05 Nov 2022
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a child of the Most High God, a chosen generation, a global multicultural society, a good attitude, a holy priesthood, a steady and stable perspective, all that will live godly in Christ, anti-christ, aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow, broken down the middle wall of partition, called you out of the darkness, defined by your environment, family circumstances, gender, happiness depends on circumstances, he himself is our peace, in all these things we are more than conquerors, Jesus is the answer to everything, joy - a basic way of life, LOVE, machinations, made nigh by the blood of Christ, mercy, New World Order, pigeonholed, praise the Lord for His goodness, race, reaction to problems, stick to Christ like white on rice, suffer persecution, ye who were once far off are made nigh
2 Timothy 3:12. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Ah my people, our lazy Saturday is here! But the ole fella has not been lazy this morning. He’s been up and about his Father’s business early. By my standards, I went to bed early, (smile) so I’m up at a reasonable hour on this somewhat cloudy first Saturday in November, in this crazy, unpredictable year of 2022.
But it seems the sun will shine through eventually, so let’s just give thanks to our heavenly Father for causing us to be alive today and go on our merry way rejoicing in His awesome LOVE and friendship! And all God’s children gave a grateful shout of ‘Praise the Lord, for His goodness to the children of men!’ Wise words indeed my fellow believers.
Now, let’s turn to the task at hand, deciphering the quotes our friend Anselm sent us this past week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. And since he’s only sent us three, hopefully today’s Bit will be shorter than usual. (smile) And the first one tells us: ‘You don’t have to be defined or confined by your environment, by your family circumstances, and certainly not by your race or gender.’
That statement does seem to be of some significance, especially in light of the machinations in our current society where we are constantly being pigeonholed, placed in an ever smaller box for identification purposes. I don’t know why what we look like, where we come from or the class of our family is all that important, but nowadays, those factors seem to be getting more important rather than less, as you’d expect in a global multicultural society.
Is that devil’s doing, or the anti-Christ’s, or some new world order trying to narrow down our demographics so that they can pick out a chosen few of a certain type? Who knows. The important thing though is that your race, creed, gender, family circumstances, none of that really matters. The only thing that matters is that you are a child of the Most High God Jehovah! That’s because His kingdom includes everybody, and He makes no distinction as per your background, but is only interested in your going forward, your future.
And we can see that in Peter’s words to the early Christians. ‘But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people (God’s own special people); that ye should show forth (proclaim) the praises of him who hath called you out of the darkness into his marvellous light. Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.’ (1 Pet. 2:9-10)
Yes friends, with the miraculous coming of Jesus, ALL barriers have been broken down and we are now one nation unto God, regardless of our colour creed, gender race or whatever definition you want to choose. As Bruh Paul wrote to the Ephesians. ‘But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes (once) were far off are made nigh (near) by the blood of Christ. For he (himself) is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition (division) between us.’ (Eph. 2:13-14)
Isn’t that wonderful! The shedding of Christ’s blood at Calvary broke down the walls between Jews and Gentiles, making us all, the ONE church of Christ. So please let’s not allow them to define us as anything but children of God, because that’s who we are above everything else.
Now, the second quote says: ‘We all have problems. But it’s not what happens to us, [it’s] the choices we make after.’ And that’s true to a large extent. In many cases it’s our reaction to our problems that causes us more pain and sorrow than the problems themselves. That’s why it’s always necessary to have a good attitude when problems surface. And though that’s easier said than done, if you are a child of God, a follower of Christ Jesus, He will enable you to bear up under any problem that comes against you.
As He faithfully declares (yesss!!!) in John 16:33: ‘These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ Wow! What an awesome promise! And if we believe Him, then when problems arise, we won’t be running around like chickens with our heads cut off, but be able to adopt a good and sensible attitude towards them, and handle them successfully with God’s help.
Please note that Christ did not say we won’t have problems, but rather the opposite, we WILL have tribulations in this world, especially if you are a believer in Christ. And Bruh Paul confirmed that in his second missive to Timothy. ‘Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.’ (2 Tim. 3:12)
But then, to the church at Rome, Bruh Paul makes this most important and definitive statement. ‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that LOVED us.’ (Rom. 8:37) How wonderful it is to know that despite the many problems we will face in this life, that Jesus will help us to handle them with a good attitude.
And the last quote says: ‘You do not find the happy life. You make it.’ There’s much truth to that also, because we just can’t sit down and expect to be happy, since the world doesn’t generously give out happiness, but rather tribulations. So, for happiness to exist in our lives, we must actively make ourselves happy. That’s do things that will make us happy.
