07 Jul 2016
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a compassionate heart, A journey of love, a positive outlook, abundance, accept, accomplishes His will, allow your love, amend, blaspheming, blessed, broken, by might, by my spirit, by power, ceiled houses, centre my life, change our sinful ways, charles stanley, cherish your love, clear direction, compassionate, compromise, consequences, consider your ways, courage, creativity, curse, cursing, declare blessings, desires, disobedience, divine protection, earthly lusts, embrace, empowerment, examples, expensive price, family, favour, fellowship, forgiving, friends, fulfillment, God doesn't change, God's plan for our lives, God's presence, God's work, good, guidance, Haggai, health, hefty price, in the name of Jesus, lead, let go, lie waste, LOVE, meditation, merciful God, negative word, obey God, panelled, Pentecost, power in the Word, prayer, profitable, promotion, prosper, reading the Word, rebellion, remove God, repent, responsibilities, return to His fold, ruins, saith the Lord, self-control, self-discipline, sinful, smarten up, St. Therese, strong will, succeed, success, supernatural strength, supernatural wisdom, take note, talent, tardiness, the Good Book, the Holy Spirit, the Lord of hosts, the obits, the power of God's word, the time is not come, Thursday Blessings, to face up to responsibilities, ungodly, unrepentant, walk in your steps, wisdom, working relationship, Zerubbabel
Zechariah 4:6b. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.
One more day, yes, one more day!
Oh my fellow believers we’ve been blessed with one more day to carry out God’s plan for our lives. So please let’s use it right nuh, since we don’t know if we’ll be granted any more. Tomorrow we might just wake up and read our names in the obits. (smile)
So we need to make the very best use of today, for that is all we have. And let’s begin, as we should, by asking the Lord for His lead, guidance and ‘enablement’ to successfully work His wonderful plan.
Let’s pray this powerful prayer taken from a Devotional, Discovering God’s Presence in LOVE – A Journey of LOVE, Walking with St. Therese of Lisieux. I believe I’ve shared this prayer sometime ago, but as we say, when it’s nice you have to do it twice, if not thrice. (smile)
Please pray with me. ‘Jesus, I desire above all else to centre my life in you. Only you can give me the courage to face up to my responsibilities, to be compassionate and forgiving, to let go of what is not important and to embrace what is important.
I am called to accept and to cherish your LOVE for me and to allow your LOVE to go out from me to all your people. Help me to walk in your steps without compromise, and to be open to your presence in all of the people I meet. I make my prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.’
Yes my fellow brethren in Christ, we can only do God’s work with His empowerment. And having asked for God’s guidance, let’s now declare the power of God’s Word over our lives by enthusiastically and sincerely declaring our Thursday Blessings.
All together now: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline!
I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life!
I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’
Yes mih people! How good and profitable it is to declare blessings over our lives and of those around us, because there’s awesome power in the Word!
As our Bit so wisely tells us, it’s ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.’ And that’s gospel truth friends! Since Pentecost, we’ve had the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us, and it’s through that wonderful Spirit of guidance and LOVE that God accomplishes His will.
But we have to listen closely to it’s leading for any success to be had. And that’s where so many of us go wrong; thinking that we’re listening and following God’s Holy Spirit, when in actual fact we’re following the earthly lusts of our flesh and our own thinking.
And that can get us into some serious trouble. It’s therefore very important that we develop a close and excellent working relationship with our God, through consistent prayer, meditation, reading of His word and fellowship with other believers so that we can understand the moving of the Holy Spirit within us. Remember, not everything that seems right is right, and even if it’s right, it might not be good for us.
Now let’s get a little background on how and why our Bit came to be. ‘In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, (Jazadak) the high priest saying,
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled (panelled) houses, and this house (the temple) lie waste (to lie in ruins). Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.’ (Hag.1:1-5)
Yeh friends, the people were living in good houses while the Lord’s temple lay in ruins! Obviously the Lord didn’t take too kindly to that. Hear the scholars’ explanation.
‘1:2-6. Ceiled houses refers to ceilings panelled with fine woods. Such a practice was common for the residences of kings (cf. 1 Kin.7:7; Jer.22:14). In contrast, the Lord’s house lay in waste. The command Consider your ways, is issued five times throughout the course of this prophecy (vv.5,7; 2:15, 18).
