Today’s Scrip-Bit   11 January 2023   1 Chronicles 29:13.

11 Jan 2023 Leave a comment

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

1 Chronicles 29:13.        Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.

So we’ve come to Wednesday, the middle of the work week, but nothing much has changed, except the temperature seems to have fallen below the freezing mark. The day is still cloudy, with barely a hint of sunshine, and I know all this gloom has to be affecting many of us negatively. 

But as we keep saying, ‘Thank the Lord for Jesus yes! Without Him in our dreary, same old, same old lives we’d be completely lost! Yes Lord, we give you all the praise and glory for Jesus, who not only saves our souls, but refreshes and replenishes our daily lives with His amazing LOVE!’ And all God’s children said a loud and grateful, ‘Amen!’ 

Yes my faithful brethren, Jesus is the answer; the answer to everything, the only answer we’ll ever need in this life, as well as the next! That brings us to this interesting poem from our One Year Book of Bible Promises with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin that shows just how essential Jesus is to us. It’s aptly titled ‘There Are No Words.’  

So please read with me. ‘How can I put into words, my Lord The flooding transforming power That sweeps my life because of You? How can I explain to anyone The soaring, surging peace That You alone can give? All the wonder-filled things in my life All the joyful, glorious things I owe to Your goodness, Your grace, Your LOVE. Nothing is ever the same since knowing You And the longer I know You The deeper my LOVE.’ And isn’t that the gospel truth my people? It certainly is! Once we get to know Jesus, our lives are never the same. And the longer we know Him, the more we come to LOVE Him because of His exceptional mercy, grace and LOVE! 

Wow! And that’s why He is the answer to EVERYTHING! The only problem is that if you don’t know Jesus, haven’t accepted Him as Lord and Saviour, then you cannot partake of that awesome grace, mercy and LOVE that He has to share, and desires so deeply to share with mankind. Thus, you are missing out on the best things in life! 

Oh, I know some of you think you have life so good because of your power, wealth and physical possessions, but tell me, what’s going to happen to all of that when you give up the ghost of this life to go to the next eh? Will living the way the ungodly world dictates help you then? Will you carry all that wealth and power and stuff with you? Absolutely not! So what’s the big fuss over them all about? 

You can achieve the same level of wealth and power and stuff with Jesus in your corner, but the difference is that with Jesus in your life, at the end, you will go to a place of eternal life and rest, rather than to one of eternal death and damnation. Oh friends, eternal separation from Almighty God is the worst fate that can ever befall a human being! 

So I’m pleading with us to be wise and accept Jesus before it’s too late. For if you die, or He returns before you accept Him, then things will be very sad and disheartening for you, there’ll then be no chance of spending eternity in heaven with Him. And the only other option is hellfire with Satan. That I don’t think you’ll want, as it’s so well described by Jesus in the story of the beggar Lazarus and the rich man. You can find it in Luke 16: 19-31. 

Basically, what it says is that the rich man lived a wealthy and relaxed life here on earth, while Lazarus sat at his gate, begging and eating scraps from his table, as the dogs licked the many sores on his body. However, when they died, the rich man went to hell and Lazarus to heaven. In the torment of hell, the rich man saw Lazarus reclining comfortably in Abraham’s bosom, enjoying the joys of heaven while he was down there in the depths, hot as hell! (smile) 

Then what did he do? ‘And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they come from thence.’ (Luke 16:24-26) 

Then the tormented man begged Abraham to send Lazarus to his five remaining siblings on earth to testify to them so they wouldn’t experience his fate. But Abraham nixed that idea too, saying, ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.’ (Luke 16:31) 

Now friends, those were not my words, but those of Jesus, and if the Son of God, who cannot lie, says there is a not very nice place reserved for those who don’t believe in Him, then whom am I to argue with Him eh? Instead, if I’m wise, I’m going to jump on His bandwagon and do my best to stay there, since I don’t want to end up like that rich man, but like Lazarus. 

And that’s the long and short of the story my people! Our options are either to accept Jesus and live eternally, or do Satan’s bidding and die an eternal death. God’s given us free will, so it’s our choice. And I pray that we will make the wise one. Like Moses told the children of Israel: ‘I call heaven and earth to record (as witnesses) this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.’ (Deut. 30:19) 

It could not be any clearer than that my people. And that’s why the Bible Promise from our Poem earlier are the words of Bruh David when Israel was making their offering to build the Lord’s temple: ‘Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.’ (1Chr. 29:13) And that’s how it ought to be my fellow saints! Sincere thanks and praise to our glorious God should continually be issuing from the depths of our saved and redeemed souls! Now, for those of us who are sincerely following Jesus, let’s go home declaring (wowww!!! that’s at least the fourth consecutive time I’ve spelt it right,) 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 then there’s this bit of encouragement: if we endure to the end, that future will be even more glorious than we ask or imagine. So please, let’s do the wise thing and endure to the end nuh! Much LOVE!

…there’s nobody else like JESUS…now say it again…there’s nobody else like JESUS… 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 20 March 2013 Proverbs 30:24

20 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

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

Proverbs 30:24.     There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise. 
 
