Today’s Scrip-Bit 15 January 2021 Matthew 24:35.

15 Jan 2021 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 24:35.     ​Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

And yes, believe it or not, it’s Friday! The day we all look forward to so much…or at least use to look forward to. (smile) But when yuh not doing much of anything on any given day, no need to look forward to any special one. Well, except for the few people who actually going out to work. 

And now, since yesterday the Province of Ontario is even further locked down, if that’s possible. The Covid numbers have been increasing steadily despite the lockdown, the vaccine and the efforts of the government beseeching people to follow the few rules we have to contain the virus. 

But this is a rebellious and belligerent generation who are not listening but doing what they want to do. And we all know that rebellion and belligerence cause nothing but trouble and chaos. Anyway, let’s hear what the ordinary workingman has to say for himself today nuh! 

He shakes his head and sadly intones: ‘One time I’d be so glad to see Friday, even to the point of shouting out ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday!’ That’s because I knew the work week was done and I’d be able to spend the weekend with mih family. But right now, Friday is like any other day – no work…and no pay. Steups! 

Granted, ah thankful for the li’l pittance we getting from the government, at least it help us to live hand to mouth and not starve. But what kinda life it is when a strong, healthy and willing man can’t go to work to feed his children eh? And since yesterday we locked down even tighter than a drum because people not behaving and the virus spreading like wildfire, we even have the new strain. 

Don’t know what people want nuh, if they expect it to just go away without any help from them? And with the nonsense that going on down in the States, where they rebelling and revoluting…Steups! Who knows when that same attitude going to flare up up here eh? Doh fool yuh fat nuh, we have plenty like them up here, they just not as stupid. 

Ah Lord, tell me when all this going to done nuh? The whole thing driving me crazy! Don’t know how much more I could handle without going off mih rocker nuh! Help me nuh Lord, help we nuh! Is only you who could help we now yes!’ 

And isn’t that the gospel truth friends! It’s only the Lord God Almighty who can help us now oui! We’ve dug ourselves into such a deep hole that we can’t drag ourselves out without divine help. 

What a world we living in! A world that’s in complete uproar and disarray with serious dissension all over it. I don’t know if this has ever happened before, where the whole world was in such a panicked situation! So what can I say to give us some comfort eh friends? Not a whole lot. 

But let’s remember Jesus’ talk about His Second Coming when the world would be in a real bad state. (Matt. 24:29-31) That might be the only thing to save us. Who knows eh? 

Hear these words of His though: ‘Now learn a parable of (from) the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it (He) is near, even at the doors.’ (Matt. 24:32-33) Yes my people, though we don’t know exactly when Christ will return, there are certain signs that it is imminent, or pretty close. 

And the scholars list some of these for us: ‘Israel’s return to the Promised Land, the obvious acceleration of lawlessness, increase of apostasy (turning away from God) (1 Tim. 4:1), the socio-religious climate preparing for the one world church, and the rapid acceleration of life-threatening conditions – such as potential atomic annihilation, population explosion and pollution – that require Christ’s return before events run their natural course and terminate the world. Paul listed certain conditions, which, though true in every age, appear to be more prevalent today (2 Tim. 3:1-5).’ 

And that’s the indisputable truth! We are awfully close to the breakneck point. Hence these words of Jesus are so important. ‘Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.’ (Matt. 24:34-35) More indisputable truth my brethren! 

And the scholars explain: ‘24:34. The generation that shall not pass is the generation in whose lifetime all these signs occur. That generation will not pass away until all these things be fulfilled. In other words, the previously listed signs will continue to multiply throughout the church age and reach their ultimate climax at the end of the age in the generation of those who will live to see the entire matter fulfilled in their lifetime.’ 

Yeh friends, the way we’re so LOVELESS, godless and strife filled, it might even happen in ours. But make no mistake, if we continue the way we’re going, it won’t be far off. However, as always, our number one tool is prayer. So let’s turn to the Lord and with all sincerity, through our Friday Chant, lay bare our souls before Him nuh. That is our best bet. 

So as one strong, sincere voice: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. Yuh know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and the racial strife causing. We not accustomed to that kind of life Lord, and it really telling on us. And we know we can’t handle it on our own, that we desperately need your help. 

Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the sure and wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. 

And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, so that we can avoid any more serious setbacks. And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to also bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. 

It’s also a good opportunity to introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion because of the way we, your faithful believers, handle the situation. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

Now it’s up to us, the faithful believers to handle the situation…properly! Much LOVE!

…Christ will come again…it’s only a matter of time… 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 23 June 2015 Psalm 27:14

23 Jun 2015 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 27:14.   Wait (in patient faith) on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait (in patient faith), I say, on the Lord. 

