Psalm 57:5. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
Oh Friends, the human mind is a most wonderful bit of machinery yes! Possibly our God’s greatest invention, for so far man can replicate most of what happens in the human body, but he’s still completely baffled by the exquisite and exotic workings of the mind.
And I bring this up because during the night I got up a couple of times, looked at the clock and decided it was too early to get up, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. However, at some stage after the last roll over, I discovered that I had gotten up and was putting on my day clothes.
Then something struck me as being not right. I realized that I was really dreaming about getting up and putting on my clothes. Hn, Hn! But yuh know what’s so significant about that dream?
I was dreaming about putting on the very same clothes that I had actually put out to put on whenever I got up. Now does that tell us something about the magnificence of the mind or what!
The same way Friends, when we keep our attention and focus on God, we see and do life the way He desires. Like Bruh David holed up in the cave, hiding from Saul, instead of bemoaning his unfortunate fate, for he was innocent of any wrongdoing against Saul, he instead declares our Bit. ‘Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.’
And that’s how ALL believers ought to operate, my people!
Now yesterday we ended by saying that our God was and is the greatest Comforter and Healer in the universe. Today, I want to share a couple scriptures to drive home those most important points. Listen to Bruh Paul as he talks to the Corinthians re his personal afflictions.
‘Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble (tribulation), by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.’ (2 Cor.1:3-4)
Yes my brethren, our great and wonderful God comforts us in our time of need, so that we can also comfort others in need of comforting. (smile) And re the healing power of Christ, hear what Matthew says about our Lord and Saviour when He walked this evil, ungodly earth.
‘And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of (every) sickness and all manner of (every) disease among the people.’ (Matt.4:23)
Yes Friends and neighbours, Jesus went about healing all sorts of diseases and sickness when He walked this earth. And the beauty of it all is, now that He’s sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven, entreating on our behalf, He’s still in the business of healing; healing souls, bodies and minds!
So whenever we’re in need of comfort and healing, the first place to turn to is heaven and Jesus, like Bruh David did in that solitary cave in the wilderness. Remember too, that though Bruh David was anointed to be Israel’s next king at a young age, he went through a lot of hell and high water, plenty testing, before it became a reality.
The Lord tested him in many ways before He actually promoted him. And this is one of those times. Listen to his beautiful words of trust, faith and exaltation though his life was in serious turmoil.
After declaring our Bit, he continues: ‘They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah. My heart is fixed (steadfast), O God, my heart is fixed (steadfast): I will sing and give praise.
Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery (lute) and harp: I myself will awake early (awaken the dawn). I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations (Gentiles). For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.’ (Ps.57:6-11)
Oh my fellow believers, that’s how ALL believers should feel, believe, talk and act! For those words portray the epitome of a true believer.
So today, if we’re being plagued, being beset by troubles that we can’t quite get a handle on, please release them all to our omnipotent, wonderful and ever-LOVING God! Let Him deal with them, for He’s promised to do just that if we come to Him in sincere faith.
The essence of the situation is therefore, instead of concentrating on our troubles, our negative circumstances, let’s do like Bruh David did in his time of need; let’s focus our thoughts and energy instead on our omnipotent, omniscient, all-knowing God; our Creator, Comforter, Guide, Healer and Provider.
That’s wisdom at its highest level, at its very zenith. Much LOVE!
…Bruh David found his exaltation of God so nice…that he had to say it twice… (vs.5,11) (smile)
Today’s Scrip-Bit 22 June 2013 Philippians 1:12
22 Jun 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: a tad happier, confidence, difficulties, encouragement, faith, fervour, further the Word, furthering of the gospel, glob of grease, God's Sovereignty, God's wisdom, good example, good news, gospel truth, grin and bear it, happy camper, hardships, kitchen sink, make a long story short, many believed, negative circumstances, passion for Christ, plenty poorer, preached the gospel, speak the word, steadfast faith, strength, Thank You Lord, the Lord's mysterious ways, the moral of the story, trials and tribulations, true faith, undesirable circumstances, wisdom, without fear, witnessed to others, zeal for Christ
Philippians 1:12. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.
