Psalm 145:20. The Lord preserveth all them that LOVE him: but all the wicked he will destroy.
Well a hearty good morning to all you Scrip-Bit family members this first glorious morning in April! Wow!
And I’m not trying to make April fools of us all. (smile) But we have indeed been blessed to see another marvellous day in God’s great universe! Now isn’t that something special? It surely is!
Therefore, let’s give our heavenly Father some thanks and praise for that nuh. Let’s lift our heads, hearts, hands and eyes heavenward and sincerely say: ‘Heavenly Father, thank You for this new day! We know that You are going to shower us with new mercies and blessings, more than we can ever ask for or imagine.
Please help us to appreciate them and share them with others less fortunate, because that’s what You desire of us. And in that way, we can walk in the big footsteps of Your BELOVED Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! We pray this in His Holy Name, and give you all the glory! Amen!’
Yes Friends, when we start out on the right foot, giving the Father His deserved thanks and praise, our path for the day usually runs a little smoother. Or if not, then we have the parts, the strength, faith and courage to handle whatever comes against us.
Now here’s a fitting corollary to all of that, a quote from Ed Howe – couldn’t figure out which one, because there are so many. Anyway, I believe I’ve shared this quote some time ago, but it’s one of those things that we need to be constantly reminded of in this crazed and troubled world.
And Ed says: ‘If you don’t learn to laugh at trouble, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you grow old.’
And that’s as true a saying as you can get Friends! For laughter is not only a free medicine, it’s also the best one we can employ in ALL our circumstances. That doesn’t mean we don’t take life, or the things in it seriously, but that we don’t get too overwhelmed by our problems.
The truth is, when we get too worked up over our problems, we lose the energy and focus necessary to handle them. So let’s lighten up, loosen up nuh! Life might be rough, but if you’re a true believer in Jesus, then you’ll know, with everlasting certainty, that in God’s own time and way, He will help you solve the problem(s). Not always how or when you want, but surely better than you could have done on your own.
And as our Bit proclaims with such wisdom and certainty: ‘The Lord preserveth all them that LOVE him: but all the wicked he will destroy.’
And that’s the unvarnished, indisputable truth, my brethren! So please believe it; let it sink right down into the very depths of our souls, to give us the strength and encouragement we so badly need in these troubled times.
For as Bruh David says just before our Bit, in this psalm; the Lord is gracious: ‘The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy (gracious) in all his works. The Lord is nigh (near) unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear (reverence) him: he will also hear their cry, and will save them.’ (Ps.145:17-19)
And that’s more unvarnished, indisputable truth my fellow believers, as many of you can attest and testify to!
That’s the great thing about our wonderful God; He never leaves his faithful followers in the lurch! Thank You Lord for that faithfulness! Though, as we’ve said earlier, He might not solve the problems how and when we want them, His awesome and powerful hand of grace, mercy and forgiveness is always there working on our behalf!
What more can we ask eh? Nothing really, my people!
And since we already know the Lord’s faithfulness, it now behoves us to believe it, and then return that faithfulness, so that we can engender a win-win situation and relationship with our mighty Creator.
Oh my brethren, believe me, there’s nothing better than having a win-win relationship with Almighty God! Mama Mia! It sure is beautiful!
Now, please note that I haven’t even bothered touching on the situation of the wicked, because that will just muddy the waters, invite negativity, stuff that we can well do without. Suffice it to say, the Lord will destroy the wicked in His own way and time.
Let’s concentrate on the positives here, and do as Bruh David so sincerely declares in Psalm 31; titled ‘In thee O Lord, do I put my trust.’
And what better personage is there to put our trust in, eh people? NONE WHATSOEVER!
Now hear Bruh David’s outstanding proclamation: ‘O LOVE the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth (fully repays) the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.’ (Ps.31:23-24)
There’s no more to say Friends! So please, let’s accept that heavenly wisdom, that gospel truth, so that we can bring some much needed peace, LOVE and joy to our anxious and burdened hearts, souls, bodies and minds, and above all, to our evil, ungodly and troubled world. Much LOVE!
