01 Sep 2017
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a few pennies, alertness, back to school, benefits, bless the Lord, blood, chanting up a storm, Christians, cold weather, common sense, comrades, cottage season, deceit, direction, eagles, earthly journey, enthusiasm. week of work, evil attributes, evil soul, fellowship, forget not, Friday chant, fun, furthering God's kingdom, generous help, hard done by, heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, iniquities, intercession, judgement, knowledgeable guide, labour day weekend, lay the eggs, leggo beasts, lies, LOVE, loving-kindness, massa . take advantage, measly pay, merciful gracious, mercy, motivating, mount up with wings, navigate, no rights, not be weary, not faint, on the same page, perilous waters, relaxation, renew their strength, rest, rewarded us, righteousness, run, September, sincerity, sinful properties, sins, slow to anger, stability, sweat, tears, TGIF! Thank God is Friday, the children of Israel, the east is from the west, the forefront of our thoughts, the workingman, transgressions, wait upon the Lord, waiting on god, walk, walk in tandem, we are dust, wiles
Isaiah 40:31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Ah friends, it’s Friday already! Can you believe it? And not only that, it’s also the first day of September! Glory Be! The days sure are passing rather quickly. Labour Day is here, meaning it’s back to school, and also that the cold weather is just around the corner. Hn!
But we should not be too surprised, or it should not make much of a difference because it has not been a really hot summer. The important thing here though is that this is the last long weekend of the summer. Cottage season will soon be over, and thus the workingman is chanting up a real storm today.
‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday! The weekend is here…the Labour Day weekend to boot! That’s when we celebrate all our fallen and hard-done by comrades over the years, where massa take real advantage on him!
Them days he even had to work the weekend…for the same measly pay. But through plenty blood, sweat and tears we manage to wrestle two days off from massa evil soul, and a few pennies more in pay.
That’s why this weekend we going to laugh and play, dance and sing and make merry, behave like leggo beast, in remembrance of them real rough days earlier on! Thank God for Fridays and the weekends yes!’
Oh my people, it’s important to remember those who have gone before us and weathered the awful stormy times when the ordinary workingman had no rights and was treated rather harshly by the powers that be.
But as sincere Christians, we should not be behaving like leggo beasts, because that only gives the enemy openings into our spirits to lay the eggs of his evil attributes, like deceit and lies and a host of other sinful properties. We need to be extra careful how we conduct ourselves in all situations.
And for the weekend, our Friday Chant offers a much better alternative to the workingman’s song. Let’s declare it now nuh, with suitable sincerity and enthusiasm.
‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through.
Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’
Yeh friends, wherever we are, and whatever we’re doing, we should always have Jesus in the forefront of our thoughts and hearts, for it is only through His intercession, the working of His Holy Spirit in us, that we can truly handle the enemy and all his wiles and lies.
After a long week of work, both our bodies and souls get tired and need refreshing if we’re to handle the upcoming week with any degree of alertness and success. That’s why our Bit is such a powerful and motivating piece of scripture.
‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.’
Waiting on God and being on the same page with Him is essential for our very well–being my brethren! If we’re not in sync with Him then our lives will be wishy-washy and we’ll be drifting hither, thither and yon, rudderless, and also without a pilot.
Now that’s definitely not a good way to live this life. We need some stability and direction and a knowledgeable guide to help us navigate the perilous waters of this earthly journey. And there’s no one as qualified for the job as the One who created us in the first place.
Listen to how Bruh David puts it in Psalm 103 –Thanksgiving for God’s mercy. ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with LOVING-kindness and tender mercies: Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’ (Ps.103:2-5)
How wonderful is that eh friends? Who else looks after us like our Creator eh? NOBODY! Because NOBODY cares for us like He does! So if we’re not wise enough to surrender our souls to Him, and place our complete trust in His all-knowing hands and ever-LOVING heart, then we’ve nobody to blame but ourselves.
Hear some more of Bruh David’s words from Psalm 103. ‘The Lord executeth righteousness and judgement for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous (abounding) in mercy (LOVING-kindness).
He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy (LOVING-kindness) toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame (understands our constitution); he remebereth that we are dust.’ (Ps.103:6-14)
Oh my people, what else can we truthfully expect from our great God eh? Nothing really, because He gives us all that we need when we walk in tandem with Him.
So if we’re not having our needs fulfilled, then it possibly means that we’re not walking hand in hand with our heavenly father, and only we, as individuals, with His help of course, can fix that. Much LOVE!
…walking in step with Christ is simple common sense…since He created and controls us…
06 Aug 2017
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a portion, a world that is dying, abundant life, all will be well, assurance, atoning death, bare the sin, believe Him, champion, climax, common sense, conquerors, darkness, Dead Sea Scroll, death, distress, dominion, exaltation, fellowship, floundering, fragile souls, gathering, gift of grace, glorification, glorious song, grow dim, guilt offering, He promised, heavenly intercessor, high priest, holiness, I am the way the truth and the life, in freedom, in the light of his glory and grace, iniquities, intercession, King of Kings, leader, life everlasting, light, look at the Saviour, Lord and Saviour, Lord of Lords, majesty, moral iniquities, no man comes to the Father but by me, our best interest, peace, persecution, pilgrim's journey, pleasure, plunder, poetic license, poured out his soul, praise, prince of peace, resurrection, sacrifice of praise, sense of purpose, sin, spoil, strength, substitutionary death, the Lord's sanctuary, the Sabbath Day, the Suffering Servant, the things of the earth, tower of strength, transgressors, travail, trespass offering, troubled, Turn your eyes upon Jesus, weary, wisdom, worship, worship Almighty God, worship in hiding
John 14:6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
Ah mih people, it’s the Sabbath Day; the day for gathering and fellowship in the Lord’s sanctuary, where His ardent followers praise and worship His holy name! It involves hearing His wonderful word which brings peace, strength and assurance to our tired and fragile souls, while filling His house with glorious song! Oh what a pleasure, a gift of grace it is to be able to worship Almighty God in freedom, with a strong sense of purpose.
