Isaiah 51:12. I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass.
Oh Friends, isn’t it most excellent to see another blessed day on God’s wonderful earth? It certainly is! So let’s all take a deep breath, hold it for a moment, then slowly let it out, while simultaneously contemplating the miracle of life that exists in us, and the goodness of God that enables us to keep on breathing minute after minute, day by day. And having done that, and realizing what rich and exquisite gifts the Lord has bestowed on us, both through ordinary physical life and spiritual rebirth, reconciliation through His Son Jesus Christ, all His earth bound children declared a heartfelt: ‘Thank You Lord! We LOVE You and praise Your Holy Name! We know that it’s nothing we’ve done, but Your monumental, unconditional LOVE for us that causes You to continue looking upon us with such awesome and amazing LOVING-kindness. We faithfully pray that our wonderful LOVE relationship will continue forever, throughout eternity. In Jesus Name. Amen.’ Yes Friends, what a great LOVE our heavenly Father bears towards us, and consequently desires us to bear to each other. No wonder St. Therese of Liseux, the Saint of the Little Flower, emphasized in her short, rough but productive earthly sojourn, that ‘What matters in life, is not great deeds, but great LOVE.’ And if that isn’t an undeniable truth, then I don’t know what is! Sadly though, of all the emotions, that noble emotion of LOVE, which we need the most, is what we have the least of. Granted, the word is constantly bandied about, but there’s no true substance to it. It’s used mostly in a worldly, carnal manner, oftimes as a synonym for fleshly lust. But when coming to true LOVE for God, and true LOVE for our fellow man, our world is sadly lacking. True LOVE for God doesn’t mean continually disparaging Him and removing Him from our society. And true LOVE for our neighbours certainly doesn’t mean the worldwide strife, resentment, bitterness and other stressful emotions that currently dominate our days and nights. And unfortunately my people, without real LOVE, we’re just spinning our wobbly wheels in self-destruct mode. That’s because the negative emotions opposed to LOVE aren’t conducive to building or creating, but are all forces of destruction. And if we keep letting those negative forces rule the roost, then we’ll just keep going the way we are now…falling, falling, falling into the disastrous pit of an earthly hell. It doesn’t take a genius to see that my brethren. But it does take a wise, considerate and LOVING human being to want to do something to stop the carnage, the ever-quickening downward trend. And as I keep reminding us, it’s only the true believers who are capable of catching the reins of this runaway horse and carriage we call modern-day life and bringing it to a halt and then reversing its sordid direction to that which leads to sincere repentance, praise worship, glorification and LOVE for our Creator, Jehovah God. Ah mih people, unless this reversal of directions happens, and happens soon too, we’ll all end up in dire circumstances. The terrible plight of our world is there for all to see; what with the tough and getting tougher economic situations creating worldwide joblessness, the immense poverty, sickness, homelessness, famine, drought, climate change and all the other negatives now consuming us. None of that speaks of real LOVE, especially when there’s more than enough of everything to go around. And we haven’t even mentioned the numerous social uprisings, the wars and rumours of wars that are concurrently taking place alongside all the other disastrous situations. Oh Friends, what a mess we’ve made of God’s wonderful creation! And it all stems from a sad lack of LOVE. The unfortunate thing about LOVE though, is that it takes time to build, because it needs trust and faith, things that cannot be had instantly. Meanwhile, hate, anger and strife can be raised up immediately and produce immense destruction at the proverbial drop of a hat. Anyway my fellow believers, the moral of the story, the purpose of this epistle (smile) is to have us wake up and realize that it’s imperative we get the ball of LOVE rolling as quickly as possible. There’s absolutely no time to lose, since Lucifer and his wicked cronies already have a substantial head start on us. That means we have lots of ground to make up, before we can even think of forging ahead of the evildoers. So please, if we seriously and sincerely LOVE Jesus and want to please Him, want to help build His glorious kingdom, then let’s get it together nuh. Let’s cut out all the pussyfooting and blah blah blah, and get some real action going. We can’t allow the immense sacrifice of Christ’s sinless life on Calvary’s cross to be wasted, to go for naught under the evil onslaught, because we’re too comfortable, lazy and/or afraid. Remember Bruh Paul’s strong assurance to Timothy: ‘For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of LOVE, and of a sound mind.’ (2 Tim.1:7) Therefore, as true believers, we ought to come out swinging, giving no quarter to the workers of iniquity in this LOVE Revolution, if we want to see a return to God and all the things that make for a safe, satisfied, wonderful, godly and righteous life. Now let’s allow our Bit, and the three verses after it, to take us home, so that we can ponder on the truth contained in them, and how our lives reflect that truth. ‘I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a (mortal) man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready (preparing) to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.’ (Is.51:12-15) Oh my people, please let’s contemplate today on those harsh words of our mightily displeased God. Yes, He is mightily displeased because we’re doing just like, and even worse than the Israelites of old, to whom Isaiah directed those words. And having pondered them, let’s then rise up and do better. If not for our sakes, then for Jesus and our children’s. It’s the wisdom of the ages. Much LOVE!…he who has ears to hear…let him hear…otherwise he’ll surely feel the wrath of God…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 24 March 2013 Isaiah 51:12
24 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: asap, bitterness, blessed day, disastrous pit, drought, earthly hell, faith, faithful prayer, famine, fleshly lust, forces of destruction, glorification, great deeds, great LOVE, heavenly Father, joblessness, LOVE, loving kindness, negative forces, no time to lose, noble emotion, poverty, praise, resentment, rule the roost, rumours of wars, Saint of the Little Flower, sickness, sincere repentance, son jesus christ, spiritual rebirth, spirituality, St. Therese, strife, The Lord who comforts, trust, wars, workers of iniquity, worship
Today’s Scrip-Bit 15 February 2013 Jeremiah 5:25
15 Feb 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: be joyful always, blessings, curses, death, disobedience, divorce, eternal separation from God, famines, fellowship, fun, further God's kingdom, God's natural blessings, homelessness, iniquities, introspection, Jesus has defeated Lucifer, joy, Lent, magnanimity, mercy, negative stuff, pay a price, poverty, rebellion, refreshed soul, relaxation, removing God from society, rest, serve, sickness, sins, spend time with God, TGIF! Thank God it's Friday!, the Lord is our strength, wages of sin, worship, wretched truth
Jeremiah 5:25. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
Oh Friends, it’s Friday! And suddenly I’m inundated by silence? No ‘TGIF’s! No ‘Thank God is Friday!’ Why is that eh? Is it because it’s the first Friday in Lent that we’ve lost our enthusiasm for the weekend? That shouldn’t be so my Friends. We should be happy and rejoicing every Friday, whether it’s Lent or not. That’s because the rejoicing is for the end of the labouring week. We finally have time to rest and relax, and spend even more time with our heavenly Father, than we do during the work-week. And anytime we get the chance to spend more time with the Father, oh mih people, that’s a serious cause for rejoicing! So let’s not stop being joyful, whatever the circumstances, for remember the joy of the Lord is our strength, (Neh.8:10) and if we allow the ‘thiefing’ Lucifer to steal it from us, then half of our life is lost. Remember Lucifer can’t take it unless we allow him to. In fact he can take nothing whatsoever from us unless we let it go, for he has no power over us, since Jesus has already won the war and defeated death, the grave and hell, Lucifer’s domains. So having all of that in mind, let’s enthusiastically chant our Friday Chant to get us in the right frame of mind for this first weekend in Lent. Like one big choir now: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’ And let’s keep that fire burning all weekend please Friends! Get introspective, but with a good demeanour, not the sour, draggy, despondent, woe is me attitude so many of us believe is called for during Lent. Now let’s turn to our Bit: ‘Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.’ Oh my people, my people, those words are even truer today than they were when Jeremiah spoke then about Judah. And why are the good things withholden from us? It says right there in the Good Book: ‘But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone (departed).’ (Jer.5:23) And isn’t that more wretched truth again! In the last generation we have removed God so far from our lives that a great portion of the society has no idea of whom He is or what He stands for. And the sad part is that despite all the turmoil in our lives, we insist on further removing God from the small space He now occupies, instead of running to Him with open arms and repenting of our folly. As the scholars’ say of Judah’s rebellion: ‘Theirs was a stubborn willfulness that could only be termed utter folly (v 21). Accordingly, their lives are marked by deceit. Therefore, they have deprived themselves of God’s natural blessings. (cf.Deut.28:15-68)’ And that chapter of Deuteronomy is where the first 14 verses deal with blessings, and the remaining 54 deal with the curses that will ensue for disobedience. Oh Friends, that should be a telling tale to us today, because foolishly and proudly we have also deprived ourselves of God’s natural blessings through our constant rebellion and disobedience. Listen to the basic blessings of which we have deprived ourselves: ‘Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season; he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’ (Jer.5:24) Please note the many horrible natural and man-made disasters that have been striking our tragic world in unusual numbers over the last few years. Also the widespread famine, poverty, homelessness and sickness that’s uncharacteristically overtaken our world at the very height of its powers. No other generation on the face of the earth has ever been as advanced as ours, yet our world is suffering in the same areas of our prowess, much more than some of the lesser advanced generations ever suffered. We just have to look at the enormous strides we’ve made in agriculture, wealth, construction and medicine, to shake our heads and sadly wonder why in all those areas we’re still suffering immensely, when there’s no real need for it. And why is that, you wonder my brethren? Jeremiah gives us some insight into the problems by telling us how Judah turned from the Lord. ‘They say, if a man put away (divorces) his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall (would) not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord. Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lain with (violated). In the ways thou hast sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s (harlot’s) forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.’ (Jer.3:1-3) Ah Friends, that should speak severely to our consciences, because we have behaved, and are still behaving just like Judah did. But please remember the disastrous punishment they received; their cities devastated, and their people taken away captive to other lands. The Lord might not use the same punishment for us, but we WILL be punished if we continue in our rebellion and disobedience! And if you look around, you’ll see a whole lot of unusual negative stuff already happening in our society. So please let’s start paying serious attention to what’s happening around us, for the Lord is no respecter of persons or societies, and if we’re continually disobedient we’ll eventually pay. But the good news though is that with our wonderful and magnanimous God, while there’s life, there’s always hope. And that hope can be found in Jeremiah 3:4. ‘Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?’ Yes Friends, if we cry unto the Lord in sincere repentance and change our wicked ways, and once again begin worshipping and serving Him in word and deed, then He’s merciful and magnanimous enough to forgive us. It’s our ONLY HOPE my people. And it’s the wisest bit of wisdom we can ever attain in this evil, ungodly world. So let’s get to it nuh! Much LOVE!…he who has ears to hear…let him hear…otherwise he’ll surely suffer the wages of sin…death…eternal separation from Almighty God…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 22 September 2012 Zephaniah 2:1
22 Sep 2012 Leave a comment
in Inspirational Living Tags: antagonism, Democrat, depression, forgiveness, gather together, humility, LOVE, manna, mercy, one accord, oppression, poverty, repentance, Republican, righteouness, rumours of wars, sickness, tearing each other apart, the Lord's anger, wars, wisdom
Zephaniah 2:1. Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired.
