Today’s Scrip-Bit 25 January 2019 John 3:3.

25 Jan 2019 Leave a comment

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

John 3:3.   Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again (from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God.
 

‘Driving, driving…’ Yeh friends, the ole fella went driving himself in that nasty weather yesterday, for the first time in some five weeks, and it wasn’t bad. It was like sex and riding a bicycle…you never forget how to! (smile) And though the weather was gloomy, the roads weren’t too bad. And above all, I had my trusted sidekick Jesus, riding shotgun beside me, so there was no need to worry. Glory be! 

What a way we can feel safe when we know He’s always right there beside us eh, as well as dwelling within us through His Holy Spirit! Christians therefore have no reason to be afraid of life and whatever it brings. But unfortunately too many of us are still fearful of even our own shadows, much less the trials and tribulations of life. But we won’t get into that right now, because the workingman is waiting to sing us his weekend song. (smile) 

And he wails out: ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday! And yuh better believe the weekend is upon us! What would we do without the weekend end eh? I refuse to even think about it! All I know is that I’m going to be enjoying mihself, having a good time, eating, drinking and doing whatever I want over the next couple days, regardless of the weather and what anybody else thinks! And if they don’t like it, then yuh know what they can do…Go jump in the blooming cold lake and freeze their nutsies off, because this is my time, and I’ll do what I so and so want to do with it! Thank God for Fridays and the weekends yes!’ 

Ah mih people, sometimes it would be nice to be like the working man and just go about one’s life with such gay abandon, but that unfortunately leads to serious problems eventually. So please, let’s be thankful that we’re believers in Christ Jesus who don’t adhere to such unbridled behaviour! 

Jesus needs His followers to be more restrained in their exuberance, but that doesn’t mean forfeiting fun and laughter, just being more cognizant of the dangers that lie in wait when we let the horses run wild. And that’s why our Friday Chant is somewhat less rah rah and self-serving than the workingman’s song. So let’s belt it out now with the same fervour and even greater appreciation than the workingman did nuh. 

All together now: ‘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!’ 

Yes my brethren, we have some boundaries to stay within, because we don’t want to fall into the ever-waiting trap of the evil enemy and his evil cohorts. Consequently, we’re not allowed to behave like leggo beasts as the workingman can do, and certainly does. And I just espied this interesting list on one of the many bits of paper beside my computer. It tells us seven things we need to do to be a true follower of Jesus. I believe I got it from Uncle Charles (Charles Stanley). 

Here they are: (1) Be born again. (2) Pray. (3) Listen to Him. (4) Believe Him. (5) Obey Him. (6) LOVE Him. (7) Suffer for Him. Now those are certainly ALL things true believers should do! We can’t leave out even one of them, else our faith walk will suffer serious negative repercussions! But the most important of them all is indeed the first one: ‘Be born again.’ That’s because if we’re not born again we can’t get into Christ’s organization and then the other things don’t matter. 

And that’s exactly what Jesus told the Pharisee elder, Nicodemus, who came to Him under cover of night to find out whom He really was. Now Nicodemus did admit: ‘Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles (signs) that thou doest, except God be with him.’ (John 3:2) 

And the scholars offer this explanation: ‘3:2. By night: Probably he (Nicodemus) feared criticism. John refers several times to “fear of the Jews” (see 7:13; 9:22; 12:42-43; 19:38). Nicodemus accepted Jesus as a teacher and a rabbi from God who worked miracles, but Jesus was not impressed with the depth of Nicodemus’s belief or understanding. Many unbelievers still agree that Jesus was “a great man.’ 

And no doubt, He was, but He was also much more than that; He was the Son of God! Thus Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again (from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ That says it all right there my people! We have to be born of water and the Spirit to be a part of  Christ’s kingdom. There must be a new beginning in our lives! 

