AM the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead (may die), yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.’ (John 11:23-27) 

Oh my brethren, that is indeed the same question that Christ is asking many of us today; do we believe that He is the Messiah, the Giver of eternal life?  Hopefully, many of us like Martha, will reply in the affirmative. However, there are still many, even supposed Christians, who don’t truly believe that Jesus can resurrect their souls. That’s surely a sad thing, because Jesus statement of ‘I AM the resurrection and the life’ is probably, His greatest, since it signifies His awesome power to grant eternal life to those who truly believe in Him! And what’s the use in calling yourself a Christian if you don’t believe in your Leaders greatest ability eh? None whatsoever! 

So friends, if you happen to fall into that latter category of unbelief,, please, please turn to the Lord and ask Him to help your unbelief. For remember what Jesus said to the demon possessed boy’s father who came to Him seeking help for his son? ‘Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.’ (Mark 9:23-24) The father believed, but he knew that his faith was not as strong as it should be, thus he asked for help in believing, as many of us ought to do, if we expect to see eternal life with Jesus, for with Jesus, it’s all about BELIEVING! 

That brings us to Jesus’ next great ‘I AM’ statement. He made it after telling the disciples about His going away. ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions (dwellings): if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.’ (John 14:1-4) 

Now those are certainly interesting statements which are also being asked of us today; do we know who Jesus is, where He is, and how to get to Him? Or are we still like His disciples were? For in response to Jesus’ comments: ‘Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.’ (John 14:5-7)  

And that’s another ‘I Am’ statement that should have us searching ourselves to see if we believe it, and if we do, how strongly, because it’s only through Jesus that we’ll ever get to those mansions in the sky.  It didn’t look so good either, when ‘Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth (will satisfy) us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father: and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?’ (John 14:8-9) 

Unfortunately, it seems like the disciples were not as wise, knowledgeable and of strong faith as they were supposed to be. Jesus was obviously surprised at their lack of knowledge about Him after all the time He spent with them. Thus He continued: ‘Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself (on my own authority): but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.’ (John 14:10-14) Notice again friends, it’s all about BELIEF…BELIEF in Christ! Nothing else will cut it! And for the sake of brevity (smile) we’ll leave the last ‘I AM’ statement for tomorrow, obviously if God spares our lives. 

Now, in humble confidence, let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Monday Morning Battle hymn, seeking divine help for our many earthly problems. Altogether: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. Heavenly Father, You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. Yes, we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. 

So, we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading for wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. Oh Father, please ease the pain of the many suffering from negative situations, show them Your awesome grace and mercy. And faithfully keep Your promise to prosper us if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

And divine help only comes when we sincerely repent and turn from our evil ways. So let’s begin there nuh. Much LOVE!

…the most important element of the Christian life is…BELIEF…

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ      

Today’s Scrip-Bit   18 September 2021 Mark 9:23.

18 Sep 2021 Leave a comment

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit   18 September 2021   Mark 9:23.

​Mark 9:23.      If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 

So at last it’s Saturday – and a nice sunny day in God’s universe, at least in my area. (smile) So what plans have we for this new day, so beautifully clothed in God’s new mercies and compassions eh? I do hope it’s something that involves Him, and will eventually bring Him some glory, or at least have others leaning towards Him. Why is that you ask? Because our earthly purpose is twofold; to communicate with God personally, and to live a life that will have others want to come to Him! It’s as simple as that! In whatever we do, be it great or small, God must be involved in some form and fashion. That’s just the nature of things. 

But enough talk yes, let me get to what I have to do this Saturday morning, which is share and try to explain, in a Christian and biblical light, the quotes we got from our friend Anselm this past week. And I’m chuckling here because they are all interesting and I don’t know where to start. But Chuh! Let’s take the bull by the horns yes, and start at the first one. (smile) And that says: ‘Sometimes it’s better to take a leap of faith and just believe what you hear instead of trying to find the story behind it.’ 

Now that’s a tricky one, because taking a leap of faith is ofttimes good, but under what circumstances? And I definitely won’t endorse believing whatever you hear, especially in these times of false news, disinformation and outright lies flying around like crazy. I would strongly advise that you hear the story behind the situation first, before you even consider taking a leap of faith. Yes friends, with all the stuff out there right now, that has such beautiful outward covering, but in reality is only a façade, it’s downright easy to take a leap of faith right into the welcoming arms of the devil in hell! 