However, many believers around the world have to do it in hiding, afraid of serious persecution, but standing strong on His faithful promises, they do it nonetheless. And as we offer up the sacrifice of praise with our lips this Sunday morning, I want us to think about all those who are not free to worship as we are, and pray that the Lord will give them that freedom someday soon, or at least keep them safe from further persecution.
Now let’s raise the roof with loud and harmonious voices, as we sing that blessed hymn ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus.’
‘O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free. (Refrain: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.)
Through death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there; O’er us sin no more hath dominion For more than conqu’rors we are! (Refrain: Turn your eyes upon Jesus…) His Word shall not fail you, He promised; Believe Him and all will be well; Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell! (Refrain: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.)’
Oh friends, what words of perfect assurance! If your soul is weary and troubled, and floundering in perpetual darkness, then Jesus is the One to turn to for relief. He died that we might live, might have eternal life, so there is NO ONE better to offer us comfort and safety and light in this tragic world. As the song says: Turn your eyes on Him, look Him straight in the face, and all of a sudden the worries and problems of this world will begin to recede.
What a tower of strength we have in Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, our Prince of Peace, our High Priest, our heavenly Intercessor, our unmatched Messiah! He is the ONE and ONLY ONE my brethren: the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! In Him, majesty and holiness reign supreme! But what is even more important, is that He knows our fears, and can empathize with us on our pilgrim’s journey, because He faced the same things in His brief sojourn here on earth.
That’s why He is such a Champion, such a Leader and could utter the words of our Bit to His doubting disciple Thomas with the utmost sincerity and truth. ‘Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.’
And if you want to see why he could truly say that, then read Isaiah 53, where he describes the ‘Suffering Servant,’ a foretelling of what Jesus would suffer. I’ll just remind us of the last three verses. ‘Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise (crush) him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail (distress) of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil (plunder) with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.’ (Is.53:10-12)
Yes my fellow believers, that’s what Jesus suffered on our behalf, and therefore earned to right to say what He said. Now here are some explanations from the scholars. ’53:10-12. It pleased the Lord to bruise (from daka; “to crush”) him refers to the same condition in verse 5 (utterly crush Him for our moral iniquities). Put him to grief reads “pierce” Him in the Dead Sea Scroll copy of the text. His seed refers to those who will come to believe in Him. An offering for sin (asham, “guilt offering”) involves the trespass offering described in Numbers 5:5-10.
The phrase he shall prolong his days indicates that the Servant’s ministry will not end with His violent death, and certainly implies His resurrection. The pleasure of the Lord refers to God’s ultimate purposes which will be accomplished by the atoning death and resurrection of the Servant. His intercession refers to His high priestly ministry, by which He makes intercession on the basis of His own substitutionary death. The chapter ends with the glorification and exaltation of the Servant of the Lord.’
And so it very well should my people! Hn, hn! I’m chuckling because I used some poetic license there, switching the position of the last two sentences because I thought it a better ending. Christ should be glorified and exalted at the end, that’s the proper climax! (smile)
Anyway friends, that’s just an inkling of what Jesus suffered for us, so we could be set free from sin and receive everlasting life. Shouldn’t we therefore show Him much more appreciation and gratitude? Of course we should. So let’s do better than we doing nuh! All of us can improve in some area(s) of our lives that will exalt and glorify Jesus much more than at present.
Remember it’s in OUR best interest do so, since Jesus doesn’t really need anything from us, but we desperately need lots of stuff from Him! So please let wisdom and common sense abound! Much LOVE!
…He knew NO sin…but was made the bearer of ALL sin…FOR US…
10 Jun 2017
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a good leader, action, afflicted, and eye for an eye, and ounce of practice, Anselm, atonement, attribute of the strong, between a rock and a hard place, by His stripes we are healed, chastisement, chomping at the bit, Christians, complaining, despised, forgiveness, friends, glorification, gospel truth, grief, hemming and hawing, humanity, hurt, iniquities, Jesus Christ, Jesus' blood, like sheep gone astray, lose faith in humanity, LOVE, made him to be sin for us, made the righteousness of God, ocean of humanity, pains, rejected, relaxation, rest, righteousness., Saturday, share of the blame, share of the credit, sickness, smitten of God, sorrows, strength of purpose, suffering servant, sunscreen lotion, tans, the blind leading the blind, the help of God, the Son of God, to please the Father, tons of preaching, who knew no sin, wounded
2 Corinthians 5:21. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Aye mih breddren, Saturday has rolled around once again! What are your plans eh? I know I’m not planning to do much of anything productive. It will be mostly a day of rest and relaxation, especially if it’s another nice one like the last few. And it’s supposed to go up to around thirty degrees Celsius.
Mama yo! Many will now complain that it’s too hot, and the a/c will be blasting cold air. But many others will also break out the sunscreen lotion and work on their tans. It’s a good thing that my tan is natural yes, I don’t have to work at it. (smile) Thank You Lord!
Anyway, since it’s Saturday, let’s look at some of the quotes our friend Anselm offered this week nuh, in his marvelous effort to inspire us to aspire to a better tomorrow. Hear this one: ‘Without action you aren’t going anywhere. An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.’
And is that ever so true and rather appropriate to our Christian faith my brethren, because we’re certainly doing more talking, more preaching, rather than putting the preaching into action, as is most necessary in this lost and evil world.
Then he tells us: ‘Forgive and let it go. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.’ I guess you have to be strong to be able to forgive and let go of hurts inflicted by others. And the eye for an eye thing will certainly make the world blind.
What did Jesus have to say about the blind leading the blind? ‘And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.’ (Matt.15:14) Gospel truth that! For Jesus doesn’t lie.
