The Immense Importance of Believing in God’s Promises and Faithfulness!

20 Aug 2024 Leave a comment

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

Isaiah 43:2a.       When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;

And so, without any due notice or welcoming applause, we come to Tuesday, which follows Monday, just like the day follows the night and vice versa! (smile) But most likely, we’ve breathed a huge sigh of relief that we’ve gotten through troublesome Monday, and fallen into much easier Tuesday. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles. But the wonderful thing about it all, is that we believers have Jesus to backstop all our doubts and fears, so even when circumstances don’t look so good, we don’t need to worry, but call up scriptures like this one from the wise words of Bruh David: ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.’ (Ps. 34:19) 

And with those words of blessed assurance steeping, marinating in our hearts, souls, bodies and minds, we can then stand strong in faith with a good attitude, and do what Bruh David so wisely advises: ‘Wait (patiently in faith) on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait (patiently in faith), I say on the Lord.’ (Ps. 27:14) That’s marvellous advice friends, although it’s not always easy to put into action, because oftentimes we feel as though our world is just being torn apart and there’s no time to wait, an instant remedy is required. But please have no fear, for in good time, His time, our amazing and faithful God will come to our rescue. 

As Bruh Paul says to the church at Corinth: ‘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) Yes friends, our great God will either make a way for us to escape the tough circumstances, or give us the strength, the grace, the anointing to go through it with a calm peace that passes all understanding. 

And, one more very important thing: He won’t be late. No! God’s NEVER late! And I can testify to that, because so often in my own life, when I’ve thought that all was lost, I’ve seen Him show up just at the right time. Sometimes He waits until the very last moment to show up, because He’s testing our faith, to see if we will actually walk the talk  that we’ve been spewing out to others. And why would He not rescue us, or at least give us the strength to go through our problems after He’s made promises like this one. 

‘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. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon (scorch) thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee (in thy place). (Is. 43:1-3) 

Yes friends, that’s all the gospel truth, for the Lord our God has certainly redeemed us, bought us with a price, the sinless blood of Christ, which means we are indeed His! And we’ve seen examples of His people passing through the waters on dry ground through the Red Sea to escape the army of Egypt, (Ex. 14:19-31) and the rivers, where they passed through the River Jordan and it did not overflow them. (Josh. 3) And we all know the famous story of the three young Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who refused to bow to the idol made by the king of Babylon and were thrown into the furnace, heated seven times hotter than normal, yet they came out alive, not even smelling of smoke. (Dan. 3) 

Wow! What a powerful and faithful God we serve my brethren! Remember, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH HIM! But He seeks faith and trust in those who claim to believe, and consequently tests us by allowing unfortunate stuff to happen to us, like passing through the waters. And what does passing through the waters really mean? Listen to these two commentaries on the subject. The first one says: ‘Isaiah 43:2 is a verse that calls for a personal journey with God, where trust in His divine promise leads us to discover our own strength and resilience. In essence, the heartfelt message of Isaiah 43:2 is about the transformative power of faith in the face of adversity.’ No doubt about that! 

And the second tells us re Isaiah 43:3-5. ‘Another thought about “when you pass through the waters”: this phrase implies getting through to the other side with God. Whether it ends with resolving a problem here or taking us home to heaven, God will be with those who LOVE Him and whom He LOVES.’ And you can bet your bottom dollar on that my people! God will ALWAYS be with those He LOVES, and those who LOVE Him! As Jesus said to the disciples: ‘If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my LOVE; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his LOVE!’ John 15:10) 

Yuh see friends, it’s all about obedience and doing the will of God! You cannot expect God to bless you while you are constantly ignoring Him and doing the will of Satan. And yuh know, that’s all the Lord really desires of us, obedience. But we allow the bright and shiny baubles and bangles of the world to dazzle our lustful eyes and thus turn away from God, all to our certain detriment. That’s a fool’s wisdom my people! For even if you acquire all of the world’s wealth, you cannot carry one iota of it with you when you die, regardless of if you make your bed in heaven or in hell. 

For as Jesus so wisely advises: ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth doth corrupt (ruin) and rust, where thieves break through and steal: But lay up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt (ruin), and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ (Matt. 6:19:21) More gospel truth and wise advice my fellow believers. Instead Jesus gives this wise and heartfelt advice as to what we should do. ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt. 6:33) 

Now, Jesus doesn’t have cause to lie, like Satan does, so it’s wise and sensible to believe Him. And for those of us who have been wise and sensible, and have believed Jesus, (smile) let’s go home declaring our Tuesday Mantra, letting all and sundry know to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. As one strong and sincere voice: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with my immediate neighbours, as well as with the whole wide world! Glory be!’ 