It is a plea on the part of God for the people to take note of what they are doing, and amend their ways accordingly.’ Oh my people, our great, faithful, LOVING, forgiving and merciful God is saying the exact same thing to us today: ‘Consider your ways.’
Just look at how we’re living nuh; sinful, ungodly, unrepentant, cursing and blaspheming as though He doesn’t exist. We’re trying our level best to remove His from our society, so that right now it’s all about what we want, as the world and its ungodly lusts and desires drive us.
That’s not right friends, the Lord is still on His throne, sadly looking on at all we do, and if we don’t smarten up, repent and return to His fold sometime soon, then we’re going to pay a rather expensive price for our disobedience and rebellion.
That’s just the way it has been, as we can see from the numerous examples in the Good Book. Our God hasn’t and doesn’t change, so if we don’t, there will be a hefty price to pay.
Please, I beg, I plead with us to remember that, and thus, in heavenly wisdom, change our sinful ways! Much LOVE!
…as uncle Charles (Charles Stanley) says…the best way to live this life…is to simply obey God…and leave all the consequences to Him…
P.S. Sorry for the tardiness of the Bit, but I went our yesterday evening, so it ended up being an exceptionally late (or early) morning. (smile) Much LOVE!
15 Jun 2016
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a dry land, abundance, adoring, Alleluia, bless, blessed, blessing, bound in chains, broken, cheerful sound, Christians, circumstances, clear direction, compassionate heart, courage, creativity, curse, defender, divine promotion, encourage, every land, every tongue, evil, exceedingly rejoice, excitement, extol, faith, family, Father, fatherless, favour, feel better, fill the earth, followers of Jesus christ, friends, from shore to shore, fulfillment, give thanks, glorifying God, glorious day, goodness, hand of the wicked, hate evil, health, heed, I am blessed, in the name of Jesus, in the presence of God, Israelites, Jah, Jesus Christ, joyful, joyful praise, judge, let the righteous be glad, let voices raise, light, LOVE, Love the Lord, loving kindness, magnificent and magnanimous God, mercies, negative word, positive outlook, praising, promotion, prosper, raised to high heaven, rebellious, rejoice, rejoice before God, rides upon the heavens, self-control, self-discipline, sense of purpose, set no more, sincerity, sing unto God, song of Deborah, souls of saints, strength, strong will, succeed, success, supernatural wisdom, talent, thanks and praise, the Creator's praise, the glory of God, the happiest people, the Redeemer's name, the remembrance, the righteous, Thursday Blessings, till suns shall rise, truth, vim and vigour, warms the cockles, wicked, widows
Psalm 68:3. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
Oh friends, oh friends, the ole fella’s just gushing with excitement this morning because a new and glorious day has been born, which means that we have another day ahead of us to give much thanks and praise to our wonderful Creator!
So let’s begin the praise and thanksgiving by singing this awesome song nuh. As one harmonious choir now: ‘From all who dwell below the skies, Let the Creator’s praise arise. Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the Redeemer’s name be sung, Through every land, in every tongue! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
In every land begin the song, To every land the strains belong. Alleluia! Alleluia! In cheerful sound let voices raise, To fill the earth with joyful praise; Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Eternal are your mercies Lord! Eternal truth attends your word! Alleluia! Alleluia! Your praise shall sound from shore to shore! ‘Till suns shall rise and set no more! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!’
Yes my faithful brethren, the sounds of our thanks and praise ought to be raised to high heaven as often as possible because our God is such a wonderful Deity! And besides that, He just LOVES to hear us praising and adoring Him! It warms the cockles of His heavenly heart! (smile)
And to prove His awesomeness, let’s now declare our Thursday Blessings with much vim and vigour, sincerity and sense of purpose. No other faith can do this, like we can.
‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline!
I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life!
I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’
Yes my people, a blessing is not a blessing until it’s been spoken, so we need to remember to continually bless our friends and families, so that they can enjoy the goodness and LOVING-kindness of our merciful and oh so gracious God!
