Today’s Scrip-Bit 21 December 2020 Romans 5:8.

21 Dec 2020 Leave a comment

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

Romans 5:8.     ​But God commendeth (demonstrated) his (own) LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

‘Good golly Miss Molly! It’s Monday!’ Yes friends, the Monday before Christmas, four more days to the Big One! Are you ready for it? Have you done all your Christmas shopping? Hn, hn! It will certainly be a different kind of Christmas this pandemic year of 2020; not as much physical gathering, nor even eating and drinking and exchanging of gifts, as lots of people can’t afford the stuff they are accustomed buying. But that doesn’t mean the season can’t be festive, if we remember the real reason for the season in the first place -the birth of Christ. 

Now that was the first step in God’s long promised, great gift of reconciling us to Himself and providing salvation and eternal life through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. But to die as a man, Christ first had to be born, born of that virgin mother, in that li’l town called Bethlehem, before He could eventually make His way to the cross in Jerusalem and pay our sin debt in full. 

Wow! No other supposed deity is as magnanimous as our God! All those other supposed gods want us to sacrifice our lives to them, but the wonderful God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob sacrificed His Son for us woeful sinners to show His amazing unconditional LOVE! As the Good Book says: ‘But God commendeth (demonstrated) his (own) LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Rom. 5:8) All praise and glory to His holy name! 

And all He asks of us is to believe in His Son and be obedient to His word. But because of the free will God gave us, too many of us are filled with pride and lust and big egos and hard hearts, and thus refuse to bow down to the name that’s above every other name. Now though our God is gracious and merciful and all those other wonderful things, He’s also a stickler for justice and righteousness and obedience, and the non-doing of those things usually cause serious consequences in our lives. And when plenty of us refuse to toe the line, like right now, that means there are plenty of serious consequence in our world, like right now. 

Jesus also said: ‘If ye LOVE me, keep my commandments.’ (John 14:15) And though we claim to LOVE Him, we definitely aren’t keeping His commandments the way He desires, otherwise our world would not be in such a terrible mess. Even this big do we make about Christmas, a lot of it is false and/or pseudo-Christianity, because our attention is more wrapped up in the gifts and food and shopping, the commercial aspect of the situation, not truly in the birth of Christ and what it really meant, and still means for mankind. 

The celebration has taken on too much of a worldly and commercial overtone these days, meaning, that like so much else in this world, the things of God have taken a step or two back, and no longer predominate in our society. And that should give us serious cause for concern my people, for when a society has lost its way, when Almighty God is not first and foremost in the equation, then that society, like Humpty Dumpty, is slated for a fall, and ofttimes a rather big fall at that, from which it never recovers its previous prosperity. 

And right now, I believe we are at that stage, at the brink of the precipice, because God is no longer Number One in our society. Oh yes, we talk the talk, but remember He looks at our hearts, and currently the motives therein are not God-centred. So what’s the position eh? It’s dark and dreary…unless we come to our senses and return to the ways of God; ways that our forefathers embraced more faithfully than we have done. 

Friends, the only thing that can save us now is a revolution; a LOVE Revolution, for there is way more hate and negativity in our world right now than there is LOVE! And remember God is LOVE! So the less LOVE we have, the less of God we will also have. But we are people of faith, great faith, and anything we put our minds to, we can do, provided we have God involved. So if we require a LOVE Revolution to save our world, then we need to go to God to help us. As Jesus specified: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.’ (Matt. 7:7) 

And the way we go to God is in prayer; that’s His desire. So as one sincere voice, let’s take all our problems to Him now nuh, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn. ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You that this Monday morning we’re alive and standing in faith despite the mass confusion that’s currently prevailing in our world. 

We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems; the pandemic of Covid -19, the racial, political, and religious strife that’s ignited worldwide, plus the natural disasters like storms, famine, drought, plagues, climate change, wildfires, earthquakes and erupting volcanoes that suddenly seem to be blossoming more and more as time goes by. 

Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously come short in obedience and compliance to Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, and You have faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. 

That’s why we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading with You to give us, ordinary folks, as well as our leaders, employers and medical personnel, wise guidance and direction to bring our problems under control. And for those who are currently suffering from the many negative situations, we pray that You will ease their suffering and heal them. 

Father, please show them Your awesome grace and mercy, and keep Your promise that You’ll hear our prayer, forgive us, and heal our land if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again we say: Amen!’ 

Now let me remind us again, that the Lord looks at the motives of our hearts before He answers our prayers, so if they weren’t right just now, and we’re not prepared to turn back to Him in true repentance, then we’ll be left out in the darkness, with no forthcoming light, a rather sad situation indeed. Much LOVE!

…to have a successful society…the LOVE of God…must predominate… 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 8 October 2020 John 14:6.

08 Oct 2020 Leave a comment

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

John 14:6.     ​I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Aye friends, a fine, upstanding and blessed morning to you all! Yuh know, yesterday I made a significant discovery, yeah, a mind boggling one – life is like the weather. Wow! And I guess you’re wondering how I came to such a significant conclusion eh? Well here’s the genesis and revelation of it all. (smile) Remember yesterday I moaned that it was a wet and dreary day and hoped the weather would be better by afternoon because I had to go out and run some errands? Well, fortunately, by noon time the place was dry and the sun was shining brightly under clear blue skies! 