Oh Friends, it was really an invigorating and refreshing experience sitting out on my front porch at minutes to two this wet, and rainy Tuesday morning in the early summer days of 2015! A smell of cleanliness was in the air, as the rain had washed away all the day’s grime and pollution. I listened with joy as the mild breeze sang to the dancing leaves as it blew through them. Even the two flower baskets hanging at the front of the porch were gently swaying to the intriguing riddim of the singing breeze and dancing leaves. (smile)

But please note that that was after the torrential downpour of rain had passed, having been preceded by many zaps of bright and dazzling lightning illuminating the dark and cloudy skies, and several bursts of thunder, loud roars of Thor’s mighty hammer had rolled across the heavens.

Thankfully though, while that was all happening I was safely ensconced in my family room watching the tube, and had to laugh when at times Thor’s roar blocked out the volume of the TV.

Oh how I wish I could block out some of the noise that’s now happening right behind me in the lane, as this area has been flooded with construction work and the associated noises as they claim they are fixing the curbs so that we can have better water flow in the drains.

This stuff has been going on now for at least a month, and we still have to have the lanes and the main street resurfaced afterwards, so it looks to be a noisy and dusty summer. So you can I imagine how I felt earlier this morning as I experienced the peaceful calm that usually comes after the storm. (smile)

And having experienced, having witnessed all those exciting and thrilling aspects of nature, how can I not LOVE what the Lord has provided us eh?  No way Jose!

I believe that any Christian who doesn’t LOVE nature, doesn’t truly know or understand God, for that’s where He has revealed so much of Himself to us. His awesome might and power, His ever increasing glory and His solemn majesty are all visible through the wonders of nature. Glory Be!

But enough of my rambling, listen to this most realistic poem from The One Year Book of Bible Promises, with writings from Ruth Harms Calkin. This one is simply titled ‘The Prayer.’ 

‘For so many anguished months I’ve been waiting for you to answer The one longing desire of my heart. I’ve begged, pleaded, agonized. I’ve prayed at times fumblingly At other times intensely. I’ve knelt and prayed. I’ve buried my head in my pillow and prayed.

I’ve prayed before breakfast and after lunch. I’ve prayed before dawn And after dark. I’ve prayed with spontaneous outbursts while tears washed my face. I’ve prayed over our kitchen sink And as I shopped for groceries. I’ve prayed amid screeching traffic.

At times I’ve prayed with confidence at other times with fear. And yet, Lord, though I have waited Though I have strained to listen There is no answer. I hear nothing…just nothing.

O God, I am so puzzled, so bewildered. A frightening thought haunts me. Could it be true Lord? Don’t You LOVE me anymore?

My child Because I LOVE you so much I wait for you to let Me remove the harmful desire.’

Oh my people, doesn’t all of that ring so loud and truthfully in our ears this morning? Of course it does! Because all of us have had times like those, when with anguished cries we reached out, desperately called out to God in our trials and temptations, but unfortunately never seemed to receive an answer.

And I like God’s answer: He LOVES us so much, that He is just waiting for us to let go of whatever is bothering us so that He can solve our problems. He can’t solve them if we keep holding on to them.

And you know my brethren, that’s a real problem with many of us; we insist on holding on to stuff that we want God to fix, but that is not realistic. He can’t fix it unless we let it go.

And the promise that is held out for that poem is a well-known passage of scripture from Psalm 27 – The Lord is my light and my salvation. Hear these wise and encouraging words of Bruh David which have the pleasure, the honour of being our Bit for today.

‘Wait (in patient faith) on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait (in patient faith), I say, on the Lord.’

What awesome words of encouragement and wisdom my people! And nobody knew the power of waiting patiently in faith on our magnificent and magnanimous God better than Bruh David!

Sadly though, in these days of excessive busyness, intolerance and impatience, many of us have lost that power, that ability to wait patiently on our wonderful and ever-faithful God.

Most of this young generation don’t even know or have that capability, because all they have been taught and become accustomed to is the now for now realization of all their desires.

In this respect Friends, we have certainly done the young generation a great disservice by not teaching them to wait patiently in faith on the Lord our God. Unfortunately, we too, the older generation, have also moved away from that standard, having been hypnotized, been deceived and taken in by the now for now attitude of our society.

This is not a good sign my people. We need to move back to the realistic and faithful waiting for God to work in our lives. We need to get back to what Isaiah says in his song of praise by the redeemed.

‘He will swallow up death in victory (forever); and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it.

