Hebrews 13:8. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.
Ah mih people, the days just keep rolling along, from one to the other, without any apparent recognition of mankind’s many problems. Some things change, while others remain the same, but throughout it all, we still need to deal with all sorts of controversial situations and upheavals, not knowing what will happen from one day to the next. But those ole days don’t seem to care at all, they just keep doing their thing; running changelessly into each other, detailing weeks, months, seasons, years, and even centuries.
But fortunately for us, there’s been ONE Being, that’s remained constant over the many topsy-turvy days of mankind, that’s our Creator: Almighty God. Yes friends, He’s been there from the very beginning…and wonder of wonders, He’ll be there right to the very end! And why is that eh? Because as He says in His word, He is unchangeable, immovable, immutable, irreplaceable, the ONLY Living God! So let’s hear some scripture that will remind us of our God’s omnipotence, omniscience, omni-presence, steadfastness, unchangeability and immutability.
And we’ll begin with His message to Cyrus the pagan king, through the prophet Isaiah. ‘I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west (to its setting), that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil (calamity): I the Lord do all these things.’ (Is. 45:5-7) And yes, the Lord does create physical evil or calamity, not moral evil or sin. And yes, the Lord did use pagan kings, like Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar as conduits to fulfill His eventual will.
Moving on, we come to Malachi, where through that prophet, the Lord confronts His people Israel about turning away from Him and their lack paying tithes. He says: ‘For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?’ (Mal. 3:6-8)
Oh friends, that’s the exact thing the Lord is saying to us today, and the very same answer we are giving Him. We have turned away from Him, and instead of returning to Him like He desires, we are trying to turf Him and His ordinances out of our society. So what can we expect but calamity eh?
Now listen to the author of Hebrews, as he talks of service well pleasing to God. ‘Remember them which have the rule over you (who lead you), who have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end (outcome) of their conversation (conduct). Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers (various) and strange doctrines (teachings). For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats (foods), which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.’ (Heb. 13:7-9)
But do you think we have followed, or are following that directive? Oh no sir! Instead, we are being led away by a whole set of strange teachings and proceedings that don’t profit those who practice them. Steups! How sad it is my people! And then we wonder why our world is in such a mess.
So, let’s now consider James words on the subject. ‘Do not err (be deceived) my brethren. For every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness (variations, unexpected, unforeseen changes), neither shadow of turning. Of his own will he begat us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.’ (James 1:16-18)
Oh my people, our God created everything that exists, and mankind as the jewel of His creations, that’s why He so desires to redeem us all, and not lose any to the enemy. And he gave us His holy word that we should walk in it. But being the disobedient, stubborn, hard-headed creatures we are, we have refused to do so, with disastrous consequences to our ungodly actions.
Now here is the last scripture from John the Revelator, from the mouth of Jesus Himself. ‘And behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.’ (Rev. 22:12-13) All I can now say friends is that wisdom dictates that we return to the waiting arms of our Creator. And if you agree, then please join me in offering up our Monday Morning Battle Hymn in heartfelt prayer.
As one sincere and humble voice now: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You that this Monday morning we’re alive and standing in faith despite the mass confusion that’s currently prevailing in our world. We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems; the pandemic of Covid -19, the racial, political, and religious strife that’s ignited worldwide, plus the many natural disasters that now seem more prevalent than ever.
Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously come short in obedience and compliance to Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, and You have 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, ordinary folks, as well as our leaders, employers and medical personnel, wise guidance and direction to bring our problems under control.
And for those who are currently suffering from the many negative situations, we pray that You will ease their suffering and heal them. Father, 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 let us go and keep our solemn vows to our wonderful, forgiving and LOVING God! Much LOVE!
…God is the ONLY thing in this universe that has NOT changed…and will NEVER change…whether you believe it or not is immaterial…
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SCRIP-BITS 
Today’s Scrip-Bit 7 December 2020 Psalm 121:2.
