29 Nov 2014
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: affordability, all or nothing at all, almighty god, Black Friday, bring us to our senses, buying and selling, care, Caretaker, churlish, consumer socisty, Creator, Creator of the universe, Cyber Monday, double vision, drawing closer to God, drifting away from God, enlightened times, enslavement, eternal live, evil, fear not, flies out the window, forgiveness, friends, God agonized over our behaviour, God and mammon, God causes us to get wealth, God smoothens our paths, God takes plastic too, God's greatest creation, gorging ourselves, gospel truth, grace, guidance, improper attitude, Israelites, jealous god, Jesus Christ, Joshua, joy, lavish giver, like chickens with our heads cut off, LOVE, loyalty, lucifer's evil minions, Mammon, material possessions, material things, mercy, Moses, neither be dismayed, no man can serve two masters, our Lord and Saviour, peace, petty, power brokers, powers of darkness, priority, provider, read mark inwardly digest, reality, reasoning, refuse to heed God's call, run like cheetahs, running around in circles, salvation, secret, selfish, smart money, strength of plastic, taker, the bottom line, the Lord goes before thee, the Lord will be with you, the Lord will not fail you, the Lord will not forsake you, wake up and smell the roses, wisdom, you cannot serve God and mammon
Matthew 6:24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and LOVE the other; or else he will hold to (be loyal to) the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (riches).
Well Friends, the craziness and stupidity of Black Friday is over!
Chuh! What a mind boggling event! It’s ever so sad to see the video footage of the enormous crowds, normally sane people, behaving like wild animals, like leggo-beasts, rushing, pushing, shoving and screaming like banshees, with their big boxes of supposed bargains.
I got so tired of hearing about Black Friday on the car radio yesterday, that at one point I just turned it off. Wonder what they’re going to call this Saturday eh? Remember cyber Monday soon come. Steups!
Ah Lord eh Friends, we’re just being turned into nothing but a consumer society by the powers that be! It’s all about buying and selling and padding the bottom line and the pockets of the already rich merchants and power brokers!
And sadly, we’re falling for it. We refuse to heed God’s call, although He has much better stuff to offer, but we run like cheetahs when Lucifer’s evil, greedy minions call. That’s not right my people. Many of us, when we go to church, find it difficult to put a decent offering in the collection plate, always focusing on what we can and cannot afford to give God.
But when coming to the sales of worldly goods, like yesterday, affordability quickly flies out the window, and we put it all on plastic without a qualm. Well I have a little secret to share with you – God takes plastic too yuh know! (smile)
But seriously Friends, our behaviour in these supposed modern and enlightened times has become so churlish, petty and selfish that it’s embarrassing sometimes to call ourselves human beings, God’s greatest creation.
I’m sure our heavenly Father must have agonized over our behaviour yesterday, even to the point of questioning His wisdom in creating us, because we seem to be foolishly drifting further and further away from Him, instead of wisely drawing closer to Him, seeking His everlasting LOVE, care and guidance.
For in the memorable words of Moses to the Israelites, when he commissioned Joshua as his successor: ‘And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.’ (Deut.31:8)
Yes Friends, it is Almighty God, our Creator, Provider and Caretaker who goes before us to smoothen out our paths, the same One whom we are so rudely and unwisely ignoring these days.
And I can just imagine, when the bills arrive for those of us who did the big shopping yesterday on the strength of plastic, the first words we’re going to cry our are: ‘Oh God!’ Then we’ll run to Him asking for help to pay them.
But He was nowhere in our thoughts when we gorging ourselves on the flimsy, soon destroyed, material things of the world. And we fully expect God to help us too! Hn!
Oh my people, please read, mark and inwardly digest these important words of our Bit, words that our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ proclaimed some two thousand years ago. ‘No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and LOVE the other; or else he will hold to (be loyal to) the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (riches).’
Now that’s both logical reasoning and gospel truth!
And the scholars offer an excellent explanation of that verse: ‘6:24. This kind of spiritual double vision causes one to believe he can serve two masters. Total loyalty to God cannot be divided between Him and loyalty towards one’s material possessions. A master (Gr. kurios) is a lord or an owner.
That God claims total lordship over His own is obvious in this passage. Therefore, Jesus rightly proclaimed, Ye cannot serve God and mammon. The term ‘mammon’ is derived from the Aramaic term for possessions or wealth. Jesus is not condemning money or possessions in and of themselves, but the improper attitude of enslavement toward wealth.’
Yeh mih breddren, nothing’s wrong with having wealth and material possessions per se, but when we make them our priority, and put God somewhere down the totem pole, then we’re being foolish and worshipping them as idols.
Remember too that it’s our great God who causes us to get wealth, (Deut.8:18) and He’s also a very jealous Deity, wanting us to serve and worship nothing, or no one else but Him. That’s His first commandment: ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’ (Ex.20:3)
Oh Friends, let’s wake up and smell the roses, or the coffee, or whatever it is that’s going to bring us to our senses nuh, bring us back to the reality that we cannot serve the things of this world and Jehovah God at the same time. One has to take precedent and priority over the other, and the smart money is on the Creator of the universe!
