Today’s Scrip-Bit 17 March 2018 Ephesians 5:20.

17 Mar 2018 Leave a comment

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

Ephesians 5:20.    Giving thanks always for ALL things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Well a Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all my Irish friends and family! Please don’t get too immersed in the green stuff, especially the many different libations of the day. (smile) 

Yeh, St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) is the time the Irish celebrate their culture and religion, the legend being that the missionary St. Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland somewhere around the fourth century, and eventually drove out all the snakes from Ireland. 

Whatever the truth be though, the 17th of March has become a traditional festival of Irish culture all over the world, especially the imbibing part, with all things green being highlighted. 

What I remember most about St. Patrick’s Day is that as a young boy growing up in T&T, that was the only day you heard a Calypso on the radio, or you could have a party during the season of Lent. Now that state of affairs might have been somewhat stringent, but what happens now is downright ridiculous, with no serious or sincere observance of the Lenten season. 

Anyway, it’s Saturday, so let’s turn our attention to the quotes we got from our friend Anselm this week, as he sincerely aspires to inspire us for a brighter tomorrow. And our friend certainly had some interesting quotes this week, conveniently all tied up together. (smile) 

Listen to this first one: ‘Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.’ Now that’s wisdom of untold proportions! As Christians, we’re instructed to count our blessings, and concentrate on them, for they will always add up to more than our misfortunes and keep us happy and contented in the Lord. 

And the second quote declares: ‘When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.’ Oh glory to God my people! That is the gospel truth! Whenever we concentrate on our blessings rather than our misfortunes, our lives suddenly turn around in such dramatic fashion! I don’t understand why more of us aren’t counting the blessings and forgetting the misfortunes. 

And then there’s this invaluable quote: ‘Cultivate the habit of being grateful.’  What wise and wonderful advice my faithful followers of Christ! Everyday we preach that! There’s nothing that affects our lives as being grateful for all that we have, and which has been sent to us from our magnanimous God. 

But then I like this associate quote: ‘Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.’ Yeh, what is the point of being grateful if you don’t show it eh? Then no one knows that you’re grateful. It’s like saying you LOVE someone, but not showing them that LOVE. It’s simply wasted. All talk and no play. Gratitude is one of those words that can only be appreciated through our actions. 

And as always, I’ve left the best for last. ‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. ‘Thank you’ expresses extreme gratitude, humility, and understanding.’ Oh my people, if only we’d say more ‘thank you’s’ to each other, and to our awesome God, what a wonderful world this would be! 

You know, being grateful, counting our blessings and saying ‘thank you’ are the basic foundation stones of our Christian faith, because they all display LOVE in action! And that’s what Jesus’ people are all about: LOVE in action! 

And our Bit is one of the most encompassing scriptures in the Good Book, on the three topics we’ve covered today. It’s Bruh Paul’s direction to the Ephesians: ‘Giving thanks always for ALL things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 

Ah mih people, it’s something we continually hear, and know deep down in our hearts that we should do, but yet we don’t do it half as much as we should. We ought to be thanking our magnificent and magnanimous God, almost every minute of everyday for all that He’s done for us, especially when we don’t deserve ANY of it! 

Just the mere fact that His wonderful and amazing breath of life is currently coursing through our mortal bodies of dust and clay is sufficient reason to be everlastingly grateful and shout out a whole load of thanks to Him! But what to do eh? Mankind, being the only thinking creation, has always been the most ungrateful creation of the Lord. (smile) 

However, let’s see if we can change that some nuh, by going home declaring these wonderful words of Bruh David from Psalm 34 – The Lord hears the righteous. ‘I will bless the Lord at ALL times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.’ (Ps.34:1-3) 

Ah friends, there’s nothing better that we can do than magnify and exalt our great God! So let’s get ourselves together and begin doing it much more nuh. It’s basic common sense and wisdom to the nth degree! Much LOVE!

…there’s nothing that lifts our spirits…and warms the cockles of God’s heart…like His people showing gratitude…and giving sincere thanks…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 12 February 2015 Deuteronomy 16:17‏

12 Feb 2015 Leave a comment

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

 Deuteronomy 16:17.  Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.

Well Friends, it’s throwback and thanksgiving Thursday! And I’m writing these beautiful words of LOVE from the verandah of my little cottage in Lowlands, with much thanksgiving! I’m giving thanks for all that I have, all that I am, and all that the Lord is calling me to be.

And not to forget, enormous thanks for being in Paradise on another lovely tropical day, when back in the North Country, snow, ice and cold weather reign supreme!

