Today’s Scrip-Bit   26 April 2024 Colossians 3:14.

26 Apr 2024 Leave a comment

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Colossians 3:14.       And above all these things put on charity (LOVE), which is the bond of perfectness.

It’s another bright, sunshiny day, this last Friday in April! But just imagine that nuh; April is almost finished. Father Time is certainly waiting on no one, he’s running his race like there’s no tomorrow. And it would be wise if we copied his example and ran our own race as if there’s no tomorrow, for who knows how many, if any of us will be alive to see tomorrow. But be that as it may, the worldwide shouts of ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday!’ have been heard around the world, and thus the weekend, plans and promises for it, has become our focus. 

And yes, the weekend is ours to enjoy, but during it, let’s not forget the most important One in our entire lives; Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, for He’s the One who enables us to get health, wealth strength, salvation and eternal life! And all God’s children said a loud and grateful ‘Thank You Jesus!’ Now, since the Lord spared our lives, meaning his mercies and compassions were new this morning, (smile) let’s keep our promise to continue talking about some of the things that the prayer yesterday from the In Touch Devotional triggered. 

And the main thing we found was LOVE, which is God’s most important attribute and has so many appealing and intriguing aspects to it. And above all it was God’s LOVE for us that caused Him to send His only begotten Son Jesus to die for us on the cross of Calvary so that our sins could be forgiven, making reconciliation possible with Him. And, as we saw yesterday, that means we need to reciprocate that LOVE as much as we can. But here are a few other things that that magnificent attribute can and does do. 

On the basic nature of LOVE, Bruh Paul writes in 1 Corinthians: ‘Charity (LOVE) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.’ (1 Cor. 13:4) In other words, ‘LOVE is patient, LOVE is kind, it is not jealous; LOVE does not brag, it is not arrogant.’ In light of that he writes thus to the Colossians: ‘And above all these things put on charity (LOVE), which is the bond of perfectness.’ (Col. 3:14) And the scholars explain that ‘LOVE is the crowning grace completing the list of virtues required for perfectness or spiritual maturity,. As a “bond” it binds all other virtues together in harmony and unity.’ 

Meanwhile, Peter says it this way: ‘And above all things have fervent charity (LOVE) among yourselves: for charity (LOVE) shall cover a multitude of sins.’ (1 Pet. 4:8) Now that’s how strong LOVE is my people, when we have it amongst each other, it can help eliminate many sins. Such as James, Jesus’ brother explains. ‘Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth (wander), and one convert him (turns him back); Let him know, that he which converteth (turns) the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide (cover) a multitude of sins.’ (James 5:19-20)  

And don’t for one moment think that the wisest one, Cousin Sol didn’t have that covered long before James and Peter came on the scene. (smile) He most certainly did, as he so rightfully warned in Proverbs: ‘Hatred stirreth up strifes: but LOVE covereth all sins.’ (Prov. 10:12) And it most certainly can when it prospers among us my fellow saints. But the problem though is that LOVE, sadly is not as plentiful and prosperous, neither amongst believers, or the world in general, for it to make the big difference it needs to make to set us straight and right with each other and with Almighty God. Thus the heavy price we’re currently paying as hatred, strife, anger and all the negative emotions control our world instead of LOVE. 

That brings us to this last scripture, awakened by the words of the prayer: ‘when tempers start to rise…when anger flares in people’s eyes.’ And unfortunately those words so appropriately describe the current state of our world. Ah friends, this noteworthy scripture from Bruh Paul to the Ephesians warns us: ‘Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place (an opportunity) to the devil.’ (Eph. 4:26-27) Yes my fellow believers, we can get angry, but not do anything to give the devil an opportunity to get into our souls, and don’t let that anger last until we go to bed, because most likely it will disturb our sleep and we’ll awaken with it still plaguing our souls and spirts. 