And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited (patiently in faith) for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited (patiently in faith) for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’ (Is.25:8-9)

Oh Friends, what marvellous words of faith, encouragement and strength! Please, please, let’s hold on to them this and every day, as we again learn to wait patiently in faith on our heavenly Father, for that is the zenith, the epitome of wisdom and common sense!

He will never lead us astray, will never renege on any of the many promises He’s made in His Word, if we are obedient to and wait patiently in faith on His timing, which is always impeccable. That much I can vouch for through personal testimony. Much LOVE!

…to wait…to wait…and yet to wait patiently in faith on God…is one of the hallmarks of Christianity…

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 23 February 2013 Job 8:13

23 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

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

Job 8:13.      So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish.
 
Oh Friends, it’s another day in the life! However, for many down in the U. S. it’s going to be an extremely rough one, where they continue to dig out from another round of severe snowstorms, this one predominantly hitting the Central part of the country. I guess we can call this the year of the snow, for places that haven’t had snow in ages have experienced it this year. Even in parts of Southern California some snow fell, causing unaccustomed traffic congestion and the other niceties that snow brings, especially when you’re not accustomed to it. (smile) They were even pelting snowballs in Arizona instead of playing golf, because the courses were white and not green. Some places that have not fully recovered from previous snowfalls have again been inundated by the white stuff. But why are we seeing so much of it in such short periods eh? I’d like to put forward two theories. The first is climate change. We have screwed up the delicate balance of the planet with so much pollutants that it’s now coming back to haunt us in unstable, unusual weather patterns. Cut it whichever way you want, we can’t continue to put so much polluting stuff in our air, water and land and don’t expect some unusual reaction. And anyone who believes that, or eschews that position is a fool! Look at amount of known carcinogens we now have in our food, either to make it look pretty or stay fresh and last longer. Don’t you think that affects the delicate balance of our bodies too? I get angry when I hear about these cancer fundraisers and curing cancer. How can you cure something when you keep putting it in your food, water, land and atmosphere eh? But that’s a story for another day. But getting back to climate change. When last have we seen so much snow in North America eh? For the last five to ten years we’ve hardly had any, in comparison to what we used to have before. So much so that recently the ski resorts had to resort to snow making machines for longer periods than ever before. Now it seems as if it has turned around again, and they’re getting mucho snow. Oh Friends, our planet can stand a lot of pain, but like our human bodies it’s finely timed and tuned and continued abuse will eventually make it sick, just like it does to our human bodies. Our God didn’t make it to stand the kind of abuse we’re putting it through. That brings me to our second theory; that the unusual climate patterns and natural disasters we’re having in unusual places is partly the work of our God, in retribution for our very sinful state of ungodliness and disobedience to His Word. That dovetails very nicely with our Bit: ‘So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish.’ We’ve seen over the centuries that societies that have gotten too big for their ‘britches’ and become sinful and ungodly, have eventually been cut down to size one way or another. The sad part is that most of the times there have been warnings, but the proud, evildoers have not paid them any attention. And I believe that what’s happening right now is God’s way of warning us. But are we paying attention? Certainly not! But there’s no doubt that we’re a very evil, sinful society, which has successfully turfed the Lord from its schools and public places, a society where the evildoers have the upper hand and revel in their wicked works without a thought for the consequences. And believe me Friends, there will be serious consequences for the immoral, ungodly morass into which our society has plummeted. Now let’s look at a few scriptures that foretell retribution for proud, continual disobedience. Job says it in spades when he talks of the hypocrite’s hopelessness. ‘For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?’ (Job 27:8-10) I’m afraid the answer to all those questions my brethren is a resounding ‘NO!’ And if we turn to Psalm 112; Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, we’ll find graphic descriptions of both the righteous and wicked in the last two verses. In talking about the righteous, the psalmist boldly declares: ‘He hath dispersed (distributed abroad), he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn (strength) shall be exalted with honour. The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with this teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.’ (Ps.112:9-10) Oh my fellow believers, please note carefully the great difference between the eventual outcomes of both sets of people. And we’ll go home with some extremely wise words of Cousin Sol, as he contrasts the doings of the wise and the foolish. ‘The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth (land). The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward (perverse, deceitful) tongue shall be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness (perversity, deceitfulness).’ (Prov.10:27-32) Oh Friends, please remember that the laws and words of our God don’t change, that means if they were true in Cousin’ Sol’s time, then they’re still true today. So please let’s allow wisdom to be our guide. Let’s start cleaning up the pollutants from our unfortunate planet, our evil societies and our individual lives, beginning today, RIGHT NOW! Because if we don’t, we’ll only force the Lord to do it for us, and I can guarantee we won’t like His methods. Much LOVE!…where wisdom prevails…societies prosper…but where evil fools rule the roost…the societies perish…