Today’s Scrip-Bit 28 December 2011 Psalm 141:8‏

28 Dec 2011 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Inspirational Living Tags: , ,

Psalm 141:8.    But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.
 
Oh Friends, we’re down to four days now for the New Year and we can all sit down an pontificate about what’s going to happen, but as I asked yesterday, is anything new and improved going to take place, is much going to change? Not at the beginning, though hopefully by the time we get to the end and start looking forward to 2013, we’ll have some positive changes. The physical disasters like the flash flooding recently in the Philippines, neither the suicide bombings around the world aren’t going to end just because a new year’s been ushered in. In fact the Nigerian Islamists have just begun a new wave of bombings and violence against Christians and their churches in Nigeria this past Christmas week. Oh Friends, Christians are being horribly persecuted in Muslim countries all over the world simply because of their faith. And what are we Christians out here doing about all that nonsense eh? Apparently nothing. We allow them to come to our Christian, or should I say supposed Christian countries and bend over backwards to accommodate their faith. Why doesn’t this picture seem right eh Friends? It’s time we stand up and fight back people, else our faith will be pushed back into the dark ages when we had to hide and gather in secret to worship for fear of prosecution. The Western world was colonized on a Christian based foundation, why are we allowing others to bring their foreign ideology and change it so drastically eh? Serious inroads affecting our faith have already been made, and if we don’t stand up and fight back, Islam will eventually reign supreme here, either through peaceful or violent conquest. And please don’t be fooled into thinking that that’s not the eventual goal. It might not be for the ordinary man in the street, but the power brokers at the top certainly envisage that day and are working tirelessly towards it. Anyway Friends, we seriously need to do something, and soon too, about the erosion of our faith, especially here in our homeland. We need to stand together and purposefully fight against the encroaching enemy. That means at least two things: First we have to forget our petty, selfish infighting and divisiveness. We have to fight as one, else we’ll remain divided, as we are now, and thus easily conquered. And the second thing is that we have to look fervently to our God, do as our Bit says: ‘But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.’ Yes Friends, it’s only with God before, behind and around us that we can ever hope to win. When the armies of Moab came to invade Judah, what was King Jehoshaphat’s reaction eh? He prayed for deliverance: ‘And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.’ (2 Chr.20:3) And here’s how he ended his prayer. ‘O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.’ (2 Chr.20:12) Yes my people, if our eyes are not steadily and steadfastly focused on the Lord God Jehovah then we will be in serious trouble. In Psalm 25, a prayer for guidance and protection, Bruh David faithfully declares: ‘Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord; for he shall pluck (bring out) my feet out of the net.’ (Ps.25:15) And in Psalm 123, a prayer for mercy, the psalmist wisely proclaims: ‘Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden (maid) unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait (look) upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us.’ (Ps.123:1-2) Oh my brethren, these are seriously troubled times in which we’re living. There are enemies all around us in various stripes and forms. It’s not always easy to spot them, but unless our eyes are on God, our hearts right, our faith strong, and our zeal and passion fiercely ignited, then eventually we will be defeated. It’s time for us to stand up strong and act. Enough talking, it’s getting us nowhere. And remember, as I keep reminding us, Christianity is an action based faith, so let’s get some serious action going in Jesus’ name nuh. Much LOVE!…only so much as our passion for God…is channelled into positive action…will our faith be truly successful…
 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 27 December 2011 Psalm 141:8‏

27 Dec 2011 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Inspirational Living Tags: , ,

Psalm 141:8.     But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.
 
And then there were five! Yes Friends, only five more days to the New Year of 2012! It’s interesting to note the amount of attention we pay to the coming of a new year. But does anything really change except the date on the calendar? Not a whole lot, because most of us abhor change, especially the significant kind. At the New Year, one year simply morphs into the other and within a few days all our good intentions to improve ourselves, our relationships and whatever else, tend to go through the window. The point being that we simply make a lot of arbitrary, frivolous, feel good, on the surface resolutions, with little or no serious thought behind them, and more importantly, no consultation with God. So how can we expect true change then eh mih people, if we don’t consult with our Higher Power, since it’s only through Him that real change can occur in our lives? We don’t need to wait for a new year to initiate change. We can do that at anytime with God behind us. So please, let’s not be carried away with all the token expressions of improvement and doing good in these next few days. If there are serious changes we desire, or need to make, so be it, but please, let’s talk to the Father first and ask His help, otherwise our efforts will most likely be fruitless. Now I’d like to share an interesting quote from an interesting novel I’m reading, interestingly enough right at Christmas time, because it does throw up a lot of interesting questions about our faith. And I’d strongly suggest that unless your faith is fairly strong, you don’t read it, because it’s likely to cause all sorts of doubts and questions that will confuse you. Anyway, the name of the book is ‘the Sacred Bones,’ by Michael Byrnes, and in this scene an Irish priest at the Vatican is talking to a newly arrived female American geneticist, who’s come there to do some work for them. And while enquiring about her faith, the priest realizes that religion is a touchy subject with her. Unbeknownst to him, she was suffering from the early stage of bone cancer, stuff that really tests our faith, especially if we’ve been seemingly living right, and he ventures to say. ‘You know, back in Ireland we had a saying: ‘I believe in the sun when it’s not shining, I believe in LOVE even when I feel it not, I believe in God even when he is silent… Sometimes the things we really cherish just need to be remembered.’ And that’s the gospel truth Friends! In this busy, impersonal, material wealth and possession-seeking world, where we’re constantly on the go, the things we truly cherish often don’t get any, or enough consideration from us. And that’s a major reason why our society is in such shambles. We don’t have time to truly appreciate our friends, families, pets, etc. because we’re always in such a rush to do the next supposed important thing. Unfortunately that makes our hearts cold, inconsiderate and without the passion we need to truly appreciate life. Please remember Jesus; He always had time for the things and people He considered important. He was never in a rush, and never turned away anyone who asked for His help along His paths because he was too busy. For this New Year, or even right now (smile) let’s make a serious resolution to become like Jesus in that respect nuh. Let’s promise God and ourselves, to slow down and enjoy what we already have, including the people around us, and to spend some quality time smelling those beautiful roses that we all talk about doing, but never do. Friends, it’s time we get back to being people persons, rather than the cold, busy, unfeeling, selfish, robot-like creatures we’ve become. And the only way to do that successfully my people, is in concert with our mighty God. Thus shall we say, like Bruh David does in our Bit, taken from Psalm 141, a prayer for help in trouble: ‘But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins (traps) of the workers of iniquity. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape (while I escape safely).’ (Ps.141: 8-10) Yes my brethren, only by looking to our omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, ever-LOVING, kind, gracious, merciful and forgiving God, can our paths on this rough and rugged earthly journey be made straight. So let’s look to Him today nuh. If not for our sakes, then for our children’s, and for their children. Much LOVE!…I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills…from whence cometh my help…My help cometh from the Lord…which made heaven and earth…(Ps.121:1-2)