Oh Friends, oh Friends, as the old people would say; when is not one thing, is something else yes! And unfortunately, the current something else in my life goes like this. A few days ago, we discovered that our kitchen sink was backing up; not too badly, but bad enough to cause problems. I tried plunging it several times without any luck.
Then I called a semi-retired handyman from my church to come and have a look at it. He came on Thursday morning, tried snaking it with his small snake, but to no avail either. So he suggested I call this professional outfit that had all the tools and experience.
I did that, and they eventually came on Friday morning, after promising to come on Thursday evening. But I guess that was the Lord moving in one of His mysterious ways, since what we went through in the daytime would have been even more agonizing in the evening hours.
To make a long story short, they snaked the pipe about three times, with a bigger and longer snake, but still to no avail. The water still came back up after running for a couple of minutes. We then moved to the basement where the pipe from the kitchen sink met the main drain. To get to that, we had to cut out a portion of my finished studio, which obviously I would have preferred not to do, only to find that the blockage was in the main drain itself.
Mama Mia! We couldn’t even open the trap because when we tried water began backing up. I must say that neither the plumber nor I was happy. He, because he was looking at a rather big and difficult job, and I because I was looking at possible water and other damage to my basement, as well as a huge repair bill.
It seems that a big glob of grease and other stuff is blocking the pipe. An accumulation of many years, which entails getting a water flushing machine or some such thing at a cost of $650.00, and labour on top of that for two plumbers at $180.00 per hour, and all of that has a tax of 13% on it.
So you can imagine that I’m not a happy camper this morning. Hopefully, I will be a tad happier, though plenty poorer by the time they finish the job, this afternoon.
Anyway Friends, the moral of the story is NOT TO, NEVER flush oil or grease down your sinks, because it doesn’t always go right down into the main sewer system but stays in your pipe system and clogs it up after a while, causing problems like mine. Get a bottle, a bucket or some other kind of container and pour your grease and oil in that, and then dispose of that in some other fashion, but definitely not down your drains.
I guess I have to be thankful though that the blockage didn’t get into the heart of the main system, where it would have caused all the pipes in the house to back up, but apparently stayed in the drain leading to it. And for that I say, Thank You Lord!’
So that’s what I have to look forward to today. But enough of my griping (smile). A lot of people would gladly have that problem rather than the ones they do have.
Now let’s turn to our Bit, which seems rather appropriate under he circumstances. ‘But I would ye should understand (I want you to know), brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen (turned) out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.’
And that’s the gospel truth Friends! Why? Because all Bruh Paul’s hardships, imprisonments, floggings, shipwrecks etc, eventually turned out for good, helped to further the Word because others recognized his zeal and passion for Christ.
As the scholars explain: ‘Things … have fallen out means “have occurred.” Paul tells his readers that his imprisonment has occurred for the purpose of furthering or spreading the gospel. The word rather suggests that the Philippians were anticipating the reception of bad news as a result of Paul’s captivity. He informs them rather to the contrary.
In His wisdom and sovereignty God has deliberately designed His servant’s present circumstances, as undesirable as they may be, for the gospel’s benefit. Two positive results of Paul’s imprisonment are given in verse 13, 14. (1) Caesar’s palace learned the gospel from him (v13); and (2) many Roman Christians were stirred to preach the gospel during his bondage.’
Ah Friends, our God does certainly move in mysterious ways! We’d think that all Bruh Paul’s trials and tribulations would cause people to turn away from Christ, but it had the exact opposite effect.