However, not everything that makes us happy is good for us. And too often happiness depends more on our circumstances than our normal way of life. Meaning that happiness is not always a persistent frame of mind, but very liable to change as our circumstances do. But when we talk about joy…then that’s an entirely different story! For joy is a basic way of life; a stable and steady perspective that doesn’t change with our circumstances. And we can only have true joy with Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of our lives.
That takes us back to our earlier conversation on handling problems, about having a good attitude towards our lives in general, and problems in particular. And it’s only with the peace and satisfaction found in Jesus is that possible. That means our biggest and most important need in this life is to find Jesus and stick to Him like white on rice! When we do that, our joy will overflow, and we will enjoy the abundant life He died for us to have. Much LOVE!
…Jesus is the answer…to everything in our lives…
Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ
29 Jan 2020
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a glorious future with Jesus, believe also in me, brutal wars, Calvary, cell phones, charity, civil war, class, colour, contention, contrariness of humans, covers a multitude of sins, creatures of habit, creed, damnation, denial of christ, died on a cross, disagreement, discrimination, dissension, faith, faithfulness, fruit of the Spirit, gentleness, go to work, Gone with the Wind, goodness, halfway home, hands on the plough, head back to dust, hellfire, hope, hotbed, hump day, I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, impersonal communication, In my Father's house, injustice, Jesus, joy, keep busy, kindness, let not your heart be troubled, loll about, lonely people, long-suffering, LOVE, love him or hate him, made disciples of the nations, many mansions, meekness, no fear in it, only true solution, our position in Christ, peace, promise to come back, race, racism, retirement, rose from the grave, Satan, self-control, social media, take away our sins, temperance, the answer to everything, the breath of life, the greatest is love, Wednesday Wail, where I am, with a passion, ye believe in God, you will be
John 14:1. Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Well it’s Wednesday; the middle of the work week, the hump day, where we feel like we’ve finally gotten hold of, gotten over that invisible hump, where work takes up most of our time. But work certainly takes up most of our time in this life yes! Most of us work five days a week for an average of forty years, then we retire, thankful that there’s no work on the horizon, the early mornings and late nights are finally done!
But yuh know what? After doing something for forty years it’s hard to get accustomed to not doing anything, to not have to get up and go to work every day, although we complained most days about having to get up and go to work! Hn! And if we just loll about in retirement and don’t keep busy, then our bodies give up and we head back to the dust from which we’ve come, sooner than expected. We’re creatures of habit. That’s the contrariness of the human animal! (smile)
And I finally finished watching the second half of the movie ‘Gone with the Wind.’ And it is indeed an epic story. But if the truth be told, nothing has really changed in our world since then nuh; that civil war didn’t solve a whole lot, possibly besides the end of slavery, because there have been several bigger and more brutal wars since then, there’s still too much racism, overt and covert, still too much avarice and greed and jealously and strife, too much poverty and sickness and advantage, too much injustice and discrimination, be it by race, colour, class or creed, despite all the supposed advances we’ve made!
Yes friends, our world is still a hotbed of dissension and disagreement! And yuh know what? It’s getting worse! Just look around at all the discontent between friends and families, between neighbours and nations…we’ve come closer together in terms of distance and communication, but we’ve gotten further apart in terms of true fellowship. There are more lonely people around now even with the advent of cell phones and social media, because that communication is basically impersonal; half the time you don’t even know who you’re really dealing with.
Oh my people, the ONLY true solution to what ails our world is JESUS! He is the ONLY ONE who can truly bring us all together and give us the peace, LOVE and joy that we all seem to clamour for, but are far from experiencing! But strangely enough, Jesus is also one of the biggest factors of contention in our world; you either LOVE Him or hate Him with a passion!
But let me ask you a few questions? Who is the ONLY ONE that came down from heaven, was made man, made in our image and lived amongst us like us eh? JESUS CHRIST! Who is the ONLY ONE who died on a cross to take away our sins, to give us another option besides hellfire and damnation with Satan eh? JESUS CHRIST! Who is the ONLY ONE who died and rose from the grave and ascended back into heaven with the promise to come back for us when we have made disciples of all the nations so that nobody will be lost to Beelzebub eh? JESUS CHRIST!
Oh precious people, who said these momentous words with this awesome promise? ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions (dwellings): if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.’ (John 14:1-3)
Oh friends, Jesus had no cause to lie. They saw Him do numerous miracles. They saw Him crucified on the cross at Calvary, then rise up again. Yuh think if the early believers didn’t see Christ after He rose from the dead, they would have believed him and done what He asked and waited for Him? No way Jose!