And let’s not fool ourselves, it’s going to take a real uphill battle, one of much sacrifice and suffering for us to replace the hatred and anger now enveloping our world with the sincere LOVE of God. But with God on our side friends, we all know we can do it. We just have to make up our minds and pull up our bootstraps and move as one body in Christ Jesus! And to help us do that, let’s go to the throne of grace in the prayerful words of our Friday Chant. 

Altogether now: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough… because our many serious problems are escalating instead of improving. And it’s obvious we can’t fix them on our own, so Lord, we’re desperately crying out for your help. Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat the simmering unrest in our land. We therefore ask you Lord to give our leaders the wise guidance to handle these unexpected storms properly. 

And please help the rest of us to be responsible and to stay safe amidst all the anxiety and confusion of these ungodly times. We fervently pray too Lord that you’ll use the discontent and dissatisfaction in our land as a means of restoring faith in you. Return backsliders to your fold. Show them the error of their ways. And please introduce a new flock of believers, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example, we, your faithful believers set. So that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, wake up and smell it sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

But please remember friends, that to gain divine help, WE must set the ball rolling by doing the things the Lord desires, like being good examples of Christian living, and turning from our evil ways. Much LOVE!

…until…and unless the LOVE for God and man…truly awakens in the breasts of men…evil will continue ruling the roost…

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Today’s Scrip-Bit   3 June 2022   1 John 4:8.

03 Jun 2022 Leave a comment

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

1 John 4:8.       He that LOVETH not knoweth not God; for God is LOVE.

Well check out the bright, sunshiny, cool Friday morning nuh mih people and shout ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday! ‘ Yes, let’s give thanks to the Father for allowing us to see another blessed day on this great earth of His. It’s only right and proper to give our Creator His just due for creating us and then when we had gone astray, for LOVING us so much that He sacrificed His only Son, Jesus Christ that we could find our way safely back to Him! 

Oh my faithful brethren in Christ, there’s no bond as strong as that of the bond we term LOVE! And it’s only when we’re directly connected to the Father through the Son and the Holy Spirit that we can ever fully understand and experience the awesome power, majesty and strength that makes up the godly attribute called LOVE! Remember yesterday we saw where Bruh Paul called it the greatest, and regardless of what else we have, if we don’t have LOVE, in essence, we don’t have anything at all! 

And today we’re going to look at a few other scriptures that show us how important LOVE is to the God’s universe and all therein. And there’s no better verse to begin with than this one from the wisdom of Cousin Sol in Proverbs. ‘Hatred stirreth up strifes: but LOVE covereth all sins.’ (Prov. 10:12) Wow! How truly powerful must that thing called LOVE be eh, if it can cover up all sins! And that’s not only talk because we saw it at work in Christ’s death on the cross for us, where through His awesome LOVE, He took all our sins on His sinless shoulders, so that we could be cleansed, washed white as snow and made righteous with the Father. 

And what did Bruh David say about the Father’s LOVE in Psalm 103: ‘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.’ (Ps. 103:10-12) Oh my people, what a wonderful God we serve! And how can we not sincerely revere and worship Him when He casts aways our sins, as far as the east is from the west, forgets them and never brings them up when we come to Him for help and succour? 

God’s LOVE is unconditional. There are no strings attached to it. He might not like what we do, but He will always LOVE and welcome us when we come to Him, for that’s just who He is; a God of LOVE! Listen to how John puts it in his first epistle. ‘He that LOVETH not knoweth not God; for God is LOVE.’ (1 John 4:8) It’s as simple as that friends: God is LOVE! And if you don’t know Him, then you don’t know true LOVE, and if you don’t have LOVE, then it’s impossible for you to truly know Him! 

And I like how John describes LOVE later on. ‘There is no fear in LOVE; but perfect LOVE casteth out fear: because fear hath (involves) torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in LOVE.’ (1 John 4:18) And the scholars explain that verse thus. Fear hath torment: Abject fear of God is based on dread of punishment. But God’s LOVE, for us renders such dread obsolete. Fear is still part of the Christian walk in the sense of profound reverence, the unwillingness to violate God’s trust in us. (Acts 10:35: 2 Cor. 7:1). Believers need not fear eternal rejection as a result of God’s judgement (John 5:24), but this does not mean a Christian’s approach to God is to be casual and flippant.’  

