Today’s Scrip-Bit   4 January 2022 Psalm 119:133.

04 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 119:133.     Order (direct) my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

And so, we’ve come to Tuesday friends, what are we going to talk about today eh? I really don’t know nuh, except that it will contain stuff about Jesus and His awesome contributions to our lives and the amazing and oh so rewarding lifestyle laid out in His Word for His followers to live by. In other words, the ole fella doesn’t have anything to say, and that’s saying something. (smile) 

But this happens from time to time, and when I cry out to the Lord for help, He ofttimes responds by giving me too much to write. So please give me a moment to consult with my Higher Power and see what He wants me to tell us today. (smile) Soon come…! 

I’m back mih people, in a minute flat! Sometimes the Lord takes a while to show me something, but today He wasted no time at all in guiding me to this poem from our One Year Book of Bible Promises with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin. It’s titled ‘His Part – My Part, and it seems quite appropriate for us to contemplate at the beginning of this new year, one chocked full of so many problems that it needs us to be strong and righteous. 

So please pray with me: ‘Lord You want me to trust You so totally That I am unmoved by any circumstance: Then work in me that steadfast trust. You want me to choose to do right: Then turn me from wanting any plan but Yours. You want me to revere and honour You: Then refresh and revive me. You want me to obey You uninterruptedly: Then make Your Word my guide. You want me to depend on you increasingly: Then reassure me that Your promises are mine. You want Your will to be my will: Then help me to LOVE Your every wish. –  I expect Your help dear Lord For You’ve never broken a single promise And You’re not going to start with me.’ 

And isn’t that awesome truth my brethren! The Lord’s NEVER broken a promise, and He’s not going to begin with any of us, or anyone who sincerely comes to Him for help! What an awesome, amazing, merciful, gracious, wonderful and LOVING God we serve my people! Give Him some thanks and praise for His wondrous ways to us, although we don’t deserve them! 

And the words, the Bible Promise for that poem come from that magnificent call to God, Psalm 119. They say: ‘Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those (as thy custom is toward those) that LOVE thy name. Order (direct) my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Deliver (redeem) me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they (men) keep not thy law.’ (Ps. 119:132-136) 

Yes friends, all of that is our heartfelt desire, but however we look at it, in any relationship, all parties have a part to play if they expect the relationship to grow and prosper. And so, we have our part to play, and God has His. The problem is that ofttimes we are not willing to play our part despite the Lord playing His. He gives us all we desire if we are faithful to Him; meaning, if we regularly read His Word, talk to Him, and live by His dictates. The long and short of the story is that we cannot get what we desire until we do the things He says. 

And remember, it’s not the Lord in need or want nuh, but us, and all He does, be it difficult or easy, is all for our benefit, not for His. And I believe that’s something we ought to keep uppermost in our hearts and minds this new year of 2022, because, too often we behave as though we are doing God a favour by following His commandments when that’s certainly not true. We, desperately need His awesome mercy and grace friends, otherwise we will end up holding the dirty end of the stick when it really matters. 

So please, let’s stop being foolish, let’s stop playing God and be who we really are nuh; created beings, ever dependent on the goodwill and grace of our Creator, the Lord God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth and all therein! And if we desire not to be eternally separated from God, then we need to live a life that’s worthy of Him, being grateful and LOVING and obedient to His dictates, crying out to Him for help in ALL circumstances, be they big or small, without shame or fear, for if we heed and believe His word, then we know that He will help us if we cry out to Him sincerely! 

Like Bruh David declares in Psalm 17 – A prayer for protection against oppressors. ‘Hold up my goings in thy paths (uphold my steps), that my footsteps slip not. I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. Show thy marvellous LOVING-kindness, O thou that savest (delivers) by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. Keep me as the apple (pupil)  of the eye: hide me under the shadow of thy wings.’ (Ps. 17:5-8) 

Oh my brethren, that’s the kind of cry we can offer up to the great God of our forefathers when we consistently try to keep His word and do His will. And this last scripture, again from Bruh David, this time from Psalm 19 – The creation and covenants of God, also helps us to come to God, and to stay with God, because He is the ONLY One that has ALL the answers. 

As Bruh David says: ‘Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great (much) transgression. 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.’ (Ps. 19:12-14) 

And that’s all I have to say for today! (smile) But yuh see how the Lord can lead and guide us, if we put our sincere trust in Him? Now, for those of us who are doing just that, let’s go home declaring (yesss!!!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting the whole world know whose we are, to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. 

As one strong voice! ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world. Amen!’ 

Now let’s go out and share that amazing LOVE and awesome friendship of Jesus with others, just as generously as He shares it with us, so that they too can come to LOVE and trust Him like we do! Much LOVE!

…Oh, isn’t it wonderful…that in Jesus…lies all our hope…for today, tomorrow and forever more… 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 2 January 2021 Psalm 19:14.

02 Jan 2021 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 meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.

Another snow-filled morning…but who’s counting or bothering eh? Certainly not me, or any of those Jesus filled believers who have to trudge out and about in it! (smile) That’s because with Jesus both in us and by our side we will not fear, regardless of what the world and its evil self choses to throw against us. And all of God’s children said a loud and proud: ‘Praise the Lord for His goodness and strength to the children of men!’ And that’s for sure friends, the Lord deserves much more thanks than we give Him. 