This next quote is a bit touchy. ‘You are in control. Nobody can hurt you without your permission.’ Technically speaking it’s true, we allow others to hurt us. But when someone does dreadful things to us, it’s not that easy to say ‘I won’t let them hurt me,’ and just turn off the hurt.
The penultimate quote advises: ‘You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.’ The only problem there is that our current ocean of humanity has much much more than just a few dirty drops in it.
And I’ve left the best for last. ‘A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.’ More gospel truth friends! And there’s no better example of that than our own Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
Just look at all He did for us nuh, all the ‘sufferation’ He endured on our behalf, and from then to now, He’s never gotten the plaudits He so rightfully deserves. But he didn’t do what he did for praise and glory, but for LOVE! Can you imagine it? Hn! Most of our leaders today are simply out for their own glorification.
However our Bit declares of Jesus: ‘For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.’
The Father really put Him between a rock and a hard place, but He did what He had to do without a lot of complaining. No, it wasn’t easy, even for Him as the Son of God, but it’s what the Father desired, and He wanted to please the Father. Oh, how I wish that more of us supposed Christians could feel the same way; simply desirous of pleasing the Father and doing what He asks of us without a lot of hemming and hawing. That would be the day!
Ah friends, it’s not easy living a true Christian life, but when we put our minds to it, with the help of God, it is certainly exciting and adventurous. And I’m not talking from hearsay there, but from personal experience.
And all I want to do today is highlight a couple of scripture verses that enhance our Bit, from the magnificent prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 53, re the Suffering servant. ‘He is despised and rejected of (forsaken by) men: a man of sorrows (pains), and acquainted with grief (sickness): and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs (pains), and carried our sorrows (sicknesses): yet we did esteem (reckon) him stricken, smitten of (struck down by) God, and afflicted. But he was wounded (pierced through) for our transgressions, he was bruised (crushed) for our iniquities: the chastisement (discipline, self-control) of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ (Is.53:3-6)
Yes friends, our leader showed us the way, by walking His talk with strength of purpose. He bore our sinful burdens selflessly and gave us His peace and righteousness. Now why can’t we just live up to the little He asks of us eh…to LOVE the Father, LOVE ourselves, not in a narcissist manner, and to LOVE our neighbours as ourselves?
Is that so hard to do my Christian brethren? What a wonderful world we’d truly have! And there would be supreme joy both in heaven and on earth! Let’s try and make that a reality nuh my people. With God’s help it’s possible. But we have to sincerely want to do it and then put out the great effort necessary. Much LOVE!
…that tremendous gift of atonement…paid for with Jesus’ blood…should have us chomping at the bit…to do God’s bidding…
18 May 2017
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: act with faith, be as wool, blot out thy transgressions, Charels Stanley, charles stanley, Christians, clear direction, come boldly to the throne of grace, commune with nature, courage, creativity, curse, earthly pilgrimage, easy pickings, eternal life, eternal separation, evil doings, expectant faith, faith, fat of sacrifices, favour, foundation, grace, high priest, hungry hope, in time of need, iniquities, Jesus Christ, justified, let us reason together, Lord and Saviour, LOVE, Lucifer, magnanimity, magnificence, mercy, negative word, pawns, praise, pray with faith, prosper, red like crimson, Redeemer, remembrance, right mind, salvation, second guessing, succeed, success, summer-like day, sweet cane, sympathy, Thursday Blessings, wake up with faith, white as snow, wisdom, wishy-washy, without sin, worry, worship, your sins be as scarlet
Isaiah 1:18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Oh friends, thankfully, in my neck of the woods, another beautiful summer-like day is in the offing! Glory to God!
Yesterday’s temperature was in the high twenties! Wow! And today is expected to be around the same. We’ll take those early glimpses of summer anytime! And though the wind was a bit blustery yesterday, it wasn’t too hot and humid.
Oh, I even got to sit on my front porch for the first time this year at minutes to three this morning and quietly commune with nature and my wonderful Creator. It can be so nice and quiet and conducive to communing at that hour of the morning.
Only problem though, is that the earlier cool breeze suddenly developed into an angry wind and drove me inside after about ten minutes. But I’ll take ten minutes of peace and quiet outside at that hour any day!
Now here is a li’l something on prayer, I believe I got from Uncle Charles (Charles Stanley) recently. He says that we should ALWAYS ‘Pray with faith, not with sympathy. Wake up with faith, not with worry. Act with faith, not with second guessing.’
That means, as Christians, ALL our actions should have faith as their underlying foundation. That’s why the Bible strongly advises: ‘Let us therefore come boldly (confidently) unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ (Heb.4:16)
Yes my people, our High Priest Jesus Christ knows all that we’re going through, for He went through the same temptations and troubles, but without sin. So there’s no need to be wishy-washy when we come to Him in prayer, but with hungry hope and expectant faith.
And friends, our God is so wonderful that He invites us in our Bit to come and sit and reason with Him. ‘Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’
Now which other God is so secure in themselves to ever dream of doing such a thing eh? NONE whatsoever! That just shows the magnanimity and magnificence of the great God we serve and worship! A God who sincerely wants His most beautiful and important creation to repent of their abominable sins and come back to being one with Him.
Why do you think He went to all that trouble to send His One and Only Son Jesus to die for us eh? He didn’t have to do it, but His heart was so filled with LOVE for us that He would have been terribly unhappy to just leave us as pawns, as easy pickings for Lucifer and his evil doings.
And it’s not just once that He invited His people to come and reason with Him. Listen to this other time in Isaiah, when the prophet talks about the Lord, the ONLY Redeemer.
‘Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled (satisfied) me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve (burdened me) with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance: let us plead (contend) together: declare thou (thy case), that thou mayest be justified.’ (Is.43:24-26)
Yeh friends, even though we bombard the Lord with our sins, and no sincere praise and worship, He is still open to talking and reasoning with us.