Definitely not my fellow saints! We might not need to be afraid of the Lord, but that doesn’t mean we can just behave as obnoxious and irreverent as we want to. As Bruh Paul wrote to the Roman church about being under grace, not the law. ‘For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid.’ (Rom. 6:14-15) Certainly not my people. The powerful Spirit of grace that we’re living under, the great LOVE we feel for out heavenly Father, ought to make us be very sensitive to sin and what displeases Him. 

Then Peter gives us his two cents worth on the subject of LOVE. ‘And above all things have fervent charity (LOVE) among yourselves: for charity (LOVE) shall cover a multitude of sins.’ (1 Pet. 4:8) Yes, he quotes Cousin Sol, from Proverbs. And so too does James, Jesus’ brother, when he writes to the Jewish diaspora. ‘Brethren, if any of you do err (wander) from the truth, and one convert him (turns him back). Let him know, that he which converteth (turns) the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide (cover) a multitude of sins.’ (James 5:20) 

Yes friends, that powerful thing called LOVE can do amazing things! That’s why we say it’s what makes the world go round. And that’s the awesome truth, for without some amount of LOVE in it, our world would be even more chaotic than it currently is, but we do need much much more to improve the situation, to turn it around. And when we need something, what’s the first thing we ought to do? Pray! So, let’s do that right now nuh, let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Friday Chant, asking for divine help, because it’s only the Lord’s omnipotence can help us in these terrible times. 

As one sincere voice then. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and our many other problems are causing. We can’t seem to fix it on our own Lord, that means we desperately need your help. Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. 

So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, and avoid any more serious setbacks. And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. 

And please introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example, we, your faithful believers set. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

And after praying, what ought we to do? Keep the promises we made in our prayer and wait in expectant faith for God’s positive answer. So, let’s do just that nuh. Much LOVE!

…if only we had more LOVE…more of God…our world would be such a wonderful place… 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 30 August 2021 Proverbs 10:12.

30 Aug 2021 Leave a comment

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

Proverbs 10:12.      Hatred stirreth up strifes: but LOVE covereth all sins.

Here comes Monday, here comes Monday, ringing in the penultimate day of August! And with the end of August, our summer weather will soon fizzle out to nothing. But be it hot, cold, or in between, I believe the important thing is for us to learn to enjoy whatever kind of weather we may experience, once it means that we are still alive, and still enjoying the wonderful life that Jesus died for us to have! 

And please note that I said, ‘learn to enjoy,’ for that kind of thing does not come naturally. We have to make a conscious decision to not let it steal the joy and peace we find in Jesus, who is our strength, and enables us to overcome every circumstance that comes against us. And with the sad and angry state of the world, I believe today is a rather appropriate time to consider these wise words of Cousin Sol: ‘Hatred stirreth up strifes: but LOVE covereth all sins.’ (Prov. 10:12) 

Oh my people, I doubt that there’s ever been a time in our world when we have needed LOVE more desperately than right now! The anger, greed, jealousy, resentment, hatred and all the other negative producing emotions are currently at an all-time high. And only an immense shower of LOVE will, or can stop it from further destroying our world. That’s because LOVE is the greatest attribute of our great God Jehovah; the attribute that caused Him to send His Son Jesus to earth to die for our sins. 

As the Good Book so truthfully recounts: ‘But God commendeth (demonstrated) his LOVE toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Rom. 5:8) And it is ONLY LOVE that will keep us from doing further damage to our world and to each other. Why is that you ask? Because LOVE is the perfect antidote for all negative emotions and reactions! So let’s see what the scriptures have to tell us about that marvellous thing called LOVE nuh. 

