Today’s Scrip-Bit 25 October 2016 Romans 8:37.

25 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

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

Romans 8:37.    Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that LOVED us.

One more day; one more day to be alive and kicking and enjoy God’s expansive favour! Oh what a joy that ought to be my people! Just to know that our names will not be read in today’s obituaries should bring forth a glorious song of thanks and praise to our heavenly Father. 

Consequently, our mouths should be uttering joyful and thankful words like the psalmist did: ‘This is the day the Lord has made, we WILL rejoice and be glad in it!’ (Ps.118:24)

Yes friends, the Lord has kept us alive for a purpose; to continue the good work He has planned for our lives, and also to enjoy the fruits of our labour. 

Now here’s a wise li’l secret from my ‘P.S. I LOVE YOU’ Poster: ‘Dreams come true for those who work while they dream.’ 

Yes my brethren, in this life we ought not to just sit and wait for things to happen, for God to just bring them to pass, but we must also do our part in the wonderful partnership we share with Almighty God. 

Remember it’s a two way street; we do what we can, and wait patiently, enthusiastically and expectantly for God to do His part. We don’t just rest on our fannies and expect it to fall into our laps. 

Now let’s declare our Tuesday Mantra with sincere enthusiasm and thankfulness because the reality of the situation is exactly what it deserves. 

As one now: ‘I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world.  Amen!’ 

Oh my people, my people, what a glorious truth! We aren’t what the world says or thinks about us, but we are God’s beloved, and Jesus’ friend! Wow! That means the world cannot beat or defeat or do us any real harm, because we are God’s people! 

Oh what a triumphant blessing! But please remember the last part of that declaration; we need to share the LOVE of Jesus with the rest of the world. That’s our bounden duty. 

And it all rolls right into sync with our wonderful Bit: ‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that LOVED us.’ 

Ah friends, how much more favoured can we be eh? Not much more really. We are God’s flock, and He LOVED us so much that He sent His only son Jesus to die on the cross at Calvary so that we could be reconciled unto Him. How wonderful is that eh! 

And today we’re going to continue looking at the portion of our Bit that deals with LOVE. And John the apostle deals with it wonderfully in His first epistle. Let’s listen some to him. 

‘No man hath seen God at any time. If we LOVE one another, God dwelleth in us, and his LOVE is perfected in us. Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 

And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.’ (1 John 4:12-15) 

Now here are some thoughts from the scholars. ‘4:11-13. God’s character, through His Spirit, is to shape and progressively dominate the character of the believer. The Spirit of God imparts the will to LOVE.’ 

Yuh see that friends? If we don’t have the Spirit of God within us, then we won’t have the capacity to truly embrace the emotion of LOVE. 

‘4:15. This helps provide the context for rightly understanding verse 7. Trust in Christ as the incarnate Son of God makes genuine, God-wrought LOVE possible.’ 

And if we don’t remember what verse 7 says, let’s refresh our memories. ‘Beloved, let us LOVE one another: for LOVE is of God; and every one that LOVETH is born of God, and knoweth God.’ (1 John 4:7) 

That means friends, that only those who truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, can possess the LOVE of God. Now let’s continue with John’s theorizing. 

‘And we have known and believed the LOVE that God hath to us. God IS LOVE; and he that dwelleth (abides) in LOVE dwelleth (abides) in God, and God in him.’ (1 John 4:16) 

And hear the scholars explain that. ‘4:16. John, like Paul (1 Cor.13:13), stresses the supremacy of LOVE as a characteristic of God and therefore as a dominant characteristic of the true believer.’ 

Is LOVE a dominant characteristic of our lives my people? I surely do hope so, otherwise we’re just being hypocrites like the pseudo-religious Pharisees of old. 

And we’ll end with this very important verse. ‘Herein is our LOVE made perfect (LOVE made perfect among us), that we may have boldness in the day of judgement: because as he is, so are we in this world.’ (1 John 4:17) 

Yes friends, when true LOVE exists among us, then our confidence rises to its zenith! 

The scholars explain that verse thus. ‘4:17. Herein points back to verse 16. By dwelling in LOVE, and thus having God dwelling in him, the believer gains the priceless assurance that he need not fear the coming judgement. This is our assurance, if we LOVE in this world as He does.’  

