Today’s Scrip-Bit 18 November 2019 2 Thessalonians 3:3.

18 Nov 2019 Leave a comment

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

2 Thessalonians 3:3.    But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish (establish) you, and keep you from evil (the evil one).
 

Here we go again friends, the beginning of another work week! I know sometimes we shake our heads, sigh, and wonder if they will ever end. (smile) But the sad truth is that they won’t. They will keep cropping up every seven days, until they drive us crazy and we end up in the loony bin, we just get tired and give up, which, as a believer is not a viable option, or we get too old for the work force and they put us out to pasture, or the last option; the Lord calls us home. Until one or all of those things happen my people, most Monday mornings we will have to arise, whether we like it or not, ofttimes in the dark and in the cold, and join the human throng unhappily headed for a place called work. 

And please remember Bruh Paul’s warning to the Thessalonians, that he who doesn’t work, shouldn’t eat? (2 Thess. 3:10) So I don’t know why we don’t try and plan for it properly, so we’re not disgruntled and frustrated come Monday morning. You know the human spirit can rise above anything  if it really wants to, and if you are a sincere follower of Jesus, He will enable you to get over these weekly Monday morning blues. But as always, just in case you stumble, (smile) we’re here to catch you with our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, the perfect antidote for your ailment. So let’s turn to the most powerful tool in the universe, prayer, to help get our day started right. 

All together now: ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together. We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies. 

But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle. Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’ 

And yes, precious people of God, before we could even finish praying, the Holy Spirit had already begun working His miracles in our souls and spirits! Wow! What a magnificent and magnanimous God we serve and worship! Please give Him some much deserved thanks and praise because most of us are now ready and able to go out and join the tumultuous fray that’s the working world, on Jesus’ behalf! And the thing we so badly need to remember here friends is that our God is FAITHFUL! Whatever we ask for in sincere belief, He will provide, if it’s within His will or plan for our lives. 

And Bruh Paul reminds us of that most salient and important fact: ‘But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish (establish) you, and keep you from evil (the evil one).’  No doubt whatsoever about that! And we’re just going to wind down with some scriptures on the Lord’s faithfulness. Bruh Paul mentioned it quite a few times. To the Thessalonians, he also said: ‘Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.’ (1 Thess. 5:24) 

Then to the Corinthians: ‘God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (1 Cor. 1:9) And also: “There hath no temptation taken (overtaken) you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear (endure) it.’ (1 Cor. 10:13) Then to Timothy: ‘If we believe not (are faithless), yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.’ (2 Tim. 2:13) 

And it’s most appropriate to close with this compelling verse from Isaiah, re, Israel, the Lord’s servant. ‘Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his (its) Holy One, to him whom man despiseth (the despised of soul), to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princess also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose (has chosen) thee.’ (Is.49:7). That was all about the coming of the Messiah, and we know that it was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus. 

Yes friends, our God is faithful; He will do whatever He’s promised, but in His own time. Look how long it took for the promised Messiah to come, centuries. But He did come…in God’s good time. I know His timing isn’t usually in concert with ours, but I can assure you, from personal experience, He’s NEVER late! Much LOVE!

…without faith…it is impossible to please…a faithful God…

Today’s Scrip-Bit 2 July 2015 Psalm 19:14

02 Jul 2015 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 19:14.   Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.

Well Friends the Canada Day celebrations are over now. Time to get back to the common task and daily grind. And it’s a glorious Thursday morning to do so; though it’s still a tad cool, both the sun and the Son are shining brightly across God’s wonderful universe!

As you can no doubt surmise from the lateness of the Bit, my celebrations lasted way into the early hours of the morning. (smile) Well it wasn’t really celebrations, just me doing my usual night time thing, I just happened to begin a tad later than normal.

Anyway, today I have for us a rather interesting and important poem from our One Year Book of Bible Promises, with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin. This one’s simply titled ‘LISTENING LOVE.’

‘Listening LOVE is one of the greatest gifts we can give our mates, our families, and our friends. Too often we settle for surface talk or icy silences, for monologues or cutoffs, for defenses. What a difference when we follow the principles of listening LOVE!