So please, let’s stop allowing the powers of darkness and evil of this world to cause us to run around in circles, like chickens with our heads cut off, doing their unwise bidding, and instead wisely concentrate on the One who has amazing stuff to offer, for free too; stuff like peace, LOVE, joy, mercy, grace, forgiveness, salvation and eternal life!
Wow! Now can any bank, credit card company or businessman offer you those things? Absolutely not! They’re only interested in taking what little material possessions and wealth you have to increase their pile.
But the Lord God Jehovah is a lavish giver, not a taker! So let’s get smart nuh and truly follow Him, for that’s the apex of wisdom. Much LOVE!
…our God doesn’t play halves…with Him…it’s either ALL…or nothing at all…
02 Jan 2014
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: 2014, anger, anger of the Lord, backfire, blessed, bow down, calamity, chosen people, Christmas Season, climb over, come up higher for Jesus, conscious actions, consequences, Controller, Creator, cry out, delivered, depravity, descend to the level, disaster, disgust, dislike, disobedience, displease God, distress, don't quit, emotional, enemies, evil, eyes of faith, faced with a mountain, faith, faith at work, find a pass through, foolish sheep, forgiveness, forgotten Jesus' promise, forsook the Lord, friends, god, gold mine, gone astray, Good Book, hatred, hearts, heavenly Father, high time, humiliate, idolatry, idols, in the sight of, Isaiah, Israel, Israelites, jealous god, Jesus Christ, joyous time, keep on striving, kindness, LOVE, manifested, manmade idols, material things, mercy, minds, negative emotions, obnoxious, of the universe, oppress, pagan gods, peace, Philistines, pleading, ponder, Possibiity Thinker's Creed, Possibility Thinking, propitiation, prosperous year, punished, resentment, rich and fertile soil, righteousness., sacrifice, sake of our children, seek first, serious effort, serious note, sinful attitudes, sinned against, sins, souls, sowing seeds, spiritual, the kingdom of God, tribulation, tunnel underneath, turned His back, vexatious policies, with God's help, work of our own hands, worship
Isaiah 2:8. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
Oh Friends, can you believe it’s already the 2nd of January 2014? (smile) And I’ve made one mistake already. I put 2013 in the big heading above instead of 2014. But the ole fella’s only human, and that kind of error is usual until the new year really gets into our systems.
But my people, on a more serious note, the Christmas season is coming to an end, and I’m pleading with us, please, please, let’s not allow the kindness, mercy, peace, forgiveness and LOVE that we’ve shown throughout this joyous time to die. Let’s not allow it to turn back to the evil, the anger, the hatred, resentment and other negative emotions that we had, and exhibited before Christmas began.
It’s obvious that we can’t LOVE everybody, every minute of every day, but we definitely don’t have to descend back to the level of dislike, disgust and depravity that we were at in 2013. It’s high time we come up higher for Jesus’ sake!
And here’s a word, a reminder, re coming up higher, from Gramps Schuller (Dr. Robert H. Schuller). He calls it the Possibility Thinker’s Creed. And Possibility Thinking my Friends, is just faith at work, because as believers, we need to see the world through the eyes of faith.
So let’s remember and truly believe that: ‘When faced with a mountain, I will not quit! I will keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold mine – with God’s help.’
Yes Friends, let’s start this blessed and prosperous year of 2014, by sowing those seeds of possibility thinking, of faith, deep into the rich and fertile soil of our hearts, souls and minds!
Now let’s turn to our very first Bit of this new year. And it’s a very serious Bit my people. ‘Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.’
Oh my brethren, Isaiah could surely have been writing about us, instead of the Israelites of old! Why? Because we too have such a multiplicity of idols in our lives these days, that it’s not funny. Remember too, the definition of an idol; anything we place before God in our lives.
And that covers a multitude of things Friends, because we seem to place all the material things of the world, as well as all its evil, obnoxious and vexatious policies before the Creator and Controller of the universe. I don’t know how many times we must be reminded that our God is a very jealous deity and wants us to bow down to no other supposed deity but Him. And surely not those that we’ve made with our own hands!
It also seems that we’ve completely and conveniently forgotten Jesus’ promise, that if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, that all the stuff we need, material, spiritual, emotional and whatever else, will be provided to us by our Heavenly Father! (Matt.5:24-34)
Please read that again my fellow believers, so that it can sink into our minds and spirits, and thus be manifested in our conscious actions. It’s the only way we’ll ever remove the idolatry from our lives.
And just to show how all this idolatry could backfire on us, we’ll recall one occasion from the Good Book, where the Lord turned His back on His chosen people, Israel.
‘And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth (Baals and Ashtoreths), and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served him not.
And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.’ (Judg.10:6-7)
Yes Friends, the Lord allowed their enemies to humiliate them.
‘And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry (out) unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation (distress). (Judg.10:10-14)
What more is there to say my brethren? Not much. The children of Israel knowingly and wilfully abandoned, turned away from the God of their fathers to worship pagan gods and man-made idols. And the Lord, as promised, punished them severely.
Now tell me, why do you think that our individual societies, and our world in general are in such a mess eh?
