The Importance of Giving Yourself over to God’s Ways…and then Delighting in them!

10 Oct 2024 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 37:4-5.       Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.

And believe it or not, it’s Thursday, the second to last day of our work week. I don’t know if I’m happy or sad that the days seem to be passing by so quickly. The problem might just be that the older you get the fewer your days on God’s good earth become, and you get anxious that you’ve not done as much as you wanted to do, or more importantly, the things you’ve desired to do. And right now, that’s somewhat true for me, because there are several things I haven’t yet done that I greatly desire to do. 

When you’re twenty odd, you easily envision many more days alive and kicking, but at the ripe ole age of seventy odd, you know that the clock’s ticking and your days are not that many. But then again, when you trust God wholeheartedly, you’re not supposed to be worried or anxious about anything, for the Bible tells us, in the words of Bruh David from Psalm 37 – titled Trust in the Lord: ‘Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.’ (Ps. 37:4-5) 

And what does it mean to delight thyself in the Lord? Here’s a short and simple answer from this commentary. ‘To “delight in the Lord” is to enjoy all the blessings found in Him, because they are from Him, not merely because they are to our benefit. It’s often said that the person who delights in the Lord values the Giver more highly than His gifts.’ Now that’s an attitude we should surely have towards our God; appreciating and valuing Him for what and who He is, than merely for what He can do for us in terms of worldly needs. 

It’s also something we should be seriously pursuing in our daily lives with other people; valuing them more as God’s people, our brothers and sisters in Christ, rather than merely thinking of them in terms of what they can do for us. And that brings us right back to what we’re talking about; foregoing all the selfishness, greed and deceit that our world today teaches as a way of life, and committing to God’s way, which is the exact opposite. (smile) 

Meanwhile, this other commentary shows delighting in God in a different light. It asks, ‘What is the biblical meaning of delight?’ And answers: ‘The word delight means “to gain great pleasure, satisfaction, and happiness.” Additionally, another meaning of the Hebrew word for delight is “to be soft, tender.” I think LOVERS of God are those who are soft and tender toward Him, always teachable, always pliable in His hands.’ 

That’s also true. We need to be like putty in God’s hands, obedient, and committing our ways to Him, meaning ‘invite the Lord to examine our desires and intentions—and change whatever does not fit his purpose or advance his plan for our life.’ And we wonder why God delighted in Bruh David with all of his abominable behaviour. Because he had a repentant, reverent, grateful and devoted heart. 

And we can see that from the words of this commentary. ‘Because of his knowledge of God, David refrained from killing Saul when he had the opportunity, content to wait for God to act in his perfect timing. David demonstrated delight in God through his obedience and praise to God despite his difficult circumstances.’ 

Ah friends, if only we could be so trusting and obedient. That doesn’t mean we won’t do wrong, but when we realize, it we turn asap to God and confess and repent of it. That’s what Bruh David did, and the Lord still considered him a friend and a man after His own heart. The whole point of delighting in God, and committing our ways to Him, is encouraging and challenging us to seek intimacy with God every day. And the greater the intimacy, the greater the obedience and the greater the blessing! 

It’s all a part of God’s great plan for us to commune continuously and deeply with Him. It’s one of the reasons He created us. So when we don’t seek to get close to God, then we’re losing out, missing a whole set of wonderful blessings and interesting adventures and situations. Now, they won’t always be a Sunday walk in the park, (smile) but they’ll surely brighten up your life and make you stronger; physically, spiritually and emotionally, in other words, more like Jesus. 

Now listen to this scripture from Isaiah, where he’s talking to the people about honouring the Sabbath. ‘If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places (hills) of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.’ (Is. 58:13-14) 

Yes my fellow believers, if we choose the Lord’s way, rather than ours, He will rain down blessings on us in such abundance that we won’t be able to handle them. But unfortunately, too many of us are following the foolish dictates of the world, to basically go against everything that God stands for. No wonder our world is filled with man-made chaos and natural disasters. So what are we going to do about this undesirable situation eh? The answer lies in our hands my fellow saints, and the Lord has most generously given us the tools to handle it. We call them our Thursday Blessings. So let’s declare (chuh!!!) them right now, so that they can be activated in our lives. 