And all of that jives so nicely with our Bit taken from Psalm 68 – God has gone before His people. ‘But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.’
Oh my faithful followers of Jesus Christ, that directive of Bruh David is one we should all heed with joyful hearts! For where is there another Deity like ours eh? There is NONE whatsoever my brethren!
And as we keep saying Christians should be the happiest people on planet earth because we have such a wonderful faith, such a wonderful Lord and Saviour, and we serve such a magnificent and magnanimous God!
Oh, I know that our circumstances don’t always allow us, or encourage us to give such thanks and praise, but the whole point of the matter is that when we do, we feel better inside, our spirits are lifted and we can handle our situations better, because we are in the very presence of our God, who likes nothing better than hearing us glorifying Him in song.
Now hear how Bruh David continues after our Bit. ‘Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol (praise) him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless, and a judge (defender) of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
God setteth the solitary (lonely) in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains (causes them to prosper): but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.’ (Ps.68:4-6)
Oh friends, right there is sufficient cause to praise God’s holy name! And that doesn’t even include all the other stuff He has done, is doing and will do for us!
Now let’s check out a couple more instances where praise and thanks are offered up to heaven. Listen to this excerpt from the song of Deborah and Barak when the Israelites overcame their superior enemies.
‘Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves (volunteered). Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.’ (Judg. 5:2-3)
And we’ll end with this exhortation from Psalm 97 – The Lord is far above all gods. ‘Ye that LOVE the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness (for the memory of his holy name).’ (Ps.97:10-12)
Oh my brethren, I do hope that today, as we go about the Lord’s business, that thanks and praise will continually be in our thoughts and mouths and reverberate in our souls and bodies, all to the glory of our magnificent and majestic God! Much LOVE!
…a Christian who isn’t joyful…is surely lacking in faith…
02 Jun 2016
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: abide, abundance, agents, almighty god, ambassadors, answered prayer, awesome plan, badge of honour, baton, bear fruit, before men, believer, blessed, blessing, browbeat, cast forth, charles stanley, chide, clear direction, come up higher, commandments, communication, compassionate heart, conviction, courage, creativity, curse, disciples, divine protection, earthly work, emptiness, encourage, family, favour, filth, foment revolution, friends, fulfillment, glorified, glorify your Father, glory hallelujah, good, good works, gospel of Jesus, gospel truth, health, holy spirit, human form, In Touch Devotional, Job, joy, let your light shine, lost, LOVE, LOVE Revolution, mire, negative word, open our eyes, pass the baton, passion, positive outlook, power, presence, promise, promotion, prosper, purpose, resources, running rampant, self-control, self-discipline, sense of unrest, sheep in the wilderness, sinful, speak blessings, stir up LOVE, strong will, succeed, success, supernatural strength, supernatural wisdom, talent, the next generation, the works of God, Thursday Blessings, umbrella of christ, unloving, uplift, wicked, wickedness
Matthew 5:16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Oh my wonderful brethren in Christ, another blessed day has been granted to us to spread the good news, the marvellous gospel of Jesus! Glory Hallelujah!
And by diligently doing so, we will therefore increase the power and presence of Jesus’ LOVE Revolution, the movement that’s currently taking both the known and unknown world by storm!
Yes friends, just imagine our God’s thinking and imagination nuh, where He draws up this awesome plan to send His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ down to the earth to stir up, to foment revolution; a LOVE Revolution!
You know my people, that was all Jesus came to do; to stir up LOVE amongst the world’s rather wicked, sinful and UNLOVING population.
He enlisted agents, disciples and ambassadors to help Him do it, because as a man, in human form, He could not spread it all Himself. He could only be in one place at a time. But once He returned to heaven, He sent his Holy Spirit to dwell within those ambassadors, to enable them to do His holy will.
And what a wonderful job they have done! But now, two thousand years later, that badge of honour has been passed down to us to carry on the spreading of the gospel, and then pass the baton down to the next generation, our children.
Unfortunately though friends, I don’t think we’re doing such a good job nuh, otherwise our world would not be getting deeper and deeper in the mire of filth and wickedness that’s running rampant throughout it.