Wow! I don’t see how any man in his right mind could ever pass up such an opportunity nuh, especially when the stakes are so high; eternal life with Jehovah God, or eternal separation from Him.
Those are the options my brethren, and I can guarantee you that the last one will not be very nice, so why don’t we just be wise and sincerely accept God’s wonderful offer of salvation and eternal life through His Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?
That will put us right over the top! And we have to do it ASAP, meaning RIGHT NOW; for if we die, or Jesus returns before we accept Him as Lord and Saviour, we’re definitely headed for eternal separation. Nuff said.
So for those of us who are on the right track, let’s go home declaring our Thursday Blessings; the wonderful favour that God has showered down on us.
In strong and true belief now: ‘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!’
Now let’s go out and encourage others to walk in those godly blessings with us, as Jesus so emphatically desires. Much LOVE!
…to walk this earthly pilgrimage with Jesus…is to wisely walk the path of salvation and eternal life…
30 Apr 2017
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a pardon receives, atonement for our sins, bacteria, benefits, bitter waters, bless the Lord oh my soul, bondage, borne our griefs, breath of life, by his stripes, chastisement, Christian lives, commandments, confidence, diseases, Easter, Egypt, exodus, Fanny Crosby, forget not his benefits, give ear, give him the glory, God's will, grateful people, gratitude, great things he hath done, hearken to God's voice, iniquities, Israelites, Jesus the Son, let the earth hear his voice, Marah, medical science, Moses, pains, Pharaoh, plagues, Praise the Lord, rebel, redemption, renewal, resurrection, right in his sight, sacrifice of praise, sacrificial offering, saints in Christ, sicknesses, sincerity, sins, smitten, sorrows, statutes, stricken, suffering servant, sweeten the waters, the Great healer, the Great Physician, the life-gate, the people rejoice, the promise of God, the purchase of blood, the suffering of Jesus, the vilest offender, To God be the glory, trust, weather forecasters, who healeth all thy diseases
Psalm 103:2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Aye friends, it’s a wet morning, as promised by the weather forecasters, so please get your hats, brollies and raincoats out for your trip to church today.
And to open our section on praise and worship, we couldn’t do any better than this old Fanny Crosby hymn; ‘To God be the Glory.’ So let’s belt it out with sure confidence and trust, offering up the sacrifice of praise to heaven with our earthly voices.
‘To God be the glory, great things He hath done, So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life our redemption to win, And opened the life-gate that all may go in.
(Refrain: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice; Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice; Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.)
Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God; The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives. (Refrain)
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; But purer, and higher, and greater will be Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.
(Refrain: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice; Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice; Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.’
Oh my beautiful saints in Christ, our great God has certainly done great things, both in our individual lives and in the world! None greater though than the sacrificial offering of His sinless Son, Jesus Christ for the atonement of our abominable sins!
Consequently, as grateful people, we ought to praise and thank Him with the very deepest of gratitude and sincerity, each and every moment that we breathe His wonderful and enabling breath of life!
That’s why our Bit is ever so applicable, especially at this Easter Season of renewal and resurrection. ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.’
Now, if we are true believers, then I don’t see how we could ever do that. But unfortunately, there are many, Christians included, who do it. But I won’t get on that horse today, (smile) I’ll just continue to point out scripture that validate our Bit and the benefits proclaimed by Bruh David.
And today we’ll look at the second part of verse 3: ‘who healeth all thy diseases.’ Now isn’t that something else! For our God is known as the Great Physician, the Great Healer! And that, He has certainly proven numerous times down during the ages.
And if you don’t believe me, listen to Moses at the bitter waters of Marah, where the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt, threatened to rebel, until the Lord caused Moses to sweeten the waters.
Then Moses made this rule for the people to test them. ‘If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.’ (Ex.15:26).
Yeh mih people, remember the many plagues that the Lord brought down on Egypt when Pharaoh refused to let them go out of his bondage? Well the Lord promised then, and that promise still stands to this day, that if we are obedient to His will and law, that we won’t be plagued by sickness.
But have you noticed that recently, despite our great advancements in medical science, that we are seeing the comeback of certain diseases that we thought we’d already conquered?
And that there is also a big scare that the current strains of bacteria in our society are getting so powerful that our medicines can no longer kill them?
I wonder why that is eh my people? Can it have something to do with our not following God’s will and law? Selah. Yeh friends, think on that for a moment or two nuh.
And we’ll close today with these immortal verses form Isaiah, re the suffering servant, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. ‘Surely he hath borne our griefs (sicknesses), and carried our sorrows (pains): yet we did esteem (reckon) him stricken, smitten of (struck down by) God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded (pierced through) for our transgressions, he was bruised (crushed) for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes (terrible blows that cut into him) we are healed.’ (Is.53:4-5)
Yeh mih breddren, plenty of us like to rhyme of that last verse without much thought of its true meaning, but today let’s sit down and ponder what it truly means nuh. Let’s consider its real purpose in our Christian lives, and how it is especially important in this Easter Season. Much LOVE!
…ALL healing comes from Almighty God…our Maker and Healer…through the suffering of Jesus…
29 Apr 2017
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a better tomorrow, aspiring to inspire, Assad, assignment, authority, benefits, bless the Lord oh my soul, Christians, cohorts, corrupt, deceptions, decisions, do nothing, earthly wealth, Easter, Edison, egotist, Erdogan, eternal value, exercise influence, facade, fleshly lusts, forget not all his benefits, glamour, glitz, gospel truth, happiness, hell, Henry Ford, household words, iniquities, lair, lay about, lazy, let Israel hope in the Lord, lies, life, light, lite, Lord Acton, loving-kindness, Lucifer, negative, power, power corrupts, precious jewels, Putin, quit, redemption, Saturday, shine of gold, showing us the way, spring season, taunts, teaching us, test cahracter, the Holy Spirit, the king's pajamas, Trump, understand life, Walt Disney, way, wickedly, wiles, with the Lord there is mercy
Psalm 103:2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
So friends, once more it is Saturday, when we have to make our own decisions as to what to do with our day; to just lay about and do basically nothing, or get up and get done the million and one things that need doing, especially in this emerging spring season. The choice is yours. (smile)
But whatever you choose to do, right now, let’s contemplate some of our friend, Anselm’s quotes of this past week. You know he is always aspiring to inspire us for a better tomorrow.
