The Importance of Lent and the Temptations of Jesus in a Christian’s Life! Pt. 1.

18 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 4:4.        But he (Jesus) answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Oh friends, it’s Wednesday, our second wind day…and unfortunately we on a late bus! But many of us shouldn’t need to catch a second wind, since this is only our second day of work this week, unless we’re still tired rom the Family Day celebrations this past weekend. (smile) However, we will certainly need some help to deal with the serious freezing rain that’s happening in our area. The above freezing temps of the last few days have suddenly disappeared and the computer is calling for snow later. So let’s get prepared for another round of snow and cold temperatures, for that’s what happens in winter. (smile)

Now, today is also a special day in the life of the Christian Church; Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent. Lent represents the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and being tempted by Satan, without wavering in His faith. During these forty days before Easter the believer is expected to carry out a serious discipline of fasting, repentance, prayer and self-examination. However within those confines there are certain parameters of do’s and don’ts. And we’ll begin with this interesting scripture from Joel, who after warning about the Dark Day of the Lord, (Joel 2:1-11) then announces the Lord’s Call to Repentance.

And is there ever a great need for repentance in today’s very sinful world! Not only from the unbelievers, but also from we supposed believers. So, listen up, as Joel writes: ‘Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend (tear) your heart, and not your garments, and turn (return) unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness (LOVING-KINDNESS), and repenteth him of the evil (relents from doing harm).

Who knoweth if he will return and repent (turn and relent), and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering (meal or grain) unto the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet (ram’s horn) in Zion, sanctify (consecrate) a fast, call a solemn (sacred) assembly.’ (Joel 2:12-15) Now friends, that’s possibly what we need to do; call a big, sacred fast, and turn back to the Lord our God, from whom many have turned away in the search for physical pleasure and material wealth.

But before we move on, hear this crucial explanation from the scholars . As per ‘rend your heart and not your garment,’ they say: ‘The customary way a Jew showed his grief was to tear his outer garment. This external sign could be meaningless. The tearing of the outer garment is useless unless the heart is also broken in repentance and contrition.’ And sadly, that’s what many of us do nowadays; have outward shows of fasting, repentance and all the other sacrificial stuff when in reality our hearts are not truly involved.

That’s why Jesus warned us thus about fasting. ‘Moreover when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites (pretenders), of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.’ (Matt. 6:16-18) Ah mih people, this society has become such a place of show and falsehood, of outward deceitful doings to please man, and raise our societal stature that you don’t know what or whom to believe. But as true disciples of Jesus, we should not be doing anything just to be seen and uplifted by mankind.

And we could not talk about Ash Wednesday and not consider the temptations that Jesus suffered after being baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, with the Spirit of God descending like a dove, alighting on Him, and the voice from heaven saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ (Matt. 3:16-17)  After that, the Bible tells us: ‘Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered (hungry) And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he (Jesus) answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ (Matt. 4:1-4)

And according to the scholars, the victory in each aspect of the temptation is related to Jesus’ use of Scripture. It is written: First He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, about man not living by bread alone, but by the Word of God. The source of bread is more important than the bread itself. Later, during the conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus would say to the disciples, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” (John 4:32) Jesus’ source of strength was obedience to the Father’s will and He would not even work a miracle to avoid personal suffering when such suffering was a part of God’s purpose for Him.’

Wow! Not many of us would have the resilience and obedience to suffer for suffering sake. And imagine the contradiction in Jesus’ earlier situation nuh, where, after being highly praised by the Father, the Spirit led Him into the wilderness to suffer and be tempted. But that’s often how it is in the Will of God, and we just have to learn to live with it, by looking at the rewards at the end. Now there are two other temptations that Jesus experienced in the wilderness, but because there is so much information contained in them, it would make the Bit much too long if we included them today. So, if God spares life tomorrow, then we will continue with those other temptations.

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

And for those who endure to the end with Jesus, there’s an even more glorious future to enjoy. So, hope to see you there! Much LOVE!

…the Bible…the Word of God…contains ALL we need to live this earthly life…

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit   17 January 2022 Psalm 86:5.

17 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 86:5.      For thou Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous (abundant) in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.   

