Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 September 2019 Psalm 33:1.

01 Sep 2019 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 33:1.    ​Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.
 

Well another week has passed my people, and we’re right back at Sunday! Imagine that nuh! And we still alive and going strong, thanks to our wonderful God! And it means that one more time we have to gather in fellowship to give Him thanks and praise for His outstanding mercy and grace this past week, as well as for Him to strengthen our faith, renew our confidence and raise the levels of our joy, so we can do the important work of His salvation ministry in the upcoming week. And all of that is just to say, that today is Sunday, and we ought to find ourselves in church sometime today to celebrate the Lord’s Day with other believers. (smile) 

So without further ado, let’s get our proceedings underway nuh, as usual with a song of praise and worship, exalting the Lord in the highest, just like all the heavenly host constantly do. And today we’re going to sing a contemporary Christian tune by Mat Redman (Matthew James Redman (1974 -) an English Christian worship leader, singer-songwriter and author. And today’s song is his best-known composition, the two-time Grammy Award-winning single, “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)”. It’s a wonderful song, with great lyrics and melody, so let’s raise our voices in prayerful, sincere song and let our great God know how much we LOVE and appreciate Him. In rich, sweet and perfect harmony now: 

‘(Chorus) Bless the Lord oh my soul Oh my soul, Worship His Holy name. Sing like never before Oh my soul, I’ll worship Your Holy name.) The sun comes up It’s a new day dawning It’s time to sing Your song again Whatever may pass And whatever lies before me Let me be singing When the evening comes (Chorus) Bless the Lord oh my soul……I’ll worship your holy name) You’re rich in love And You’re slow to anger Your name is great And Your heart is kind For all Your goodness I will keep on singing Ten thousand reasons For my heart to find. (Chorus: Bless the Lord oh my soul…I’ll worship your holy name) 

And on that day When my strength is failing The end draws near And my time has come Still my soul will sing your praise unending Ten thousand years and then forevermore… forevermore. (Chorus: Bless the Lord oh my soul Oh my soul, Worship His Holy name. Sing like never before Oh my soul, I’ll worship Your Holy name. Bless the Lord oh my soul Oh my soul Worship His Holy name Sing like never before Oh my soul, Jesus, I’ll worship Your Holy name, worship your holy name…worship your holy name.’ 

Oh mih people, such sweet exaltation to Almighty God, that the four beasts that surround the heavenly throne joined us in worship, as well as the elders up there; they fell down before the Lord on His throne, cast their crowns before the throne and lustily sang along with us. (Rev.4:8-10) Wow! Who says that there isn’t spontaneous joy in heaven when the Lord is sincerely praised down here on earth eh? And yuh know the Lord just swallowed up all the praise, because there’s nothing He likes more than praise. And He very well deserves every bit of it too. 

And nobody knew that better than Bruh David and the other psalmists, that’s why they could write praiseful words like: ‘I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations…Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn (strength) shall be exalted.  For the Lord is our defense; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.’ (Ps.89:1,15-18) That’s Ethan the Ezrahite expounding there on God’s sure promises to Bruh David. 

Then you have Bruh David himself declaring, (steups!) in thanksgiving for God’s mercy: ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with LOVING-kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’ (Ps.103:1-5) 

And if all that isn’t reason enough to thank the Lord and praise and exalt His glorious name, then I really don’t know what is nuh! That’s why we ought to keep doing what the writer of Psalm 33 so wisely advises: ‘Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.’ And is it ever my people! And that’s one of the reasons the Lord created us, to sing His praise and glory! 

As the psalmist continues: ‘Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery(lute) and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise (shout of joy). For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth.’ (Ps.33:2-4) Oh friends, what more can I say eh? Except to quote some more of Bruh David’s words for you. (smile) 

‘I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.’ (Ps.34:1-3) 

And that’s exactly what we did this morning friends, magnified the Lord, exalted his name together…and there is joy in heaven…as well as down here on earth! Let’s keep that awesome joy going nuh people, as we continually praise and magnify God’s holy name. That’s our bounden duty! Much LOVE!

