shower of rain | SCRIP-BITS

Matthew 24:35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Ah friends, the enemy always finds some way to disturb God’s work yes! Would you believe that a short while ago, just as I was going to start writing, my trusty computer froze on me and I had to reboot it and start from scratch again?

And though the unexpected delay frustrated me some, overall it just strengthened my resolve to complete my task with diligence and excellence! So that what the enemy meant for harm, the Lord turned into good! All praise and glory to our heavenly Father who so wonderfully inspires us to do His work!

And then there was Nate; just a li’l ole tropical storm, but it has already caused loss of life and done oodles of damage to Central American countries like Honduras and Nicaragua, and is now supposedly heading for the U.S Gulf Coast.

Down there they are busily preparing to weather it as best they can. Meanwhile in my area we are thankful that we finally got a decent shower of rain earlier this morning. Heavenly blessings have been conspicuously absent from my area for a while now.

Hn! How do you reason it out eh: one place getting a surfeit, an excess of rain, while another gets a little to none? The answer is, you don’t, because that’s God’s department. You just have to grin and bear it as best you can, with His help of course.

Anyway, let’s pray that the Lord averts further disaster in the Southern U.S, or causes it to be minimal. I don’t think they can handle much more, but that whatever happens, it will serve as a wake up call to return to right relationship with the God of their forefathers.

And since it’s Saturday, let’s consider some of the inspirational quotes that our friend Anselm sent us this week, in his noble aspiration to inspire us for a better tomorrow. And this first one let’s us have it with both barrels: ‘Stop making excuses.’

It hits the proverbial nail right on the head, for we are an excuse making society. We don’t want to take responsibility for anything, always blaming something or someone else for whatever has happened. And until we stop making excuses and start taking responsibility, our society will continue to be wishy-washy.

Then there’s this quote: ‘There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.’ That’s full of truth, but again, in our evil and ungodly society, unlike our friend Anselm, (smile) we focus more on manipulating people than inspiring them.

And that’s not wise, because at some stage of the game people will realize they are being manipulated and then the whole Ponzi scheme will come crashing down. Just look at the stock market and all the other fraudulent schemes existing in our society.

Now the next quote is in direct contrast to the last one: ‘If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.’ Lots of truth in that friends! In fact our aim should always be to inspire others, as that’s what Jesus came to earth and died for; to inspire us to seek Him and His righteousness.

And I particularly like this last quote: ‘You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.’ Yes my fellow believers, that’s the gospel truth! A lot of us only recognize those who can do something for us, while neglecting, oftimes contemptuously, those who can’t help us in any form or fashion.

But we’re dreadfully wrong in that kind of thinking, for the latter might not be able to do anything for us here on earth, but they’ll do lots for us in heaven if we treat them with respect and help them as best we can. In other words, looking on them favourably will build up heavenly rewards for us. The Lord’s Word says that.

And as our Bit says: ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.’ That means all that our wonderful God has said will remain true even into eternity…and beyond. (smile)

And we’ll close this series of messages on the power and purpose of God’s everlasting Word with this scripture from 2 Peter, where the apostle is talking about living in the hope of the Lord’s coming. ‘Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers (mockers), walking after (according to) their own lusts (desires).

And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep (died), all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of (forget), that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water (the great flood):

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now (currently exist), by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against (until) the day of judgement and perdition (destruction) of ungodly men.’ (2 Pet.3:3-7)

Yeh friends, it’s all in the Word, and done by the Word, and of the Word! And we can only be afforded salvation and eternal life through the Word! So let’s make sure we write all of that indelibly in our hearts, and souls nuh, because it’s the source, the fountainhead of wisdom and understanding. Much LOVE!

…the Word of God…a mighty two-edged sword…the most powerful instrument in the universe…

Ephesians 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Oh Friends, oh Friends, the ole fella’s moaning in his cups, crying in his wine, because he only has two more days left in Paradise. ‘Bahhh!’ Then I won’t be able to rise every morning, come out to my balcony and greet my wonderful God and the new day rising above the trees on the eastern horizon.

In two more days, I won’t be able to gaze out at the lush greenery and rejoice in the peace and awe of God’s majesty that it provides my soul. How sad my people. (smile) But as we keep saying, while there is life, there’s always hope, and while I’m alive, I will keep on hoping and praying that the God of my salvation will enable me to live out my days, or some portion thereof, in Sweet Tobago.

If it’s His will, then it will undoubtedly come to pass. But if not, then I will just have to grin and bear it. But in the meantime, I’m making memories so that in whatever physical space or state I might eventually find myself, there will be lots of joyful and entertaining thoughts flowing through my mind. For as we all know, memories are one of the few things which never leave us. So Friends, let’s all try and make as many good memories as possible today nuh, to enliven and enlighten our later years.

And mih breddren, I made some excellent ones yesterday. I don’t remember how it all went, but these are the highlights. I took my uncle Foster down to the airport around 9 a.m. to buy his ticket back to Trinidad. We also bought breakfast down there. Oh mih people, Tobago has certainly become a real food industry place; everywhere food is being sold.

