Today’s Scrip-Bit   5 March 2024 Proverbs 1:7.

05 Mar 2024 Leave a comment

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

Proverbs 1:7.        The fear (reverential awe) of the Lord is the beginning (principal beginning) of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

And then it was Tuesday, the first one in March of 2024, which seems to be turning into a beautiful spring-like day, with temps in double digits. And though the birds are singing like crazy in the early morning and late evening hours, something deep inside refuses to allow me to believe that spring can really be this early. (smile) Usually at this time of the year we’re dressed real warm to prevent the cold March winds from penetrating to the depths of our souls, but now, some of us are walking around half-naked because of the unexpected warm temperatures. 

Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not complaining about the warm, sunshiny weather, no way! It’s just that I’m a bit skeptical about spring in February and March in these winter climes. (smile)  But enough about my skepticism, here’s one of my favourite prayers, one I’ve shared before, but I believe is appropriate to share every so often. (smile) It’s a special prayer prepared by the Life- Study Fellowship , in Noroton, Connecticut, some years ago. I don’t remember how it came into my possession, but I’ve used it on a fairly regular basis since then. 

So please pray with me: ‘Lord Please Accept My Heartfelt Thanks! “Praise the Lord for His Goodness.” ( Psalm 107:8.) Dear Lord, You are so good to me! and I thank You sincerely for the many blessings You send me! I’m very glad to have You in my life day in and day out – whatever I do and wherever I go! You are the One who always does what is best for my happiness! How grateful I am to be able to turn to You for guidance and comfort when troubles come my way! If any situation arises that makes me feel discouraged, You let me know I can lean on You for support! 

And because of Your LOVE for me, somehow I seem to find the strength to keep going – even through the most difficult of times! I’m grateful, too, for peaceful moments like these when I’m all alone with You in prayer! Talking with You NEVER fails to reassure and uplift me! Nothing I say to You goes unheard. You listen with great concern to everything I confide in You! For You truly care about me! As I look to 2024, I Pray that You will continue to watch over me – and grant me even more of Your wonderful blessings! And may I serve You well in my every word, my every deed! Be my guided hour by hour, I pray! Amen.’ 

Oh friends, you see why I like that prayer so much. It seems to cover every angle and say exactly what needs to be said! Like thanks for the many blessings; the guidance and comfort when troubles come, the peaceful moments alone in prayer; the caring and confidence as the Lord listens to us…and on and on and on! (smile) Ah mih people, we have such a wonderful God that I can’t believe so many people refuse to believe in and put their trust in Him. That’s so foolish and unwise. Remember these wise words of Cousin Sol at the beginning of Proverbs: ‘The fear (reverential awe) of the Lord is the beginning (principal beginning) of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.’ (Prov. 1:7) 

And that last part is ever so true, as can be so widely seen in the foolish actions so prevalent in this ungodly world! And what does all of that mean? The scholars explain: ‘The fear of the Lord means submission to the Lord and His revelation. When one is afraid of something, he either runs from it or submits to it. The latter idea is in view here. It is a healthy fear, like the fear of electricity or the fear of one’s parents, which causes one to act in an appropriate manner. The beginning does not mean that “the fear of the Lord” is left behind in the course of acquiring wisdom, but that it is the controlling principle of wisdom.’ 

And from all of that we can deduce two things; mankind does not fear God, like electricity or our parents, because the world is filled with so many more inappropriate things and behaviour than ever before. Inappropriateness is in fact the very norm for today’s world. We take great pleasure in being inappropriate, and laugh at those who desire to be appropriate. That only leads to the next thing, the leaving behind of God’s controlling principle of acquiring wisdom. We live in a world that does not wish to acquire godly wisdom. Consequently, it’s a world filled with chaos and confusion, strife, anger, and every work of the devil! 

But that seems to be what the majority of the world desires. So how do we overcome that eh? How do we change it all around? For needs we must, because we simply cannot allow our world to go to even greater depths in the mire of Satan and his evil cohorts. No, my fellow believers, we need to wrestle the world away from them in the name and the omnipotent power of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, who sacrificed His sinless life so that we could be granted the marvellous option of spending eternity with Him. And He’s given us all the tools we need to destroy the enemy, it’s just for us to get up now and do the deed. 

Oh friends, the enemy is ripe for the taking, if we supposed believers would only muster the belly and backbone to get up and get the job done!  But no, we’re too comfortable in this world of so many wonderful and lazy-inducing amenities, and don’t want to disrupt our peaceful existence in this evil-filled world. However, my fellow believers, please give some thought to this: on the day of judgement, we’ll all answer for what we did and didn’t do, and there’ll be no room whatsoever for excuses. So please, let’s wake up and smell the coffee nuh, and think about what we’ll say to Almighty God, when He asks why we didn’t do more with all the blessings and tools that He gave us. 

Please ponder that for a few moments. Hopefully it will wake us up to the sad reality of the situation. Now, for those of us who have already woken up and are trying our best to do God’s work, let’s go home declaring (yesss!!!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting the whole world know to whom we belong lock, stock and barrel. As one strong and sincere 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 my immediate neighbours, as well as with the whole wide world! Glory be!’ 