07 Dec 2020 Leave a comment
by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: a good understanding, against the rich and mighty, awe-filled reverence towards God, awesome grace and mercy, divine retribution, fight for the poor and downtrodden, gives us thought for pause, god moves in mysterious ways, have all they that do his commandments, he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, I will greatly praise the Lord, I will lift up mine eyes to the hills, in a quandary, in this wicked perverse world, Jehovah Rapha, keeps us on the right track, make me to understand, merciful forgiving God, Monday Morning Battle Hymn, my help cometh from the Lord, my well has run dry, no coherent subject to comment on, praise him among the multitude, sincere repentance, so shall I talk of thy wondrous works, teach me O Lord, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the God who heals, the Lord is thy keeper, the Lord shall preserve thy going out and coming in, the way of thy precepts, the way of thy statutes, those that condemn his soul, turn from our evil ways, which made heaven and earth
Psalm 121:2. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth.
Oh friends, the ole fella’s in a bit of a quandary this morning; he doesn’t know what to talk about, he has no coherent subject to comment on, like my well has run dry. (smile) These things do happen to the best of us at times. However, as I was leafing through the Good Book, the Psalms in particular, I came upon some verses that seemed to be just made for today. They’re all from different psalms, but something about them just touched me and I got the great idea to put them forward for our understanding and knowledge today. And I hope that all of them, or even just one touches our hearts this Monday morning and gives us thought for pause and ‘ponderation.’ (smile)
So here goes. The first verse comes from Psalm 109 – A prayer for the punishment of the wicked – from the pen of Bruh David. After wishing divine retribution on his enemies, he boldly declares (yeahh!): ‘I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn (are judging) his soul.’ (Ps. 109:30-31)
My question is, are we praising the Lord greatly amongst the multitude of the heathen, among the numerous evildoers in our world? And do we believe that the Lord will fight for the poor and downtrodden against the rich and mighty? If our hearts are right, the answer to both questions ought to be a loud and proud: ‘YES!’
The next verse comes from Psalm 111, where the psalmist proclaims with certainty: ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.’ (Ps. 111:10) Now that’s the very essence of life my people!
And to show it’s oh so true, Job made that declaration in Job 28:28, and Cousin Sol makes the same declaration, not once, but three times; in Prov. 1:7, Prov. 9:10, and Eccl. 12:13. So there must be a whole lot of truth to it. That leads to the question, do we fear the Lord? Do we possess that awe-filled reverence toward the Lord God Almighty; He of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Hopefully we will all shout out another loud and proud: ‘YES!’
And then we move on to that great Psalm 119, where the author desires of the Lord: ‘Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works….Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.’ (Ps. 119:27, 33-34)
Wow mih bredrin! Those are the kinds of things we ask of the Lord when we have wisdom, when we reverence Him with our whole hearts, soul and being, because those are the things that keep us on the right track in this wicked and perverse world. And yuh know what’s next, (smile) the question of whether we desire those right-living things of the Lord? And I hear another loud and proud shout of: ‘YES, WE DO!’
Glory be mih people! That’s why we can conclude with these awesome words of the psalmist, as he talks of God’s sustaining power in Psalm 121: ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills (mountains), from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth.’ (Ps. 121:1-2) Yes friends, our help comes from nowhere or No One else but the Lord God Jehovah!
And as the psalmist continues: ‘He will not suffer thy foot to be moved (slip): he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper (protector): the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve (keep) thee from all evil. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.’ (Ps. 121:1-8) And do we believe all of that? ‘YES!’
Good! Then in awe-filled reverence and wisdom, let’s look to the Lord for the help that we desperately need today nuh. Let’s cry out to Him for succour and sustenance through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, for we desperately need His assistance. So altogether now: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You that this Monday morning we’re alive and standing in faith despite the mass confusion that’s currently prevailing in our world.
We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems; the pandemic of Covid -19, the racial, political, and religious strife that’s ignited worldwide, plus the natural disasters like storms, famine, drought, plagues, climate change, wildfires, earthquakes and erupting volcanoes that suddenly seem to be blossoming more and more as time goes by.
Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously come short in obedience and compliance to Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, and You have 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, ordinary folks, as well as our leaders, employers and medical personnel, wise guidance, and direction to bring our problems under control.
And for those who are currently suffering from the many negative situations, we pray that You will ease their suffering and heal them. Father, 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 please remember, the state of our hearts, if they are filled with true repentance, will decide the Lord’s answer. And who would have ‘thunked’ it eh – I didn’t have anything to say. (smile) Our God surely does move in mysterious ways. That’s why He’s such a great and wonderful God! Much LOVE!
…only when we look up…will help come from above…