Today’s Scrip-Bit   1 March 2023 Psalm 118:6.

01 Mar 2023 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 118:6.       The Lord is on my side: I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

And then it was a damp, cloudy, middle of the week Wednesday, the first day of March 2023. Can you believe it, February’s already over and done with, assigned to the annals of history! The days are certainly not waiting on anyone, they’re just ploughing ahead unceasingly in their God-given duties. And so should it be with us Christian believers; we ought to be relentlessly moving forward with the spreading of Christ’s marvellous gospel, the good news of salvation, forgiveness and eternal life! 

Nothing ought to stop us, least of all the devil and his evil doing cronies. And why do we allow those evil doers to prevent us from doing Christ’s work eh? A lot of it is based on fear. But one of the biggest repeated commands in the Bible is ‘Fear not!’ And Jesus also asked several times, ‘Where is your faith?’ Then He also admonished ‘O ye of little faith!’ So, I guess a lot of our hesitation in doing Christ’s work is based on fear and lack of sufficient faith to overcome our fear. But we have to realize that FAITH is the ONLY thing that overcomes FEAR. 

And today, it seems like a faith versus fear day, with scriptures that will enable us to build our faith and thus lessen our fear. And I guess the most alluring and confidence building scripture to start our journey is that marvellous one from the prophet Isaiah, where he instructs the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people thus: ‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded (disgraced): they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.’ (Is. 41:10-11) 

Wow! What awesome words of encouragement my people! That’s the Creator and Controller of the universe, the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob telling us not to fear, that He will look after us with His mighty right hand! What more do we want eh? And please don’t tell me that that’s from the Old Testament and that the Lord was speaking to His chosen people of Israel, for who are you? 

You are also His chosen. He sent His sinless Son Jesus Christ to sacrifice himself on the rugged cross of Calvary so that all of His creation, both Jews and Gentiles could be forgiven, reconciled to Him, and receive salvation and eternal life. That means, in no uncertain terms, that those scriptures on fear in both the Old and New Testament apply to all supposed believers in Christ Jesus! 

And having cleared that up, (smile) let’s move on to this interesting scripture from Psalm 118, which says: ‘I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large (broad) place. The Lord is on my side: I will not fear: what can man do unto me? The Lord taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.’ (Ps. 118:5-9) 

Yes friends, when you trust in the Lord, put your faith in Him, He works out everything for your good. The only problem is that you first have to put your faith and trust in Him, before you can see Him working in your life. And the more you trust Him, the more you will see His good works, and the more your faith will grow. Remember, Christianity is not for cowards. 

Please note the strong tone the Lord used with Joshua when he made him the leader of the Israelites after the death of Moses. Having already told Joshua to be strong and courageous several times, (Josh. 1:2-8) He admonished him one last time for good measure. ‘Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.’ (Josh. 1:9) Now, I can’t say exactly why, but those scriptures from Joshua 1:7-9 are some of my favourite scriptures. They just light a fire in my bones. (smile) 

And Bruh David adds his two cents worth to the situation, when he writes in Psalm 56, after the Philistines took him in Gath. ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God have I put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me…When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.’ (Ps. 56:3-4, 9) 

Oh my fellow believers can we sincerely utter those words? Do we know without a doubt that our great and wonderful God is for us? I certainly hope so. For until we do, we will not enjoy all of the many blessings available under His most generous umbrella of care and compassion. 

And what does Jesus say about fear, you ask? Listen up as He warns. ‘And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both the soul and body in hell.’ (Matt. 10:28) And that person my friends is none other than the Lord God Jehovah; the ONLY ONE who can destroy both body and soul. So that’s where our first fear should lie, not in Satan and his evil doers. But even then, it’s not so much fear of God, but more a reverential awe of Him, because we know His awesome power. 

By the way, here’s an interesting point from the scholars. They say: ‘Notice that God is the One who has authority to cast men into hell, and not Satan, who will himself be ultimately cast into everlasting fire.’  Now that’s something we should also consider, Satan can’t cast us into hell, but he can certainly help us get there, which is his raison d’etre, his reason for being, to inveigle us to go against God and eventually end up with him in hades. Conversely, Jesus wants us to end up with Him in heaven, so whom will you choose eh? Let’s hope Jesus. 

And it seems like there’s so much to say on the subject of faith versus fear that we’ve run out of time and space today. That means, the Lord willing, we’ll continue this most important topic tomorrow. In the meanwhile, let’s go home declaring (yesss!!!) our Wednesday Wail, letting all and sundry know of our wonderful position in Christ Jesus. 

Altogether now: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

Yes friends that’s the gospel truth! And when you add this langniappe, this li’l extra to it, that if we endure to the end, that future will be even more glorious than we can ever ask or imagine, it encourages us even more to stick with Jesus to the very end. Now, that’s wisdom to the nth degree! Much LOVE!

…when fear comes a knocking…the best response…send faith to answer it… 

 Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ        

Today’s Scrip-Bit   7 May 2022 Colossians 3:14.

07 May 2022 Leave a comment

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

Colossians 3:14.      And above all these things put on charity (LOVE), which is the bond of perfectness.

Welcome aboard Saturday! Hope you are going to remain steadfast and true to the sunny disposition you now have and grace us with a wonderful spring, or better yet, near summer day. (smile) We’ve got to hope and have faith friends that all will go well today. And even if it doesn’t, then we have our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to rely on, to bring us comfort, safety and a refuge from the trials and tribulations of this crazy and evil world. Now who wouldn’t want such an awesome life eh? 