So please be very careful, for I don’t know if we’ve ever seen such a time like this one with so much fraudulent and deceitful stuff everywhere. Meanwhile, the next quote tells us: ‘We can’t be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea.’ So we come to that scary word again, ‘change.’ A lot of people are afraid of it, sometimes with good reason, since change can turn your life topsy turvy and leave you not knowing where to go, or what to do, even place you in some dreadful dilemma. 

That means change is another aspect of life that you must tread carefully on. But by the same token, you cannot afford to stay stationary, remain forever in the same womb-like state, for life desires change, is made up of change. But change that’s made with some amount of wisdom and common sense. We can’t stay in our comfortable cocoon all the time, or we will never see what God’s great universe has to offer. But we can’t venture on the big sea, without first having a good idea of how to handle the small pond. 

And we do need to make changes as life moves along, sometimes even big ones, but as we said earlier on, Jehovah God must be involved in all we do, if we are to make right decisions and fulfill the plans and purpose He has for our lives. But please, don’t go making changes just for the sake of making changes. Don’t follow the crowd, as so many of us are doing today. Don’t follow those they are now calling ‘influencers.’ Steups! Those making money off of foolish and ungodly lifestyles. And the sad part is that most of them can’t even run their own blooming lives. But they are influencing others with a whole lot of nonsense. That’s partly why our world in in such an ungodly mess! 

And it’s a sore point with me, so let’s move on to the next quote, which says: ‘Keep going. Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end.’ And that’s the gospel truth my brethren! We grow more in times of adversity than in the good times. As they say, what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. And if you are a child of God, you will undergo adversity. Jesus said it loud and clear. ‘These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33) 

So there’s no need to consider whether we will or will not have troubles, for they are inevitable in a sinful and evil world such as ours. But when you have Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of your life and His Holy Spirit leading and guiding you, you can handle any adversity that comes your way, because He has already overcome the world. Thus, these reassuring words from Bruh Paul to the Corinthians. ‘We are troubled (hard pressed) on every side, yet not distressed (crushed); we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast (struck) down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.’ (2 Cor. 4:8-10) 

Yes my brethren, it’s the old adage: You live for Christ, suffer with Him, die with Him, and be resurrected to new life with Him! But then, that takes a whole lot of believing, and our last quote tells us that: ‘Believing involves thinking, talking and acting as though you have already received what you’ve asked for.’ Only if you are a believer in Jesus Christ though! And only if it is within the will of God! Listen to these words of Jesus to the father of the young man who was filled with a demonic spirit that His disciples could not cast out. ‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.’ (Mark. 9:23-24) 

And the scholars explain that last verse thus: ‘9:24. He (the father) had a certain faith, but it was confession of his undeniable inner turmoil and doubt that marked his faltering faith as truly authentic, if imperfect trust. Before God honesty is a wise course.’ Yes friends, when we come to God it is always best to bare our souls and hearts before Him, as He will be much more open to helping us when we do so. 

And when the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast out the demon from the boy, Jesus said to them. ‘Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove (move); and nothing shall be impossible to you.’ (Matt. 17:20) It’s all about belief and faith my people. In the world, seeing is believing, but in God’s economy, believing is seeing. You don’t see until you believe. 

That’s why the Good Book tells us that: ‘Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’ (Heb. 11:1) And also: ‘And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.’ (Heb. 11:6) 

And we going to leave with this last but oh so important scripture that applies to all of us. They are Jesus’ words to Thomas when he had to see Jesus before he believed in His resurrection. ‘Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

Please let that be food for thought this weekend my fellow saints. Much LOVE!

…we walk by faith…not by sight… (2 Cor. 5:7)                                                                                                                 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8     

Today’s Scrip-Bit 14 October 2014 Mark 9:23

14 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

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

Mark 9:23.     Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Well well my Canadian Friends and Neighbours, the party done now! Thanksgiving Day is over now, although the practice of thanksgiving must be an ongoing movement. I hope we all had a good time, we didn’t over do it, and the Lord was pleased with our devotions.
 
I didn’t do much myself, just had a quiet day, since we had our small family festivities on Sunday. And furthermore, the weather in my area didn’t lend itself to any raucous celebrations –cloudy and unfriendly – although I know that didn’t stop a whole lot of others from being raucous and rambunctious. (smile)
 
I surely hope that we didn’t give Lucifer and his evil compadres any space for advancement in our souls, but most importantly, for those of you who sang our Monday Morning battle Hymn so boisterously yesterday morning, knowing that you did not have to go to work, I certainly hope that you all have the wherewithal to go out and labour this Tuesday morning after the festivities. (smile) Yuh know it always catches up to us.
 