It’s simple Friends; we too have turned away in droves from worshipping the ONE and ONLY TRUE GOD, who created us, who LOVED us so much, that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be a propitiation, a human sacrifice for our sins.
And now, like foolish sheep, we have all gone astray, forgotten Him, and instead turned to idols of our own making. So what else can we expect but disaster and calamity eh?
Please ponder on these things today, my fellow believers, and then let’s make a strong and serious effort to overcome those sinful attitudes that we know displease our God. If we don’t want to do it for our sake, then please do it for the sake of our children and those who come after us.
Let us not allow it to be said, that our generation caused it all to fall apart. It’s not too late… if we begin RIGHT NOW! Much LOVE!
…when will we ever learn…that disobedience to God’s will…will ALWAYS bring serious consequences…
28 Sep 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a relationship with God, afterthought, agnostics, almighty god, bow down, brain, children of Israel, Christ's Church, Creator of the universe, cry out to God, disaster, foolish, foolishness, footnote, freedom of choice, generosity, God's higher plans and purposes, gold, good things flow from God, graven images, heathen, heaven above, heavenly wisdom, help, Hit Parade, idolatrous ways, idolatry, idols, iniquity, jealous god, likeness of any thing, LOVE, mercy, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts, my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are higher that your ways, my ways are not your ways, Oh god, one God, programmed from creation, punishing, reason, righteousness., serve God, shield, silver, simple language, spades, Ten Commandments, the Beatles, the body of Christ, the earth beneath, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, things of the world, think, true believers, trust in the Lord, truth, unbelievers, unwise, usurp God's rightful place, work of men's hands, worship
Psalm 135:15. The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
Hear ye, hear ye my people, the Lord our God is ONE God, powerful and mighty, ruling His universe from the beginning of time, even unto eternity! And those who worship Him, must do so in righteousness and truth. And furthermore, He DOESN’T need man, but man NEEDS Him!
Please note that we are the only one of His creations that has a brain, that can think and reason – although sometimes I wonder about that – all else moves by instinct. That means the Lord made us for a higher purpose than the other living, breathing and moving organisms.
He made us to have a relationship with Him; both individually and collectively, in the early days as the children of Israel, His chosen people, and in the latter days, as the body of Christ’s church. So how then can we refuse to serve and worship Him, although in His awesome generosity He’s granted us the freedom of choice?
As we noted yesterday, ALL good things flow from Him. And even the not so good things only happen because He allows them, since they suit His higher plans and purposes.
Remember His words: ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ (Is.55:8-9)
How then Friends, can we be so rebellious and stupid to even consider other supposed gods, much less bow down and worship them eh? Our Bit states it quite plainly: ‘The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.’
And isn’t it interesting that Psalm 115, Trust in God, not in idols, says the same thing. ‘Their idols (the heathen’s) are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.’ (Ps.115:4-9)
And that’s truth in spades my brethren! Those verses today from Psalm 115 are just a tad more expansive than the ones we read yesterday, 15-18 from Psalm 135. But they surely do contain the same important information; that the work of man’s hands can NEVER be gods to be worshipped!
Oh my people, from the very beginning, our God warned against worshipping other deities. His first commandments to the Israelites, His chosen people, were: ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to (worship) them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting (punishing) the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that LOVE me, and keep my commandments.’ (Ex.20:3-6)
Oh Friends, what’s in those commandments not to understand eh? As always, our God speaks in plain, simple, straightforward language. Therefore, if we consider ourselves true believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, how can we in all conscience then justify placing the things of the world before and above Him, as we so obviously do?
Many of us treat God as a footnote, an afterthought, instead of the main frame, the first and most important consideration, which is His rightful place. But when disaster suddenly befalls us – that includes the unbelievers, the agnostics, the don’t care and every other group – the first words to come flying out of our mouths are always: ‘Oh God!’
Now why do we naturally cry out to a God who either doesn’t exist, and/or we don’t believe in eh? That’s because we’ve been programmed from creation, in the depths of our souls that THERE IS A GOD!
Ah Friends, it’s a very unwise and foolish life we live when we don’t put Almighty God and His concerns first and foremost in our lives! There are just no other terms for it. We just have to call a spade, what it is, a spade. No dancing around the subject will change or make it better.
The only way to improve the situation is to turn away from the things that we consider more important than God, and put Him in His rightful spot; NUMBER ONE on the Hit Parade!
It reminds me of back in the heydays of the Beatles. Every week they would have at least four or five songs in the Top Ten. Now our God is much greater than them, that’s why He deserves ALL TEN SPOTS on our Hit Parade, featuring His Ten Commandments! Anything les than that is idolatry, in other words pure foolishness! Nuff said, mih breddren!
Today, I’m therefore asking us all to please consider, seriously ponder our idolatrous ways, and ask the merciful and forgiving God we worship to help us bring them into line with His thinking. That’s heavenly wisdom, my people! Much LOVE!
…simple logic dictates that the Creator of the universe and all therein…is the undisputed Head Honcho of the universe and all things therein…NO ONE can usurp His rightful place…Elementary, my dear Watson… (smile)
SCRIP-BITS 