Now, having said that, it’s our bounden duty to go out and share the amazing LOVE and friendship of Christ with others, so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do! Much LOVE!

…a believer in Christ has important work to do…so please…let’s get up and do it nuh…

 Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ  

Today’s Scrip-Bit   25 January 2022 Psalm 107:6.

25 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 107:6.    Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. 

Well, it’s another cold and snowy Tuesday morning…but thankfully nothing like it was last Tuesday! Hn! Some snow did fall yesterday, but a minuscule amount in comparison to last week’s debacle. And again, much thanks should be given, because in some places they are still digging out and cleaning up from that amazing and awesome, but oh so dangerous and deadly amount of heavenly precipitation! (smile) 

And since we are in thanksgiving mode, I believe that one of my favourite prayers is most appropriate for today’s situation. It’s something I’ve shared before, but please remember that prayer is made to share over and over again. (smile) This awesome prayer was prepared by the Life-Study Fellowship, Noroton, Connecticut. I’m not sure exactly when, but it’s before 2014, which is on the copy I have, that tells you how much I like it, and how long I’ve had it, but I can see that I’ve also changed the date, and still do every year. (smile) 

So please pray with me: It’s titled: Lord, Please Accept My Heartfelt Thanks!  And opens thus: ‘Praise the Lord for His Goodness.’ (Psalm 107:8). Dear Lord, You are so good to me! And I thank You sincerely for the many blessings You send me! I’m very glad to have You in my life day in and day out – whatever I do and wherever I go! You are the One who always does what is best for my happiness! 

How grateful I am to be able to turn to You for guidance and comfort when troubles come my way! If any situation arises that makes me feel discouraged, You let me know I can lean on You for support! And because of Your LOVE for me, somehow, I seem to find the strength to keep going – even through the most difficult of times! I’m grateful, too, for peaceful moments like these when I’m all alone with You in prayer! 

Talking with You never fails to reassure and uplift me! Nothing I say to You goes unheard. You listen with great concern to everything I confide in You! For You truly care about me! As I look to 2022, I pray that You will continue to watch over me – and grant me even more of Your wonderful blessings! And may I serve You well in my every word, my every deed! Be my Guide hour by hour I pray! Amen.’ 

Oh my people, that prayer just resonates through every fibre of my being because it seems to cover all the bases! And praying it ‘never fails to reassure and uplift me,’ which is one of the major purposes of prayer! I surely hope that it touches your hearts and souls too, reassuring and uplifting you. And having said all of that, I guess the most logical thing to follow it up with is some of Psalm 107, which is titled ‘God’s wonderful works to the children of men.’ 

So let’s read together: ‘O Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy (LOVING-kindness) endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary (desolate) way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 

Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.’ (Ps. 107:1-9) 

Ah friends, there is so much in those first few verses of the psalm, that I don’t know what to talk about. (smile) We can talk about the Lord’s goodness and mercy which endure forever…Or about crying out to Him when in distress and Him delivering us out of our troubles…Or talk about praising the Lord for His goodness to us undeserving children of men…Or how He satisfies the longing soul and fills the empty soul with goodness. Take your pick! And that’s only from the first nine verses, and the psalm has 43 verses all told. 

Anyhow, in our sad and sorry current situation, I believe the verse about crying out to God in our time of trouble is what we should talk about; check out a couple scriptures on it, and see how our forefathers did it. So let’s turn to Psalm 50, God is the judge, where the psalmist Asaph wisely, provocatively and admonishingly writes on the Lord’s behalf: ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High: and call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.’ (Ps. 50:12-15) 

Yes my fellow believers, it’s obvious that we need to call upon our great God in these evil and sorrowful times, because He is the ONLY real source of help! It says so all throughout the scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation! So why are we so loathe to call upon the Creator of the universe for help eh, especially when nothing else, no man-made solution is working? Are we afraid, because deep down our souls hide in darkness and evil and we don’t truly honour God like we preach? And we fall into the wicked and ungodly category that verses 16-21 of Psalm 50 talk about. 

Under those circumstances, then these last two verses of Psalm 50, seem appropriate. ‘Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation (conduct) aright will I show the salvation of God.’ (Ps. 50:22-23) It’s so simple friends, we only have two options, be against God, live wickedly and suffer eternal death and damnation, or be for Him, live right and see His wonderful salvation! 

But that most important decision has to be made on an individual basis, everyone deciding for themselves. And yes, others will try to persuade us to fall into one category or the other, but please, please, first check out all the facts for yourself, then make a wise and informed decision. Just in case it helps, I made mine to follow Christ, because, in my opinion, that seems to be the best option. And for all those of us who believe likewise, let’s go home declaring (chuh!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting the whole world know to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. 

As one strong, sincere and confident 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 action those words, sharing the amazing LOVE and friendship of Christ with others, so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do! Much LOVE!

…when the righteous cry…the Lord hears…and answers…  

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8