That’s why Bruh Paul emphasizes to the church at Corinth: ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation); old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.’ (2 Cor.5:17) Yeh friends, to get truly hooked up with Christ, we have to become new people, and change our old ways, which don’t sit right with Jesus’ philosophy. I guess a simple way to put it is, we have to stop singing the workingman’s song and belt out the Friday Chant instead. (smile) 

And finally, as Bruh Paul tells the Ephesians: ‘If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation (conduct) the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.’ (Eph.4:21-25) 

Ah mih people, to get in with Jesus we have to become totally new people, be born again, change our old habits! And Bruh Paul lists some of the practical things we need to do when we become born again in Ephesians 4:25-32. It might be a very good idea to open our Bibles and read that list today. I’m sure it will give many of us cause to stop and ponder our lifestyle and ask God for help in whatever area in which we are deficient! That’s wisdom to the nth degree! Much LOVE!

…that which is born of the flesh…is flesh…that which is born of the Spirit…is spirit…

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 7 September 2018 Lamentations 3:21.

07 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

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

Lamentations 3:21.   This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope.

Aye friends, yuh ever wake up in the morning and just feel tired, exasperated and frustrated with mankind? Well that’s the way I feel this morning. Before I begin writing the Bit, I usually take a gander at the news headlines to get some idea of what’s happening around the world…

And…oh Lord…it’s only strife, anger, war, resentment and hatred! Nothing uplifting! Unless the newsmongers don’t consider anything uplifting to be news! But it’s just so much confusion and ‘cantankerousness’ that it leaves the spirit longing for the day the Lord shuts it all down. 

But yuh know what? It’s Friday, and it’s the big-wigs who are causing all the heartache, but the workingman does have something to say that will bring a chuckle to the soul and lift the spirit some. ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday! And though the summer finish and school start back, and the long holiday weekends done for now, we still going to have a good time on the weekends! 

Why? Because that’s the only time we have to have a good time! The rest of the week we labouring for massa for piddling, can’t make ends meet wages. So when we get the chance, come hell or high water, we certainly going to party for so, and say, ‘In yuh face massa! Stop we now nuh! But he can’t! That’s why we have to say Thank God for Fridays and weekends yes!’ 

Ah friends, there’s a certain kind of earthiness in the workingman that you can’t beat. He just lays it out there bare, fair and square. Meanwhile we, the supposed intelligentsia, make such a fuss, have so many unnecessary hang-ups, that we make our own lives more difficult than they need to be. 

Yes, the workingman does tend to go too far out on the limb, but he wears his emotions on his sleeve. Hopefully, we believers are a li’l more cautious, but still capable of real and true emotion, and show it when it’s necessary. And right now is one of those times, as we declare our Friday Chant with as much enthusiasm as the workingman sang his song. 

All together now:  ‘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!’ 

Yes friends, our intentions are different from the workingman, but our enthusiasm for the things of Jesus should be just as great, if not greater! And I’m chuckling here mih people, because I don’t know where all of this is leading to, but the Lord must have a purpose for it all. Let’s see if we can find it…

Glory to God, I found it! I just opened the Good Book and it opened right to the page with these immortal words of Jeremiah in his soulful Lamentations. ‘He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: 

I forgat prosperity (good). And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall (bitterness). My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled (bowed down) in me.’ (Lam.3:15-20) 

Ah mih breddren, Jeremiah did have a pretty rough time in trying to bring his people to the Lord. But yuh know what? In his reminiscence, he rightly and sagely concludes. ‘This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. 

The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.’ (Lam.3:21-28) 

And Jeremiah did bear the Lord’s yoke in his youth, as did many of us believers. So friends, even though we might be going through a pretty difficult time, there’s no reason to get discouraged and give up, because as Jerry says, the Lord is good to those who seek Him and wait on Him. 

And later on he further declares: ‘For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly (with delight), nor grieve the children of men.’ (Lam.3:31-33) Yeh, friends, though our God is a God of justice, He is also a God of great mercy; He does not take delight in afflicting us. He will punish us for our sins, but nowhere near what we deserve. 