And this first one is a blast: ‘When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.’ Now who’s right or wrong there eh?
This second quote is a little more serious. ‘Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.’ That’s gospel truth if you want to succeed in this life. Eschew the lite and the lazy, the egotist and the negative, for they will only pull you down.
But remember this one, even when you’re down. ‘A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.’ And that goes for everything, in all walks of life, especially Christianity, for in Jesus’ vocabulary there is no such word as ‘quit’! So remember, NEVER QUIT! When you fall, get back up, dust yourself off and keep going, because success might just be around the corner.
And if you check out a lot of the successful people in this world, you’ll find that many of them failed many times before they succeeded. People like Walt Disney, Edison, Henry Ford, didn’t succeed on their first try, but they never gave up, and now their names are household words.
This last quote though is somewhat scary, as it says: ‘If you want to test the character of a person, give them power.’ Now it might be true, but I certainly don’t want to try it, for I’ve seen too many people go mad with a little power. What did the British Lord Acton say about power? “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority.’’
Yes friends, power corrupts. And all of us have seen how a little power corrupts. And right now, we have several examples of big power going to people’s heads in Russia’s Putin, Syria’s Assad, Turkey’s Erdogan and Mr. Trump in the U.S, just to name a few of the more prominent ones. They all think that they are the king’s pajamas and know best how to run things.
But one thing’s for certain sure, all these power hungry people, fall at some time or another, and usually great is their fall. And one of the reasons is that they don’t pay serious attention to the words of our Bit. ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.’
Yes friends, these cohorts of the evil one, Lucifer, pay no attention to the Lord God Almighty. Some might mention His name conveniently, but He is really nowhere in their hearts, otherwise they wouldn’t be behaving as wickedly and horrendously as they are doing. They don’t seem to realize that ALL there is on the earth and in heaven above belongs to Him. But thankfully we Christian believers know better and behave more sensibly, at least some of us. (smile)
Now yesterday we enumerated some of the benefits (verses 3-5) and were looking at scriptures which corroborated the first part of verse 3; ‘Who forgiveth all thine iniquities…’ And I have one more piece of scripture to add to it, before we move on to the second half of that verse.
Hear the psalmist: ‘Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy (LOVING-kindness), and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.’ (Ps.130:7-8)
Oh friends, is there hope in Lucifer, or mercy, or LOVING-kindness, or redemption from our iniquities? Absolutely not! All he seeks to do is to add to our iniquities and thus get us to accompany him to his rotten lair in hell. So why would I want to follow him eh? In fact, why are so many of us falling for his lies, his taunts, his wiles and deceptions eh? It just doesn’t make sense my people.
Since Jesus defeated Lucifer at the Easter season two thousand years ago, he has no hold whatsoever over us, except what we allow him to have. But yet we fall for his story about earthly wealth and fleshly lusts and the shine of gold and other precious jewels, the supposed appeal of glamour and glitz, full well knowing that it’s all a façade, just a glittering front, like movie sets that look so wonderful on camera but have nothing behind the outer shell.
Ah friends, our world is bursting with all sorts of things that are trying to turn us away from God, but we’re supposed to have His Holy Spirit dwelling within us, teaching us and showing us the way. So why are falling for all the nonsense that has no eternal value eh?
I implore us, please, please, let’s be wiser than that nuh. Christ is the ONLY TRUE LIGHT, LIFE and WAY! Let’s remember that and act accordingly nuh! Much LOVE!
…ALL benefits in this life…come from Almighty God…and from no one else…
28 Apr 2017
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a good time, a horn of salvation, a peculiar people, Abraham, all our cares, amenities, benefits, bless the Lord, borders, busy, Christians, covenant, crowns, destruction, enemies, enthusiasm, fellowship, followers of Christ, forget not all his benefits, forgiveness of sins, forgives iniquities, free time, Friday chant, fun, fun and games, furthering your glorious kingdom, generosity, generous help, gift, good things, good works, grace, grateful, hectic, holiness, improvements, in Jesus' name, in soul body and mind, iniquities, ironic, Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, king, lawgiver, LOVE, loving-kindness, lustful world, lusts of the flesh, magnanimity, mercy, Mighty Deliverer, misguided soul, o my soul, oath, one iota, our Lord and Saviour, partying, prophets, reality, redeems thy life, refreshed, relaxation, rest, restraints, righteousness, sanity, satisfies thy mouth, save, sins, steadfastness, take for granted, tender mercies, TGIF! Thank God is Friday, thanksgiving for god's mercy, the Christian life, the Lord is our judge, the weekend, thy youth is renewed like the eagle's, Titus, withour fear, zealous, Zechariah
Psalm 103:2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Well mih breddren, like we’ve successfully completed another week of work in this confused and way too evil and lustful world!
And sadly, it leads too many of us to enjoy the lusts of the flesh too much in our short time off. We try to make up for what we think we’ve lost during the workweek.
That’s why so many of us joyfully declare: ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday! Oh boy, that means the weekend is here! Time for fun and games, partying and letting all our cares drift away to wherever they go! It’s all about a good time now! Oh thank God for Fridays and the weekends yes!’
And as I keep saying, the sentiments are understandable, but the reality is not. We do have little free time during the workweek, much less that a generation ago, when times were not so hectic and busy.
And that’s sort of strange, when all the improvements we’ve made, were supposedly to help us get more free time. How ironic eh, with plenty more amenities, we have even less free time now than then!