And having made that declaration, (yesss!!!) we are now duty bound to go out and share the amazing LOVE and friendship of Jesus with others, so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do! Much LOVE!

…trust, faith, hope, obedience and LOVE…all necessary ingredients for a true Christian life…

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit 14 June 2021 John 15:13.

14 Jun 2021 Leave a comment

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

John 15:13.     ​Greater LOVE hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Up, up and away friends! It’s Monday, the beginning of a brand new work week! That means there are things to do, places to go and people to see, so please, let’s get a move on, for time waits on no one! Awright, thanks for reminding me that some of you still don’t have jobs, and still can’t go to some of the places you want to go to, like the gym, hair salon and barbershop, despite the lifting of some lockdown restrictions. Yes mih bredrin, life can certainly be rough at times oui! 

But please don’t get discouraged, let’s look at the flip side of the coin instead nuh. We have life, which means there is hope, and most of all we have Jesus…Glory be mih people! That then means we have the awesome benefits of grace, mercy, LOVE and salvation! Wow! What a treasure trove of benefits! And all God’s children gave out a loud shout of gratitude and praise. ‘Thank you Jesus, for saving our sinful souls from hellfire and damnation, through your selfless sacrifice on the cross of Calvary!’ 

Oh my fellow saints, every time I sit down and ponder on Jesus, contemplate His awesome LOVE and selflessness, and the terrible pain and ‘sufferation’ He endured on our account, my heart pains me because I just can’t imagine myself suffering to that degree for someone else. And that selflessness just makes me LOVE and appreciate Him even more. That leads me to consider these heartfelt and life-giving words that He shared with the disciples as His time of sacrifice drew near. 

‘If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto (for) you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath LOVED me, so have I LOVED you: continue (abide) in my LOVE. If ye keep my commandments; ye shall abide in my LOVE; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his LOVE. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 

This is my commandment, That ye LOVE one another, as I have LOVED you. Greater LOVE hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained (appointed) you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye LOVE one another.’ (John 15:7-17) 

Oh friends, just look at all the important statements in those few verses nuh. But please note they are all based on one condition: obedience to His commandments. The scholars characterize them thus: ‘abiding in His LOVE (vs.10), full joy (vs.11), LOVE for one another (vs. 12-13, 17; cf. 13:34-35), friends, not servants (vs.14-15), fruit remains (vs.16), and answered prayer (vs.16) Not forgetting that it was Christ who chose them. ‘It was by His appointment, not by their choice they were taken out of the world (vs.19) and sent out to bear fruit.’ 

But the verse I am especially interested in today is our Bit. ‘Greater LOVE hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ How beautiful is Christ eh, that after calling us friends, and making that statement, that’s exactly what He went out and did; lay down, sacrifice His sinless life for us, sinners, whom He considered friends, disciples, ambassadors and earthly representatives. 

No wonder Bruh Paul wrote these powerful words in his missive to the church at Ephesus, re the ways of the believer. ‘Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in LOVE, as Christ also hath LOVED us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour (aroma).’ (Eph. 5:1-2) You can’t argue with that sentiment friends, for it’s the indisputable truth! 

Furthermore, listen to John in his first epistle as he talks about LOVING each other. ‘Hereby perceive we the LOVE of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good (goods), and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion (his heart) from him, how dwelleth the LOVE of God in him? My little children, let us not LOVE in word, neither in tongue (mere word); but in deed and in truth.’ (1 John 3:16-18) 

There’s nothing to argue with in those verses either my people. What we need to do, especially in these tough times of sickness, poverty and strife is put them into action; help each other, LOVE each other, the way Christ LOVED and helped us. That’s when we show the world and Christ that we are His true disciples! Now, let’s go talk to the Lord in prayer, pour out our troubles and woes to Him, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn. 

Altogether now: ‘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. We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. 

Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but we know that 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. That’s why we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading with You to give us wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. 

And Father, we pray that you will ease the pain of the many who are suffering from negative situations. Please show them Your awesome grace and mercy, and keep Your promise that You’ll hear our prayer, forgive us, and heal our land 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!’ 

Now let’s remember the number one reason for divine help and blessings: OBEDIENCE! Much LOVE!

…plenty talk…with no action…is useless…it helps no one…                                                                        

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit 11 July 2019 John 15:10.

11 Jul 2019 Leave a comment

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

John 15:10.    ​If ye keep my commandments; ye shall abide in my LOVE; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his LOVE.
 

