Psalm 118:28. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
Oh Friends, it’s a brand new day! Glory Hallelujah! A brand new day filled with new mercies, new blessings, and new forgiveness! Wow! And to make matters even better, we’re alive to enjoy it all! What a most wonderful Deity we serve and worship my people: the ONE and ONLY TRUE LIVING God!
So let’s give Him some thanks and praise, as we loudly and boldly proclaim these wise words of the psalmist in thanksgiving for the Lord’s salvation. Please declare with me: ‘This is the day which the Lord hath made; we WILL rejoice and be glad in it.’ (Ps.118:24)
Yes my people, let’s enjoy the goodness and LOVING-kindness of our magnificent and magnanimous God today and everyday, as long as the breath of life is flowing through our mortal bodies. That is simply wisdom and common sense, for if He grants us all those things, we’d indeed be foolish not to enjoy them.
And believe me, for whatever reason(s), some of us are indeed foolish enough not to enjoy the blessings of God, thinking it wrong and sinful to enjoy what the Lord has provided. Nothing could be further from the truth my people!
Why would the Lord provide all that wonderful stuff if He didn’t intend for us to enjoy it eh? And why would Jesus, our great Lord and Saviour declare that He had come to earth, so that we could have life, and have it more abundantly eh, if He didn’t mean for us to be joyful, even in the rough times? (John 10:10)
So Friends, I implore us to stop having these foolish ideas and thoughts about enjoying life nuh. We’re supposed to have heaven right here on earth; standing steadfast and strong while doing God’s work – and enjoying it too, not living beggarly and miserable.
And believe me again, if we are truly doing God’s work, with the peace of mind that He provides, then we will truly enjoy this earthly life, regardless of the many dangers, disappointments and troubles with which it is fraught. End of sermon! (smile)
Ah mih breddren, it never ceases to amaze and amuse me how the Holy Spirit will give me a starting idea, then let me run with it, or rather, help to let it flow smoothly! I would therefore be wrong, foolish and disobedient, if I didn’t enjoy and appreciate that blessing.
And you know there’s no greater tragedy for a writer than writer’s block! Thankfully, the Lord doesn’t allow me to suffer from it too often and for too long. Then I’d really be up heifer dust creek. (smile)
And Friends, our Bit this morning comes from that same Psalm 118, where the psalmist is giving thanks for the Lord’s salvation. And it’s a rather appropriate Bit too; highlighting what our behaviour ought to be, as it boldly and rightly declares: ‘Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.’
Oh Friends, what words of joy, LOVE, obedience and truth! If we do that sincerely, on a continuous basis, then our lives will be forever enriched and blessed!
And it’s mostly because we’re not fully and sincerely embracing that bit of gospel truth that our lives and our world are in such a disastrous mess. We are trying desperately to remove God from all aspects of our society, but that’s a fool’s wisdom my people.
We claim to have been redeemed by the spilled blood of Christ, through His sacrificial death on the cross at Calvary, so why aren’t we more thankful and moving closer to Him eh, instead of being obnoxious, ungrateful and trying to distance ourselves from Him?
If we truly believe that we are indisputably redeemed, then we ought to be singing praises like redeemed people; praises like Isaiah’s declaration: ‘O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.’ (Is.25:1)
Yes Friends, those are the kinds of words that ought to be emanating from our hearts, souls and mouths. Not the simpleton, worldly foolishness that we’re now spewing forth in this oh so talkative age, when we really have nothing much to talk about because our lives are dull, bland and miserable.
As 3 Canal would say, we have no real business, so we keep on minding the business of others, glorifying man with his Achilles heel, putting him on a flimsy pedestal instead of Almighty God. Oh my brethren, it’s high time we got some business of our own, by turning to our mighty God for help, and start glorifying Him, rather than mortal, worthless, fickle, feckless, untrustworthy man!
We should be singing the Lord’s praises like His obedient servant Moses did: ‘The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation (praise Him); my father’s God, and I will exalt him.’ (Ex.15:2)
And we’ll end with more worthy words of praise, this time from Bruh David, another of God’s obedient servants. And just as I was about to write those last few words in my rough draft, the lights flickered out for a couple seconds.
Chuh! It’s a good thing I wasn’t on the computer, then I might have lost some stuff and be sorely disappointed. Consequently, I’ll take it as a positive sign, (smile) and continue in God’s direction. Therefore, please declare with me, my Friends and fellow believers, these words of thanksgiving for deliverance, as Bruh David saw it.
‘I will LOVE thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength (lit. my rock), in whom I will trust; my buckler (shield), and the horn (strength) of my salvation, and my high tower (stronghold). I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.’ (Ps.18:1-3)
Now that’s wisdom from on high, my brethren! So let’s go out today and put it into practice, put it to the test nuh; praise and magnify our most worthy God, and see if our lives don’t improve substantially. Much LOVE!