But that doesn’t mean we have to overdo the lighter side of life either when we finally get some time off. If we are to keep our sanity and some sort of steadfastness, our lives must have some borders, some restraints that we will not loosen. And our Friday Chant gives us a good example of that.
So let’s chant it now nuh, with as much enthusiasm as the misguided soul above declares his Friday mission. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through.
Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’
And all of that segues very nicely into our Bit:‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.’
And friends that’s exactly what we ought to do, every day, every waking moment of our lives! For remember, all the earth and its contents are His, and it’s only through His magnanimity and lavish generosity that we can enjoy even one iota of the things we enjoy!
Now let’s look at a few of those things that Bruh David declares we ought to appreciate in this psalm titled – Thanksgiving for God’s mercy.
‘Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with LOVING-kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’ (Ps.103:3-5)
Ah mih people, if those are not things to be everlastingly grateful for, then I don’t know what is nuh! But yuh know what? Unfortunately, too many of us, simply don’t know, don’t pay attention to, or simply take those things for granted, and that includes Christians.
But just think about it nuh friends, we have a God who forgives all our iniquities, all our sins, all our transgressions! Wow! That certainly is something to be thankful for! Listen to these scriptures nuh that uphold that contention.
Isaiah declares: ‘For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us… And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven all their iniquity.’ (Is.33:22, 24).
Now hear Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, as he declares at John’s birth. ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up a horn of salvation (a Mighty Deliverer) for us in the house of his servant David;
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our lives.’ (Luke 1:68-75)
And friends, we all know that promise was miraculously and marvelously fulfilled by the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! So why we don’t appreciate our wonderful God more than we do eh? I really can’t say nuh. But eventually, we’ll all have to answer that question to our Maker.
Now let’s close with these moving words of Bruh Paul to Titus on the Christian life. ‘For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (age);
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar (his own special) people, zealous of good works.’ (Tit.2:11-14)
Oh my faithful followers of Christ, there’s absolutely no doubt that we need to be much more diligent in doing Christ’s work, if we are to truly show our thankfulness for His saving grace and mercy! Much LOVE!
…there is no greater gift in this evil world…than the forgiveness of sins…
27 Nov 2016
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a bastion of mercy, a strife-filled world, abundantly pardon, actions, as black as the sea, awe, burn your bridges, changed, character, commandments, covenant, crying, death, earthly pangs, enemies, eternal life, fasted, feared, fellowship, forgiveness, go alone, God's help, habits, hear the prayer, hope, in Jesus Christ, iniquities, Jerusalem, joy, lay down by the lamb, led by a child, LOVE, Mahalia Jackson, mercies, mercy, Nehemiah, no more death, no sadness, no sorrow, no trouble, oh Lord I pray, pain, passed away, peace, Peace in the Valley, praise, prayed, rebellious behaviour, reverenced, sinful, sinful vein, strength, tame, the bear, the beasts from the wild, the children of Israel, the day of the Lord, the former things, the gift of God, the lamp is alight, the lion, the morning's so bright, the night, the power of life and death, the unrighteous, the wages of sin, the wicked, the wolves, Thomas A Dorsey, thoughts, thy servant, tired, to the Lord our God, treat people badly, truth, wait for the Lord, weary, wipe away all tears, wisdom, words, worship
Daniel 9:9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.
Ah friends, it’s that great day, Sunday – the Day of the Lord – where we gather in His sanctuary to sing and praise and worship and fellowship and receive wisdom and strength to face the strife-filled world for another week. And to get us started, let’s sing this gospel song written in 1937 by Thomas A Dorsey for Mahalia Jackson. We all know it as ‘Peace in the Valley.’
In loud voice, with sincerity, harmony and passion: ‘Oh well, I’m tired and so weary But I must go alone Till the lord comes and calls, calls me away, oh yes Well the morning’s so bright And the lamp is alight And the night, night is as black as the sea, oh yes There will be peace in the valley for me, some day There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray
There’ll be no sadness, no sorrow No trouble, trouble I see There will be peace in the valley for me, for me Well the bear will be gentle And the wolves will be tame And the lion shall lay down by the lamb, oh yes And the beasts from the wild Shall be led by a child And I’ll be changed, changed from this creature that I am, oh yes
There will be peace in the valley for me, some day There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray There’ll be no sadness, no sorrow No trouble, trouble I see There will be peace in the valley for me, for me.’
And that’s the awesome truth as promised by our God! In the sweet bye and bye, life will be filled with peace: ‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’ (Rev.21:4)
Yes my people, what a blessed day that will be! All our earthly pangs will disappear, as our wonderful God dwells with us, and we with Him, in everlasting peace and joy! It won’t get any better than that!
Now here is a Trini Quote of De Day from my Trini friend. It says: ‘Doh mess in de road, because yuh go pass back an mash it.’ Generally said to someone as advice not to treat people badly or make enemies, for you may have to pass back along that same road.’
I guess it could also be construed as don’t burn your bridges behind you, because one day you just might have to turn around and go back the way you came, and there’ll be lots of people waiting to give you what for. (smile)
And my Trini friend concludes: ‘Have a GREAT day, every DAY!!!! Watch your thoughts: They become words Watch your words: They become actions Watch your actions: They become habits Watch your habits: They become character.’ That’s all gospel truth my brethren! So please, let’s pay serious attention to our words nuh, for they also contain the power of life and death.
Now let’s turn to our Bit, the same one as yesterday. ‘To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.’ More truth of awesome proportions precious children of God!
In spite of our very sinful and rebellious behaviour, our God is always ready, willing and obviously able to be merciful and forgiving if we come to Him in sincere repentance. It doesn’t mean though that there will be no consequences for our sinful behaviour. For the Lord just can’t let sin go by without some kind of retribution, otherwise sin would be even more rampant than it currently is.