Hear the scholars: ‘14:1. Let not your heart be troubled refers to Peter, Jesus having just told him of his imminent denial of his Lord (13:38). But the larger reference is to all the apostles, through whom Jesus is going to lay the foundation of the church. His comfort also includes instruction about His departure, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the promise of spiritual power, of answered prayer, and of peace, but especially the promise of His return.’ And a great shout of ‘Praise the Lord!’ echoes far and wide across the land in anticipation of that most wonderful promise!
Yes friends, Jesus is the ONLY ONE who desires to build a group of people, His church, on the basis of LOVE, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness (kindness), goodness, faith (faithfulness), meekness and temperance (self-control). And if you didn’t recognize them, they are the fruit of the Spirit, seeds of which are planted in our own spirit when we do the wise thing and receive Christ as our Lord and Saviour. It’s then left up to us to water and nurture them and let them grow in and through us, by reading His Word and sincerely living it.
That’s why Jesus said: ‘Wherefore by their fruit ye shall know them,’ speaking of false prophets and evil deceivers. (Matt.7:20) A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. And we need to also remember these famous words of Bruh Paul to the Corinthians: ‘And now abideth faith, hope, charity (LOVE), these three; but the greatest of these is charity (LOVE).’ (1 Cor. 13:13).
Yes brothers and sisters, LOVE is indeed the greatest, because God is LOVE, and LOVE does no harm, but covers a multitude of sins, neither is there any fear in LOVE! And if God first LOVED us, then we should also LOVE Him, and LOVE one another too: those are His two greatest desires! And now that all of that is indelibly written in our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, let’s go home celebrating our position in Christ by declaring (chuh!) our Wednesday Wail.
Altogether now, in strong voice and sincere hearts: ‘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 in light of all Jesus has promised, friends, it will certainly be a glorious future indeed! Much LOVE!
…JESUS…the answer to EVERYTHING…
31 Mar 2019
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: 0ppressed, afflicted, as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before here shearers, casting lots, Cecil Frances Alexander, common criminals, crucified, demise of Christ, disastrous consequences, discouraged, dumb, favourite hymns, Gentiles, Good Friday, Hades, he who has ears to hear, hung and suffered there, in the earth, inhumane, judgement, justice, let him hear, living in darkness, love him, my chosen one, nationality, no barriers, opened not his mouth, pains, pay the price of sin, race, redeeming blood, rest, sinless, smoking flax, sufferation, take umbrage, the Lord's servant, There is a green hill far away, to save us all, truth, try his works to do., vacation time
Isaiah 53:7. ‘He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.’
Aye friends, just a gentle reminder that this is vacation time so the Bit will not always be early or even at the same time every day. (smile) It all depends on where I have to go or what needs to be done. So please don’t feel badly, or take umbrage, if it shows up at all weird sorts of times.
Anyhow, we done late already this Sunday morning, or rather afternoon; had to go to church and then fellowship afterwards, then come home and eat some of the breakfast stuff I bought at church, bake and saltfish, then rest. Yuh know the rest is essential for the ole fella these days. (smile)
So let’s go directly to our song of praise and worship. It’s one of my favourite hymns from my boyhood days, and as I was resting there a while ago contemplating what song we’d sing today, the Lord reminded me of that one and requested it. And it’s obvious I could not refuse His request. (smile)
It’s titled ‘There is a green hill far away.’ It was written many moons ago by Cecil Frances Alexander (nee Humphreys) (1818-1895), the Anglo-Irish hymnodist and poet. And just for your info, she apparently also wrote that other popular hymn ‘All things bright and beautiful,’ and the Christmas Carol, ‘Once in Royal David’s City.’
So let’s now sing those fateful and true words of ‘There is a green Hill far away,’ like if we really mean them nuh, because in another few weeks, on Good Friday, we ‘re going to be truly celebrating the sad and sorrowful but oh so necessary and important demise of Christ on that cross in a far away land!
All together in strong, sweet, harmonious voices: ‘There is a green hill far away, Without a city wall, Where the dear Lord was crucified, Who died to save us all. We may not know, we cannot tell, What pains he had to bear, But we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there. He died that we might be forgiven, He died to make us good, That we might go at last to Him, saved by His precious blood.
There was no other good enough To pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate Of heav’n and let us in. Oh, dearly, dearly has he LOVED! And we must LOVE him too, And trust in his redeeming blood, And try his works to do.’
Yes my faithful brethren, we cannot doubt those truth bearing words of Cecil Frances Alexander, because without the redeeming deeds of Jesus we’d still be living in darkness and headed for Hades at the end of this miserable earthly life. But all thanks and praise be to God the Father, who sent Him, and to Jesus, God the Son, who obediently went to the cross to die for our abominable sins which had kept us very removed from the holy and righteous Jehovah God!