…unless we sincerely believe in something…preferably Jesus Christ…then we’ll fall easily for anything…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 April 2014 Psalm 145: 20
01 Apr 2014 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: anxious, appreciate, April fool's, be of good courage, believe in something, beloved son, blessed, blessings, bodies, Bruh David, burdened hearts, certainty, courage, encouragement, evil, faith, faithful, faithful followers, faithfulness, fall for anything, footsteps of Jesus, forgiveness, free medicine, glory, God's marvellous universe, God's own time and way, good morning, gospel truth, hand of grace, heavenly Father, heavenly wisdom, Holy Name, hope in the Lord, in the lurch, indisputable truth, Jesus Christ, joy, laughter, learn to laugh at trouble, less fortunate, lift our heads heavenwards, lighten up, loosen up, Lord and Saviour, Lord preserveth, lose enenrgy and focus, LOVE, Love the Lord, mercies, mercy, minds, muddy the waters, negativity, new day, peace, positives, problems, put your trust, reverence, rewards, righteous, save, Scrip-Bit family, share, solve the problem, strength, strengthen your heart, testify to, Thank you Father, thanks and praise, the Lord destroys the wicked, the Lord is gracious, the Lord is near to all who call on him, the Lord is righteous, The Lord preserves those who love Him, the right foot, to handle whatever comes against us, troubled times, troubled world, true believer, truth, ungodly world, unvarnished, very depths of our souls, win-win situation, wisdom, working on our behalf
Today’s Scrip-Bit 9 January 2014 Romans 13:10
09 Jan 2014 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: a bed of roses, action word, agape, antibiotics, awesome truth, believers, between a rock and a hard place, bravely, Bruh Paul, charity, cooped up, disciples, doesn't boast, doesn't envy, dr robert h schuller, each generation, eros, evil, exciting thought, eye-opening experiences, faith is dim, fantastic, fantastic lesson, God LOVES me, God's help, God's LOVE, good fortune, good news, grace and favour of God, graceful truth, gumption, happy report, heahten, holy sentence, holy spirit, Hour of Power Devotional, hypocrites, ice, incomprehensible, iniquity, Jesus Christ, laugh, life's a blast, LOVE, Love does no harm, LOVE FOR EACH OTHER, Love fulfills the law, LOVE one another, LOVE Revolution, marathon session, negative emotions, never fails, new commandment, no waiting, not arrogant, not evil, not rude, not selfish, petty problems, pharmacy, prophecies, put in my heart, ran the race, rejoice, root canal, sadly lacking, scoff, short of Love, slush, snow, sparsely populated, suffers long, temptations, tests, Thank you Father, the Way of LOVE, tongues, troubled world, truth, ugly reality, unbeliever, ungodly world, unloving attitude, walking with Jesus, warm cocoon, wisdom, withstand
Romans 13:10. LOVE worketh no ill (does no harm) to his neighbour: therefore LOVE is the fulfilling of the law.
Aye mih breddren, life’s certainly a blast yes! For the first time in about ten days, I actually ventured out of my safe, warm cocoon yesterday, and faced the ugly reality that is the outside world. It’s the longest I’ve ever been cooped up in a house that I can remember.
At least when I had prostate cancer surgery a few years back, it was summer, and I could sit outside on either the front porch or the back deck. In any case though, I never really felt cooped up this past week because for most of it I was sick and the weather was terrible. And it seems that quite a few people did the same thing, for the same reasons.
Anyway, would you believe I did a marathon session out there yesterday! Wow! Bruh Paul would have been proud of how I ran that race! (smile) I left home, went up the street to a nearby Walmart, then went all the way down to the other end of the city, to the banker, the barber, the grocer and the doctor.
Mama Mia! In truth though, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds, because the last four places were in close proximity to each other, about two blocks separated them all. So I got up my gumption and bravely walked through the snow, ice and slush that covered the sidewalks and parking lots.
And wonder of wonders, in NONE of those four places did I have to wait, for all of them were sparsely populated! As soon as I walked into everyone, I was immediately served. I had to laugh at my good fortune, because as most of you know those four places usually call for a fair amount of waiting.
But then I realized that it was our wonderful God pouring out His abundant grace and favour on me, since I wasn’t in the best of shape, and it was still windy and cold. Obviously I let Him know that I was very thankful. The only place I had a short wait was at the Pharmacy later on where I went to get some antibiotics that the medic prescribed.