Anyhow, today I want us to take a look at some scriptures which complement our Bit. And the first one comes from Isaiah, as he talks about free mercy to all. He solemnly declares on the Lord’s behalf: ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’ (Is.55:7)
Yes friends, our God is a bastion of mercy! (smile) Now listen to the psalmist from Psalm 130 – My soul waiteth for the Lord. ‘If thou, Lord, shouldest mark (take note of) iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared (reverenced with awe).
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope… Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy (LOVING-kindness), and with him is plenteous (abundant) redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.’ (Ps.130:3-5, 7-8)
Meanwhile, Nehemiah, after hearing of the sad plight of Jerusalem, prayed and fasted before the Lord, ‘And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible (awesome) God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that LOVE him (you) and observe (keep) his (your) commandments.
Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants , and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.’ (Neh.1:5-6)
Yeh friends, our God is a magnanimous and merciful God, but also a just and righteous God, He therefore cannot allow sin to go unpunished, especially when we, His supposed people, are so blatantly sinful and ungodly. Remember Nehemiah’s prayer for Jerusalem came about because of Israel’s unconcerned sinfulness, which caused the Lord to let them be taken captive to Babylon and the city destroyed.
The same thing could happen to us my people, or rather something disastrous WILL happen, if we continue in the very sinful vein that’s currently holding our society captive. Let’s pray, like Nehemiah did, for our sinful society, sincerely asking for mercy, as we try to get our sinfulness under control. And don’t forget, it’s only with God’s help, we can do that. Much LOVE!
…for the wages of sin is death…but the gift of God is eternal life…through (in) Jesus Christ our Lord… (Rom.6:23)
P.S. Please, remember to keep on praying for our friend and Scrip-Bit family member Scotty, who is still in the hospital. Much LOVE!
26 Nov 2016
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a better tomorrow, a ploy, Anselm, aspires to inspire, bad luck, bankrupts, Black Friday, build up, captains of commerce, change, civic responsibility, coincidence, confusion, crapaud smoke we pipe, crazy world, Cyber Monday, deprive someone of hope, diligently, disasters, divine retribution, Donald Trump, each citizen, edify, election, fights, follow after, forgivenesses, forgiving, friend, go our way rejoicing, God is righteous, greed, human nature, impoverishes, in the fullness of time, iniquities, Israel, joy, judgement, justice, leggo beast, long-suffering, LOVE, Lucifer, magnanimous, magnificent, make their voices heard, make two ends meet, marked down, mercies, merciful, obeyed, online frenzy, out of work, patience, peace, politics, Praise the Lord, rebellion, repent, return to His fold, rigmarole, sales, serving the Lord, shame, shootings, sin, sincerely, sinned, smarten up, tear down, the man of God, the prince of darkness, the prophets, the shopping calendar, the things which make for peace, the voice of the Lord, time longer than twine, to get involved, To our Lord God, to plummet., truth, unconscionable, ungodly behaviour, walk in his laws, we have rebelled against him, wreak havoc
Daniel 9:9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.
Ah mih friends, Black Friday is over – Praise the Lord! And as always, we had the unruly leggo beast behaviour, the fights and the shootings. What is this life coming to eh? But if you think all the rigmarole is over, you’d better think again, for come Monday, it’s the online frenzy on what has now become known as Cyber Monday.
Ah Lord eh! How many more new days can we get in the shopping calendar, especially when so many people are out of work and can barely make two ends meet? But the captains of commerce don’t care, they just want to sell their stuff, regardless of whom it impoverishes or bankrupts.
I don’t know why we can’t resist these so-called sales, although we know that a lot of the things have not really been marked down, and for the few prices that have been lowered, several others have been raised. The sale talk is just a ploy to get us to come into the store, because they know once we are there we will buy other stuff at the marked up prices.
I guess it’s just the greed in human nature that propels us to these things, and I thank the Lord that I don’t get involved in the madness.
Now it’s Saturday, so it’s time to share a couple of quotes from our friend Anselm, who aspires to inspire us to a better tomorrow. And the first quote of today says: ‘It’s a long time until the next election, but it starts now. And if you truly want to see things change in the direction that our country is headed, you have to stay involved. You cannot quit now.’
Oh friends, truer words have never been spoken. It’s the civic responsibility of each citizen to get and stay involved in day to day politics and events in their country, especially if you want to see change.
And that is rather appropriate in these times to the U.S with the unconscionable stuff that is taking place down there after the election of Donald Trump. If the people seriously want change at the next election in four years, they have to begin NOW to make their voices heard.
And today’s second quote from our friend Anselm is one of pure truth. ‘Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.’ That’s wonderful advice my people!
So often in this negative and crazy world we tell people stuff that just kills whatever little hope they might have. Sometimes we do it on purpose, but ofttimes we do it unknowingly, then go our way rejoicing, not knowing that we have just caused someone else’s joy to plummet.
No wonder Bruh Paul told the Roman church: ‘Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify (build up) another.’ (Rom.14:19) Yes my fellow believers, our words should always be chosen to build up and not tear down our fellow man.
That brings us to the portion of the Prophet Daniel’s prayer for his people Israel, which contains our Bit. Before our Bit, he confesses. ‘O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face (shame), to our kings, our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.’ (Dan.9:8-10)
Oh friends, those three verses are so applicable to our world today that it’s not funny. We should indeed feel ashamed for the overwhelming amount of sin that has befallen our society in the last 25 years. We obviously have not obeyed God’s directive to walk in His laws. Instead we have foolishly chosen to walk in the ways of the prince of darkness, Lucifer.
But thankfully, for our sakes, we have a God who is not only magnificent, but also magnanimous; He is ever merciful and all forgiving, despite our rebellious and ungodly behaviour. But don’t fool yuh fat, don’t get complacent and doh care, for although our God is merciful and forgiving, He is also a God of judgement and justice and there will be consequences for our continual rebellion and sinfulness.