Bruh Paul puts it this way to the church at Corinth in what we refer to as the LOVE Chapter: ‘Charity (LOVE) suffereth long, and is kind…envieth not…vaunteth not (does not brag on) itself…is not puffed up (arrogant), Doth not behave itself unseemly (rudely), seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil (keeps no counts of evil); Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things…never faileth.’ (1 Cor. 13:4-8) 

Oh my, my…LOVE is certainly the great mover and shaker! That’s why Peter could confidently declare to the church: ‘And above all things have fervent charity (LOVE) among yourselves: for charity (LOVE) shall cover a multitude of sins.’ (1 Pet. 4:8) And that’s the gospel truth friends; if we have sincere LOVE for each other, it will clean up so many of our wrongful thoughts and actions. 

And we can never talk about LOVE in the scriptures and leave out these immortal words of John from his first epistle. ‘Beloved, let us LOVE one another; for LOVE is of God; and every one that LOVETH is born of God, and knoweth God. He that LOVETH not knoweth not God; for God is LOVE. In this was manifested the LOVE of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is LOVE, not that we LOVED God, but that he LOVED us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so LOVED us, we ought also to LOVE one another.’ (1 John 4:7-11) 

Matter fix friends! Story done! (smile) So all that’s left for us to do now is to inculcate that godly attribute of LOVE into our daily lives, so that we can lessen the hatred and strife that’s engulfing our world. And yes, I know that’s sometimes difficult to do, but again, if we truly have Jesus in our hearts, and we seriously desire to live for Him, then, as we said earlier on, we can do whatever we need to do, through His awesome strength and power. And we can begin right now by going to Him in prayer and laying all of our problems before Him, asking for His divine help. 

So as one strong voice, let’s offer up our Monday Morning Battle Hymn to heaven nuh. ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. 

Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. That’s why we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading with You to give us wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. 

And Father, we pray that you will ease the pain of the many who are suffering from negative situations. Please show them Your awesome grace and mercy, and keep Your promise that You’ll hear our prayer, forgive us, and heal our land if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

Now friends, please remember that the Lord’s answer will pivot entirely on our keeping those promises we’ve just made. Much LOVE!

…and now abideth faith, hope, LOVE…these three…but the greatest of these is…LOVE… (1 Cor. 13:13)                                                                                                                                         

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 15 July 2020 Psalm 19:14.

15 Jul 2020 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 19:14.     ​Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.
 

Well friends, Wednesday has opened bright and sparkling and promises to be a hot one, not like the last two days that have been comparatively cool. But it’s summer and that’s what we expect…until it gets too hot. (smile) And this morning we have something to share from our One Year Book of Bible Promises with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin that will break down all the walls and barriers and impediments that we have built up around ourselves and those with whom we interact. It’s appropriately titled, ‘LISTENING LOVE!’ 

Yeh mih people, it’s LOVE that listens. So please pray with me: ‘Listening LOVE is one of the greatest gifts we can give our mates, our families, and our friends. Too often we settle for surface talk or icy silences, for monologues or cutoffs, for defences. What a difference when we follow the principles of Listening LOVE. Listening LOVE is courteous. It says… I will strive not to interrupt or outguess you. I will not finish your sentences or break into your thoughts. Listening LOVE is attentive. It says… I will give you my undivided attention. I will not turn you off or leave you isolated. 

Listening LOVE is patient. It says… I will not rush you or insist on a right-now conclusion. Listening LOVE is kind. It says… I will not shame you with sarcastic retorts. I will not belittle you. Listening LOVE is objective. It says… I will try to be informative rather than opinionated. I will not attempt to think for you. Listening LOVE is unselfish. It says… I will guard against overconfidence and trite “spiritual” answers. Listening LOVE is prayerful. It says… I will pray for insight, for wisdom, and for gentle reactions.’ 