Ah mih people, I don’t know about these words of Frances nuh: ‘We may not know, we cannot tell, What pains he had to bear,’ because the Good book plainly states them; lashes with a cruel whip, taunting and jeering and spitting, a crown of thorns pressed down upon his head, then made to carry His cross through Jerusalem like a common thief, then to make matters even worse, nailed to that cross between two common criminals after being speared in the side and His clothes auction off by casting lots!
So don’t tell me we don’t know what pain He had to bear, because it was immense and inhumane! But it definitely was for us that He underwent that horrific ‘sufferation!’ No doubt about it! As Isaiah had foretold eons before that terrible day at Golgotha: ‘He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.’
Yes friends, Jesus did it all for us on the basis of LOVE which personifies the Father, and also to bring to reality, the magnificent and ever-faithful promise of the Father, as Isaiah also prophesied when talking about the Lord’s servant. ‘Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect (my chosen one), in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgement (justice) to the Gentiles.
He shall not cry (cry out), nor lift up (raise his voice), nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking (dimly burning) flax shall he not quench (extinguish): he shall bring forth judgement (justice) unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgement (justice) in the earth: and the isles (coastlands) shall wait for his law.’ (Is.42:1-4)
And so said so done, my people! In fact it’s not quite done as yet, because Jesus has to return to clean up the mess that’s the earth today. As the scholars explain: ‘The ministry of the Servant of the Lord will be to bring forth judgement or justice to the Gentiles and in the earth. His kingdom knows no barriers of nationality or race. Of all the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah saw this fact most clearly. While Jesus’ early ministry was to the house of Israel, His ultimate commission extended to the Gentiles as well.’
And just for our info, the New Testament quotes this prophecy as being fulfilled in Jesus in Matt.12:18-21. Please check it out. (smile) So what’s the long and short of the story my people? Christ died that our sins might be forgiven, He paid the price that ONLY He could pay with His precious, sinless blood, so that we could be reconciled to the Father and thus have the wonderful option of enjoying eternal life in the company of the Triune God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
Ah friends, it was not an easy row that the Father gave Jesus to hoe, but He did it obediently because He LOVED both the Father and us. Consequently, our response to all of that should be exactly what we sung in the hymn above: ‘Oh, dearly, dearly has he LOVED! And we must LOVE him too, And trust in his redeeming blood, And try his works to do.’ Nuff said! Much LOVE!
…he who has ears to hear…let him hear…otherwise the consequences will be…extremely disastrous…
16 Mar 2019
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a better tomorrow, a crown of righteousness, a year from now, all them, Anselm, aspires to inspire, at that day, begins with the first step, bricks, Chinese Proverb, come back to haunt you, criticism, critics, cross at Calvary, dilemma, don't give up, don't stop trying, ever present partner, failure, faith, finished my course, for all eternity, forever and ever, fought a good fight, frailties, friend, gems of wisdom, henceforth, holy spirit, human, if you don't have a ticket, is at hand, Jesus, keep on keeping on, kept the faith, laid up for me, last testament, lay a firm foundation, light at the end of the tunnel, light of heaven, LOVE, most important race, naysayers, no giving up, putting off, race, ready to be offered, righteousness, save our sinful souls, shall give me, strong building blocks, success, that love his appearing, the bright light of Jesus, the longest journey, the Lord, the race of life, the righteous judge, the souls of believers, the time of my departure, Timothy, trust, unforeseen mishaps, weaknesses, wise person, words of wisdom, you don't have a chance
2 Timothy 4:8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that LOVE his appearing.
And then it was Saturday, and the sun seems to be fighting a losing battle against the dark clouds in my neighbourhood. But thankfully, the souls of believers in Jesus Christ never have to go through that dilemma because the bright light of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is ALWAYS shining brightly in our souls!
And all God’s children gave a loud and grateful shout of: ‘Praise the Lord! Bless His Holy Name! Give Him unending thanks for sending Jesus to save and rescue us!’
Yeh friends, what a blessed day that was when Jesus came to earth to save the lost and free those caught up in the bondage of sin! That’s why I can’t understand why so many of us still reject Him. But to each his own, we’ll have to bear the consequences of whatever decision we make, whether it’s the wise one to accept Jesus, or the foolish one to reject Him!
But since it’s Saturday and we have several quotes from our friend Anselm, who sincerely aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow, let’s check them out nuh. And the first one says: ‘A year from now you will wish you had started today.’ And that’s certainly true!
Any project you keep putting off, will come back to haunt you. You’ll find that time has gotten away from you and nothing’s been done on the project. It’s like the Chinese Proverb says: ‘The longest journey always begins with the first step.’ So it’s advisable to take that first step as soon as possible and don’t keep putting it off.