That lead me to think that our lives often behave the same way, one minute we’re sad and sorrowful, for whatever reason – sometimes even for no reason at all – and then we’re back to being bright, cheerful and happy again, for whatever reason – ofttimes no reason at all. (smile) But to further complicate the situation, though the day turned bright and sunshiny, a strong wind also came along and kicked up an unholy rumpus, causing stuff to be blowing all over the place and the trees to be just a hopping and jumping in its fearsome wake. (smile) 

To top it all, at one stage, I looked out into my neighbour’s backyard that has a big tree growing there, and right now it’s as luverly as it can be; the leaves are mostly a bright russet -brown with some in-between yellows and golds, and I saw the tree dancing a strenuous jig each time the wind blew. But I also noticed that not one of the leaves blew off, despite the wind’s strength and the time for leaves to fall is here. That’s because the leaves and the tree were strong and withstood the wind, boldly letting it know that they weren’t ready to fall as yet. Their time hadn’t yet come, and until it did, they would refuse to bow to it. 

And I saw just how comparable our lives are to the refusal of that tree to bow to the pressure of the wind. It’s the same way that life itself and the enemy brings stuff against us, that we need to stand strong against, not simply give into because it seems stronger than us. We find ourselves in that kind of situation every single day, because that’s just the way life is, but we can only stand real strong and steadfast against the bully-boy that’s life if we have the strength and peace and LOVE of Jesus flowing through our mortal coils. 

Yes friends, only when we have Jesus in us, and we are in Him, that we are strong enough to repudiate or repel anything and anyone that comes against us. And I did go out to do my errands yesterday afternoon in dry and sunny, but extremely windy weather. So as they say, two out of three wasn’t bad! (smile) And it’s the very same way that life operates; we seldom have it all smooth and calm and sunshiny, but there’s always some wrinkle or thorn or problem trying to upset our applecart. 

However, the Lord made us of stern stuff, able to withstand a lot of life’s ups and downs, and when we have the added protection of Jesus and His Holy Spirit dwelling within us…oh my people, we’re then nigh invincible! That’s what Jesus brings to the table as our Lord and Saviour – the ability to fight off all that comes against us. In other words: with Jesus as the guide and pilot of our lives we can do anything because He strengthens us! Glory Hallelujah! Where else, or from whom else can we get that kinda power eh mih bredrin? 

From nowhere or NO ONE else but Jesus! Because He’s the light of the world, our Redeemer, our Saviour, the ONE who sacrificed His sinless life on that old wooden cross at Calvary so that our sins could be forgiven, so that we could be reconciled to the Father and be considered righteous instead of downright sinful, like we truly are! He took ALL our sins and the punishment necessary to forgive and forget them on His back, because the Father LOVED us so much, and He LOVED the Father so much, that He obeyed Him even unto the death of the cross! 

Now why would you refuse to follow such a magnificent and magnanimous Deity eh? Because we’re too proud and foolish and full of ourselves, and desire the flaky, corruptible, destructible things of the world, rather than the everlasting, incorruptible, indestructible things of heaven. Plus the fact that we need to come to Jesus, and stay with him by faith, and not by sight, which is what too many of us desire. Jesus was the LIGHT of the world! 

John the apostle differentiated him from John the Baptist depicting Him thus: ‘There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He (John) was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (John 1:6-11) 

What a sad tale friends. The Creator of the world came to the world He created, but that world did not know or even acknowledge him, when he made Himself known to it. Chuh! How foolish eh! Nonetheless, as John declares (yeah!) in Jesus’ LOVING-kindness and mercy: ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power (the right) to become the sons (children) of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.’ (John 1:12-13) 

And Jesus Himself said it out loud and clear to Nicodemus: ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ (John 3:3) And when Nicodemus didn’t understand Jesus explained. ‘Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ (John 3:5) So friends, it’s as simple as that: if we want to see the kingdom of God, then we have to be born again of water and the Spirit. In other words, be baptized by water and the blood and believe in Jesus. 

For as He also said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’ (John 14:6) Matter fix! No ifs ands and buts about it. And for those of us who have accepted him as Lord and Saviour, let’s go home now declaring (awright) our Thursday Blessings that have been magnanimously showered down on us so we can do His awesome work. 

All together now: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! 

I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’ 

And as Jesus desires, it’s now our bounden duty to go out and generously share those blessings, just like He generously shared them with us. Much LOVE!

…you can’t get to heaven…unless you go through Jesus… 

P.S. And if you don’t believe that life can be contrary like the weather, hear this. Yesterday when I came back from running my errands, the duchess told me that my heart doctor wanted to see me this morning in his office. I had expected a simple phone call like all the other doctors are doing. But he had to be different. Chuh! Now I have to go and get myself together and go down the street. But that’s life! (smile) Much LOVE!