Oh my people, Listening LOVE is indeed difficult to practice when all the problems of the world are weighing us down! But please pray that there will be Listening LOVE between the duchess and I today, (smile) because I’ve already turned on the A/C  after it was off for the last two days, and that’s usually a source of contention between us. But although practicing Listening LOVE is difficult, it is indeed possible, if we took our time and thought about our reactions before we engaged them. Unfortunately though, that’s also a difficult thing in this new and modern world of speed and now for now decision making. 

And I guess that’s why Bruh David prayed this solemn prayer at the end of Psalm 19, which is our Bit and also the Bible Verse associated with today’s writing. ‘Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.’ Yes my brethren, it’s only with the Lord’s help that we can truly practice Listening LOVE! The world and the sinful nature that exists within us do not allow us to be patient, thoughtful, kind, courteous and all the other things that Listening LOVE requires. 

 I guess that’s why Cousin Sol also wisely proclaimed: ‘Hatred stirreth up strifes: but LOVE covereth all sins.’ (Prov. 12:19) And again why he later on declared (yeahhh!) ‘Better is a dinner of herbs (vegetables) where LOVE is, than a stalled ox (fatted calf) and hatred therewith.’ (Prov. 15:17) Oh my people, LOVE is such a wonderful thing! And it ought to be, since it’s the most valuable attribute of our magnanimous and magnificent God! ‘And now abideth faith, hope, LOVE, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.’ (1 Cor. 13:13)

But since the fall of man, when sin entered our lives, true LOVE seems to be so difficult for us to practice. And the great efforts of the fallen angel Lucifer, now his satanic majesty, against it doesn’t help us in the least. Satan hates LOVE because he knows that LOVE comes from God. and he doesn’t like it one bit when John says: ‘Beloved, let us LOVE one another: for LOVE is of God; and every one that LOVETH is born of God, and knoweth God.’ (1 John 4:7) 

But as true believers in Christ, that is exactly what we are called to do! All the greed and selfishness of the world should not be showing up in the sons and daughters of Almighty God. Sadly, however, it is showing up to a great extent because we are still too contaminated by the ways of the world and we are not seeking the righteousness of God as much as we ought to. And a very good example of how we ought to behave is given by Bruh David when the prophet Nathan eventually accosted him re his adultery with Bathsheba and the premeditated murder of her husband Uriah. 

He prayed: ‘O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else I would give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.’ (Ps. 51) Yeh friends, our sin nature is responsible for a lot of stuff. But please listen to these wise words from the scholars. 

‘Sin nature: 51:5. When the word sin appears in the singular, it usually denotes the sin nature of humanity. This sin nature, which everyone possesses, influences us to sin and is the source of lust. It negatively affects people’s minds (Rom. 1:28). Illustration: The sin nature is partially responsible for blinding people’s thoughts and understanding, so that they cannot perceive spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). Although our sin nature continues to operate within us, it was judged when Christ died (Rom. 6:6-7). 

Application: Until Christ returns, we must live in the strength of the new man, to overcome the sinful desires arising from the sin nature. We cannot eradicate our sin nature, but we can allow the Holy Spirit to control us so that we do not give in to temptation. (First Ref. Gen. 6:5; Primary Ref. Rom. 3; cf. Rom. 5:12).’ 

Ah friends, life can be somewhat difficult at times, but with Christ in us, and we in Him… Oh we can do any and all things through His most wonderful strength and grace and mercy. So please, let’s not fall or falter by anything evil that comes against us. And please read those scriptures the scholars outlined above, because they are so educational and uplifting, and do we ever need uplifting stuff in these turbulent times! Now let’s go home declaring (oh yeahhh!) our Wednesday Wail, letting all and sundry know of our serious, sincere and most excellent position in Christ Jesus! 

All together 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 if we endure to the end, we WILL experience that glorious future with Christ! Much LOVE!

…if you don’t know Christ…you’re missing real life…the best life possible… 

P.S. Sorry it’s late, but I had to go out the street and do some time sensitive stuff first. But it’s a good read. (smile) Much LOVE!