Listening LOVE is courteous. It says…  I will strive not to interrupt or outguess you. I will not finish your sentences or break into your thoughts.

Listening LOVE is attentive. It says… I will give you my undivided attention. I will not turn you off or leave you isolated. Listening LOVE is patient. It says… I will not rush you or insist on a right now conclusion. Listening LOVE is kind. It says… I will not shame you with sarcastic retorts. I will not belittle you.

Listening LOVE is objective. It says… I will try to be informative rather than opinionated. I will not attempt to think for you.

Listening LOVE is unselfish. It says… I will guard against over confidence and trite “spiritual” answers.

Listening LOVE is powerful. It says… I will pray for insight, for wisdom, and for gentle reactions.’

Yes Friends, those are the things that ought to go into all our conversations, how they ought all to be conducted! Not in the negative manner that so many of them are in these tremulous times.

It basically describes the attributes of LOVE, as found in the LOVE Chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, where LOVE is described as being, kind, charitable, not envious, long suffering, not boastful or arrogant, doesn’t behave rudely, selfishly or keeps records of evil. (1 Cor.13:4-8)

Well all these things ought to also govern our conversations my people, for it’s mostly with words that we communicate with each other. Thus the scripture promise for that poem, which is also our Bit, is the popular ending of Bruh David’s Psalm 19 – The creation and covenants of God.

‘Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.’

Yeh mih breddren, all of us know that scripture verse, but do we really practice it? No! Certainly not as much as we ought to, especially in this rather talkative society, where we talk a lot, but say very little, and are too taken up with the concerns of others through the social media, than with our own miserable and mish-mash lives.

Ah Friends, when are we going to learn that generally speaking, the less we say, the better off we will be eh, especially in terms of gossip and stuff we don’t really know the truth about. Unfortunately though, in this age of virtual reality, everyone has an opinion on everything and also chooses to voice it.

But we ought not to utter any words at all, until we have considered their worthiness in honouring Almighty God. That’s why so many of us get ourselves in so much trouble; we just shoot loosely from our lips without giving any real thought to the possible reactions and consequences of our words.

And sometimes too, it’s not so much the words that we use, but the tone of voice, the manner in which we utter them which causes negative reactions. I am sure if we all thought a tad more before we spoke, then there’d be a whole lot less arguments, contentious conversations and negative reactions. End of sermon. (smile)

Now let’s look at a couple of scriptures that support our concerns. This first one comes from Psalm 51; Bruh David’s prayer for cleansing after his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan called him out on it. He sorrowfully cries out: ‘O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.’ (Ps.51:15)

Yes Friends, we would be so much better off if we’d ask the Lord to guide us in every word that we utter. Then there’d be far less confusion and misunderstanding in our lives, and consequently our world.

And the psalmist in Psalm 71 – a prayer for help in old age – puts it like this. ‘I will also praise thee with the psaltery (lute or lyre), even thy truth (faithfulness), O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul which thou hast redeemed.

My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.’ (Ps.71:22-24)

Oh mih people, would that we’d take that sound advice and let our tongues speak righteousness all day long!

And James says it this way. ‘Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not (does not produce) the righteousness of God.’ (James 1:19-20)

Oh my beloved brethren, never were truer words spoken! Especially when we put it into context with these all-important words of Jesus, when He spoke about good and corrupt fruit.

‘But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.’ (Matt.12:36-37)

It couldn’t be put any clearer and simpler than that Friends! So please, let’s ponder all the important stuff that we’ve read this morning and take all the wonderful advice we’ve been given to heart and try our best, with God’s help of course, to become good listeners and slow talkers, so that we don’t have too much negative speech to answer for, come the judgement day. That is the zenith of wisdom! Much LOVE!

…one must always think before one talks…because oftimes the old adage… that silence is golden… is ever so true…

Today’s Scrip-Bit 9 October 2013 Psalm 19:14

09 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 19:14.    Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.
 
Well a good Wednesday morning to all you beautiful followers of Jesus Christ! I do hope that this message finds you all in good shape. And even though you’re somewhat under the weather, for whatever reason, I encourage you to straighten up and fly right with Jesus, for He’s the answer to ALL our problems.
 