Oh friends, the importance of LOVE, within each individual believer, and consequently between all believers can never be overstated, for it’s the supreme characteristic by which the true believers in Almighty God and true followers of Christ are known. 

Please, let’s critically examine ourselves today, and see how our own characteristic of LOVE shapes up, and then, ask God to help us do better, for we can all do better. Much LOVE!

…and now abideth…faith, hope, LOVE…these three…but the greatest of these is LOVE… (1 Cor.13:13)

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 28 February 2012 Jeremiah 3:25‏

28 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Inspirational Living Tags: , , , , ,

Jeremiah 3:25.    We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.
 
Oh Friends, our kind, LOVING and omnipotent God is weaving ever more miracles, mercies, blessings and forgiveness into another wonderful day for us, His faithful children! And all His grateful children shouted a joyful song of thanks and praise: ‘Oh thank You most heavenly Father for creating, protecting and so generously providing for us. And we are especially grateful for the eternal gift of your wonderful Son, Jesus, as our Lord and Saviour! You are definitely the GREATEST!’ Yes my brethren, all those things are gospel truths; facts we cannot dispute. But unfortunately they don’t tell all of the truth, for our Bit tells us a completely different story: ‘We lie down in our shame, and our confusion (disgrace) covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.’ Ah mih people, sadly, those are also words of indisputable truth. We can deny them all we want, but they vividly portray the very sinful and ungodly nature of our current world. I don’t have to spell out our iniquity- in fact I can’t, because it’s so plentiful and perverse, but we all know them, even willingly participate in and enjoy some of them. It brings to mind Ezra’s prayer of confession on behalf of Israel’s abominable sinful condition. ‘And at the evening sacrifice I arose from my heaviness (fasting); and having rent (torn) my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and out trespass (guilt) is grown up into the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil (plunder), and to confusion of face (humiliation, shame of face), as it is this day.’ (Ezra 9:5-7) Oh Friends, how I wish there was someone like Ezra today, mighty enough in the sight of God to make such confession for us! However my people, our world is now too vast and diverse for any one person to take on that job, so of necessity, each one of us will have to implore our God on the matter. Confess our sins as a society, a nation, a world, then ask for mercy and forgiveness, a la Bruh David in Psalm 51, A prayer for cleansing: ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy LOVING-kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified (found just) when thou speakest, and be clear (blameless) when thou judgest.’ (Ps.51:1-4) Yes Friends, until conviction and sincere repentance are made, we will continue to struggle and live in strife and confusion. Lemme ask a couple questions here. Why did Israel wander around in the wilderness for forty years when the Promised Land was about a three-month journey from Egypt? And why is our world currently enmeshed in such fear, hatred, anger and confusion? Oh Friends, the answer to both questions is simple and the same: because they, then, and we, now, have drastically disobeyed the voice of God. And our many troubles will only get worse if we pursue our present sinful, ungodly path. And the sad part is that there’s plenty precedence, both in the Good Book and History, about civilizations being destroyed because they disobeyed God. So why we seem to think that we’re different, I really don’t know. But hear what the Lord said to Israel through Jeremiah: ‘I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. The wind shall eat up all thy pastors (rulers), and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded (humiliated) for all thy wickedness.’ (Jer.22:21-22) Oh my brethren, it’s the same thing the Lord’s saying to us today, and there’s no denying the shame and confusion that’s besetting our world. So why are we so stubborn and hard headed eh? At least let’s give God a try, since nothing else seems to be working, and we have nothing to lose but a whole lot to gain. My fellow believers, the ball’s solidly in our court. If we want to see improvements, then we’ll have to get seriously involved and bring it about, since the iniquity workers thrive on the strife and confusion. So for our children’s sake, let’s get cracking nuh. I won’t even mention future generations, cause there won’t be any, if we continue our diabolical, fiendish ways. Let’s allow the fire and passion of Jesus to invade our souls and spirits so that we can set the world aflame with our LOVE Revolution, for it’s only LOVE, the predominant essence of our great God, that will prevent us from completely sinking into the quicksand of sin. Much LOVE!…Christianity has survived two thousand years…let’s give it a fighting chance to survive two thousand more nuh…