That’s why Friends, today, like Gramps Schuller (Robert H. Schuller) I can certainly attest to and loudly proclaim that ‘GOD LOVES ME!’ And also say along with His prayer from His Hour of Power Devotional.
‘Thank you, Lord, for this holy sentence, this good news, this happy report, this exciting thought, this graceful truth, this fantastic lesson. GOD LOVES ME! Even when I’m at my worst — GOD LOVES ME. Even when my faith is dim — GOD LOVES ME ANYWAY! It’s incomprehensible and fantastic! Thank you, Father. Amen.’
Ah mih people, I keep reminding us that walking with Jesus is not a bed of roses, but betwixt and between the tests and temptations, there are indeed wonderful, refreshing, rejuvenating, interesting and eye-opening experiences. The only problem now is that I have to go to the dentist today for some root canal work. Let’s see how that will play out. (smile)
But enough of my petty problems, let’s turn to our Bit, which deals with LOVE, something that our troubled world so badly needs but unfortunately is sadly lacking.
As the old song so truthfully stated back then, and is even more appropriate now, in these sad days of strife and the preponderance of negative emotions: ‘What the world needs now, is LOVE, SWEET LOVE. That’s the only thing, there’s just too little of…’
And oh my brethren, is that ever so true! LOVE comes from our God, and is what makes our world go round, or function properly, but right now we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place because we’re so SHORT of LOVE.
We claim to know about God’s LOVE for us, but what we seem unable to fathom and put into place is OUR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER. And a long while back, Bruh Paul put it to the Romans this way in our Bit: ‘LOVE worketh no ill (does no harm) to his neighbour: therefore LOVE is the fulfilling of the law.’
Now that’s the awesome truth Friends! For even before Bruh Paul’s comment, Jesus Himself commanded His disciples, and therefore us, and all His true followers: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.’ (John 13:34-35)
Oh my fellow believers, Jesus was talking there about revolutionizing the world through LOVE! It was the beginning of the LOVE Revolution, which each generation of believers is supposed to carry on, but which, unfortunately we’re not doing, since we’re not showing LOVE to each other.
Remember it’s through our showing of LOVE to each other that the world will know that we’re disciples of Jesus. And since we’re not doing it, that means we’re not His true disciples.
No wonder the unbeliever, the heathens and many others laugh and scoff at us, and consider us hypocrites because they quite plainly see our ‘UNLOVING’ attitudes and behaviour towards each other and the world in general.
That’s why I keep reminding us that LOVE is an ACTION WORD! We simply can’t talk it and expect it to happen. LOVE only takes place when we DO SOMETHING TO SHOW IT!
Consequently, Bruh Paul, who saw the need for LOTS OF LOVE in the evil, ungodly world, penned one of the most beautiful chapters of the Bible; re the WAY OF LOVE. And we’ll close by quoting a few appropriate verses from it, just to remind us what TRUE LOVE is all about.
And we’re not talking about ‘Eros’ or romantic LOVE, but ‘agape’, the spiritual LOVE that flows from God, and is supposed to be so jubilantly and vibrantly working in us through the Holy Spirit that indwells us.
So please listen up Friends, neighbours, heathens, whoever you are, for only these things will ever right our wrong-sided world.
‘Charity (LOVE) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (LOVE) envieth not; charity (LOVE) vaunteth not (does not brag on) itself, is not puffed up (arrogant), Doth not behave itself unseemly (rudely), seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil (keeps no accounts of evil);
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity (LOVE) never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail (cease): whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.’ (1 Cor.13:4-8)
And that’s the God-awesome truth my people! Therefore, let’s ponder all these things today nuh, and with God’s ever-present, never-ending help, make the necessary changes in our attitudes and behaviour, so that we can leave this world a much better place for our children. That’s the only wisdom there is! Much LOVE!
…if we’re not actively doing LOVE…then we’re not true disciples of Christ…as simple as that…
P.S. Friends, the Bit’s long and late, but it’s what God put in my heart to write today. Much LOVE!
