Psalm 5:3. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
Oh Friends, late is not the right word, but circumstances directed this lateness. (smile) This morning I had internet service for a while, but then I lost it for the remainder of the day, until about five thirty when it was finally discovered that the culprit preventing me from doing my thing was simply the communicating cord from the modem to the computer. Ah Lord eh, such simple things can cause such anger inspiring problems!
Anyway, that’s finally been solved, so from here on in, it’s clear sailing. However, as soon as I got that fixed, a few friends and family popped in to visit, to reminisce about bye gone days and make more memories for future reminiscing. Hn!
That obviously put paid to my writing the Bit. And after they left, I was somewhat tired from a harassing day, so I decided to get some rest first. Lo and behold though, I exceeded my nap time and only just got up. So here’s what I had written earlier this morning.
Oh Friends, it’s a beautiful morning and I’m outside enjoying the cool morning breeze and the beautiful view! It’s now around 8 a.m., and the old body is feeling refreshed after a decent night’s sleep. There’s one impediment though. It seems some people moved in downstairs last night, and now are sitting outside on the pool deck talking, rudely disturbing my early morning serene serenity. (smile)
Chuh! Now it’s not raucous or anything bad, but talk and laughter just seem out of place in such a tranquil setting. Let’s hope that it doesn’t continue for much longer, or become a habitual disturbance in the peaceful early morning hours. To make a bad situation worse, I don’t know what’s happening with the internet scene today. But one way or the other, I’ll try, with the Lord’s help of course, to get the Bit to you earlier than yesterday. (That obviously didn’t happen). So till later on, I guess I’ll just go inside and find a quiet spot and talk to the Father for a spell. More time!
Oh Friends, our God is so great and thoughtful, that I can’t even begin to comprehend Him! Remember a while ago I said that the talking downstairs was disturbing me a tad, because I wanted to be like Daniel, with my doors open, enjoying God’s refreshing breeze and presence?
Well shortly after that, He removed the loudest mouth from the gathering, plus they also moved away a bit, and the volume of the conversation was toned down. So now they don’t bother me, don’t really intrude on the conversation with the Father.
And by the way, the Spirit moved me to check the internet service, and wonder of wonders, it has returned! That means I don’t have to go anywhere to write the Bit today. Thank the Lord! The only drawback is that it’s a plug in situation, so it makes it a tad awkward to write on the computer, but they have promised to get a wireless set up today, and that should solve all the problems.
Most importantly, the duchess will be in a better frame of mind, since she’ll be able to play with all her wireless technological toys! And once she is happy, then I am happy. And who says the Lord isn’t good eh? Deh chupid! More time.
Well mih people, by the time I finished talking to the Father, about half an hour or so later, the net was gone again… and stayed gone for the whole day! Steups!
And thence began a whole lot of calls back and forth, involving frustration no all sides. But thankfully it never spilled over into outright anger, and you know from above, how the whole thing turned out eventually. So now that you’re up to scratch, let’s see if I can get this done before midnight. (smile)
Here’s our Bit. ‘My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.’
And we’ve been talking about the importance of prayer in the believers life, and looking at scriptures that enhance that belief. Let’s continue that trend with an appropriate scripture from Acts.
‘Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.’ (Acts 3:1) Another instance of where serious and devout men of God made it a habit to pray. So if two of Jesus’ main men made it a habit to pray, why can’t we do the same eh? It shows that it was important to them, thus it should also be important to us and to all believers.
And the scholars add this note. ‘3:1. According to Jewish reckoning, the day began at six A.M. Hence the ninth hour is 3 P.M. The Jewish prayer time was held in conjunction with the evening prayer sacrifices and offering of incense. (cf. Luke 1:8-10; Rev.8:3-4) Peter and John commonly went to the temple to pray at this hour. The Greek imperfect tense could well be translated “used to go up.”
Now hear Bruh Paul to the Ephesians. Having told them about putting on the spiritual armour of God, (Eph. 6:10-17) he adds this very important corollary. ‘Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery (hidden truth) of the gospel. For which I am an ambassador in bonds (chains): that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.’ (Eph.6:18-20)
Oh my fellow believers, yuh see the importance Bruh Paul placed on prayer? Not only did he desire the Ephesians to pray constantly for themselves, but also for each other, and believers all over. You’ll also notice that he asked them specifically to pray for him, so that he’d get the necessary belly and backbone to preach the truth of the gospel without fear.
Again my brethren, I reason that if a man of God, like Bruh Paul thought prayer so important to believers of all stripes, why shouldn’t we do too?
And the scholars add this helpful note. ‘6:18. Praying is grammatically linked to “stand” in verse 14. Without prayer God’s armour is inadequate to achieve victory. Prayer is indispensable. Always means “on every occasion,” that is, when Satan attacks. In the Spirit signifies that with the Spirit’s help such prayer for divine aid is to be made.
Watching thereunto means “being vigilant in this very matter” of prayer. They are to pray not just for themselves but also for all saints; spiritual combat is both and individual and corporate matter.’
Oh Friends, I couldn’t put it any better. Prayer is indeed a universal matter for all believers. So today, please let’s ponder on all we’ve heard, then endeavour to improve our prayer situation nuh. There’s no excuse for not doing so, because we all have room for improvements in our prayer lives.
Till later then. And may the good Lord bless and keep us safely as we make encouraging improvements to our prayer lives. and we can start doing that by chanting our Friday Chant. See I didn’t forget, the Spirit reminded me. (smile)
So let’s chant. ‘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.’ Much LOVE my brethren!
…happiness is the result of…a radical, outrageous relationship with God… (Joyce Meyer) …and that’s the gospel truth…
SCRIP-BITS 