As he so eloquently says: ‘So that my bonds (chains) in Christ are manifest (well known) in all the palace (by the praetorian palace guards), and in all other places. And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing (becoming) confident by my bonds (chains), are much more bold to speak the word without fear.’ (Phil.1:13-14)
Yes Friends, our God oftimes uses our hardships and difficulties to draw others closer to Him. When they see our faith and strength in Him, they begin to believe. A good current example is what’s happening to me. I don’t like it, not by a long shot, but I have to grin and bear it. Now someone with a lesser problem might look at that and say, well if he could bear up under that, then I can bear up under my lesser problem.
And the Lord does that in all our lives; using our trials as encouragement for others. So though Bruh Paul was in jail in chains, he witnessed to all the guards that came by, and when they realized that he was no criminal, just zealous in the preaching of Christ and the gospel, many believed and witnessed to others.
Likewise the Roman believers were inspired by Bruh Paul’s stance for Christ and they too began spreading the gospel with much fervour. The scholars put it very nicely. ‘The whole church, thus stirred, did more in spreading the Good News than Paul could have done by himself had he not been in jail.’
So my fellow believers, let us not shirk or run and hide from whatever befalls us, even though they be negative circumstances, because you never know what the Lord’s reasons are for causing them.
Let’s just hold on tightly to His promise of working out everything for the good of those He’s called and who sincerely try to follow Him. (Rom.8:28) That’s true faith and wisdom in a nutshell my brethren! Much LOVE!
…when we endure trials and tribulations with steadfast faith and strength…God uses us to further the gospel by our example…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 8 May 2013 Proverbs 18:12
08 May 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: awesome truth, balance, believe, believers in Jesus Christ, blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor in spirit, dependence on god, dissatisfied people, don't give up, don't throw in the towel, empathy, faith and trust, faithful God, hanging in the balance, haughtiness, haughty heart, heart of man, holy spirit, honour, hope, horse of a different colour, humility, inherit the earth, invincibility, jealousy, kingdom of heaven, merciful God, mind and spirit, negative circumstances, omnipotent god, pride, question god, reverence God, selfish pride, stand strong, steadfast faith, tranquility, trust in God, unexpected tragedy, vicissitudes of life, weighted stone, wisdom, without warning, worldly pinnacles
Proverbs 18:12. Before destruction the heart of man is haughty; and before honour is humility.
Oh Friends, the days are nicely morphing into each other; warm and sunny, with temps in the high teens and low twenties. It’s about time too! The only problem though is that we haven’t seen any rain for at least a week now. Let’s hope that’s not a harbinger of things to come for the summer. But anyway, as believers in Jesus Christ, whatever comes our way, we’re expected to stand steadfast in faith and bear it with His help through the Holy Spirit. And talking about faith, here’s an interesting quote attributed to Robert Veninga, a U.S. Lutheran Church minister. He says that ‘Faith has a powerful effect in helping people recover a sense of balance, tranquility and hope.’ And that’s an awesome truth my people! But it’s oftimes funny how it works. Usually we might be all faith filled, then some totally unexpected tragedy or disaster occurs in our lives, a la Job, and suddenly we begin to question why such a misfortune happened when we were so righteous. Then we begin to question God, and consequently, unlike Job, our faith level falls and we’re not as sure and assured as we were before the tragedy. But yuh know what Friends? Though reading now at a rather low and precarious level, it’s that same basic faith and trust in an omnipotent and merciful God that gets us through the dilemma, that keeps us hanging on, sometimes even by a mere thread, and eventually restores our trust in God, usually at a higher level too. That’s because once we’ve settled down, accepted our fate, and gone through the fire, we come out stronger, energized, with a more flame resistant mind and spirit. It’s simply the way our Lord works. Negative circumstances have a way of making us stand strong and believe. So whatever rough times you’re going through right now, with your faith hanging in the balance or slowly ebbing away, please don’t give up, don’t throw in the towel. I encourage you to stay with it, even though it seems overwhelming. Remember that our faithful God has promised that whatever He brings us to, or allows to come upon us, He will bring us through it, and will work all things out for the good of those who truly LOVE Him and are called to do His will. (Rom.8:28) That brings us to our Bit, which is a horse of an entirely different colour. (smile) Long time I haven’t heard or used that term. But our Bit today is definitely enlightening. ‘Before destruction the heart of man is haughty; and before honour is humility.’ Now aren’t those gospel truths my brethren? They surely are! But unfortunately our world today is thoroughly consumed with haughtiness and selfish pride, a sin the Lord despises more than most, because it makes Him entirely of no account in our lives. But it’s definitely a fact that when we’re riding high in this ungodly, evil world, we usually have more than a touch of pride and invincibility about us. Even the least proud and haughty amongst us, do feel an increase in their own strength and independence. But as Cousin Sol so wisely points out, and practical experience in life confirms, it’s usually when we’re riding high, with the least respect and dependence on God, that disaster befalls us. You seldom see the man on the low rungs of the totem pole falling any further. But it’s those at the very top, the ones who have no time or use for God, and foolishly figure that it’s their own strength and wisdom that got them to the top, who fall like a weighted stone from the height of their worldly pinnacles. And it usually doesn’t take long either. One day they’re on the top of the heap, revelling in their wealth and power, then next day, sadly, without any warning or empathy, they’re consigned to the garbage heap of life. And as I keep telling my children, be very careful what methods you use to get to the top, and how you behave when you get there, because those same methods will be used to bring you down. There will always be jealous, dissatisfied people who are only too glad and willing to help you fall. As Cousin Sol so aptly puts it: ‘Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.’ (Prov.16:18) The second half of our Bit is also bathed in truth; ‘and before honour is humility.’ And we talking about real honour here Friends, that which comes through the mysterious machinations of Almighty God, not the nonsense, the trumped up pride, the world refers to as honour. Please be aware of one thing my people, the Lord will not lift us up unless we are humble and respectful to Him. As I said earlier, pride and haughtiness keeps Him out of our lives, but humility and reverence endears him to us. Jesus said it quite plainly very early in His ministry, in the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matt.5:3) The scholars describe the ‘poor in spirit are the opposite of the proud or haughty in spirit. They have been humbled by the grace of God and have acknowledged their sin and therefore their dependence on God to save them.’ Then Jesus declared: ‘Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.’ (Matt.5:5) The scholars say that ‘refers again to those who have been humbled before God and will not only inherit the blessedness of heaven, but also will ultimately share in the kingdom of God on earth.’ So Friends, why do we follow the foolish ways of the world eh, when we ought to know better? Even before Jesus came along, Cousin Sol wisely warned us: ‘The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.’ (Prov.15:33) Oh my fellow believers, there is no doubt as to the truth of those statements, and it’s basically why our world is filled with so much confusion and turmoil. Too many of us lack the wisdom to reverence God, while too many of us also have the foolish propensity that leans toward pride, haughtiness and self-dependence. Oh Friends, please let’s wake up and realize that we didn’t make or create ourselves, and as the vicissitudes of life so clearly show us everyday, we don’t control the tempo and circumstance of our lives either. That is all done by the One who created us, Almighty God. So please wake up and smell the roses and remember: ‘The fear (reverential awe) of the Lord is the (principal) beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.’ (Prov.1:7) Much LOVE!…one cannot be proud, haughty and irreverent towards God…and expect to prosper for long in this earthly life…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 17 March 2013 Psalm 119:105
17 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: absolute truth, angusihed heart, christianity, consistent walk with God, covenant, dry as a desert, faith, guiding light, holy spirit, honey, honeycomb, ingenious enemy, instruction, jehovah god, joyful song, lamp to my feet, light to my path, mirage, negative circumstances, oasis, plaintive wail, promise, religion, spirituality, straight and narrow path, testimony, thanks and praise, the Lord's faithfulness, the Word of god, truthful words, warning system, wisdom, writer's block
