The Awesome Faithfulness of God, even when We’re not Faithful!

Psalm 36:5.       Thy mercy (LOVING-KINDNESS), O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

Oh my people, please accept my heartfelt apologies, but it was just one of those days, when everything that could happen, happened. I did not even get to go to my Wednesday morning prayer group because I wasn’t in such good shape, then I had a doctor’s appointment in the noonday, and that took longer than I expected. Then, with the running of a couple of necessary errands, I did not return home until late in the afternoon, and by then I needed to rest. So the Bit was put off until now! 

I even toyed with not writing it, but did not want to miss any more days than I’ve already done in the last week or so. Therefore, this will be short and sweet. (smile) And today we’re going to have a short talk about God’s faithfulness. And if you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you will know that God is indeed faithful. And before we get into any scripture, let’s read this prayer from one of the prayer cards recently put out by the In Touch Ministry, so aptly titled ‘God’s Faithfulness.’  

So, please pray with me: ‘I’m filled with wonder, God, when I think of Your great faithfulness. When things look impossible, You come through in amazing ways. Truly nothing is too hard for You. I remember all You’ve done in the past and praise Your name! When I don’t understand an outcome, I will lift up my heart to You in trust. You are faithful, and Your ways never fail. I look forward with joy to seeing Your plans fulfilled. Thank You for Your perfect works.’ 

And believe me friends I can certainly testify to the faithfulness of God, back in the past and also right now in the lengthy health problems that I’m going through. As the prayer says: ‘When things look impossible, You come through in amazing ways.’  And I saw that happen today. Something that should have taken weeks to happen will now happen in days, because of God’s faithfulness. 

And the important thing that so many of us forget to do, is as the prayer says: ‘I remember all You’ve done in the past and praise Your name!’ Yes friends, that’s the essence of faith and faithfulness; remembering what God has done, and thus knowing that He can and will do it again. But too many of us don’t remember God’s faithfulness, that’ why our faith is oftentimes so small when it needs to be big. 

Then there are these most important words that come from that faithfulness in God. ‘When I don’t understand an outcome, I will lift up my heart to you in trust. You are faithful, and your ways never fail.’ Now that’s where true faith comes in! You know God’s faithfulness and although you don’t understand what’s happening, you still put your heartfelt trust in Him, because you’ve seen Him come through for you many times before. And that’s one of the benefits of having a long personal relationship with God, your experience builds your trust. 

And since we promised to be short and sweet, (smile – it is possible) let’s turn now to the scripture quoted on the card for the Lord’s faithfulness, a most amazing, positive and uplifting one. Please read with me, these faithful words of Bruh David from Psalm 36. ‘Thy mercy (LOVING-KINDNESS), O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains (lit. mountains of God); thy judgements are a great deep (ocean): O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. 

How excellent (precious) is thy LOVING-KINDNESS, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness (fullness) of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. O continue thy LOVING-KINDNESS unto them that know thee: and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.’ (Ps. 36:5-10) 

And you can bet your bottom dollar my fellow believers, that if you truly know God and His righteousness, then He will continue to be faithful to you right until the very end! Now let’s go home declaring (yesss!!!) our Wednesday Wail, letting all and sundry know of our wonderful position in Christ Jesus! 

As one strong and sincere voice: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

And if we endure right to the very end with Christ, then it’s been promised that the future will be even more glorious than we can ever ask or imagine. So please, let’s plan to meet at the very end nuh, and enjoy that more than glorious future together! Much LOVE!

…the Lord is faithful even when we’re not…for EVER-FAITHFUL is His name…and He cannot deny Himself…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 6 October 2017 Matthew 24:35.

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

Well friends, the day has dawned somewhat cloudily in my area, but fear not, for our Redeemer lives! Glory to God! Yes my fellow believers, the light of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is still shining as brightly as ever! 

Wow! Of one thing we can be sure; His light never dims or diminishes, its divine brilliance is steadfast and strong, always illuminating our lives and our paths. So as we face a new day in an ungodly world, we too need to stand steadfast and strong, gloriously basking in the light of our Saviour. 

And the workingman has already reminded us that it’s Friday by loudly voicing his anthem. ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday! That means the weekend is here! Glory be! Time to live, to party, to have a good time, to forget about the chupid work and all the stress that come with it…and for so li’l pay too! Steups! Thank God for Fridays and these weekends yes!’ 

And truthfully friends, we can’t deny what he’s saying; work these days, if you can get it, is truly stressful and in the majority of cases, lacking appropriate rewards. But where the workingman falters is his extreme worldly celebration of the weekend. 

Celebrations without boundaries only cause the enemy to get strongholds in our lives, and as Christians, we definitely don’t want, or can’t afford to do such a foolish thing. Therefore we must put up some boundaries, some limits to our celebration. 

And our Friday Chant offers a much better declaration. So let’s chant it as though we really mean it nuh. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. 

Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen!’ 

Ah mih breddren, that’s a much more sensible plea; as we enjoy our time off, but also prepare to get back into the fray in excellent shape, so we don’t miss a beat in doing Jesus’ work; that’s raising up, furthering His LOVE Revolution! 

And that brings us to our Bit…yeh, the same one of the last couple of days. (smile) Oh I know that some of you like to have a new Bit every day, but sometimes it’s necessary to repeat them when there is a lot of information to be shared. 

I know we’ve become accustomed to the short sound bite in this communication mad world, but we’re not doing sound bites here in the Bit, we’re trying to get as full a picture and understanding as possible, which means sometimes hearing some things over and over. Consequently, you have to be totally on board with Jesus to appreciate it. 

Anyway, enough palavering, (smile) here is our Bit: ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.’ 

What an awesome declaration by our amazing Lord and Saviour! And the great thing about it, is it’s indisputable truth! The Word of God existed even before mankind did. In fact it was the Word, read Jesus, who created the world with words. 

And even after this world no longer exists, the Word, and the word of God will exist into eternity. That just goes to show how powerful it all is. And unless we accept and hold on to all aspects of it, we’ll be lost, eventually destroyed, just like the earth. 

Now hear the psalmist on the topic from Psalm 102 – A cry in distress, a prayer of the afflicted. ‘Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure (continue): yea, all of them shall wax (grow) old like a garment: as a vesture (cloak) shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.’ (Ps.102:25-27) 

Yeh friends, our amazing God, the ONLY TRUE AND LIVING DEITY is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, who was, is and always shall be! What wonderful news for us believers! 

On this earth, we have a solid anchor to keep us steadfast in time of storm, a comforting and healing embrace in time of affliction, a strong arm to lean on when we’re weary, and a divine guide when we’re lost and confused. But the greatest gift is that our spiritual beings have a heavenly place to go to when God’s breath of life is extinguished from our mortal bodies. 

And all God’s people cried out in gratitude: ‘Thank You Lord, for Your Word, in the form of Jesus Christ, as well as a guidebook for earthly living, overseered by Your Holy Spirit! We LOVE you and praise Your Holy Name! Amen!’ 

Oh my people, please allow the joy of our God to rise up in our souls and spirits today, so that we can enjoy our lives and do His work with a good attitude. Much LOVE!

…in the joy of the Lord…lies the believer’s strength…