Today’s Scrip-Bit 16 April 2021 Isaiah 40:1.

16 Apr 2021 Leave a comment

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

Isaiah 40:1.     ​ Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 

Awright friends, a blessed morning to us all on this big day of Friday…or what used to be the big day of Friday, before the covid pandemic threw everything into a sustained state of disarray and confusion! But regardless of all that’s happening, my people, regardless of the unforeseen tragedies and the uncertainty that now surrounds our lives, it is still of the utmost importance that we enjoy our days and give thanks to the One who created us and still looks after us, having a most serious and unconditional LOVE for His sinful children. 

Please remember the golden words of the prophet Jeremiah: ‘It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.’ (Lam. 3:22-23) Yes friends, it’s because of the great compassion of God that we have not been already consigned to the fiery depths of Hades, for as the Good Book says, we have all sinned and come short of God’s glory, (Rom. 3:23) and the wages (penalty) for sin is death, (both physical and spiritual), but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (Rom. 6:23) 

So it only makes sense, it’s true wisdom, to stay on God’s good side by revering Him and being obedient to His awesome Word, His amazing roadmap for earthly living! And it’s not like God hasn’t given us good and faithful promises all down through the ages if we keep Him first place in our lives. And I believe this promise made through Isaiah to the people of Israel long ago is rather appropriate for us right now. It’s called comfort through trust in the Lord. And so many of us know it, but still we refuse to put it into practice in our lives, refuse to follow the roadmap the Lord’s set out in His word. 

But hear the prophet Isaiah to his sinful and disobedient people nuh. ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.’ (Is. 40:1) Oh my faithful brethren, that’s exactly what the Lord is saying to us today, while we are immersed in the biggest controversy and most difficult time in our lives. And if He’s our Creator and Provider, why is that so difficult to accept eh? 

Listen as Isaiah continues. ‘Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished (ended), that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted (lifted up), and every mountain and hill be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain (smooth). And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Is. 40:2-5) 

Oh precious people, what a wonderful God we serve and worship! For though the inhabitants of Judah were facing imminent captivity in Babylon, the prophet Isaiah saw a time of salvation coming in their future. And the scholars teach us thus: ‘Comfort ye means both “repent” and “console,” and implies that true repentance must precede divine consolation .My people refers to the people of God who are in a covenant relationship with Him. The voice that crieth in the wilderness is that of John the Baptist. By this voice calling from the desert, the people of Judah are called to make the crooked…straight and the rough places plain in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.’ 

And furthermore, the prophet Isaiah also decreed on the Lord’s behalf: ‘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 arm, and carry them gently in his bosom, and shall lead those that are with young.’ (Is. 40:10:11) And as the Lord has always done, He kept that promise with the coming of His Son Jesus Christ years later, to provide salvation for all the world, not just the people of Israel. 

So why are we now refusing to accept the salvation He so sacrificially provided through the death of His Son on the cross of Calvary eh? Remember what the scholars told us above, that comfort implies both repentance and consolation. So to get consolation, it implies that we first need repentance and obedience to God’s word. And what I can’t understand is why we so stubbornly refuse to acknowledge His power and glory and bow to him, when all our own efforts to run our lives successfully, and to solve our numerous current problems, are meeting with zero success. 

As I understand it, if one thing doesn’t work, then you try another. And living for Beelzebub and his evil deeds is certainly not working for our world. So friends, don’t you think it’s time to try the only other option available to us, that of the Lord God Almighty? I certainly do! How much longer are we going to hold on to the empty, deceitful and lying promises of Satan eh? No longer my brethren! It’s time to turn sincerely to Christ. So, in sincere prayer, with humble and repentant hearts, let’s do that today nuh, right now, through our Friday Chant. 

As one strong voice: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. Yuh know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and the racial strife causing. We not accustomed to that kind of life Lord, and it really telling on us. And we know we can’t handle it on our own, that we desperately need your help. 

Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the sure and wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, so that we can avoid any more serious setbacks. 

And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to also bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. It’s also a good opportunity to introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion because of the way we, your faithful believers, handle the situation. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

And the next move is now for us to display the characteristics that are found in trusting faith and faithful believers, if we want the Lord to answer our prayer in the affirmative .Much LOVE!