And the second quote advises: ‘Lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at you.’ That certainly has some wisdom in it. Not all our critics or naysayers are wrong yuh know. Sometimes they do have valid points of criticism, and the wise person listens to those criticisms, evaluates them, and then uses whatever is pertinent to their particular situation.
Granted, a lot of us just criticize for the sake of criticizing, and there’s no real value to what we say, but in many instances, there are some gems of wisdom which we can use as strong building blocks. So never just write off criticism as useless.
Now hear this next quote: ‘I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.’ Words of wisdom friends! We’re not superhuman, only human, and thus are subject to frailties and weaknesses, which mean we will occasionally fail at stuff we do.
However, failure is not really failure until we stop trying! That’s the difference between success and failure; the act of not giving up! Look at our oh so technological society, how do you think we got to where we are? It’s because many inventors and investors did not give up when they originally failed. They tried and tried again until they succeeded!
And that’s exactly what Jesus desires and expects of his followers: NO GIVING UP! Those words are not in His vocabulary at all, and should not be in ours either! So please, let’s keep on keeping on nuh, because we have ALLthe parts to do so. Jesus gave them to us when He died on the cross at Calvary to save our sinful souls and then sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us for all time! Wow! What an awesome Lord and Saviour we have!
And in this last quote we’re called on to prove the greatness of Jesus in our lives. It says: ‘If you run, you stand a chance of losing, but if you don’t run, you’ve already lost.’ More truth from our friend Anselm! It’s like they say: ‘If you don’t have a ticket, you don’t stand a chance of winning!’
So if you want to win at anything, you’ve got to get into the race and run it. You might lose, but if you’re not in it, you certainly won’t win. Non-runners can’t win a race in which they don’t run. It’s as simple as that! (smile) And my fellow believers, the most important race we’ll ever have to run is the race of life that’s set before each and everyone of us, in bright and glowing colour, Technicolor, if you will (smile) because we are followers of Jesus!
Yes my fellow believers, there’s a light that shines so brilliantly in our lives that at times it tends to blind us, especially when we escape from any dark times in which we find ourselves. It’s like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, but in our case it’s a true and sure light, that of heaven with Jesus at the end of our earthly lives…and not just for a short time, but for all eternity! And that means forever…and ever…and ever…until forever…whenever that might be! (smile)
But seriously though friends, listen to these immortal words of Bruh Paul, his last testament to Timothy and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. ‘For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure (death) is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course (race), I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that LOVE his appearing.’ (2 Tim.4:6-8)
That’s the light at the end of the tunnel friends: a crown of righteousness from our heavenly Father, when we run our earthly race with steadfast faith and trust, and finish it with a fighting spirit, no matter how tired, bedraggled and abused our physical bodies might be!
Ah friends, let me end by reminding us that the race of life is the greatest and most important race we’ll ever run, and the only way to win it is by running it with Jesus as your ever-present partner! That’s it in a nutshell! So please, let’s make the necessary arrangements to run our race of life with Jesus as our partner…RIGHT NOW!
Why? Because we know not when our race will end; it could be shortly, or a long time from now, but wisdom dictates that we do it as soon as possibly, preferably RIGHT NOW, to avoid any unforeseen mishaps! Much LOVE!
…no Jesus in your race of life…means no winner’s crown of righteousness…at the end of your race…
26 Nov 2018
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a joy, about God's business, almighty god, at the right hand of God, aura of love, author, Black Friday, catalyst, champions, cheaper, cloud of witnesses, compassed about, confidence, Cyber Monday, despsing any shame, earthly race, easily ensnares us, economic czars, enthusiasm, enticements, example, exciting activity, exhilarating, expectation, faith, finisher, friends, glorious kingdom, God Jehovah, good and faithful servant, greedily, holy spirit, humble servants, in a different guise, in the name of the Lord, invincible, Jesus Christ, jobs, joy, kaching, keep keeping on, lay aside every weight, lies, LOVE, lures, mercy, Monday Morning Battle Hymn, my benefit, omnipotent Creator, online shopping, physical stores, race, rejuvenation of spirit, relaxation, renewed vitality, rest, ride the good race, run, run with patience, sales, seeing, selfishly, shop, sin, sincere hearts, spiritual armour, steadfast faith, strong voice, surrounded by, taunts, the devil's work, the race set before us, trust, ungodly world, welcome, well done, wiles, wisdom
Hebrews 12:1. Wherefore seeing (since) we also are compassed about with (surrounded by) so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset (ensnare) us, and let us run with patience (endurance) the race that is set before us.