So please, I implore us this Friday morning, to not give up, even though you may not see a way out of your troubles. Remember that our God is the Creator of the universe and He ALWAYS finds a way. So put your trust and hope in Him, hang in there, and eventually, in His time and manner, He will lift the burdens from your soul. He has done it for countless other saints. He will do it for you too…just have faith and hang in there. Much LOVE!

…if the Lord gave His Son’s sinless life for our sinful souls…why would he withhold anything else from us eh…

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 27 April 2018 Joshua 1:9.

27 Apr 2018 Leave a comment

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

Joshua 1:9.    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 whithersoever thou goest. 

Well a good morning to you my friends and Scrip-Bit family! Today is the Big Day! Yes, today the ole fella is going down to St. Michael’s Hospital, in Toronto, at long last, to have the tumour growing on his Pituitary Gland removed. Glory Be! And that’s why the Bit is so early. 

The tumour’s been hanging around for so long now that I’ve become accustomed to it, and after it’s removed, I’ll have to adjust to a new normal. But I can handle that. (smile) So all I’m asking is for you faithful fellow believers to bombard heaven with prayers for the success of the operation. (smile) Ask the Lord to guide the hands and hearts and heads of the medical team to do their best work, and to keep me strong and faithful. 

Now today is also Friday, so we have to consider the workingman’s song of freedom from unfair labour. ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday! Our best friend, the weekend is here again! Time to let our hair down again and enjoy ourselves as much as we can, with whatever the crazy world has to offer; say, sex, drugs and rock and roll! Whatever is out there is ours for the taking. And yuh better believe we going to take it in these two short days off. Thank God for Fridays and weekends oui!’  

Ah mih people, the workingman surely goes out on a limb, but we believers in Jesus Christ can’t afford to do the same. We’re not allowed to be that lustful and licentious because our Lord and Saviour has set up boundaries of proper standards for us to adhere to. That’s why our Friday Chant is so much different from the ordinary workingman’s song. 

So let’s chant our Friday Chant with as much enthusiasm as the workingman sang his song nuh. As one now: ‘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!’ 

Yeh friends, our song is much more reserved, excluding the extremes that the workingman seems to favour. And as we come to our Bit, I have to chuckle because I came down here just now wondering what I was going to write about, but the Lord beat me to it. I usually put some bookmarks in my Bible between the pages of scripture I’m interested in using that day. 

Now apparently when I used something from the first chapter of Joshua recently, I left a bookmark there, so the Bible naturally opened there this morning, and the first words to greet my eyes were those of our Bit. ‘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 whithersoever thou goest.’ 

Obviously the Lord was telling me that was my duty for today; to stand up strong and courageous, don’t be afraid of what I was about to go through. In other words reassuring me of His continual presence and His LOVING-kindness, and His promise to bring me through all adversity in better shape than before. 

Glory to our great and wonderful God my brethren! How can I not trust and be faithful to Him under those conditions eh? And in all my messages, that’s all I’m trying to get through to us: if you trust the Lord He will be faithful to you. As Bruh David so stoutly and proudly declares in the opening verse of Psalm 27: ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?’ (Ps.37:1) 

Ah my people, when you have the Lord as your ally, you need to fear no one or nothing at all, for He is always with you, wherever you go, looking out for you in all situations. And this is most appropriately set out in Psalm 91 – God is a refuge and fortress. ‘Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation (dwelling place); There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear (lift) thee up in their hands, lest thou dash (strike) thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder (cobra); the young lion and the dragon (serpent) shalt thou trample under feet’ (Ps.91:9-13) 

Oh friends, what glorious promises! And that’s not all. Hear the Lord’s declaration: ‘Because he has set his LOVE upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.’ (Ps.91:14-16) 

Wow people, wow! I don’t remember if I featured this scripture in my recent messages on the promises of God, but if I didn’t, it certainly deserved to be amongst them. And if I did, we can certainly be reminded of it, so that we can stay faithful and courageous in the strength and joy of our God. 

