man’s sinful nature

Matthew 7:7. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

So it’s Thursday now…one of those days in the life when things seem all topsy-turvy. First of all, I got up later than usual, only to further find that a couple things I thought I had done, successfully yesterday were actually unsuccessful, so I have to go and do them over again today. It’s frustrating to say the least. And now I’ve got to put that aside and get my head around to writing the Bit.

But I’m not really worried, just a tad concerned, (smile) because I know in my weakness the Lord will help me, especially since it’s His work I’m trying to do. He’s promised never to leave nor forsake me, and to strengthen me through His most awesome Son Christ Jesus, so that I can do all things that need to be done. Therefore, I ask myself? ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.’ (Ps. 42:11)

Glory be my people! That’s the beauty of scripture: we can always find a word to uplift our spirits regardless of what we’re going through. The problem though is that we need to seek it out. Sometimes, if we know enough scripture, it might come to us, but generally speaking we need to actually dive into the Good Book and find the right antidote for whatever ails us. That’s what I just did. I didn’t know what I needed, but knew that I needed something to refresh my fallen spirit. The search wasn’t long, but I did have to look for it. And that’s what so many of us refuse to do, actively look for the Lord and His redeeming power.

Remember the words the Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah? ‘And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.’ (Jer. 29:13) Yes, friends, we need to actively seek the Lord if we truly want to find Him and His restoration. It reminds us that Christianity is an active faith, one of plenty action, not mere talk. And Jesus himself encouraged us to stay active, to stay persevering in prayer, when He declared (chuh!!!):

‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?’ (Matt. 7:7-11)

Oh my people, Jesus could not make it any clearer than that! But for our benefit, the scholars try to do so. (smile) They say: ‘Jesus illustrated His point by comparing the willingness of a human father to give his child a gift, with our heavenly Father who will gladly give us what we need. The term evil (vs. 11) is used here of man’s sinful nature. Even sinful men are kind to their children; therefore, how much more shall your heavenly Father delight to answer your prayers.’

However, the scholars also say, that though ‘Prayer includes asking and getting answers from God… It is more than just asking; it is confession, adoration, thanksgiving, and fellowship with God. By its nature, prayer is talking with God. It is the basis of the successful Christian life, and is so important that not praying is considered a sin. (1 Sam.12:23)’ And I do hope that all of that ramps up the importance of prayer in our individual and corporate lives, for without prayer we’re nothing, our communication with our heavenly Father will be non-existent.

Now, let me spoon feed us with that verse above from 1 Samuel that indicates that not praying is sin. Samuel was appealing to his people Israel to serve God and be His people, when he said: ‘Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way.’ (1 Sam. 12:23) In other words, Samuel would not give up the fight to teach Israel the right way. He would consistently do his divine duty.

And so should we all today my faithful brethren. It’s our bounden duty to do right and to teach those around us what is right. Unfortunately, we are not doing such a good job of it, that’s why there’s so much evil and evildoing in our world. And though we are doing some praying, I guess we might not be praying for the right things as James, Jesus’ brother says in his epistle.

‘From when come wars and fightings (conflicts) among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts (desires for pleasure) that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill (murder), and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war (battle), yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (desires of pleasure). ‘ (James 4:1-3)

Yes friends, a lot of what we ask for is not in God’s will for us. Our prayers are often pleasure driven not God centred. And thus, as the scholars point out. ‘James emphasizes the strife so common among his readers, stemming from their unsatisfied, selfish, desires. Instead of wrestling with God in prayer, these believers are striving with one another.’ And sadly, nothing has changed today, for instead of going to God in prayer we are still striving with each other over selfish and sinful desires. It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

But thankfully, some of us, though certainly not enough, have decided to stick with the Lord through thick and thin, and thus He has bestowed on us several blessings to enable us to do His earthly work. So, let’s activate what we term our Thursday Blessings right now nuh, that we can be refreshed and maintain our sincere witness for Christ.

As one voice: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection!

I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to, will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and every day! Amen!’

Now, let’s get out into the evil world and use those heavenly blessings to raise up the name of Christ in all the earth, as He expects us to do! Much LOVE!

…it’s okay to ask…but we must ask for the right things…

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Romans 13:10. LOVE worketh no ill (does no harm) to his neighbour: therefore LOVE is the fulfilling of the law.

Oh Friends, can you believe it’s already the 11th of January! But we just celebrated New Year’s Day last week!

Yes, it seems 2014 is going to be a fast moving year like 2013, so we had better shape up and do the things we need to do; stop procrastinating, stop believing that we have lots of time to accomplish our life’s work. For some wise people said long ago, that time waits on no one, and that lost time can never be regained, so it’s best to make hay while the sun shines. (smile)

And how do we do all of that? First of all by finding out the plan God has for our lives, then diligently living it out with His help. And He does have a plan for each every life that He creates. He doesn’t just make us on a whim and fancy, but for a specific purpose. That means if you don’t know His plan for your individual life, then you have to ask Him. And you know He’ll never refuse to answer sincere, heartfelt prayer.