As one strong and sincere voice: ‘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 every day! Amen!’ 

And having made that declaration (yesss!!!) it now behooves us to go out and use those blessings for the benefit of others, just as generously as the Lord shared them with us! Much LOVE!

…delighting in our wonderful God…is the essence of our faith…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 July 2016 Psalm 12:2

04 Jul 2016 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 12:2.     They speak vanity (idly, falsely) every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with double heart (an inconsistent mind) do they speak.

HAPPY  4TH  OF JULY  U. S. OF A!

Ah friends, as I was getting ready to write the Bit, the old Chicago tune popped into my head: ‘Does anybody really know what time it is…? Does anybody really care…?’ 

And it struck me that the majority of the world doesn’t seem know what time it is – THE LAST DAYS – and nobody really seems to care either, otherwise it wouldn’t be such a tragic, strife-filled, evil and unkind place.  

But thankfully, fortunately, we, this joyful band of Christians, fervent followers of and believers in Jesus Christ do know that we are in the end times and that we desperately need to get our houses in order if we want to be prepared when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ returns to earth in splendor and power, or calls us home first. 

Yes my people, we are the last bastion of faith, hope, LOVE and peace on the planet! That means we desperately need to come up much higher, ASAP, if we hope to save as many people, and as much of our world as we can. The clock’s a ticking, and Lucifer and his evil minions are working like mad to conquer as much as possible. Therefore the battle won’t be easy, but if we stick together and stand up strong with Jesus, then victory is assuredly ours. 

Consequently, on this Monday morning, the first in July 2016, we need to be up and about Christ’s business; no lollygagging and complaining about we tired etc. Yuh think Beelzebub’s people are resting on their laurels? Definitely not! They are already up and about the evil one’s business! So what are we waiting for eh? Let’s get a move on! 

And to help us rally round Jesus, let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn with a soulful explosion of power, harmony and sincerity. All together now! ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together. 

We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies. 

But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle. 

Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’ 

Now that wasn’t too bad, but you can hear the loudest voices being those of our U.S. friends, because it’s their Independence Day celebration! They don’t have to work today, so they are obviously more exuberant than we Canadians who are now wrapping up our Canada Day celebrations. 

Anyway, Happy 4th of July my friends to the South! Enjoy it, but don’t overdo it. Remember Granny’s advice: ‘Mih son, please, ah beg yuh, drunk or sober, please mind yuh business!’ 

And Granny knew what she was talking about, because when we get too celebratory, we tend to lose our sense of right and wrong, and that opens up a toehold for the enemy to get into our souls and create havoc. And that we definitely can’t allow.  

And that brings us to our Bit; truth of the indisputable kind! ‘They speak vanity (idly, falsely) every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with double heart (an inconsistent mind) do they speak.’ 

Yes friends, things like, truth, honesty and good neighbourly relations have gone the way of the dodo bird, have become extinct! Nowadays, it’s like every man for himself, the first person pronoun; ‘me, mine, myself and I,’ seem to be prevailing sentiment, as evil and evildoers run rampant across the earth.  

But it’s our job to stop them my fellow believers…and we can, if we’d only get serious about our bounden duty, and stop allowing them to cause dissension and divisions amongst God’s flock. For they are the past masters of the art of divide and conquer, and we are allowing them to do just that with Christ’s church. 

As Bruh David says in Psalm 41 – Abuse and assurance: ‘Mine enemies speak evil of me, when shall he die, and his name perish? And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity (empty words): his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.’ (Ps.41:5-6) 

But you know my brethren, times are so bad and deceitful now, that you need to be more wary of your friends because they now behave like enemies too. 

And we’ll end with this cry of Bruh David in Psalm 55, against deceitful friends. ‘For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide (companion), and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company (the throng)’ (Ps.55:12-14) 

Then he calls down a quick death upon them and their wickedness, and declares thus: ‘As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.’ (Ps.55:16-17) 

Oh my people, I can’t give you any better advice than that! So please, let’s keep calling on our great and ever-faithful God nuh, let’s keep looking to Him for salvation, for He is indeed the ONLY ONE able to grant it! Much LOVE!

…be very careful of whom you allow into your inner sanctum…for they might just turn out to be a Trojan horse…