Lift up your heads, hands, hearts and eyes to heaven and call on Him for relief, for mercy. Then believe you receive it. For as the famous preacher, Charles Spurgeon reputedly said: ‘God’s mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water or deprive the sun of its light or make space too narrow, than diminish the great mercy of God.’
 
And all God’s people declared a loud and joyful, ‘Glory Hallelujah! Praise the Name of our great God!’
 
Yes Friends, we can never diminish, dilute or use up the mercy of our wonderful God, because it comes from a never-ending wellspring! 
 
Now let’s turn to our memorable and all-encompassing Bit. ‘Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.’
 
What a simple but glorious prayer my people! Today, the last day for it, I want to focus on the last half. ‘O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.’ 
 
That word ‘redeemer’ is a very important one in the Christian vocabulary because it envisions a right action, something being bought back, being made right from wrong. And in the believer’s case, it means that the Lord God Jehovah has bought us back from the ravages of sin, where we were once totally lost in the darkness of Beelzebub’s hell, through the atonement made by Jesus’ crucifixion.
 
But before that happened, the Lord continually told His people Israel, about Him being their redeemer. And today I want to share some scripture from the Old Testament on that, just to show the faithfulness of our great God.
 
And we’ll begin with Bruh David’s declaration in Psalm 31, superscripted, ‘In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust.’ He confidently states: ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.’ (Ps.31:5)
 
Have we, or are we able to say that with such confidence my brethren? We should, if we truly believe.
 
Now hear Cousin Sol: ‘Remove not the old landmark (boundary); and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: for their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with (against) thee.’ (Prov.23:10-11)
 
Please pay attention to that people. Don’t usurp the property of the needy, because the Lord, their champion will stand up for them.
 
Moving on to Isaiah. In chapter 43, titled, ‘The Lord, the only Redeemer,’ he boldly declares: ‘But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.’ (Is.43:1)
 
Yes my brethren, despite Israel’s rejection of their God and king, He still reassures them, as He continues to do with us, even today. 
 
And in verse 14, Isaiah also declares: ‘Thus saith the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans (have brought them all down as fugitives), whose cry is in the (who rejoice in their) ships.’ (Is.43:14)
 
Yes Friends, the Lord will judge Babylon, after using them to judge His recalcitrant children Israel.
 
Then in chapter 47, Judgement on Babylon, Isaiah proclaims: ‘As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.’ (Is.47:4) That tells us loud and clear, the name, the identity of our redeemer.
 
Now let’s move on to Jeremiah. In chapter 15, where the Lord is angry with Judah, and Jeremiah is despondent and desolate because of his lack of success and his tribulation with the people, He nonetheless assures Jeremiah that if he continues his prophetic work, He will save him.
 
‘And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen (fortified bronze) wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand (grip) of the terrible.’ (Jer.15:20-21)
 
Yuh see Friends, the Lord doesn’t leave His servants when they are suffering in His name. And that’s still His modus operandi.
 
Then in chapter 31, Restoration of Israel, Jeremiah warns: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles (coastlands) afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.’ (Jer.31:10-11)
 
And finally from chapter 50 – prophecy concerning Babylon – Jeremiah declares: ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause (case), that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.’ (Jer.50:33-34)
 
Oh my people, I do hope that these scripture passages strengthen our faith in the Most High God Jehovah, by showing His faithfulness in keeping His promises to deliver His chosen people Israel back then, and all those who currently believe in Jesus.
 
He certainly did as promised: redeemed us all by sacrificing His innocent Son on the cross of Calvary, so that we worthless sinners could have salvation and eternal life; the two greatest gifts ever bestowed on mankind.
 
So I’m asking us today to show our sincere appreciation by going out and living the kind of life that will honour Jesus and bring untold glory to Almighty God!
 
Let the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in the Lord’s sight! That’s the least we can do in return for His unconditional LOVE, unending mercy and eternal goodness. Much LOVE!
 
…a grateful heart will show its appreciation…in the words and deeds it proclaims…