And the miniscule flakes of white stuff fell…and they fell…and they fell…from mid-evening until mid-morning! And such was the magnitude of that white stuff, that it caused endless problems. Ah friends, a snowfall is a beautiful thing to behold from an artistic standpoint…the way it floats gently down and covers everything in a solid blanket of white. But when you have to walk through, drive in or shovel it, then that’s a horse of an entirely different colour. (smile)

And we all know that whatever mankind puts his hands on, or into, he sullies it, and it eventually turns ugly. It’s the same way with the beautiful white snow, when man gets involved in it, it turns black and ugly. But seriously though, I haven’t seen this much snow in one fell swoop for some time. When I opened my side door this morning, I could barely get out because the snow had blown right up against it. And when I did get down to the ground my feet sank down to my knees in some sections of the driveway. That means there was a good six to eight inches of heavy snow in my driveway and in my laneway.

So I can imagine the toll it’s taken on the Monday morning commute, because this extreme snowfall is not only happening in my neck of the words, but all over North America! The U.S. has already been deluged by snow in places that are not accustomed to it, with all sorts of disasters occurring, and more of the white stuff is expected. The same goes for our fair land of Canada. And I could easily put a spiritual spin on the entire situation, saying that it was God’s way of warning us to wake up to our sinful behaviour and return to sincerely and faithfully worshipping Him…but I won’t. (smile)

Although that could be the gospel truth, since our God does move in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. But yuh know what, even if it’s not God’s hand moving to prove a point, we’ve also got to consider the fact that He is allowing it to happen, when He has the means to stop it. He is allowing a whole lot of us to be tested all at once. So much so, that we don’t have the time, the energy or the resources to help each other, because we are too busy trying to right our own displaced house and sunken canoe.

 Now, if I was a wise man, I would certainly ponder the rationale for such terrible weather to be pounding so much of North America at the same time, on top of all the other serious and unresolved problems we are currently facing. But right now, I guess we are more concerned with digging ourselves out of the snow, than pondering the whys and the wherefores of the storm. (smile)

But please, when it’s all over, when the damage has been ascertained, can I please ask us to ponder on those whys and wherefores, because we might just come up with a wonderful reason to turn back to worshipping the God of our forefathers, since nothing else we have tried to do in our own strength is working, or has even come close to a plausible solution. And I just noticed this marvellous and most appropriate verse of scripture from Psalm 86, where Bruh David confidently proclaims: ‘For thou Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous (abundant) in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.’ (Ps. 86:5)

And that’s the indisputable truth my people!  Our God is always ready to forgive and show oodles of mercy to ALL who call upon Him! Forgiveness and mercy, grace and LOVE are the hallmarks of His magnificent kingdom! Nowhere else can you find such an abundance of goodness and mercy as with the Lord God Jehovah! And there are so many scriptures in the Good Book that endorse that point, that we most certainly should look at a couple.

First off, here is the prophet Joel calling Israel to repentance and fasting. ‘Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend (tear) your heart and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil (relents from doing harm).’ (Joel 2:12-13) Oh my people, that’s such an appropriate word picture of our great and wonderful God!

And it’s necessary to hear this explanation from the scholars of those two verses above to fully understand them. ‘2:12-13. The customary way a Jew showed his grief was to tear his outer garments. This external sign could be meaningless. The tearing of the outer garment is useless, unless the heart is broken in repentance and contrition.’ And that’s why we have to be sincere, tearing our hearts and not merely our outer garments as is happening so much today. Insincerity is one of the hallmarks of our current world!

And one last scripture, this from Psalm 145, where Bruh David again proclaims his God’s goodness. ‘The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion: slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.’ (Ps. 145:8-9) And since we are God’s greatest work, then it means that all His grace and mercy, His LOVING-kindness are constantly being bestowed on us, if we sincerely reverence and worship Him.

So, with all that we’ve said today, let’s take this great opportunity to go to God in prayer nuh, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, asking for His divine help and mercy, for grace in this time of great need. Altogether now: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. 

We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has 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 wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems.  And Father, we pray that you will ease the pain of the many who are suffering from negative situations. 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’s remember to rend, to tear our hearts and not our garments, if we want to receive positive answers from our ever-faithful God. Much LOVE!

…let Israel hope in he Lord…for with the Lord there is mercy…and with him is plenteous (abundant) redemption… (Ps. 130:7)

P.S. Oh friends, I’d like to sincerely apologize for the lateness of the Bit, but today’s been a somewhat confusing and unpredictable day, with several unexpected things happening, thus causing my whole schedule to turn topsy turvy. But, as they say, better late than never! (smile) And I do think it contains solid stuff for us to ponder on. Much LOVE!

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8