…it’s not wisdom…to follow the evil one who was demoted and destroyed…instead of the righteous One…who demoted and destroyed him… 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 15 August 2015 Psalm 67:1

15 Aug 2015 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 67:1. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us.  Selah.

Well Friends, how goes the battle this Saturday morning in the middle of August eh? I hope we are all winning, primarily because of our strong and wonderful relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for He is our mainstay, our anchor, our foundation, our rock of ages! 

Without Him we can do very little, but as Bruh Paul confidently declares to the Philippians: ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.’ (Phil.4:13) 

Yes my brethren, when we live for Jesus, He enables us to adapt to our ever-changing circumstances. The Lord puts us through our paces, and He also gives us the wherewithal to handle them successfully. 

So there’s no need to worry when various trials and tribulations come against us, for our wonderful God will either make a way for us to escape them, or help us to bear them and come out more mature and Christ-like on the other side. Oh glory to God! 

Yes my fellow believers, we do worship a most amazing and awesome God! There is none like Him anywhere else in this whole wide universe. And how could there be eh, when He is the creator and controller of it all? That’s why it’s very unwise for us not to serve and worship Him faithfully, for He blesses those who are obedient to His will and brings the proud and arrogant to destruction. 

Consequently the psalmist cries out in our Bit: ‘God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us.   Selah.’ However, it only makes sense to do that if we’re coming to Him with a humble and repentant heart, for those are the only pleas He answers. 

And for those of you who don’t know the origin of prayers like our Bit, but have only heard stuff like that intoned by a priest at the end of a service, here is a li’l history lesson. (smile) Not surprisingly, it all begins with our great God while the Israelites were travelling through the wilderness enroute to the Promised Land after their exodus from slavery in Egypt. 

‘And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, (the priests) saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put (invoke) my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.’ (Num.6:22-27)  

Yes Friends, that’s the origin of the priestly blessing we hear our priests use at the end of a service, and which we also ought to use with our friends and families, because a blessing is not a blessing until it is declared, spoken out loud. And believe you me, we all need plenty, plenty blessings in these very turbulent and troubled times. 

And talking about blessings mih people, the Lord left nothing to conjecture, He even spelled out the blessings obedience would bring. ‘And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.’ (Deut.28:1-2)  

Oh my people, my people, what is there not to understand about those statements eh? And since our God does not change, that means they are also applicable to us in these current times. And please note that the blessings will come upon us, will overtake us! That means we don’t have to go looking for them, but if we are obedient to the Lord’s statutes, they will run us down and overtake us. Glory to God! Now how can that not be something we take very seriously eh my people? 

Then listen to some of the particular blessings that have been promised. ‘Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shall thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body (offspring), and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine (cattle), and flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store (kneading bowl). Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shall thou be when thou goest out. (Deut.28:3-6) 

Ah Friends, how much more can you get than that eh? Not much. But there are 8 more verses of general blessings, like victory over your enemies, who ‘shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.’ (Deut.28:7) I like that, for it shows how successful we’ll be against our enemies, scattering them seven ways till Sunday. (smile) 

Everything we set our hand to will also prosper…we’ll be a holy people to the Lord, called by His name, and set fear in the hearts of the whole earth. But Friends, the great proviso is ‘if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.’ (Deut.28:9b) So no wonder our societies are all going downhill, because we are not obeying the commandments of our God, and instead are forcing Him out of our lives. 

But you know what’s interesting and somewhat amusing about all the blessings of obedience and the consequences of disobedience? The former takes up 14 verses of chapter 28, while the latter runs from verse 15 to 68. And I’d suggest that we all read them, for they are indeed frightful, and it might just give us a different outlook on the situation. 

The scholars though have an interesting take on the great difference in space taken up by the curses. They say: ‘This is probably due to human nature. The threat of a severe judgement on the covenant-breaker seems to act as a stronger stimulus to correct behaviour than any promise of blessing.’ 

But clearly they did not take the very evil nature of this generation into consideration, for despite the many curses that are befalling us, we refuse to turn back to Almighty God, our Creator and provider, in humble repentance. We prefer to walk to the beat of our own false wisdom and the lies and deceit of the evil one, Lucifer. Therefore we shall pay the harsh price for disobedience my people. There are no ifs and s and buts about that! Much LOVE!

…if obedience brings blessings…and disobedience cursing…where is the wisdom in following the latter path…as we are currently doing eh…