Well a Happy Cyber Monday to all you my wonderful friends and Scrip-Bit family out there in God’s great universe! It is a joy coming to you today in the name of the Lord, but not this early though. (smile) You can thank the medics again for that, because I have an early appointment for a vision test in the city. I’m tempted to cancel it, but the Lord’s telling me that wouldn’t be wise since it’s all for my benefit and no one else’s.
So, ergo, I’m up and about His business this early in the morning. But when and where is it going to end eh? I’m talking about the mad rush for sales that are not really sales, only eye candy to draw you into these business places to spend what you don’t have on what you don’t need. Last Friday was called Black Friday; the day to do the rushing at the physical stores. Today has been aptly named, Cyber Monday; the day for online shopping!
But how much shop can we shop eh people? I know I can’t afford to shop at all! (smile) And what do I really need that’s out there, that’s theoretically much cheaper than at other times eh? NOTHING! I have more stuff than I can already use. Right now I’m in the giving away mode rather than the acquiring one.
But the economic czars are not happy unless their cash machines are continually going, ‘kaching, kaching!’ And they will selfishly and greedily throw out all kinds of enticements to make it happen. But please don’t be taken in by their lures my friends. It’s just the devil’s work at hand in a different guise.
Anyway, it’s Monday, and plenty of us are sad and miserable, so let’s invoke the grace and mercy of our great God Jehovah by declaring our Monday Morning Battle Hymn in strong voice with sincere hearts.
As one now: ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together.
We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies.
But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle.
Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’
Yeh friends, that’s a powerful call to our omnipotent Creator! And I’m sure we’re all feeling a li’l lighter and brighter in our spirits now because He has allowed His Holy Spirit to work in us the way we asked. So now, let’s get on our horses and ride nuh, ride the good race for Jesus!
As Bruh Paul says in our Bit: ‘Wherefore seeing (since) we also are compassed about with (surrounded by) so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset (ensnare) us, and let us run with patience (endurance) the race that is set before us.’
Yes my believing brethren, we’re all in a race, and the heroes of faith, plus the basic and simple witnesses who have gone before us are looking down on us with great expectation that we should finish it like the champions we’re meant to be. It’s not an easy race to run, but we’ve been gifted with all that we need to successfully run it.
And yuh see, we even different from Bruh Paul; he was running the race, but we’re riding the race, (smile) because we have much improved means of getting around than Bruh Paul had in his day. We can also get the message out further and faster than he could. So although our mode of living and spreading the good news gospel might be slightly different, our big job is still to live it as exemplarily as we can, and spread it as far and wide and forcibly as we have opportunity to.
And the catalyst and example we have for doing all that is none other than our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Listen to Bruh Paul again: ‘Looking unto Jesus the author (originator) and finisher (perfector) of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of the God.’ (Heb.12:2)
Yay mih breddren! Jesus set the course of faith and finished it with excellence, despising any shame and other negative stuff that was involved in it. And thus the Lord had Him sit at His right hand after enduring the cross on our behalf without any complaints. Likewise, we are expected to finish our earthly race without too much complaining, looking forward to the great rewards that have been laid up in heaven for those who finish the race successfully.
Jesus is standing at the door to heaven to greet us with a big hug and a bright and exhilarating: ‘Welcome and well done, thou good and faithful servant!’ Just imagine that wonderful greeting in your mind’s eye nuh, and it will help you to keep on keeping on! Much LOVE!
…riding for Jesus…Wow…it’s the most exhilarating and exciting activity on earth…
10 Sep 2016
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a fleeting illusion, a laughing stock, ambassadors for Christ, Anselm, aspires to inspire, be not afraid, be string and of a good courage, Bob Marley, brilliant light of Jesus, Christian fashion, conspiracy, courage, courageous, declare the gospel, degrade, denied, dismayed, don't give up, enforced, equal rights, eternal life, fence sitting, fight the good fight of faith, for all to see, gospel truth, greetings, guaranteed, guidance, human-rights, hypocrites, ignorance prevails, indisputable truth, inherit, Jesus is alive and well, Joshua, justice, lasting peace, LOVE Revolution, make a difference, Moses, never attained, oppress, passion, passive, poverty, promises, pursued, race, rob, salutations, saving grace, serve christ, stand up, steadfast, strife, the Holy Spirit, the Lord thy God, to the very end, trials, tribulations, trying times, ungodly world, war, wish-washy, witness for Christ, world citizenship, zest
Joshua 1:6a. Be strong and of a good courage…
Greetings and salutations my fellow brethren in Christ! Welcome to what looks like a somewhat cloudy and hopefully rainy Saturday morning in my neck of the woods. And do we ever need some decent rainfall.
But the best part of the morning is knowing that regardless of what the weather is like, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is alive and well and that His brilliant light is shining in our hearts, minds, and souls for all to see.