Now let’s take a gander at our Bit. ‘Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’
 
It deals with faith and belief, and today we’re going to look at situations of faith, of people coming to Jesus for help through some kind of inbred faith, some of which astonished even Jesus.
 
But before we get into the scriptures, let’s hear a word on the subject from Gramps Schuller – Dr. Robert H. Schuller – from his Hour of Power Devotional.
 
It’s titled ‘FAITH’ and it says: ‘Lord, I believe in the sun, even when it is behind the clouds; in the seed, even when it lies unsprouted under the ground; in faith, even when I have been betrayed; in LOVE, even when I have been rejected; in hope, even when I have been hurt; in God, even when you do not answer my prayers. Amen.’
 
Yes Friends, that’s what it means to have faith! Even when things aren’t going your way, you still stand strong in your belief in Jesus.
 
Now let’s look at the particular situation which occasioned our Bit from Jesus. A sorrowful father had brought his young son to the disciples for healing. The lad was infected by a dumb (mute) spirit, which caused him to have crazy, dangerous seizures, but the disciples couldn’t heal him. (Mark 9:17-18)
 
Jesus’ response was: ‘O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer (bear with) you? Bring him unto me.’ (Mark 9:19)
 
And as the Lord would have it, the youngster had a seizure as soon as they brought him before Jesus. ‘And he (Jesus) asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child (from childhood). And oftimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us and help us.’ (Mark 9:21-22)
 
That’s when Jesus repeated the words of our Bit: ‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.’ (Mark 9:23-24)
 
Yes my people, in some form and fashion, deep down the father believed, that’s why he brought his son to the disciples in the first place.
 
The scholars; describe it thus: ‘9:24. He had a certain faith; but it was confession of his undeniable inner turmoil and doubt that marked his faltering faith as truly authentic, if imperfect, trust. Before God honesty is a wise course.’
 
That last sentence is gospel truth my brethren! If we are anything less than totally honest with God, we’re simply wasting our time, for remember He reads the motives of our hearts, not our outward actions.
 
Jesus healed the lad right there and then. He had no choice, since the father had backed Him into a corner with his declaration of apparently sincere though confused and troubled faith.
 
But later on, in private, when the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast out the spirit, He answered them: ‘This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.’ (Mark 9:29)
 
And the scholars have an interesting comment on that verse: ‘9:29. While some manuscripts omit fasting, it seems crucial to the context. Jesus does not seem to have resorted to prayer in the course of this healing. Perhaps he refers to a life-style of prevailing prayer that yields a reservoir of spiritual power for just such a crisis as this.’
 
Who knows Friends? But to influence spiritual power, prayer and fasting, in a serious and sincere manner, are of the utmost importance!
 
And I believe we have time for one more example of strong faith and belief. Jesus was on His way to raise the daughter of a Jewish ruler Jairus, when this situation occurred.
 
‘And a certain woman, which had an issue (a flow) of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered (no better), but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press (crowd) behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.’
 
(Scholars note: Popular belief had it that a person’s dignity and power extend to what he wears.) ‘And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague (affliction). And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue (power) had gone out of him, turned him about in the press (crowd), and said, Who touched my clothes?
 
And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague (affliction).’ (Mark 5: 25-34)
 
Oh my people, what a great story! But back in those times it was a very dangerous game that the woman played.
 
Listen to the scholars explain: ‘5:33. The woman would be fearful of a rebuke, since her bleeding rendered her “unclean” according to Jewish law. She ought not to have been mixing in the crowd, nor reaching out purposely to touch a man. That she owned up openly indicates that her interest lay not only in physical health: she wanted to be right with Jesus Himself. Her faith, not the grasp of her hand, brought restoration to her.’
 
Yes Friends, that’s the power of faith! So today, while we go about the Lord’s business, please let us embrace a faith as strong and as courageous as the folks we’ve read about, and let’s allow it come out, to show in all our words and actions, because that’s our duty as ambassadors for Christ. Much LOVE!
 
…like the woman with the issue of blood…let’s bow down and confess to Jesus…so that we can be made right with Him…
 
P.S. Oh Friends, it’s long and late, but it’s beautiful! (smile) Much LOVE!