But the good news is that I’m not here to chide or browbeat us, because that’s not Jesus’ way. I’m here to uplift and encourage us; to help open our eyes and allow us to come up higher in our earthly work for Christ.
And to help us do that this first Thursday morning in June 2016, let’s declare our Thursday Blessings with much conviction and passion.
Altogether now: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline!
I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life!
I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’
Yes my fellow believers, a blessing is not a blessing until it’s spoken over someone, so please, let’s remember to continually speak blessings over our friends, families and neighbours and thus keep them covered under the majestic, widespread umbrella of Christ.
And all of that will only help us adhere better to the command of Jesus in our Bit. ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.’
Now that is our basic job on this earth my friends, the general purpose for which we were made. And we can only accomplish it properly if we stay in constant touch with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, because it is He who enables us, gives us the strength and direction to perform the tasks assigned to us.
As Jesus so bluntly told His disciples: ‘If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto (for) you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath LOVED me, so have I LOVED you: continue ye (abide) in my LOVE. If ye keep my commandments; ye shall abide in my LOVE; even as I have kept my father’s commandments, and abide in his LOVE.’ (John 15:6-10)
Yes friends, if we abide in Jesus and His words in us, we can ask whatever we will and it will be done for us.
As the scholars explain: ‘In my name, means “as My agent.” The promise of answered prayer is based on the disciple acting as the agent of Jesus will (cf. 16:23-26). The promise is for unlimited resources to do the works of God.’
So you see friends, to do the work of God, we need to enlist the aid of God. And we’ll end here with an appropriate word from Uncle Charles (Charles Stanley) on prayer, found at the beginning of the In Touch Devotional for June.
He declares: ‘When we fail to make prayer a priority, we will begin to feel an emptiness in our heart, accompanied by a strange sense of unrest and uneasiness. In contrast, when our prayer life is active, the weight of these burdens will be lifted by the mighty hand of God.’
And that’s the gospel truth my people! Prayer is our method of communication with Almighty God, and if we don’t actively participate in it, we won’t reap all that we can from the wonderful association with our Creator.
So today, please, let’s ponder our prayer lives, and see whether they are up to scratch, and if not, sincerely ask the Lord to help us, because without good communication with the Father, we’ll truly be like lost sheep in the wilderness. Much LOVE!
…oh what joy it is…for a believer…to be in constant touch with Jesus…
12 May 2016
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a compassionate heart, a great family, a jealous God, a last resort, a positive outllok, a prison house, a strong will, abundance, action, Asa, awesome God, belief, believer, blessed is the nation, blessings, broken right now, chutzpah, courage, creativity, curse, diseased in his feet, disobedience, divine protection, done foolishly, drawn to Jesus, earthly pilgrimage, eternal life, faith, favour, favourites, followers of Jesus, freely, friends, fulfillment, generously, godly example, good works, habitation, havoc, he considereth all their works, He fashioneth their hearts alike, he sought not the Lord, health, heartache, heathen, I am blessed, improvements, in a rage, in the name of Jesus, inhabitants of the earth, inheritance, insignificant, interest, LOVE, lowly doings, lowly selves, make a difference, mercies, negative word, omnipotent, on behalf of them whose heart is perfect, oppressed the people, passion, praise to the Lord, promotion, prosper, salvation, self-control, self-discipline, serious notice, strength, succeed, success, suffering world, supernatural wisdom, talent, The eyes of the Lord, the physicians, the sons of men, thirsting, Thursday Blessings, to show himself strong, topsy-turvey world, true believers, understands, ungodliness, uproot evil, whose God is the Lord, wisdom, worthwhile changes, worthy of His interest, zenith
Psalm 33:15. He fashioneth their hearts alike (individually); he considereth (understands) all their works.
Ah mih breddren, another beautiful day has dawned, and we have been granted the godly opportunity to see it and make our mark in this topsy-turvy world for Jesus!
We have been destined to uproot the evil and the ungodliness that is causing such havoc and heartache in our once beautiful and godly world.
Are you up to the task? Of course you are! As true believers and followers of Jesus, we all have been empowered to make a difference in this life, even though it may just be a small one.
Yes, not all of us can make major contributions to God’s cause, but we all can make minor ones, which still glorify His precious and holy name and have others thirsting for the salvation and eternal life that He so freely and generously offers.