Now do you think that all the dreadful disasters that are happening in our world, one after the other, both natural and man-made, are simply coincidence or bad luck? I doubt it very much. I’m sure that there is some amount of divine retribution involved. I just don’t know how much.
If the Lord, down through the ages, starting with His people Israel, could wreak havoc on ungodly nations, why do you think He won’t wreak it on us eh, as sinful as we are? There is no reason why He won’t.
As they say ‘time longer than twine,’ and our God just has plenty patience, He is long-suffering, and in the fullness of time, if we don’t smarten up and repent, change our evil ways and return to His fold, we will see and feel His judgement.
And listen to Daniel a few verses later. ‘As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil (disaster) is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil (kept the disaster in store), and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.’ (Dan.9:13-14)
There you have it friends; the same things I just mentioned. And hopefully, if you didn’t believe me, then you will believe the man of God, the prophet Daniel… otherwise things will be extremely rough with us. In other words, crapaud smoke we pipe! Much LOVE!
…this world can only be saved…if we sincerely repent and return to diligently serving the Lord God Jehovah…
02 Oct 2016
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a man of sorrows, a sheep before shearers, afflicted, agony, anchor, by his stripes we a re healed, chastisement, Christian faith, day of praise and worship, face the raging seas, faith, faith cometh by hearing, faithful, fallen on my knees, fear, fellowship, glory to God, God proved his love, gospel of Christ, hearing by the word of God, iniquities, Jehovah, led as a lamb to the slaughter, LOVE, negative sentiments, opened not his mouth, oppressed, oral communication, raise up a storm, rejection, rocks of sin, sacrifices of praise, shame, sight unknown, stoicsm, stone cold hearts, storm, sufferation, tension, the anchor holds, the sails are torn, the ship's been battered, the storms of life, transgressions, wisdom
Isaiah 53:7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought (was led) as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Aye mih people, is Sunday, that special day of praise, worship and fellowship, where we raise our hearts and voices to high heaven and glorify our most wonderful God Jehovah!
And we’re going to start out the right way, with some praise and worship. That’s to soften us up, reduce the fear, tension, anger, resentment, whatever is negative in our stone cold hearts, and thus make us more receptive and amenable to receiving the Word. Remember, hearing of the word is very important in our Christian faith.
As Bruh Paul told the church at Rome. ‘How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? …So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ (Rom.10:14, 17)
Yes friends, the oral communication of the gospel of Christ is essential in a believer’s life, and there’s nothing I enjoy more than hearing the word preached.
Anyway, enough talk, we suppose to be offering up sacrifices of thanks and praise with our mouths. So let’s do that nuh, because there’s nothing nicer than getting into some good praise and worship before you hear the word.
So let’s raise up a storm in the Lord’s house, show Him that we are truly His beloved children, and we sincerely LOVE Him with all of our hearts, minds, bodies and souls. Please sing with me, this wonderful song of faith, ‘The anchor holds.’
As one heavenly choir now: ‘I have journeyed through the long dark night, Out on the open sea, by faith alone, Sight unknown; and yet his eyes were watching me. The anchor holds, Though the ship’s been battered. The anchor holds, Though the sails are torn. I have fallen on my knees as I face the raging seas. The anchor holds in spite of the storm.
I’ve had visions, I’ve had dreams; I’ve even held them in my hand. But I never knew they would slip right through, Like they were only grains of sand. The anchor holds, Though the ship’s been battered. The anchor holds, Though the sails are torn.
I have fallen on my knees as I face the raging seas. The anchor holds in spite of the storm. I have been young but I’m older now. And there has been beauty these eyes have seen. But it was in the night, through the storms of my life, Oh, that’s where God proved His LOVE for me.
The anchor holds, Though the ship’s been battered. The anchor holds, Though the sails are torn. I have fallen on my knees as I face the raging seas. The anchor holds in spite of the storm. I have fallen on my knees as I face the raging seas. The anchor holds in spite of the storm.’
Oh my people, my people, truer words have never been spoken! Our omnipotent God, our great anchor, holds us together and keeps us from floundering, from being thrown on the rocky shores, even in the most catastrophic of life’s storms!
And I like the line where the songwriter declares that it was in the night of the storms of life when God proved His LOVE for Him. And isn’t that the indisputable truth friends? It’s usually in our nights of misery, of fear, of loneliness and of despair, that our wonderful God shows how much He truly LOVES and cares for us, by standing faithful and strong alongside us and bringing us safely through!
Oh glory to God my people! And why wouldn’t He eh, after sending His beloved Son, Jesus Christ to die for us, suffering such agony, shame and rejection, but forever standing strong in His God-given task as expressed in our Bit. ‘He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought (was led) as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.’
What stoicism and strength of purpose my faithful brethren! Now let’s hear the word that precedes our Bit, from Isaiah’s great prophecy, re the suffering servant, Jesus Christ. Hope our hearts are soft enough to joyfully receive it.
‘Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm (power) of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no (stately) form nor comeliness (splendour); and when we shall see him, there is no beauty (elegance) that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of (forsaken by) men; a man of sorrows (great pains), and acquainted with grief (sickness, injuries): and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs (sickness), and carried our sorrows (pains): yet we did esteem (reckon) him stricken, smitten of (struck down by) God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded (pierced through) for our transgressions, he was bruised (crushed) for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ (Is;53:1-6)
Yes friends, that’s the scripture lesson for this Sunday morning, and I do hope that it struck a tender and most grateful note in our hearts, as we heard the of the ‘sufferation’ that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ went through for us, so that we could be reconciled to Almighty God and don’t end up in dreaded Hades forevermore with the evil one, Lucifer.
Please, let’s ponder the goodness of our magnificent and magnanimous God today, so that we can find the strength and wherewithal to handle the storms of life that we all experience, for that is the wisdom of heaven. Much LOVE!
…without the anchor that’s God in our lives…we will certainly be dashed to pieces… on the dreadful and unforgiving rocks of sin…
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