Today’s Scrip-Bit 19 May 2021 Psalm 139:7.

19 May 2021 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 139:7.     Whither shall (can) I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall (can) I flee from thy presence?

My most humble apologies my Scrip-Bit friends and family for the lateness of the Bit. It’s just of those things; if one goes to bed very late, then the natural corollary is that one will also awaken very late! (smile) And thank you very much for your forgiveness and kind indulgences, but, as always, be it ever so late, the important thing is that the Bit, the energizer, the catalyst of God’s Word in our lives, gets sent out every day! 

And to tell how soundly I slept, not even my two summer nemeses, a motorcycle in the neighbouring lane, and the seemingly ever-present sound of a lawn mower, didn’t disturb me at all this morning. Now that’s certainly saying something! But enough of my Irish blarney, let’s get down to brass tacks, which, this late Wednesday morning, begins with considering this interesting poem from the Hour of Power Devotional by Gramps Schuller (Dr. Robert H. Schuller) most appropriately titled ‘I Will Move…’ 

Please pray with me: ‘Lord, I want your heart to be my heart. For in you I come alive, moving ahead from boring death to exciting life! In your promises, I will move from discouragement to hope. In your pardon, I will move from shame to glory. In your power, I will move from weakness to strength. In your providence, I will move from failure to success! Thank you, Lord. Amen.’ 

Oh my people, when we take the blessings and promises of God seriously, we can certainly move ahead with a joyful heart, with oodles of hope, amazing strength, no shame or failure, but glory and success! That’s why Bruh David wrote these marvellous words of Psalm 139, explaining the everlasting presence and power of our great God. 

‘O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compasseth (comprehendeth, understands) my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset (enclosed or hedged) me behind and before, and laid thine hand on me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.’ (Ps. 139:1-6) 

And that’s certainly the awesome truth friends: we cannot ever attain the wisdom and power of Almighty God! But with His help, we can certainly do much better than we’re currently doing, if we’d only listen to His Spirit speaking in us and read His word that bears so many important messages and promises. 

Now hear Bruh David, as he continues. ‘Whither shall (can) I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall (can) I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.’ (Ps. 139:7-12) More everlasting truth there my faithful brethren! 

And our Lord moves in such marvellous and mysterious ways friends, that as I was writing those moving words, I could see Gramps Schuller preaching them in his bold, expansive and daring style way back when in the Hour of Power Service at the Crystal Cathedral in California. That was the first time I can ever remember hearing those words preached, or acted out, as Gramps Schuller liked to do with his scripture readings. And believe me, that awesome picture of those words have remained with me down through the years, and every time I read or hear them, I picture that moment of revelation in my mind’s eye… 

Oh, sorry mih bredrin for that little break, but I suddenly broke into a bout of laughter there because, as the Lord is wont to do, in His inimitable style, He just reminded me of a promise I made a couple days ago when we were talking about life in Psalm 16, that, if the Lord spared our lives, the following day we would continue and see how the saints of Christ ought to handle death. Now, that’s possibly because I had thought about making the same promise for Psalm 139, as there are some interesting scholarly explanations I wanted to add to our discourse today. 

Anyway, now that the Lord has refreshed my memory, if He again grants us life tomorrow, we will continue talking about one of those two psalms. And there I was foolishly thinking I didn’t know what to talk about today eh. Yuh see what happens when you don’t consult, or properly listen to your Creator? But it’s too late to cry now, (smile) so here are those explanations from the scholars. 

‘Psalm 139. Certainly one of the grandest of the psalms in all of the Psalter, it is also one of the richest theologically. It combines an exposition of the greatness of God’s character with the reality of human experience. From verses 19-22 we find that David wrote the psalm during a time of opposition. It therefore contains truths that were meaningful to him during these troublesome times. They may be summarized under four key thoughts as David addresses the Lord: You know me (vs. 1-6), You are with me (vs. 7-12), You created me (vs. 13-16), and Your cause is my cause (vs. 19-24).’ 

And that’s how it ought to be with ALL believers. Anyway, for those of us who have seriously taken up the mantle of Christ, let’s go home today declaring (awright!!!) our Wednesday Wail, telling all and sundry of our wonderful position in Christ Jesus! 

As one strong and sincere voice now: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

And will that future be even more glorious than we can ask or imagine if we endure the journey to end my dear friends! Much LOVE!

…living life with Christ can be tough…but it’s certainly never dull or uninteresting…                                                

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 9 June 2015 Philippians 4:6

09 Jun 2015 Leave a comment

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

Philippians 4:6. Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Aye Friends, welcome to another day in the unfolding of God’s great universe! It is unfolding as it should. We might not think it logical or understand it, but all we need to know is that God is still on the throne, and still in control of what He made. His thoughts and abilities are way higher than ours, so our small, finite minds won’t be able to comprehend all that’s going on.