…rejoice in the Lord always…and again I say…rejoice… (Phil.4:4)

 


Today’s Scrip-Bit 17 March 2018 Ephesians 5:20.

17 Mar 2018 Leave a comment

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

Ephesians 5:20.    Giving thanks always for ALL things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Well a Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all my Irish friends and family! Please don’t get too immersed in the green stuff, especially the many different libations of the day. (smile) 

Yeh, St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) is the time the Irish celebrate their culture and religion, the legend being that the missionary St. Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland somewhere around the fourth century, and eventually drove out all the snakes from Ireland. 

Whatever the truth be though, the 17th of March has become a traditional festival of Irish culture all over the world, especially the imbibing part, with all things green being highlighted. 

What I remember most about St. Patrick’s Day is that as a young boy growing up in T&T, that was the only day you heard a Calypso on the radio, or you could have a party during the season of Lent. Now that state of affairs might have been somewhat stringent, but what happens now is downright ridiculous, with no serious or sincere observance of the Lenten season. 

Anyway, it’s Saturday, so let’s turn our attention to the quotes we got from our friend Anselm this week, as he sincerely aspires to inspire us for a brighter tomorrow. And our friend certainly had some interesting quotes this week, conveniently all tied up together. (smile) 

Listen to this first one: ‘Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.’ Now that’s wisdom of untold proportions! As Christians, we’re instructed to count our blessings, and concentrate on them, for they will always add up to more than our misfortunes and keep us happy and contented in the Lord. 

And the second quote declares: ‘When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.’ Oh glory to God my people! That is the gospel truth! Whenever we concentrate on our blessings rather than our misfortunes, our lives suddenly turn around in such dramatic fashion! I don’t understand why more of us aren’t counting the blessings and forgetting the misfortunes. 

And then there’s this invaluable quote: ‘Cultivate the habit of being grateful.’  What wise and wonderful advice my faithful followers of Christ! Everyday we preach that! There’s nothing that affects our lives as being grateful for all that we have, and which has been sent to us from our magnanimous God. 

But then I like this associate quote: ‘Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.’ Yeh, what is the point of being grateful if you don’t show it eh? Then no one knows that you’re grateful. It’s like saying you LOVE someone, but not showing them that LOVE. It’s simply wasted. All talk and no play. Gratitude is one of those words that can only be appreciated through our actions. 

And as always, I’ve left the best for last. ‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. ‘Thank you’ expresses extreme gratitude, humility, and understanding.’ Oh my people, if only we’d say more ‘thank you’s’ to each other, and to our awesome God, what a wonderful world this would be! 

You know, being grateful, counting our blessings and saying ‘thank you’ are the basic foundation stones of our Christian faith, because they all display LOVE in action! And that’s what Jesus’ people are all about: LOVE in action! 

And our Bit is one of the most encompassing scriptures in the Good Book, on the three topics we’ve covered today. It’s Bruh Paul’s direction to the Ephesians: ‘Giving thanks always for ALL things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 

Ah mih people, it’s something we continually hear, and know deep down in our hearts that we should do, but yet we don’t do it half as much as we should. We ought to be thanking our magnificent and magnanimous God, almost every minute of everyday for all that He’s done for us, especially when we don’t deserve ANY of it! 

Just the mere fact that His wonderful and amazing breath of life is currently coursing through our mortal bodies of dust and clay is sufficient reason to be everlastingly grateful and shout out a whole load of thanks to Him! But what to do eh? Mankind, being the only thinking creation, has always been the most ungrateful creation of the Lord. (smile) 

However, let’s see if we can change that some nuh, by going home declaring these wonderful words of Bruh David from Psalm 34 – The Lord hears the righteous. ‘I will bless the Lord at ALL times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.’ (Ps.34:1-3) 

Ah friends, there’s nothing better that we can do than magnify and exalt our great God! So let’s get ourselves together and begin doing it much more nuh. It’s basic common sense and wisdom to the nth degree! Much LOVE!

…there’s nothing that lifts our spirits…and warms the cockles of God’s heart…like His people showing gratitude…and giving sincere thanks…