Today’s Scrip-Bit 19 February 2013 Proverbs 26:11
19 Feb 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: affairs of the world, beautiful day, christianity, cleansed of our sin, day of salvation, deceitfulness, dog's vomit, dr robert h schuller, fall from grace, false teachers, fool's folly, glory hallelujah, Jesus Christ, learn from mistakes, omnipotent god, Pharaoh, pig from the mud, plagues, power of LOVE, Praise the Lord, repeating mistakes, saviour jesus christ, Thank you Father, the way of righteousness, uplifting prayers, warm sunshine, wisdom
Proverbs 26:11. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Oh Friends, oh Friends, it’s another beautiful day in the life! Wow! Praise the Lord! Yes, praise our wonderful God for it, because regardless of the suffering, the hardship, the heartache, the pain and illness we may be experiencing, we still know for sure that our God is good and fair and just, and He will not allow us to handle more than we can bear. And furthermore, whatever He brings us to, He’s faithfully promised to bring us through. And all God’s people declared a loud and joyful: ‘Glory Hallelujah! For the Lord He is indeed good to the undeserving children of men!’ Oh my brethren, that’s the basic beauty of the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient Deity we serve and worship! And now, here’s one of those inspiring, positive, uplifting prayers from Dr. Robert H. Schuller’s Hour of Power Devotional, to get us started on the right foot for the day. It’s a prayer of joy, optimism and great expectations that today we’ll do well in the service of our Leader and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Pray with me: ‘Thank you, Father, for the beautiful surprises you are planning for me today. So often in my life, when it looked like the day would be dismal, depressing, and dark, an unexpected burst of golden sunshine exploded through a black cloud sending inspiring shafts of warm, beautiful sunshine into my life. Father, it is happening now! I can already feel the power of your LOVE, through Christ my Lord. Amen.’ Yuh know Friends, it truly amazes me, that I’ve been reading that Devotional for a few years now, but every time I come to one of those uplifting prayers that I share with you, it just seems like I’ve never see them before. It’s the same thing with the Good Book; every time you read it, you discover something new. That happened to me recently while reading Job. I discovered that his friends had actually come and sat down seven days and nights with him in the dust and ashes of his grief, without saying a word. It’s only after that, they began to rag on him about his supposed sins. (Job 2:13) That brings us to our Bit: ‘As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to (repeats) his folly.’ Ah Friends, that’s so true of so many of us today, it’s not funny! Just like a dog goes back and plays in its vomit, it seems very difficult for too many of us to learn from our mistakes, and thus we keep repeating the same ones over and over. As Sister Joyce (Joyce Meyer) likes to say, you can’t keep on doing the same thing and expect different results. Now listen to Peter, as he talks about false teachers and those who once knew God, but fell from grace and again became entangled in the shoddy, disgusting affairs of the world. ‘For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned (returns) to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.’ (2 Pet.2:21-22) Oh mih breddren, is that ever so true! I guess it’s where the saying, ‘you can take the mud from the pig, but you can’t take the pig from the mud,’ comes from. And we do it all the time. Jesus washes and cleanses us of our sins, but we then let the wily Lucifer tantalize us with his glitzy but empty and useless worldly things, and we fall right back into the mire of sin again. And a good example of that from way back when is Pharaoh, when Moses comes and asks him to let the Jewish people go, but Pharaoh refuses. It took something like (10) ten disasters upon his land and people, before Pharaoh agreed to set God’s people free. And my people, the worse thing that can happen to us when we’re undergoing tribulation or making serious mistakes is a break in the action, where we get a little relief from our misery. That unfortunately often gives us the wrong message, and causes us to continue our folly. That happened to Pharaoh after the plague of frogs, when Moses cried out to the Lord about it. (Ex.8:12-13) The Good Book declares: ‘But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite (relief), he hardened his heart, and hearkened not (did not listen) unto them; as the Lord had said.’ (Ex.8:15) Likewise do we my fellow believers, usually to our subsequent hurt. Pharaoh foolishly suffered through another five plagues after that, before he finally saw the light. And we’ll end with an interesting scripture from the hymn of praise in the day of salvation per Isaiah, re the foolishness of the wicked. ‘Let favour (grace) be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.’ (Is.26:10) Yes Friends, such is the deceitfulness and stupidity of the wicked, that even though Almighty God shows them favour, pours out His grace on them, they will not learn righteousness but continue their wicked ways. Please my people, let us not be numbered amongst that sorry, unfortunate lot. It’s a fool’s folly! And followers of Jesus are anything but fools; wisdom is our middle name. Much LOVE!…a wise man learns from his mistakes…but a fool continues in his foolish ways…
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