But remember, we promised to change that for this new year of 2021. Yes, this blessed year of 2021, we going to be sincerely singing the praises of our Lord and Saviour as we diligently carry out His work! We going to rise up and be who we ought to be; powerful and authoritative people of God, but filled with peace, LOVE, thanks, grace, mercy and all the other fruits of the Spirit! 

Wow! Beware evil world, Christ’s mighty army is coming against you this year, we going to be fighting you tooth and nail, right down to the wire, until your evil carcass lies wasted, lies a rotting in Hades! What powerful sentiments and promises friends. I do hope we keep them. (smile) 

Now, let’s see what our friend Anselm had to tell us this past week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. And thank the Lord, there is no preface to deal with this week! (smile) Yes it’s somewhat different this week. And it unfurls with this greeting and word of advice: ‘There are greater things to be achieved in every new year, and each and everyone must prepare themselves to be great, not by words of the mouth, but by a lot of sacrifices. Do stay safe.’ 

Ah precious people of God, our friend Anselm hit the nail on the head right there! Much talking must stop and be replaced by much action, with many sacrifices, cause that’s the example our Leader, Jesus set us. All of us want to be great, but we don’t want to expend the labour, the blood, sweat and tears it takes to do it. So we just talk up a storm, but do nothing worthwhile about it, because we just plain scared or lazy or whatever to truly confront the world in Jesus’ name. 

Remember Jesus told us not to fear so often that it ought to be seared into our minds, souls, bodies and spirits. And furthermore, He informed us that there would be trouble in the world but He had already conquered it, so we should be cheerful and just keep on doing what we ought to, because He would always be with us, right down to the very end of the age! That’s means, the world and its evil rulers can’t conquer us if we stand up strong with Jesus all around us, as He’s promised. 

So then, here’s this most interesting and very worthy advice from our friend Anselm. ‘We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.’ 

And isn’t that the gospel truth friends? We always seem to look for the bad parts in us, but seldom the good ones. We do have good parts yuh know, parts filled with lots of potential that God placed there for us to work on and fulfill our destiny and His purpose for our lives. Unfortunately though, we don’t pay sufficient attention to that aspect of our lives. 

And per Anselm, here are some ‘Things to think about for 2021:’ And the first bit of advice is ‘Talk less; listen more;’ Brother! Is that ever appropriate for many of us, including me. I even promised my family that I wouldn’t talk as much as I do. So there you see, I’m already on the right track. Hope I can fulfill that promise though, because it’s not an easy one to keep, but we can do it, if we cry out to God for help, like Bruh David did: ‘Set a watch (guard), O Lord, before my mouth; keep (watch over) the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties (delicacies).’ (Ps. 141:3-4) 

And if we’re sincere about it, the Lord will certainly hear our prayer and help us. Or we can also plead like Bruh David in Psalm 19: ‘Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Yes friends, we know we’re maturing when our words and the motives of our hearts are not displeasing to our heavenly Father. 

But moving right along, Anselm then tells us: ‘Remind yourself you are not the General Manager of the Universe;’ Now that’s certainly interesting because too many of us believe that we run the world; that it should run like we say or think. But for our information, that’s God’s job! We’re just a li’l speck in the great plan He has for His universe! So let’s not go messing with it nuh, as though it’s ours to set straight, for the Lord doesn’t take kindly to others trying to run His business. (smile) Let’s just concentrate on the li’l portion He gave us to look after nuh. We not even doing that properly, but we want to look after the world. (smile) 

And in the process, Anselm informs us that another useful endeavour would be to ‘Sit on your ego;’ And oh, do we ever need to do that in this ego driven, celebrity worshipping world of ours, where every li’l knuckle head – not the word I really wanted to use – (smile) thinks, believes and acts like a superstar. Steups! But fortunately, many of them flame out just as quickly as they catch fire. Oh friends, until we realize that there’s ONLY ONE SUPERSTAR in this universe, JESUS, and start worshipping Him and not our fellow weak, mortal, frail and finite man, our lives won’t be worth a whole lot! 

Now according to Anselm, we ought to also ‘Take one day at a time;’ And that’s wise advice, since Jesus told us the same thing long ago. ‘Take therefore no thought for (don’t worry about) the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil (trouble) thereof.’ (Matt. 6:34) Yeh, we can make some plans, with God ‘s help, but if we don’t look after today, who says we’ll be around to see tomorrow eh? 

And while we’re doing that, it would also be wise to ‘Separate worries from concerns. If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have you to do and let go of the anxiety. If you can’t do anything about a situation, forget it;’ Absolute words of wisdom my brethren! Brother Anselm’s been preaching to us today! (smile) I would like to add one thing to that though, if you can’t do anything about the situation, but it’s real important, then give it to God, let Him hold it for you, while He works on it. We don’t need to hold it if we can’t fix it. Just give it to the Master Fixer. 

And last but not least, possibly most important, Anselm advises us to ‘PRAY!’ Ah mih people, that is indeed the crowning glory of all we do! As Bruh Paul told the Thessalonians: ‘Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.’ (1 Thess. 5:16-18) And that is indeed God’s will for His people! 

Then Anselm ends by wishing a ‘Happy New Year to all my friends and family.’ And I wish the same for all of us my precious saints in Christ! Let’s make 2021 a banner year for the church and people of Christ! Much LOVE!

…if you truly believe…then you ought to rejoice…pray…and give plenty thanks…