Greeting and salutations this summer Thursday morning from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to all who truly believe in Him and sincerely strive to be obedient to His holy will! Oh friends, it is necessary to believe in Jesus if you desire to be saved, but that’s just the easy part of it. To truly be a worthwhile part of His kingdom, we also need to obey His rules and regulations. 

I know some of you are going to say that is bunkum, because Christ died to get us away from the rules and regulations of religion. But just think for a moment, how can any organization survive and thrive unless there are some basic rules and regulations for those involved to follow? 

It won’t. It will just turn into a free for all with everybody wanting to and doing their own thing, which is the current reflection of our society, as well as Christ’s church; strife-filled, greedy, selfish, power hungry, filled with cliques that are resentful to each other, immoral, without true LOVE and forgiveness, etc. etc. 

You know that even in the kingdom of the wild animals there are basic rules, or more like basic behaviour patterns that they all uphold, because they know that if they don’t, their species are liable to suffer irreparable harm. But not the great creation, mankind, who behaves even wilder than the wildest wild animal, and will tear his fellow human being to shreds without even a pang of remorse. 

That’s the kind of world we’re living in now my people! A dog eat dog kind of society; where the first person singular is the most important, and the remainder can simply go suffer as best they can! But that’s not how Jesus expects His followers to live and behave. 

Listen to Him as He spells it out for the disciples. ‘As the Father hath LOVED me, so have I LOVED you: continue ye (abide) in my LOVE. If ye keep my commandments; ye shall abide in my LOVE; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his LOVE.’ (John 15:9-10) Yuh see friends, even Jesus had rules from His Father to follow… and He followed them. 

As Bruh Paul puts it to the Philippians: ‘And being found in fashion (appearance) as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Phil.2:8) Yeh mih people, yuh think Jesus really wanted to die such a horrible sacrificial death as He did? No way! But because the Father asked, and He respected and LOVED the Father, He did it. 

That’s why the Father exalted Him thus, with the name that’s higher than every other name in the universe, and to whom all knees should bow and every tongue confess that He’s Lord, to the glory of the Father. (Phil.2:9-11) And my fellow believers, though Jesus’ sacrificial death was very important, in and of itself, what’s truly heart stopping, is His level of obedience to the Father’s wishes. 

He never did anything down here on earth without first consulting the Father, and throughout His entire earthly life always noted that He was doing the Father’s will not His own. In like fashion, we, Christ’s supposed followers in this age, His church in these trying and troubled times, ought to be very concerned about doing His bidding. 

Not fighting amongst each other, being hypocritical and compromising, and causing His body to get a bad reputation from the unbeliever, with people turning away from Him in droves. But that’s exactly what we’re doing these days. Yuh think if the majority of supposed Christians would behave like real Christians, walk their talk; our world would be in such a miserable, degraded and degenerate state? 

Of course not! But instead of being the salt and light that Jesus expects us to be, we are behaving just like the evil world; not merely being in it, as He desires, but woefully being a part of it! That’s not good enough my brethren, because all it does is bring disrepute to Christ and all that He stands for. I don’t know how we can stand up and call ourselves Christians when we don’t abide by His commandments. 

Listen to Him to the disciples again. ‘This is my commandment, That ye LOVE one another, as I have LOVED you. Greater LOVE hath no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.’ (John 15:12-14) 

Oh my fellow saints in Christ, it couldn’t be put any plainer than that! All Jesus requires of us is that we LOVE each other, and that simply means treat others kindly and with respect, and to do as He desires. And if we do, then He considers us His friend. The sad fact of the matter though is that right now too many of us are not His friends, because we’re not doing as He commands. 

But remember friends, we each will have to stand before Him on the judgement day and give account of our earthly lives, and when He tells us to stand on His left hand, not His right because we’re goats and not sheep, (Matt.25:31-46 – Please take a moment and read it), many of us will hold our heads and bawl, but then it will be too late. So please, let’s do as He commands now nuh, while we still have the ability to improve our standing in His organization. That’s wisdom of the highest order! 

And now, having preached fire and brimstone (smile) let’s go home declaring (yeh!) our Thursday Blessings, the Lord’s goodness and mercy so undeservedly showered down on us to help us do His earthly work. In full voice and sincere belief: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! 

I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’ 

Oh my people, what a wonderful God we serve and worship! No other deity would ever give us all those blessings, even if we deserved them. But remember, they are not for us to selfishly hoard, but to go out and generously share them with others as He generously shared them with us. Much LOVE!

…on the judgement day…to be counted as sheep and not goats…one must obey Christ’s commands…TODAY… 

P.S. Sorry that the Bit’s a tad late, but I went to bed in the early hours of the morning, and thus got up in the late ones. (smile) Much LOVE!