Today’s Scrip-Bit 25 March 2012 Romans 12:2‏

Romans 12:2.:   And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Ah mih Friends, it’s another day in the life! A life where we are constantly bombarded by the cares and concerns of the world, especially in these seriously troubled times. And being merely human, these worldly problems often weigh us down to the point where we are ready to give up. But please remember that believers in Christ NEVER GIVE UP! And a persevering and steadfast nature against whatever odds we face is one of the signs that the Spirit of Christ is truly in us. Now the best way to resist and eventually conquer worldly matters is by following our Bit: ‘And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.’ Yes mih breddren, the only way to beat this world is by not conforming to it, not allowing the things it considers so important to overwhelm us and/ or make us lose faith, when we can’t measure up to its demands. And that’s only possible when the LOVE of Jesus, His faith and strength are continually working in us! Remember what Bruh Paul says about accepting Christ: ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away; behold; all things are become new.’ (2 Cor.5:17) That’s right Friends, to become a true believer we have to get rid of all the old, worldly stuff in our lives, and the first place that change must begin is in our minds, for our minds are the controlling mechanisms of our beings. So if we don’t change our way of thinking, then nothing much will ever change in our lives, and being born again in Christ, literally means that some things must change. As Bruh Paul says in the verse before our Bit: ‘I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable (rational) service.’ (Rom.12:1) Now hear the scholars explain it; they term it Dedication to God’s Will. ‘God’s will refers to His purpose for the life of the believer. It implies His guidance or direction in all of life’s decisions. Dedication is an act of surrender or submission to His will for our lives whereby we become a ‘living sacrifice.’ Daily dependence on God results in our transformation into the image of Christ. Illustration: When we seek to discern the will of God we must also be committed to doing the will of God as it is revealed in the Word of God. (John 7:17) Application: The believer should evaluate every decision on the basis of biblical principles, knowing that obedience brings God’s blessing.’ And their First Reference is Gen.22:12, where Abraham is about to kill Isaac as God requested, but is stopped at the last moment, when God says to him: ‘for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.’ Oh Friends, that’s what you call true obedience and real faith! God had promised Abraham to be the father of many through Isaac, but was then told to sacrifice him. Hn! How many of us would have prepared for the sacrifice with no arguments, like Abraham eh? Not too many, I suspect. We’d be more like holding our heads and bawling, crying out to God for some explanation of the inconsistency.  Remember though people, ours is not to question God, just to obey whatever He says, even when things don’t look right, for He drew up the original plan for the world, and has everything under control.  Now let’s go home with some appropriate words, from James: ‘Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of (with) the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will (wants to) be a friend of the world is the (makes himself an) enemy of God.’ (James 4:4) And the scholars weigh in with this explanation: ‘As Israel was a spiritual adulteress, unfaithful to God, so the church is a spiritual adulteress when she is the unfaithful bride of Christ (cf. Hos.2:5, 19, 20; Matt.12:39) One cannot be both a lover of God, and a lover of the world.’Let’s remember those wise and very true words my people, and let them dictate the way we live; for God. More on this tomorrow, provided we’re still alive and kicking. Much LOVE!…Ye cannot serve two masters…Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Lucifer)… (Matt.6:24)

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 21 March 2012 Numbers 23:19‏

Numbers 23:19.    God is not man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 
 
Ah Friends, the Lord’s generosity is again upon us, with a new day dawning, new manna, new blessings and new mercies all being poured down from heaven for our earthly delight. Wow! What a wonderful and ever-LOVING God we serve! And all God’s people joyfully declared: ‘Oh Lord, our God, we praise and magnify Your Holy Name! And we give you abundant thanks for all the amazing things You’ve done and are doing for us! Help us to walk righteously in the footsteps of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In His Name we pray. Amen!’ Yes mih people, our God is indeed a great God; the ONE and ONLY TRUE GOD in the entire universe; its Creator, our Provider and our Protector! Please let us write that indelibly in our hearts, minds and souls, and NEVER forget it, for that certain knowledge is what keeps us keeping on in faith, hope, trust and surrender, through all the misfortunes and calamities of this earthly life. And the basis for all that is found in our Bit: ‘God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?’ The answers to those questions are available in one word: Absolutely! Now some of us might not know the context of our Bit, so let me briefly enlighten us. It stems from the Israelites journey through the wilderness, en route to the Promised Land, at a point where they were approaching the land of Moab, and Balak, the Moab king and his people were terribly afraid, for they had heard of Israel’s might and prowess. Balak therefore sent for Balaam, a false prophet to come and curse the children of Israel. But throughout all their doings; building altars and offering sacrifices, the Lord kept talking to Balaam and he kept telling Balak that the Lord had blessed Israel, therefore he could not curse or cause them harm. ‘How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?’ (Num.23:8) Finally, he tells him our Bit. And before we get into the meat and spuds of our Bit, (smile) here’s what the scholars have to say about it: ‘The immutability of God is stated. The word repent is parallel to lie and is coloured in tone by this very association. Here his repenting is related to falsehood. The concept of the truth of Yahweh is related to immutability. Since God is truth, He does not lie; in fact, He cannot lie. He is unchanging. God is utterly different from man. Something that comes far too easily for many men is impossible for Almighty God: He cannot lie.’ And isn’t that the living truth Friends! Our God cannot lie, but we have made it an art. Lies roll off our tongues, like water off a duck’s back; with no problems whatsoever! So what we’re dealing with here Friends, is the unchanging aspect of our God – He’s the same from everlasting to everlasting; His substantial difference to man, in that He is unable to lie; and His faithfulness. He will not renege on His promises. Now let’s look at the first part of our Bit in a little more detail, check out some scriptures that enhance it. ‘God is not man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent…’  Basically it means that God is not like His creation, man; unworthy of trust, truth and faithfulness. He is of a more sterling character, and there’s no need for Him to lie or lead us astray, and then have to admit that He was at fault. And the first scripture we’ll look at comes from 1st Samuel, where the prophet informs Saul that he’s lost the kingship of Israel. And our God is such a wonderful scriptwriter, that as Samuel is walking away from Saul, ‘he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle (seized the edge of his robe), and it rent (tore). And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent (torn) the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent (relent): for he is not a man, that he should repent.’ (1 Sam.15:27-29) Oh Friends, yuh see the immaculate timing of the word ‘rent’ (tore, torn). As a budding writer, these little things truly amaze me about our God. And you know that lack of amazement of believers in the small actions of our God is one of my pet peeves. How can we be passionate about God and His acts if we only seek big miracles, which are few and far between eh? Meanwhile, He’s working plenty small ones in our lives everyday and it’s those that we need to appreciate if we want to become and remain passionate, otherwise we’ll go through life ‘unawed’ by our great God, and thus live a most pitiful and unmoved existence, which is not what Jesus died so horribly to accomplish. Anyway people, it seems like time and space have run out, but we’ll revisit this Bit tomorrow, provided we’re granted grace and mercy to see another blessed day on planet earth. Till then, as always, let’s truly LOVE our God, sincerely LIVE our Faith, and faithfully SPREAD His Word. Much LOVE!…without a doubt…our God is truly the GREATEST Being in the universe… 

 

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