And the most important part of that sentence is the last part, ‘for all to see.’ That’s because Christ is shining His light not only in, but also through us. The light is for us to share with the rest of the world who don’t know Him and cause them to come to Him for His saving grace, without which they can’t find eternal life.
And it’s especially in these difficult and trying times that the world needs believers to stand up and declare the gospel with great zest and passion, and live it in true Christian fashion.
We must not be seen as wishy-washy, fence sitting hypocrites, else that would just invalidate our witness for Christ and make His organization, His church, more of a laughing stock than it already is.
So friends, please, let’s promise ourselves this morning to be excellent ambassadors for Christ so that we can raise the level, the intensity of His LOVE Revolution, that’s the only hope for our misguided, evil and increasingly ungodly world.
Wow! Where did all of that come from eh? When I sat down just now to write, that was nowhere in my imagination, but as always, I asked for guidance, and I guess that’s where I was guided. Ah mih people, you never know with our great God nuh!
Now let’s check out a couple of quotes from our friend Anselm who always aspires to inspire us. And I like this first one: ‘Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.’
And isn’t that the gospel truth! For as Bruh Bob (Bob Marley) said in his song: ‘That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race. That until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizen ship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained… and everywhere will be war…ah say war…’
Yes friends, until equal rights and justice play a much larger role in our society, we will ALWAYS be engulfed in strife. And the second quote from Anselm tells us that, ‘The strongest people are not always the people who win, but the people who don’t give up when they lose.’
That’s more indisputable truth my brethren! The strongest are the ones who fight the good fight of faith right down to the very end, despite all the trials and tribulations that come their way. And it all segues so smoothly into our Bit: ‘Be strong and of a good courage…’
Yeh mih people, that’s all we dealing with this morning; being strong and of a good courage… Why, you ask?
Because I believe now, more than ever, Christians need to stand up strong and steadfast and be courageous, stop being passive and allowing ourselves to be pushed around and aside by the evil world powers.
Right now we’re definitely not doing justice to the ultimate power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, that’s supposed to lead and guide us along the straight and narrow path destined for us by our Creator.
The anxious and fearful way in which so many of us behave, one would never believe that the Spirit of God resides within us. We have to stand up strong friends, much stronger than we’re currently doing.
Poor Joshua was bombarded with that direction, both by Moses and the Lord. Listen up: ‘And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.’ (Deut.31:7)
The Good Book also tells us, per the Lord’s direction: ‘Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.’ (Deut.31:22-23)
And the Lord when He commissions Joshua as Israel’s leader, after the death of Moses, He reiterates in our Bit: ‘Be strong and of a good courage… Then in the next verse, He tells him once more; ‘Only be thou strong and very courageous…’ (Josh.1:7a)
And if that wasn’t enough, two verses later, the Lord reminds him. ‘Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.’ (Josh.1:9)
And that same message also applies to each and every believer today! Yes my people, it is ever so important that we Christians stand up proud and strong in these trying times, because that’s the only way we’ll ever serve Christ properly, and make a sincere and substantial difference in our world, which we are called to do. Much LOVE!…
Christians ought to be the strongest and most courageous people on earth…because of the awesome and ever-faithful promises of Christ…and His Holy Spirit which dwells in them…
15 Aug 2013
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: Abraham, action, busyness, colour, confrontation, Controller of the universe, creed, day of reckoning, divine God, divine means, dressing in women's clothing, eternity, exaltation, explosive truth, faith, for our children's sake, general behaviour, get a move on, gross stupidity, gruesome scene, homophobia, homophobic soicety, homosexuality, infatuation, insulting behaviour, Isaac, Jacob, jehovah god, life threatening situations, lord is my strength and song, lost souls, Lucifer, man of war, media platforms, mire of quicksand, Moses, Most High God Jehovah, Much LOVE, my god, my salvation, my song, Oprah Winfrey, perpetrators, power, powerful statement, powers of evil, powers that be, private lives, psalm 118, race, racism, reverence, right now, sad situation, silence is golden, social media, social medium, social skills, song of praise, sorry state of our world, the customer is always right, The Lord is my strength, the things of this evil world, the Word of the Creator, troubled times, true believers, used and abused, worship
Psalm 118:14. The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.
Oh Friends, this Thursday morning the ole fella’s a bit tired. I’ve had a busy week and all that busyness has played havoc with my sleep. But like the mail, the Bit has to go out come sunshine, rain or snow. (smile)
Now today I want to touch on three incidents that happened in the past couple weeks, and together give us some insight into the sorry state of our world.
The first is a reported incident last week in Jamaica, where a 16 year old gay youth dressed up in women’s clothing and went out to a party in public. Now what was he thinking eh? He was sixteen years old, not six. He must have known that Jamaica is one of the most homophobic societies in the world. Therefore his actions were really akin to gross stupidity.
