The Overwhelming Importance of Doing All that We Do to the Glory of God!

29 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

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

1 Corinthians 10:31.           Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Sunday’s up friends, meaning it’s time to visit the Lord’s sanctuary to fellowship with others and give the Lord thanks and praise for all He’s done, while being refreshed in body and soul to keep on fighting the good fight of faith in Jesus’ mighty name! And we have a great song of worship to sing today, one aptly titled ‘To God Be the Glory.’ It’s a hymn authored by that wonderful hymnist, Fanny Crosby. Although she was blind that didn’t stop her from writing oodles of beautiful hymns.

For this one, Fanny wrote the lyrics and William Howard Doane the music. It was written somewhere in the early 1870’s, but was first published in 1875 in Lowry and Doane’s song collection titled, ‘Brightest and Best.’  However, by then it was already popular in Britain, having been introduced there by the great gospel singer and composer Ira .D. Sankey during the evangelistic campaigns of Dwight L. Moody in 1873-1874.

And believe me, the song deserves to be among the brightest and best! For, as the Godtube website tells us: ‘To God Be the Glory’ celebrates the greatness of God and calls upon an appreciation for the wondrous things ‘He hath done.’ It is a glorious hymn to be sung rejoicefully in the spirit of gratitude.’ And that’s exactly how I want us to sing it today, full of rejoicing and gratitude, for all the wonderful things our great God has done for us. So let’s offer up our sweet sacrifices of praise in a mid-tempo, very soulful and scintillating version, so that there’s no doubt that we’re truly grateful.

Singing: ‘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 an atonement for sin, 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! O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done.) O 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! O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done.)’

Ah mih people, that was a wonderful version, and as always, all heaven was singing along because we were giving glory to God, which is also part of their heavenly purpose, as the Good Book tells us: ‘And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts (creatures) fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear (reverence) him, both small and great.

And I heard as it were a voice of a great multitude, and as the voice (sound) of many waters, and as the voice (sound) of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.’ (Rev. 19:4-7)

Yes friends, our God is all-powerful and rules of His universe. And we need to rejoice and be glad of it. As per the marriage of the Lamb, it’s referring to the eternal union of Christ and the church when He comes to Rapture it. So if praise is necessary in heaven, why wouldn’t be the same here on earth eh?

And that’s what this song is all about. Right off the bat it informs us of God’s greatest gift, that of His son, Jesus Christ as a sacrificial lamb to provide forgiveness of our sins. And nothing says it better than this magnificent scripture that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, the Jewish leader who came to Him by night seeking answers. ‘For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ (John 3:16)

And the chorus, tells it like it ought to be: ‘Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice! O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done.’ What more can you ask for when worshipping Almighty God eh?

Just look at all the Psalms from Psalm 146-150, all begin with ‘Praise ye the Lord (shout Hallelujah!)’ Psalm 147 says: ‘Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praise unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely (beautiful).’ (Ps. 147:1) And so it is. Meanwhile Psalm 148 is a declaration that all God’s creation should praise Him. And Psalm 150 ends the Psalter with this marvellous command: ‘Let every thing that has breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord (shout Hallelujah!) (Ps. 150:6)

So it’s not that we don’t know what to do, it’s just that we don’t do it. Although Bruh Paul keeps telling us in his epistles, that whatever we do, we must do it to the glory of God, highlighted by these two verses. ‘Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.’ (1 Cor. 10:31) Then this one from Colossians: ‘And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.’ (Col. 3:17)

And isn’t it wonderful how the song talks about the ‘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.’ Wow! Where else can you get a pardon for all your vile sins except when you fall at the feet of the cross at Calvary where Christ shed His sinless blood to pay for the? Nowhere else my faithful believers!

That’s why God the Father deserves so much thanks and praise  through Christ, for offering Him as a sacrificial Lamb on our behalf. And no doubt that magnanimous gesture broke God’s heart into a million pieces, like it would break ours if we had to give up our son as a sacrifice, especially for people who didn’t deserve nor appreciate it. But He did it, because He LOVED us so much and could not stand to see us all, His best creation, going to hell and eternal death with Satan.

And Fanny didn’t fail to let us know of bigger and better things to come, when she wrote: ‘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.’ Yes friends, great will be our rejoicing when Jesus comes to get us at the Rapture, as we saw in the earlier scripture from Revelation! So now it’s all up to us to live the way we need to, if we want to be in that great cloud of witnesses going up in the sky one fine day! Much LOVE!

…God created us…and LOVES us dearly…and all He asks is…that we return His LOVE…

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit   6 February 2024 Psalm 150:6.