So let’s never believe, much less say that we’re too small and insignificant to make worthwhile changes, because we are not. As children of God we are imbued with all that’s necessary to do good works in the name of Jesus.
So as we continue our earthly pilgrimage on this new day, let’s sincerely decide that we will do our best to bring the awesome blessings and mercies of our great and awesome God to the hungry and thirsty people of our intensely struggling and greatly suffering world.
And to help us do that, let’s declare our Thursday Blessings with much chutzpah, plenty passion and positive emotion, backed by the all-important sincere belief, in what we’re declaring.
As one now: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline!
I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life!
I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’
Ah mih people, what a strong and positive declaration! It only requires us now to go out and put it all into action amongst both the heathen and the believer alike, so that much needed improvements in our world can be made by the godly example that our lives so vividly project.
As I keep saying, it’s only through our worthwhile examples that others will be sincerely drawn to Jesus. That brings us to our rather appropriate Bit, taken from Psalm 33 – Praise to the Lord for his creation.
Let’s set the scene first though. ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. The Lord looked down from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike (individually); he considereth (understands) all their works.’ (Ps.33:12-15)
Yes friends, from His home in the high heavens, the Lord looks down on each of us individually, checking out the hearts that He has fashioned in each of us, appropriate to whatever plan He has designed for our lives, paying close attention to, and understanding all that we do, be it great or small.
That’s the faithful and awesome kind of God we serve and worship; One who takes a significant interest in ALL that each and every one of us does. He doesn’t play favourites, or consider anything too small or insignificant to be worthy of His interest.
And that is something a lot of us believers have problems with. We can’t believe that our great God is interested in our lowly selves, as well as our lowly doings. But my people, our God is so wonderful that He is interested in each soul that He has created and in each and everything that goes on in our lives. That’s why He’s so awesome and magnificent!
And we have a great bit of scripture to uphold our assertions. This from 2 Chronicles, where King Asa is rebuked by the prophet Hanani for not trusting in the God of his fathers and instead relying on a pagan king to fight for him.
‘For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect (at peace with or loyal) toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
Then Asa was wrought with the seer, and put him in a prison house, for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time…. And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not the Lord, but to the physicians.’ (2 Chr.16:9-10,12.)
You see my people, Asa in his egotistical self, sought not his omnipotent God, neither in the major aspects of war, or in the smaller things, namely his diseased feet and thus paid a hefty price for such disobedience.
Please my brethren, let us take serious notice today, and everyday of our omnipotent but very jealous God, and run everything that concerns us by and through Him, before we turn to anything or anyone else. For that is indeed wisdom at its zenith! Much LOVE!
…it’s certainly not wise to turn to humans first…then to God as a last resort…God desires to be first…each and every time…
14 Apr 2016
by randyobrien50
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living
Tags: a compassionate heart, a great family, a magnanimous Deity, a positive outlook on life, abundance, alive and kicking, all praise and glory to God, and follow me, ashamed, be cast away, be gracious to you, blessings, care, clear direction for my life, compassion, courage, creativity, curse, declare blessing, deny ourselves, divine protection, everything is doable, faith, favour, for my sake, fulfillment, gain the whole world, glorify, good friends, good health, he said to them all, hockey, if any man will come after me, in the name of Jesus, Joel Osteen, late mornings, late nights, let him deny himself, lose himself, lose his life, LOVE, loving kindness, may the bless and protect you, may the Lord smile upon you, mercies, negative word, of a truth, on a daily basis, peace, praise, praise the Lord for His goodness, promotion, prosperity, relationship with Jesus, revere, save his life, self-control, self-discipline, selflessness, strength, strong will, success, supernatural wisdom, take up his cross daily, talent, taste of death, terms of discipleship, the kingdom of God, the Son of man, Thursday Blessing, undeserving children of men, victorious living, walking with Jesus, wisdom, with God's help, worship, zeppo
Luke 9:23. And he said to them all, If any man will (desires to) come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Oh friends, oh friends, it’s Thursday, another bright and sunshiny day in my neck of the woods! And on top of that, it’s also supposed to be warmer than yesterday.