Knowing that there are even laws on the books against homosexuality, should make you keep your mouth shut and your actions closely guarded. The upshot of the story though, is that he was badly beaten and left by the roadside to die. How sad eh!
The next incident is one in Florida, where a man supposedly killed his wife, then posted the gruesome scene on Facebook or some such social medium, with a confession, then went and turned himself into the police.
Ah Friends, the damage that these social media forms are causing is daily increasing. And I don’t care about their sometimes usefulness, because they are doing more harm than good to our society, especially our children, since that’s all they know.
The nonsense that we’re putting out there, plus too much of our private lives, is being used and abused by criminals, ordinary people like ourselves, and also the powers that be. Everyday you hear about somebody getting in trouble because of something they said or did on one of the many social media platforms.
But the powers that be adore it, because it not only brings them more money, but also helps them keep closer tabs on us. When will we ever learn that more often than not, and especially in these troubled times, that silence is truly golden eh?
And the third incident is that between a lowly sales clerk and the mighty Oprah Winfrey. Hn! I believe the confrontation took place in Switzerland, but definitely in Europe. The story goes that Oprah went into this store, I guess it was one of those upscale ones, she sees a bag on a high shelf that catches her interest and asks the clerk to take it down so that she can have a closer look at it.
Obviously the lady doesn’t recognize Oprah, one of the world’s wealthiest women, or rather persons. I believe her programs don’t air in that particular country. But that’s certainly no excuse for the sales clerk refusing to take down the bag and insisting that she looks at some less expensive stuff. Oprah wisely doesn’t make a scene, but simply walks out of the store.
Now I don’t believe in the adage that the customer is always right, because clerks are human too and should be treated as such, and some consumers can be really rude and nasty to the lowly clerks. But then again, where does this sales clerk get off telling, or intimating to somebody she doesn’t know from Adam, what they can afford? And to make the matter even more volatile, it’s a white woman intimating to a black woman. Ah Lord eh!
The annoying part is that when the story breaks the clerk tries to fight back by wondering why a powerful woman like Oprah should be picking on a poor sales clerk like her. Why? Because she’s a fool and a disgrace to store clerks all over the world! She was either too lazy to climb up and get the bag, and/or engaging in an act of racism, thinking that because Oprah was black, she couldn’t afford the thirty something thousand dollars the bag apparently cost.
Whatever her feelings, they were totally wrong and uncalled for. She was being paid to assist whatever customer came in the store, regardless of colour creed or race. Oprah should have gone out and bought the blooming store then fired her for her insulting behaviour.
What is the world coming to eh, when sales clerks determine what a customer can or cannot afford eh? It reminds me of the story where this old ‘trampish-looking’ white man enters a car dealership and enquires about one of the expensive cars in the showroom.
The sales clerk, this time a man, and white on white, behaves very rudely and snobbishly towards the old man, again intimating by the man’s looks that he cannot afford the car. The old man simply walks out, comes back later with a garbage bag full of money and buys the car cash. I only hope he didn’t buy it through that foolish, demeaning salesman.
And that’s my ranting for the day Friends! (smile) Please ponder those incidents and see what you think of them. I do hope that they will make some impression that will help us all to improve our social skills and general behaviour.
Let’s turn to our Bit now. ‘The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.’ Wow! What explosive truth there is in that simple, but powerful statement Friends!
And it follows that if all three perpetrators of the incidents above had had the Lord as their strength, song and salvation, they would never have found themselves in the uncomfortable, dangerous and life threatening situations in which they did. But obviously they were infatuated with the things of this evil, ungodly world, rather than those of the divine God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And, keeping in mind the length of the Bit, and our busy day, (smile) we’ll end today with some rather instructive words of Moses from his song of praise. ‘The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation (praise Him); my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.’ (Ex.15:2-3)
Oh my people, until our world learns that lesson, and conducts itself accordingly, in true reverence and worship to Jehovah God, it will continue drifting and sinking in the mire of quicksand that’s slowly engulfing it, as it becomes more evil, as it departs from the Word of the Creator and Controller of the universe and all therein.
Oh Friends, for our children’s sake, please, let’s make haste to get some serious action going to reverse our sad situation nuh, because it is only us, true believers, who have the power, the faith and the divine means to do so.
And who knows when the day of reckoning will come upon us? But just supposing it is tomorrow, or even today… What then eh? Too many souls would be lost to Lucifer for eternity. So let’s get a move on RIGHT NOW nuh! Much LOVE!
…only as the world truly embraces the Most High God Jehovah…will the powers of evil be destroyed…
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