And the merry-go-round that’s life, has turned one more time my Friends, to this cold, dreary looking day called Wednesday. Now officially it’s supposed to be the first day of spring in the northern climes. Hn! But outside looks nor feels anything like spring, with the snow covered ground and the bone chilling temps, made worse by a whipping wind. But please remember my fellow believers that regardless of how the day physically appears or looks in your particular area, just see it through your eyes of faith as being beautiful, because it really is. It’s still filled with wonderful, brand new mercies and blessings as decreed by our heavenly Father. And all His faithful children acknowledged His LOVING-kindness by declaring in a loud, sincere voice: ‘Oh Father God, You are so wonderful and generous to us, the sinful, undeserving children of men. That’s why we worship and serve and LOVE You so much, and will continue to do so till eternity! We praise You, give You thanks, and bless Your Most Holy Name! Amen.’ Now Friends, we have a very interesting Bit today – not that we don’t have them every day – but something about this one just seems special. It’s taken from the contribution of the sage Agur to the Book of Proverbs. According to the scholars, ‘Nothing is known of Agur, but he was likely one of the international sages of Solomon’s day (cf. 1 Kin.4:30-31).’ Anyway, he does write some very interesting and truthful stuff, showing great insight into nature and man’s life here on earth. And in our Bit today, he solemnly declares: ‘There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise.’ And what he says is gospel truth my brethren! Now let’s look at the first of these small but wise things. ‘The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat (food) in the summer.’ (Prov.30:25) And we all know that’s very true, because we’ve all seen the ants working diligently, doing whatever they need to do to provide a good life for themselves. As Cousin Sol says in Proverbs chapter 6: ‘Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide (leader), overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat (food) in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.’ (Prov.6:6-8) And that’s the absolute truth people! As children growing up in the West Indies, we’d often watch an army of ants, fascinated by their scurrying around, busily doing their own thing, wondering how they were so diligent and focussed. But that’s built into their very nature by the Creator. And as to how that fits in with human life, listen to the scholars: ‘The sluggard is the habitually lazy person. He is admonished to learn two important lessons from the ant. (1) The ant has no guide, overseer, or ruler (v7), meaning that the ant does not have a taskmaster standing over it to make it work; it is a self-starter. (2) The ant is wise enough to prepare for predictable circumstances.’ Oh Friends, those lessons are even more important and valuable to us today! What with the great proliferation of laziness and idleness, especially amongst our young. Now let’s turn to the second small thing which Agur finds exceedingly wise: ‘The conies (rock badger or hyrax) are but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks.’ (Prov.30:26) Oh my brethren, how many of us of feeble strength and intellect can build our spiritual houses in the rocks, away from evil marauders eh? Not too many. But these small animals find a way to live in hills and rocks, away from the prying eyes of potential enemies. We need to be able to do the same thing my people. But that can only happen when we sincerely and securely embrace Jesus and all the good things He has to offer. Until then, we’ll be weak and feeble, driven to and fro by any kind of dogma, like a rudderless ship on a stormy sea. And the third thing which Agur talks about is; ‘The Locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands (in ranks).’ (Prov.30:27) Now isn’t that very strange, but rather interesting? Insects that have no leader, but yet go forth by their millions in proper ranks and formation! And their strength as a united body is enormous, for they rape and pillage the land like nothing else can. After locusts pass over an area, it looks like a moonscape, barren and desolate. Now if we humans, especially those in Christ’s church could only come together in such large numbers, with such vision and strength of purpose, then we’d have a much better chance of defeating the evildoers than we are now with comparatively puny numbers and petty divisions and dissensions. And last but not least of these strong and wise things of nature is; ‘The Spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.’ (Prov.30:28) Now the spider is certainly a work of true skill, cunning and strength! It builds its web all over, from the poorest hovel to the most pristine palace. It’s no respecter of places. And it cunningly catches its prey, its food in the sticky membranes of the web. We tear down these webs, but they soon build them back again. That’s tenacity people. Do we have that attribute? Not as much as we ought to. Too many of us get disheartened and discouraged at the first sign of danger or problems and quickly consider giving us. But please remember that giving up does not exist in Jesus’ vocabulary or that of His followers. Christ never gave up though the going was exceedingly rough. And can you imagine if He had given up as soon as the going got rough? Where would we be now eh? Left out in the cold, on the outside looking in, or rather facing a hellish time in the depths of hell with Lucifer, facing eternal death and separation from Almighty God. But with the Father’s generous help, Jesus stuck it out, so that we could have a chance to dwell in heaven, rather than hell for all eternity. And there ends the lesson for today my brethren. There’s a lot for the supposed smart and thinking humans to learn from the small, lowly, but very instinctive parts of nature, if we’ll only take the time to study them. Yuh see how the ancients did it and ended up wiser. But today with all our clever inventions and great expertise, we think we’re too high and mighty to learn anything from the smaller, lowlier creations of God. How wrong we are! So please, today, let’s take a few moments to ponder the attributes of those four lowly creatures, insignificant in our sight, but very pesty and pesky in our lives, and see how our individual lives and actions line up with them. Then let’s consciously make the decision and effort to do better. That’s wisdom in spades! Much LOVE!…though we look down disparagingly on the lesser creatures of nature…they do have a lot to teach us…supposedly first class beings…