06 Feb 2024 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 150:6.       Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

And there’s an awesome outpouring of bright sunshine in my area, this first Tuesday in February! Exactly like it ended up being yesterday! And who says that light isn’t greater than darkness eh? That the sun won’t find a way to dissipate the dark clouds? No way Jose! Not if Jesus has anything to say about it. And He does have something to say about it. In fact He has something to say about EVERYTHING, for the universe belongs to Him, and He rules it as he sees fit! Glory to God, our Creator and Controller; our Saviour and our Heavenly Father!  Give Him some thanks and praise my fellow believers, for all the wonderful things He’s done, is doing, and has promised to do for us underserving children of men! 

And all God’s children offered up this loud and grateful thanks: ‘Praise ye the Lord, (shout Hallelujah!) Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power (His mighty expanse of power). Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet (cornet): praise him with the psaltery (lute or lyre) and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord (shout Hallelujah to the glory of His holy and precious name!)’ (Ps. 150. 1-6) 

Oh friends, if you didn’t realize it, we were just praying, giving praise to our great God from Psalm 150, the last one in the Psalter, that advises us to praise God for His mighty acts. And as you can see the last verse so rightly and wisely admonishes: ‘Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.’ (Ps. 150:6) That means all of God’s creatures, creations, whatever you choose to call them, ought to give much praise and thanks to their most wonderful Creator. Unfortunately though, that’s a command that too many of us either disobey completely or do in a half-hearted manner, with little, if any sincerity. 

But, on the other hand, when we cry out to God for help, we expect Him to rush to our rescue, although when life’s good with us, we don’t have any time for Him, don’t even remember that He exists. However friends, let’s get one thing straight; God isn’t there for our selfish and personal benefit, neither is He a doting grandfather who will succumb to our every selfish desire. No! He’s the Creator of the universe and all therein! That means we are His to do with as He pleases. We are the ones to be doing His will, rather than He doing ours. So, in blatant layman’s terms; the Lord is the Boss and we are the workers, and if we don’t do what He says, there will be serious consequences to our disobedience and rebellion. 

And we all talk a big talk, but like the whiney ingrates that we really are, when those consequences arise, we’re quick to hold our heads and bawl, forgetting the pride and arrogance we displayed when the Lord tried to direct our steps in a godly manner. And we’re quick to beg for forgiveness and make all sorts of promises that we don’t intend to keep, but in the heat of the moment all sorts of stuff quickly flows from our vile and evil hearts through our lying lips, and we unwisely tell the Lord that we’ll pull up our bootstraps if He helps us. 

But please note these words of wisdom from Cousin Sol as the Preacher in Ecclesiastes. ‘When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer (delay) not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.’ (Eccl. 5:4-5) Yes friends, let’s not go about making hasty and rash promises to God nor man, for there are always consequences, sometimes dire ones, to unkept promises. 

And sadly, in these evil  and ungodly times, unkept promises litter our world like never before. It seems the adage of ‘promises are made to be broken,’ has taken on a whole new meaning in these last days. We all desire that others keep their promises to us, but cannot stand the sacrifice needed to keep ours to others. What a selfish and unchristian-like thing to do. Remember what Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Judge (condemn) not, that ye might not be judged (condemned). For with what judgement (condemnation) ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete (use) it shall be measured to you again.’ (Matt. 7:1-2) 

Now all that means basically is what you sow you’ll reap. Whatever you say or do to or about someone else, the same will come back to you. And as Uncle Charles (Dr. Charles Stanley) would say: ‘You reap what you sow, more than you sow, and later than you sow.’ And that’s the gospel truth my people! Whatever you do, either for good or bad, like a boomerang, tends to accumulate back to you, sooner or later. Thus the wisdom in closely watching what we say and do. 

As Jesus simply puts it: ‘Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.’ (Matt. 7:12) In other words, my fellow saints, our Lord and Saviour, our Leader, is simply telling us to follow the Golden Rule:  ‘Do unto others as you would have them do to you.’ And there’s no better way to live, even if you’re not a believer in Christ Jesus. But if you are, then that’s the ONLY way to live! End of Sermon! (smile) 

Now let’s go home declaring (chuh!!!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting all and sundry know to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. As one sincere voice: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with my immediate neighbours, as well as with the whole wide world! Glory be!’ 

And, having made that serious proclamation, it’s our duty now to go out and share the amazing LOVE and friendship of Christ with all we meet, so that they too can come to know and LOVE him like we do! Much LOVE!

…praise God without ceasing…for that is the wise and comely thing to do…

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