Oh my people, I truly feel for all of you who are up there undergoing the cruel brunt of winter. And sadly, in another couple of weeks I’ll also be feeling sorry for myself when I return to face it. (smile)

But like the good soldiers in Christ that we are, and with His ever-faithful promises to look after us in each and every trial and temptation, plus the fact that like everything else, winter too shall eventually pass and give way to spring, we shall overcome any and every adversity that comes against us.

Please, let’s believe all of that, and walk with it in our hearts, minds and souls, through strong and trusting faith in Jesus Christ, our ever-LOVING Lord and Saviour!

Enough sermonizing for today though. (smile) Now, re adventures. I didn’t do much yesterday, just went into town to the market, so the duchess could get her yellow yam. Hn! Then we visited a couple of old family friends and a couple of school chums; from one end of Scarborough to the next.

The sun was hot sir! I know I came to get sunshine, but not that hot! (smile) And driving around hill and dale on the narrow, badly maintained roads that are still the same width since my youth, was a task in itself, especially with the duchess as my co-pilot. Hn, hn!

One of the people I visited was a 91, well more like 92 year old woman because her birthday is next month. She still lives by herself and looks very good for that age, still getting around on her own to a certain extent, though people, good Samaritans come around and check on her regularly.

Now that’s something I’d LOVE to do; live out my last days in decent health in sweet Tobago! Hopefully that’s in the Lord’s plan for my life. (smile)

But mih people, the best news I’ve heard in a long while, in Tobago or anywhere else, is the recent reconciliation of one of the school friends I visited yesterday and his younger brother.

Thank the Lord for that! He does move in mysterious and glorious ways! For there can be no better or higher action in human life than reconciliation, especially if the break up was originally over petty, unimportant stuff. It’s just like when Jesus died, so that sinful humanity could be reconciled to the Father.

Oh Friends, there’s nothing as sad as a broken relationship especially between siblings, because then it hurts the overall family, the smallest, but most important social entity in our society. And unfortunately the family, as we know it, is dying out because of too many of those break ups, plus the fact that the world now holds the individual as more important than the family.

How often nowadays, do we who live together in the same house, eat or get together as a family to play some game, or just talk eh? Certainly not as often as we should, if we want to protect the sanctity of the family. We’re all so busy with our individual lives that family time is now not a big consideration.

And it’s definitely something we should try to recapture, although the world with its 24/7 schedule, and its widespread communicating devices are making it very difficult to do. It’s a modern day paradox that we are communicating more, but becoming lonelier, because we’re not actually getting together with each other in person.

And even when we do get together, all we do is pull out our little toys and play on them. Chuh! It’s heartrending to see a group of people sitting together, and none of them talking to the others, or even looking at them, their eyes glued to the little screen in front of them, and their fingers busily typing away. Steups!

It’s become so ridiculous, that they could also be sitting together and tweeting or texting each other, instead of talking. When we prefer to communicate through a device, rather than talk to each other face to face, it only means that our society is going further and further downhill. That’s the selfish, impersonal state to which we have finally sunk.

Ah Friends, with all that unscheduled, but vitally important talk, I don’t know how much space and time we have for our Bit. ‘Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.’

Words of immortal truth my people! But are we putting them into practice in this evil, cruel, ungodly society? Not as much as we ought to, for as we said, we’ve become a selfish, individualistic, greedy society, where ‘me, myself and I,’ are the most important pronouns in our vocabulary.

Now let’s look at some scripture that deals with the subject. Yesterday, we saw where Bruh Paul told the Corinthians that whatever and however they sow, that’s what they will reap, and God LOVES cheerful and generous givers, and He always give us enough for our needs. (2 Cor.9:6-8)

Now the scholars in their explanations mentioned Proverbs 22:9, which I doubt, any or many of you checked out. So here it is in living colour. ‘He that hath a bountiful (generous) eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.’ (Prov.22:9)

Yes my people, in God’s kingdom, generosity is ALWAYS blessed!

Meanwhile in Psalm 37 – The true state of the wicked – Bruh David rightly and wisely declares: ‘The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again (does not repay): but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth (land); and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off (destroyed).’ (Ps.37:21-22)

More gospel and immortal truth that my brethren! And we’ll stop there for today, so that we can ponder all the things that we’ve spoken about. So let’s focus steadily on our God today, rather than the things of the world; allowing His words to function in our lives, by being caring, forgiving, compassionate and giving! For that’s the wisdom of heaven! Much LOVE!

…God is the ultimate giver…and besides…you can’t outgive God…no way Jose…