Unfortunately though, many of us choose not to believe in Christ Jesus, only to their everlasting sorrow. But all we can do, as good ambassadors of Christ, is to keep on telling His story, the good news of His wonderful gospel that brings salvation and eternal life to all who dare to believe, and hope that eventually they will come to recognize the error of their ways. However, since it’s Saturday, we need to get on with our business of checking out the quotes our friend Anselm sent us this past week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. 

And the first quote tells us: ‘Even if you cannot change all the people around you, you can change the people you choose to be around. Life is too short to waste your time on people who don’t respect, appreciate, and value you. Spend your life with people who make you smile, laugh, and feel LOVED.’ And that’s the gospel truth! Life is indeed too short and the world too evil and confused to spend time with people who don’t appreciate and value you. Oh, I know that we all desire to be amongst people, that we were made to be in relationships, but sometimes it’s better to be alone than to be in unproductive relationships. 

And if you cannot find satisfying relationships, like those mentioned above, then turn to God and ask for His help. There’s no shame in that. He will lead you down the right path, but sometimes it might take a li’l while for Him to arrange it, so you might have to be lonely and unsatisfied for a spell. (smile) But placing the problem in God’s hands is always the correct answer. Remember, Christ died for us to have the abundant life, and being in unsatisfying, unvalued relationships certainly does not meet that criterion. 

And do I ever like this next quote, which says: ‘When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.’ Oh, is that ever true! And why not eh? As we just said life is short, so why wait when you find the one you want to be with in this life? But a word of caution here. Let’s not rush into things. With such a huge commitment, a lifetime one in mind, we need to first ascertain that the other person also wants to spend the rest of their life with us. And even more importantly, that they are the right person for us in God’s will. But if you’ve checked, and all of those things are in the positive realm, then why wait? (smile) 

Meanwhile, the next quote explains why we must be very careful in our every move nowadays for it tells us that ‘The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.’ And that’s an indisputable fact. Our world is made in the image of our thoughts. Our minds are the fountains of creativity, and the thoughts and ideas which flow through and from them lead to the actions that we take. And that’s why the enemy, Satan, is so gung-ho to get control of our creative space. It enables him to drive us down the path of evil, instead of the path of righteousness. 

No wonder the mind is called a battlefield; everyone is fighting for control of it. Thus it is true, that to change our world, we must change our thinking. However, it’s ever so important that we have the right kind of thoughts and thinking that will benefit our world rather than harm it. And Bruh Paul made that quite clear when he wrote these marvellous words of advice to the church at Rome. ‘And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.’ (Rom. 12:2) 

Yes friends, by its very nature, the world is sinful, and thus reflects a sinful lifestyle, but we can reject that by transforming our minds to believe and do the things that Jesus wants us to do. It’s not always easy, but with His help, it can be done. In fact it must be done, if we ever want to, or hope to see a better world for our children and grandchildren. That’s why Bruh Paul also wrote these words to the church at Corinth. ‘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) It’s time for us to put away our old lifestyle and conform to the new one that Christ has designed for us, one of righteousness and not of sinfulness. 

Then there’s this quote: ‘There is no charm equal to tenderness of the heart.’ More awesome truth my brethren! There’s absolutely nothing in this world to beat a tender, compassionate caring heart! And undoubtedly, we have the best example of that in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Throughout the Gospels, they talk about the compassionate heart of Jesus, and that’s just a reflection of the heart of our great God. As Bruh Paul wrote to the Corinthians. ‘Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.’ (2 Cor. 1:3)

Oh my fellow saints, our great and wonderful God is indeed characterized by mercy, care, comfort, compassion and long-suffering, otherwise we would have been destroyed long ago. And it’s that kind of heart we need to also have, as outlined in the words of Bruh Paul to the Colossians. ‘Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies (tender mercies), kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and long suffering… And above all these things put on charity (LOVE), which is the bond of perfectness.’ (Col. 3:12,14) 

Yes my people, LOVE is the crowning glory or grace of all Christian virtues, as well as God’s greatest attribute. So, to be a true reflection of God, those attributes must also be reflected in us. That brings us to this last and very interesting quote. ‘Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold.’ And that’s no lie. We don’t know for sure how much our hearts can hold, not even God’s heart. We just know that it can hold a lot, especially if one is a believer in Christ Jesus. 

But the heart that truly speaks to me amongst humans is that of Mary, Jesus’ mother. Her heart surely held a lot, from the surprising choice to be the mother of the Son of God, to seeing Him horribly punished and crucified for wrongs He did not commit. Then His triumphant rising from the dead and ascension back to heaven. No wonder the Good Book remarks after the shepherds came and paid tribute to Jesus in the manger after His birth. ‘But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.’ (Luke 2:19) 

Then after the only occasion where we see some rudeness from Christ towards His parents, when they found Him in the temple talking with the elders after searching for Him for three days. ‘And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist (know) ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?’ (Luke 2:49) Imagine any other twelve-year-old saying that to their parents nuh. Hn! Many teeth might have been lost. But the Good Book continues. ‘And they (Jesus’ parents) understood not the saying which he spoke unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.’ (Luke 2:50-51) 

Ah friends, from day one, mothers have never had it easy, but they are indeed the backbone of the family, and on this Mother’s Day weekend, let’s fill our hearts to overflowing with LOVE for them nuh, and treat them as the queens that they are, for they always give much more than they ever ask for or expect. Much LOVE!

…it’s only the LOVE in our world…that keeps it from totally falling apart… 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8​