…a believer’s faith is only as strong as…the sincere thanksgiving in his heart…
SCRIP-BITS 
Today’s Scrip-Bit 18 November 2017 Proverbs 13:12.
18 Nov 2017 Leave a comment
by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: a musical storm, a tree of life, accepting responsibility, accomplish any goal, Anselm's quotes, asaph, Atlas, blessings, comfort zone, David Rudder, depressed, diehard fans, discipline, feel good, feel terrific, forum, gone astray, gospel truth, gratification, greedy times, Hammerson Theatre, hang your hat, hope deferred, jam session, Jesus Christ, kaiso, Let there be light, Lord and Saviour, lost, LOVE, makes the heart sick, mash up the place, name of the game, natural outgrowth, negative things, on top of the world, power in words, prerequisite, raise your children, refreshes, revitalizes, rewards, sincerity, singing praises, soca, social commentary, success, tear it down, the happiest people, the power of hope, truth, try something new, West Indian atmosphere, when desire comes, while there is life there is hope, zest for life
Proverbs 13:12. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Oh friends, welcome to a wet Saturday morning! But I can assure you that last evening it was a hot, tropical time in the Hammerson Theatre of the Living arts Centre in Mississauga, as Bruh David and Friends, a tight, great sounding band, mash up the place! They tear it down with a musical storm of pure ‘Madness,’ of soca and kaiso!
Brother! I can just imagine that’s how it was when the old time Bruh David and his buddies, Asaph, etc. got together and put on a jam session; the music would be ringing out and the people would be singing loud, harmonious praises! Well that’s how David Rudder had the some five hundred of us singing out in the theatre last night.
Now I’ve always liked some of David’s songs, but last night he made me a believer, with the way he arranged the songs and presented them. And you can imagine the cacophony in the place when he buss tunes like ‘Bahia Girl, the Hammer, Trini to the Bone, Madness, etc. etc. I can’t remember them all. And the house was certainly hopping when he ended with ‘Give Praise!’
I don’t know if Hammerson Hall has ever experienced that sort of vibrant West Indian atmosphere, as David and the Band performed for 2 hours straight; something that you don’t see often. And the craving for an encore was so great that he had to come back out and sing for a few more minutes.
Then he stayed after the show, meeting and greeting his many fans, I should say diehard fans in the lobby. I remember mentioning to one fellow down there, that I was never a big David fan, and brother, if yuh see how quickly his wife turned around and looked at me as though I was crazy! (smile)
The difference between David and the other West Indian artists around the place nowadays is that they only singing about girls, wining and drinking, but he is still focused on the way the song style began, as a forum for social commentary and change. Keep it up, mih brother!
Now, since it’s Saturday, we have to turn to that other brother, Anselm, who aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow with his quotes. And he’s got some excellent ones this week. Listen to this first one: ‘The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.’
No lie, mih people! You can’t truly feel good, until you feel good about yourself, because yourself goes with you everywhere, (smile) and accepting responsibility for our lives is a major key to our success.
And success comes when you ‘Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.’ Ah, the age old story friends. You’ve got to hang your hat a li’l higher than you can reach it. When you feel too comfortable, you never reach for the better fruit that’s a li’l further out on the limb. And that’s when you grow.
And this next quote is gospel truth: ‘Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true.’ That’s because there is power in the word of God, and in our words. Remember, God spoke the world and all therein in to existence. He didn’t wave a magic wand, but uttered a simple; ‘Let there be light…And there was light…’ That means we should not speak negative things about ourselves, because intuitively and subconsciously our actions and behaviour leads us to them.
Now here is something that explains our problem with the world system. ‘The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the indispensable prerequisite for success.’
Ah mih people, in these turbulent and greedy times, instant gratification is the name of the game; we want everything now for now, even though waiting might bring greater rewards. But please remember there’s always a price to pay for impatience.
And this last quote is priceless. ‘If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.’ Ah friends, so many of us parents have failed to do that, that’s why this generation seems so lost and gone astray. But we can’t give up on them now, we have to keep on trying. Remember while there is life, there is always hope!
That’s why we can say in all truth and sincerity like Cousin Sol in our Bit: ‘Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.’ And is that ever so true! When we lose hope we get depressed and miserable and lose the zest for life.
However, when we regain it… oh boy, it just revitalizes and refreshes us. We feel on top of the world; like we can move the whole world; be like Atlas and bear it on our bony human shoulders. That’s the power of hope my brethren!
So please, let’s never lose hope; especially in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for He is the GREATEST hope there is…and the ONLY One we need in this topsy-turvy world. Much LOVE!
…to hope…to hope…and yet to hope…in Christ…forever and ever…