Psalm 119:105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Oh Friends, this dark, chilly Sunday morning at first appeared to be a day of writer’s block. No creative juices whatsoever were flowing through the ole fella. Usually, even though I might not have a Bit, I’ll have something to say myself or something to quote. But not today, today there was nada; no Bit, nothing wise and witty to say, and nothing to quote. It was like being in a totally dry desert, surrounded by hot, brown sand as far as the eye could see, with not even a mirage of an oasis, much less a real one. Oh, it sure is a strange and unusual day when the ole fella has nothing to say! (smile) However Friends, I never despaired of writing something because I have the utmost faith in Almighty God, and knew He would eventually come through for me. Remember too, I’m only doing what He asked me to do, and He’s promised to always help us do His will. And my Friends, one of the many benefits of consistently walking with Jehovah God is that you come to genuinely know His faithfulness, which in turn builds your faith, so that the next time you hit a wall, you will be stronger and not despair as much as the previous time. And I’m saying this from personal experience, for over the years I’ve been writing the Bit, on numerous occasions He’s lifted me up from the depths of negative circumstances, putting a joyful song in my heart and words of wisdom in my mouth. All it takes my people is to sincerely cry out to Him. And that I did this morning. His heart must have been deeply touched by my plaintive wail, (smile) for shortly thereafter I found a Bit that I could get my head around, while a joyful song of thanks and praise refreshed my anguished heart, and truthful words of testimony were placed in my mouth. So that now mih breddren, the ole fella’s ready to rock and roll with and for Jesus. (smile) And you’ll notice how appropriate to my plight is the Bit to which I was guided. Our God doesn’t miss a trick. ‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.’ Words of absolute truth and wisdom my people! You’ll also notice that it has a two-fold purpose: Firstly, it shows us the right road on which to travel, guides us to the straight and narrow path of God. Then it provides a light in the darkness, so we can see where we’re going along that straight and narrow road. Yes Friends, the Lord’s Word is the Guiding Light, graciously and LOVINGLY gifted to man, so that he may find his pilgrim way safe and sound in this fallen world. Now when you have acknowledged that the Lord’s Word is your life guide, you also have to declare: ‘I have sworn, and I will perform (confirm) it, that I will keep thy righteous judgements.’ (Ps.119:106) That’s like the covenant Nehemiah and the Israelites made when they left Babylon to go and rebuild Jerusalem. ‘They clave to (joined with) their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgements (ordinances) and his statutes.’ (Neh.10:29) Yes my people, it doesn’t make sense to claim that something is so good, then not actively do or participate in it. And there are certainly other passages of scripture that agree with our Bit. A prominent one is found in the wise sayings of Cousin Sol. ‘For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is the light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.’ (Prov.6:23) And although he was warning against adultery in that particular case, the wisdom of the saying pertains to all of life. Then, if we turn to Psalm 19, the creation and covenants of God, these pearls of untold wisdom, issue forth from Bruh David’s mouth. ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting (restoring) the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and (the drippings of) the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.’ (Ps.19:7-11) Oh Friends, those words cut right to the heart of the matter! The Lord’s Word is the most important thing to a true believer, what we live and die by! In fact it’s the most important thing to every human being, every creation of Almighty God, because come the judgement day, everyone will have to answer for their earthly journey, based on its principles. And I want us to note two things in that last verse of the above quote from Psalm 19. The first thing is that we gain rewards, excellent ones too, for keeping His word. And secondly, but most important, is the fact that the Word provides us with a timely warning system, re the vicissitudes of life. Yes my people, it’s like a fire alarm that sounds warning bells in the event of a fire. The Word, through our consciences and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, raises up those warning signs when we’re moving away from the God’s Word. So please, let’s pay close attention to those warning signals, otherwise we’ll be easily tripped up by the evil, but wily and ingenious enemy, Lucifer. Now that’s true wisdom! Much LOVE!…man’s promises are worthless…made to be broken…but the covenants of God are sacred…and like Him…are unchangeable…written in stone…
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