We dropped him home, then came home ourselves, and had breakfast; fry bake and saltfish, washed down with some cold, gloriously tasting mauby. Hn! Then after writing the Bit, we headed for the beach.

In my contrariness (smile) and since I was the only one bathing, I went to Grange Beach, far from the madding crowd, and also close to an area in which I wanted to check out a friend. I was the only person on the beach, and though the tide was coming in, making the water somewhat choppy, I enjoyed myself. And while there, under a clear blue sky, a shower of rain suddenly came down.

Now the forecast had called for rain all day, but that was the first time we’d seen any. And Friends, just like there’s nothing sweeter than playing mas in rain, so there’s nothing better than being in the sea during a heavenly downpour! The pellets of heavenly blessing just kept falling on my head, as I laughed and swam, while the Duchess hid out in the car.

And since it didn’t make sense to come out of the water and get wet again in the rain, I just stayed there until the rain ended, some ten to fifteen minutes later. By the time I came out, an older Indian gentleman had set up a coconut stall by the side of the road, next to the beach, and since we hadn’t had any coconuts yet, we decided to check them out.

They weren’t bad, but the amusing thing is that while enjoying the nuts, the rain came down again. The wife ran back to the car, while I stood out there in my bathing trunks and my already wet towel around my neck, enjoying the coconut and chatting with the gentleman.

Some ten minutes later the rain ended and we headed out to find this friend, whom I’d been unable to find a couple days earlier. But this time with better directions, I eventually found him. His name is Rees Jack. Apparently he suffered a stroke some two months ago, which unfortunately left him with little movement on his right side. But thankfully, otherwise he was mentally and emotionally alert, and still full of the joy of life. We had a short but excellent visit, recalling old times.

That reminds me of another old friend that I’d visited two days before. His name is Harvey Anthony, and he’s sort of housebound too, the result of an infected wound on his right foot, which isn’t healing as it should because he’s also a diabetic.

Friends, please remember them in our prayers. Ask the Lord to heal and comfort them in their time of trial and need. For remember that prayer is the greatest power on earth, and that the prayer of a righteous person can be very effective.

Now after visiting Rees, we stopped in at Cowie’s Bakery in Carnbee, one of the oldest, and in my youth, the most popular bakery in Tobago. And though they now seem to be a shadow of their former selves, with much more competition around, they still have some of the finest baked goods around. Their butter bread is still to die for, while their coconut tart is the best I’ve tasted so far, and their currants roll is still mouth-watering.

After that, the Duchess and I ran around looking for food, but couldn’t find anything to thrill us, and we ended up in the mall, sitting on high chairs at a high table, eating ice-cream and gazing like awe-struck lovers into each other’s eyes. Hn, hn, hn! She might not agree with that description though. Then we came home and sampled the delights from Cowie’s Bakery. Now those were major good memories I made yesterday.

And finally let’s turn to our Bit: ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.’

And my fellow believers, as our Bit so wisely points out, and as I keep asking everyday, how can we not LOVE and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, when He’s done so much for us, simply because of His great, unconditional LOVE for us undeserving souls?

Yesterday we talked about His redemption, forgiveness and showers of grace, through the shed blood of Jesus. Today let’s continue with a couple more verses of Bruh Paul’s first letter to the Ephesians, outlining how Jehovah God had planned to, and eventually redeemed us.

‘Wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence (understanding); Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.’ (Eph.1:8-9)

Ah Friends, yuh see again, that all the Lord has done is through His own LOVING-kindness, not through any actions on our part. In fact our actions would normally have caused Him to eradicate us. But His LOVE was so strong and awesome, that it caused Him to come up with a plan to save us from our sinful selves.

Now let’s hear the scholars’ comments on those verses. ‘1:8. This verse could be rendered, “He lavished upon us this grace which consists in all sorts of wisdom and prudence (or, insight). The word ‘wisdom’ refers to a knowledge of the true nature of things; prudence has to do with the practical application of this wisdom leading to the right course of action. But the specific “wisdom and prudence” Paul has in view here concerns a future aspect of God’s will, as delineated in verses 9,10.’

And re ‘1:9. This verse more precisely identifies that “wisdom and prudence” (v.8) that God lavished on us. This “wisdom and prudence” have to do with God’s making known unto us the mystery of his will. “Mystery” here refers to a divine truth that is incapable of being discovered by human ingenuity and that, until recently, has been kept secret. Why did God disclose this mystery to us? It was according to (because of) his good pleasure which he hath purposed (planned) in himself.’

So there we have it my fellow believers! God planned His plan, and when the time was right, laid it out one step at a time to his greatest creation, mankind. So why aren’t we more appreciative and grateful eh? I can’t explain it.

I can only say that if we don’t change our sinful ways and turn back to Almighty God soon, then many of us will be left out in the cold, or rather in the eternal ‘sufferation’ of hell fire. And I don’t think that is going to be a fun time. So please let’s err on the side of caution and wisdom. Much LOVE!

…to him who obeys the call of disobedience…will the wrath of God surely fall upon…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 7 October 2017 Matthew 24:35.

Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 February 2014 Ephesians 1:3

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