Oh Friends, another day has dawned bright and beautiful, though a bit chilly in my area, but still with all the blessings that our faithful God has promised, and has faithfully provided everyday. Blessings like life, mercy, manna, LOVE and forgiveness, just to name a few. But for some reason, many of us either don’t know about, or seem to appreciate these daily blessings, which unfortunately keeps us at loggerheads with each other, which in turn wreaks havoc in our society. Listen to the chorus of this song I recently heard on a T&T radio station. It’s an old fashioned type calypso, apparently penned for T&T’s fiftieth anniversary of Independence, celebrated this past August 31. It says: ‘My prayer dear Lord, is that you keep us in one accord. And if there is a plan, for the destruction of our land. Ah beg you, dear Lord, please stay your hand. My prayer to you dear Lord. Please don’t allow us to continue tearing each other (our nation) apart. Dear Lord, that’s the prayer of my heart.’ Oh my people, that’s a prayer that can be raised up to heaven for almost every nation in our world, because almost all of them are in some sort of turmoil. It can therefore be also applied to our entire world, which is in a truly sad state, with wars and rumours of wars abounding; economic depression, gross poverty and untold sickness in a world of plenty and marvellous medical science, religious confrontation and oppression, and generally speaking very few areas of agreement. Why are we so antagonistic towards each other eh, even in the smallest group, the family? I guess with the exceedingly quick pace of life nowadays, and with all the modern technology and the numerous distractions now available, plus the lack of godly instruction in homes and schools, it’s harder for even families to see eye to eye. And if the smallest and supposedly most close-knit group are at such wide and varied odds, what does that say for the society as a whole eh? It surely doesn’t instil much confidence that we’ll be getting better any time soon. A glaring example of that is the current U.S Presidential campaign. Firstly it’s very partisan, either Republican or Democrat, with no middle ground. Then it’s become so nasty, expensive and more focussed on the personal lives of the candidates, than the numerous serious problems affecting the country and their plans to fix them. Neither side seems truly concerned about the effects that style of campaigning is having on the country, but are both merely concerned with pushing their own agenda in the wild grab for power. And sadly, though not as much as before, as the U.S. goes, so does the rest of the world. So is there no help for us, you ask? Oh yes Friends, surely, for while there is life, there’s always hope. But what’s the help? My people, we can find it in our Bit and the two verses that follow it. ‘Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired (undesirable nation). Before the decree bring forth (is issued), before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgement (upheld his justice); seek righteousness, seek meekness (humility): it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.’ (Zeph.2:1-3) Yes Friends, Zephaniah was desperately calling on the meek to seek the Lord, because of Judah’s ungodliness, and letting them know how terrible it would be when the Lord’s anger strikes. But they paid no heed and when the conquering forces of Babylon ravished them, everybody just held their heads and bawled. But Friends, it was too late then, and if we don’t smarten up and truly seek the Lord today, we will eventually face the same unwanted, but much deserved fate for our ungodly, evil way of life. Oh my brethren, the day of the Lord will not be forestalled, and the scope of divine judgement will be worldwide and truly harsh. Only the meek and righteous will stand a chance of not being utterly consumed. A lot of societies today take the Word of the Lord for a joke, heaping ridicule on it, but if we really looked at the horrible situation the children of Israel faced for their disobedience in the Old Testament, we wouldn’t take it so lightly. And what do you think will be the Lord’s reaction to those who refused to place their faith in His Son Jesus Christ, whom He innocently sacrificed so that His fallen children could be reconciled to Him? I doubt that His reaction will be very wonderful, for although He is indeed a God of LOVE, mercy and forgiveness, Hs is also a God of justice and righteousness and cannot tolerate sin around Him. And we’ll end with some interesting words from Joel, when he called Judah to repentance and fasting because they were living the same wicked, unrighteous lives that we’re now living. ‘Blow the trumpet (ram’s horn) in Zion, sanctify (consecrate) a fast, call a solemn (sacred) assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breast (nursing babes): let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet (dressing room). Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen (nations) should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people (peoples), Where is their God?’ (Joel 2:15-17) Oh my brethren, we certainly don’t want the heathen to rule over us, or to feel the Lord’s full anger, we’re already feeling some with all the calamity that’s befalling our world. So I implore us to all try and improve ourselves, by raising our individual righteousness and humility, thus setting a good example, then start to encourage those around us, friends, families and co-workers to do the same. That’s what we need to do, if we want to see brighter days. It’s the wisdom that’s called for in these turbulent times. Much LOVE!…humans divided…whether in families or nations…will never achieve God’s greatest promises…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 20 September 2012 Proverbs 12:10
20 Sep 2012 Leave a comment
in Inspirational Living Tags: accidents, advantageous employers, cruelty, directives, faithfulness, justice, kindness, labourer, mercies, oppression, refurbish, remuneration, replenish, sickness
Proverbs 12:10. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
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