Oh, all praise and glory be to our amazing God, who bestows, who showers us with new and wonderful mercies, blessings and LOVING-kindness each and every day!
Wow! How could I not LOVE, worship, praise, revere and glorify such a magnanimous Deity eh!
And all God’s people declared a loud and proud, ‘Praise the Lord, for His goodness to the undeserving children of men!’
Yes my people, we do deserve to praise our heavenly Father for His unselfish care and compassion for us. Just wish that we could show Him and each other the same kind of care and concern. Anyway, since it’s Thursday, it’s time for us to confidently declare our Thursday Blessing…
And with a thoughtful frown, the congregation asks: ‘What yuh talking about eh? Didn’t know we had a Thursday Blessing.’
Well the truth is my precious people, I didn’t know that either until a couple nights ago when I got this zeppo. (smile)
And the story goes like this. As part of my devotions, I read an old devotional written by Bubba (Joel Osteen) in his early days of ministry. It had to be, because it’s old and beat up now, with some of the pages falling apart, and it was already old when I discovered it at my mothers place some years ago and we began reading it everyday, even when we couldn’t remember Bubba’s name. (smile)
It’s called ’30 Thoughts for Victorious Living.’ I don’t know if Bubba even remembers that he wrote something like that, the amount of stuff he’s written over the last few years. But I like it; it serves my purposes, and I will continue to use it as long as I can.
On a point of interest, most of my devotionals are old, but I prefer them to some of the new-fangled stuff that’s out there now.
Anyway a couple days ago I was reading the devotions for the 11th of the month, which says ‘Declare Blessing’, and the prevailing scripture for that is the blessing instituted by our God long time ago for the Israelites. ‘Say to them, may the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favour and give you His peace.’ (Num.6:24)
And the opening lines of the devotion are: ‘A blessing is not a blessing until it is declared! So today declare a blessing over yourself and others. Speak that blessing in the name of Jesus!’ And then he goes on to declare some blessings.
Now the other day when I finished reading it, it suddenly occurred to me that it would make a good prayer for Thursdays. I thought about a couple of names, like ‘Thursday’s Temptation,’ or ‘Thursday’s Tantrum’ (smile) but eventually ended up with ‘Thursday’s Blessing’ as being more appropriate.
And what I’ve done is basically taken Bubba’s general blessings and individualized them. So please declare with me now my brethren our Thursday Blessing, in a loud, proud, sincere and confident manner.
‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment!
I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’
Yes friends, that’s our Thursday Blessing. I like it, and I do hope you like it too. It’s basically a rework of the Lord’s blessings promised to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 28:1-14.
Now let’s turn to our Bit, some very important words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, re the terms of our discipleship. ‘And he said to them all, If any man will (desires to) come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.’
Yes my brethren, the number one rule in following Jesus is to deny ourselves, become selfless instead of selfish, as our world is today. That doesn’t mean we don’t look after ourselves as best we can and do stuff for ourselves, but that we are not the be all and end all of our earthly lives.
Just as Jesus came to serve and save, we too must concentrate on serving and saving, and on a daily basis too, which isn’t always easy. But as I keep saying, with God’s help, EVERYTHING is doable!
And we’ll end with Jesus’ words after our Bit. ‘For whosoever will (desires to) save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose (loses) his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged (benefited), if he gain the whole world, and lose himself (is destroyed), or be cast away (lost)?
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.’ (Luke 9:24-27)
And there we have it friends, the self-explanatory, immortal words of Jesus on how we must approach our discipleship. Please, let’s take some time today to ponder our individual relationship with Jesus, re those terms of discipleship. And as always, with God’s help, try to improve them, for that’s the wisdom of heaven! Much LOVE!
…successfully walking with Jesus…takes lots of time…lots of selflessness…lots of care and consideration for others…
P.S. I know it’s long and late, but please be aware that the hockey playoffs have begun, which means that there’s lots of hockey every night, and thus there will be many late nights and consequently late mornings. (smile) Just bear with the ole fella nuh. He’s got to have a life too yuh know. And once he’s alive and kicking, the Bit will get there…eventually. Much LOVE!
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