But Friends, whatever specific plan God has in store for us, it always has the appendage of LOVE attached to it. Why? Because God is LOVE! (1 John 4:8b) That is one of His many glorious attributes, possibly the most important one as it pertains to human life. For as Jesus said the most important aspects of human life are to LOVE God, ourselves and our neighbours. (Matt.22:37-40)

Therefore, if we are to be true followers of Jehovah God, then LOVE MUST play a very large and important part in our lives. 1 John 4:10 tells us that it’s because God LOVED us so deeply that He sent Jesus to die as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, so He could cover His attributes of holiness and justice. Consequently, ‘Beloved, if God so LOVED us, we ought also to LOVE one another.’ (1 John 4:11) That means followers of Jesus ought to walk in LOVE!

And our Bit certainly confirms that LOVE is of the utmost importance in a believer’s life. ‘LOVE worketh no ill (does no harm) to his neighbour: therefore LOVE is the fulfilling of the law.’ So if we’re walking in LOVE, then we’re fulfilling the law of God!

However Friends, talking about walking in LOVE, and actually doing it, are two entirely different things, if only because of man’s sinful and rebellious nature and the unbelievable negativity that our world embraces. Therefore to truly walk in LOVE is not easy, it is indeed a serious challenge. But as everything else in our world, it is doable with our diligence and the help of God.

And the beauty of the whole LOVE experience is that when we truly put it into action, that’s the time we come closest to spiritually resembling Jesus. Oh what joy that ought to produce in a believer’s life!

However, our nature is also to shy away from anything that’s difficult; anything that takes some time, discipline and diligent effort. But just look at what Jesus suffered for us nuh my brethren. Our difficulties are a joke compared to what He went though to save our wretched souls. And all for one big reason…the LOVE OF THE FATHER!

So why can’t we now show a little gratefulness, a little thankfulness by grabbing hold of our plough and looking straight ahead, plough some beautiful furrows of LOVE eh? It’s the least we can do to show our appreciation. We won’t always be perfect and/or successful, but the Lord knows this, and it’s the sincerity of effort that counts.

And sadly my brethren, too many of us refuse to make that effort, that’s why Christ’s church and His LOVE Revolution is losing the battle to Lucifer and his evil cohorts. We seem to want the easy life, but life’s not easy; it never was, and never will be, however you cut or slice it!

Oh Friends, have you noticed how hard the evil powers fight for what they believe in? They don’t sit on their laurels and fat fannies and spout a lot of rhetoric. They get up and work seriously and diligently towards their goals. And if the church of Christ wants to win the battle of this world, then we have to do the same thing. And I don’t mean working hard to acquire the baubles and bangles of the world, but letting the LOVE of God show in our earthly walk, through what Bruh Paul terms the fruit of the Spirit.

And he describes it thus: ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness (kindness), goodness, faith (faithfulness), Meekness, temperance (self-control): against such there is no law.’ (Gal.5:22-23)

Now mih people, that is what we, as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ, ought to be showing to the world! But are we doing that? Not half as much as we should! And oftimes it’s just mere token spiritual fruit we offer, from our minds, but not sincerely from our hearts, which defeats the whole purpose, because God doesn’t look at our outward actions, but at the motives of our hearts.

So Friends, let’s get up and get a serious move on nuh. Yuh see how our world is both literally and figuratively sliding down into hell! And we supposed Christians are suffering the downward slide because we’re not doing enough to convince unbelievers that Jesus and His church are worthwhile institutions to support and enjoy.

Oh mih breddren I know I’m coming on somewhat strong, but I’m just tired of seeing the evil and corruption, the poverty, the homelessness, the oppression and suppression that’s currently dominating our world. And sadly, it’s getting worse daily, while we believers squabble amongst ourselves over petty concerns, instead of standing up steadfast and strong against the evil doers, and living the kind of life that truly reflects Jesus. We’re either kow-towing to the evil doers in fear, or joining them because we too enjoy their evil ways.

And we’ll end with some wise words on the subject from Cousin Sol. ‘Hatred stirreth up strifes: but LOVE covereth all sins.’ (Prov.10:12)

Oh my people, with those awesome words of wisdom and truth ringing in our ears this Saturday morning, please, let’s go out into the sinful world that surrounds us and cover up plenty more sins than we’re currently doing nuh. It’s what Jesus commanded us to do. (Matt.28:19-20) Let’s show the world what true LOVE really is! That would bring such joy to heaven. Much LOVE!

…to be successful at anything…you need to stay several steps ahead of your competitor…so let’s rev up the LOVE Revolution nuh…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 21 July 2022 Matthew 7:7.

Today’s Scrip-Bit 11 January 2014 Romans 13:10

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