Be not afraid though, for everything is working to plan; God’s plan that is. Just rest in the comfort and reassurance of His tender, forgiving and merciful embrace and allow the Holy Spirit that dwells within you to lead and guide you on the straight and narrow path that leads to our heavenly Father. End of sermon. (smile)

And now, on this wet and cloudy Tuesday morning in my area, here’s a simple but powerful prayer from Gramps Schuller’s (Robert H. Shuller) Hour of Power Devotional titled ‘I WILL MOVE…’ I don’t know if I’ve ever shared it before, because it doesn’t even look familiar to me. Hn! And I’ve been reading the book for several years now.

Anyway, please pray with me: ‘Lord, I want your heart to be in my heart. For in you I come alive, moving ahead from boring death to exciting life! In your promises, I will move from discouragement to hope. In your pardon, I will move from shame to glory. In your power, I will move from weakness to strength. In your providence, I will move from failure to success! Thank you, Lord. Amen.’

Oh my people, what true and wonderful sentiments! That’s just what I was saying earlier; putting your hope and trust in Almighty God is the only wise and sensible way to proceed in this mish-mash thing we call life. Without His involvement in our lives we are simply powerless and rudderless, aimlessly drifting on a tossing sea of sin and sinfulness, which augurs no good whatsoever to anybody.

But with Jehovah God in our lives, as Gramps Schuller so rightfully declares, we keep moving ahead in an exciting life, filled with hope, glory, strength and success!

And all God’s people said a loud and grateful: ‘Glory to God! Praise Him for His wonderful LOVING-kindness to the children of men!’ Yes Friends, that we certainly ought to do, for our God does deserve much reverence and thanksgiving! 

And talking about reverence and thanksgiving, listen to our Bit, which details it marvellously for us. ‘Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.’

Without a doubt my brethren, the wise way is always to bring everything to God in prayer with much thanks for all that He’s done and still doing for us.

And the scholars offer this information on our Bit. ‘4:6. Be careful for nothing means “don’t worry about anything.” The Lord’s nearness (v.5b) (‘The Lord is at hand’) leads Paul to forbid his readers from worrying. This no summons to irresponsibility or an invitation to dismiss legitimate concern.

The solution to undue anxiety is prayer in everything, “in every matter of life.” The way to be free of anxiety is to be prayerful about everything. While God is eager to hear our requests, they are to be accompanied with thanksgiving.’

Ah Friends, unfortunately too many of us don’t put that advice in to action, therefore we are worried and anxious about all sorts of things. I guess it depends on the level of faith to which we have attained; meaning the greater our faith, the more we submit or adhere to the programme.

Consequently we need to build our faith so that going to God with EVERYTHING in prayer with thanksgiving becomes an automatic action in our lives. And I can tell you from personal example, it works my brethren, it truly works!

You might not always get the answer you want, or even deserve, but if you follow the leading of God’s Spirit that dwells within you, you will seldom go wrong. It won’t always be an easy row to hoe, but it will be definitely interesting and worthwhile.

And in support of our Bit, let’s look at some defining scriptures. First up is Jesus’ profound pronouncement from the Sermon on the Mount. ‘Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for (do not worry about) your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat (food), and the body than raiment (clothing)?’ (Matt.6:25)

And the scholars offer this splendid explanation of that verse. ‘6:25. Jesus now deals with the equally dangerous tendency of those who have few possessions: worry! Take no thought (Gr. me merimnao) means “Do not be anxious.” This word means to be so disturbed about material needs that we distrust God and are distracted from faithfully doing His will.

Anxious care is the direct opposite of faith. Therefore, even the poor are not to worry needlessly about what they should eat, drink, or wear. The question Is not life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? indicates that inner mental stability must come from the spirit of a man and not from outward physical provisions.

To set one’s heart on material possessions or to worry about the lack of them is to live in perpetual insecurity and to deprive oneself of the spiritual blessings of God.’

And isn’t that the gospel truth my people. That’s why so many of us are so insecure. We place too much emphasis on the material things of life; worry too much about them, and work too hard to acquire them. We do need them, but listen to Jesus further on the issue.

‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt.6:33) And if you are a person of faith, a true believer in Christ, then you will understand that if you do the will of God, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our Provider, will indeed provide for all our material wants and needs.

It’s all a matter of faith, my brethren. Believe and you will not worry, and will be amply provided for. Do not believe, then you will worry, be anxious and stress yourself out, and still not be sure of having all your needs met. And on that most important note, we’ll end today’s message.

Oh Friends, I implore us to have faith, or to raise the level of our faith, so that we won’t have the unnecessary worry and concern that comes with lack of faith. That is the wisdom of both heaven and earth. Much LOVE!

…why walk in worry…when one can walk worry free in faith…