Now I don’t know what shape I will be in tomorrow, so I can’t say exactly when the Bit will come out, but the Lord willing, it WILL come out at some time. So please remember me in your prayers, and talk to you some time tomorrow, the Lord in favour. 

And I don’t see why the Lord won’t be in favour, since I haven’t really accomplished the desires He’s put in my heart to exalt and glorify Him. So if He took me home now, then He’d be wasting all those desires. And if there’s one thing I know, our God is wise, He doesn’t waste his desires. (smile) Much LOVE!

…trust in the Lord with all your heart…and lean not unto thine own understanding…  (Prov.3:5)

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 15 September 2017 Matthew 19:26.

15 Sep 2017 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 19:26.   But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible. 

Oh my brethren, another beautiful summer’s day is forecasted for my area today! Brother! The Lord has been so good to us recently weather wise that I don’t know what to say but ‘Thank You Lord!’ 

Unfortunately, many of our neighbours to the south and west of us have not been so blessed, having been recently plagued by wildfires, hurricanes and earthquakes. 

Friends, I can’t instill sufficiently our Christian requirement to help them as much as we can, in the giving of our time, talent, physical goods and money. And most importantly remember them in our prayers. 

Remember, prayer is the most powerful force in God’s great universe, and when we use it wisely and sincerely, it can cause mighty mountains to be moved. And this is certainly a time for universal prayer, as our world is falling apart through both natural and man-made calamity. 

However, the ordinary workingman might not realize the fiasco that is brewing and continue in his hedonistic ways by declaring: ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday and the weekend and party time is here once again! 

I can just see the eating…and the drinking…the barbecuing and sunbathing in this summer weather! We certainly going to be carousing plenty on we days off this weekend. Thank God for Fridays and weekends oui, so we can get away from massa an’ ‘im slave labour!’  

Oh friends, technically speaking all of that is true, it’s just the degree to which it’s being taken. We all are entitled to enjoy our days off from work, but remember those boundaries that are necessary to stop Beelzebub and his evil cohorts from invading our sacrosanct space. 

Our Friday Chant is indeed a much better ode to the weekend. (smile) So let’s chant it now nuh, with as much enthusiasm as the workingman had in his declaration. ‘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.’ 

Yeh mih people, if we’re to do God’s kingdom work diligently, sincerely and excellently, as He desires, we need to be bright and fresh and renewed in spirit every Monday morning. So let’s enjoy our weekend, but with ‘a modicum of circumspection,’ as Jeeves would say. (smile) 

And as a true and faithful Christian, keeping our sinful nature in check should not be that big of a problem, for we have the ONE and ONLY Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords on our side, in our camp. What more back up and reassurance can we ask eh? None whatsoever! 

And please note His plain and straightforward words to the disciples in our Bit, when they doubted about a camel being able to pass through the eye of a needle. ‘But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible.’ 

Now isn’t that the gospel truth! If God made our marvellous and magnificent universe and all therein, then it stands to reason that He can indeed DO ANYTHING! But too many of us supposed believers don’t really and truly believe that, otherwise we wouldn’t behave in the doubting manner in which we often do. 

And it’s not only from the time of Jesus that the Lord has been trying to instill this in man’s consciousness, but long before. Listen to how the prophet Jeremiah prayed after he had bought a field on God’s advice and delivered the deed to a trusted friend, Baruch. (Jer.32:1-15) 

‘I prayed unto the Lord saying, Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard (difficult) for thee; Thou showest LOVING-kindness unto thousands, and recompensest  (repay) the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name.’ (Jer.32:16-18) 

And if you don’t believe Jeremiah, then listen to the Lord Himself later on. ‘Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?’ (Jer.32:26-27) 

Ah mih people, I hope that solidifies our belief that our God is great and powerful and can do ANY and EVERYTHING! We need to believe that if we are to serve Him properly in this evil and ungodly world. Much LOVE!

…the three first principles of Christianity…believe…believe…believe…only believe…