Today’s Scrip-Bit 3 October 2018 Proverbs 10:12.

03 Oct 2018 Leave a comment

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

Proverbs 10:12.    ​Hatred stirreth up strifes: but LOVE covereth ALL sins.

 

And then it was Wednesday, the middle of the workweek…and we in full swing now. We’ve hit our full stride and feel like we can conquer the world, even without the help of Jesus…wishful thinking though. (smile) 

But that just shows the difference in our attitudes between Monday, the start of the work week and today, when we’ve gotten accustomed once again to getting up and getting out to labour for a penny to keep food on our tables and a roof over our heads. 

Yeh friends, it’s all in our attitude, our state of mind, and we can’t afford to let it waiver between good and bad, because then our lives also waiver between good and bad. It’s in our best interest to keep our attitude at a constant positive level, in tune with Jesus’ programme for His followers. 

And before I forget, let me thank the Lord for a much better beginning to today, than I had yesterday, the aches and pains are nowhere near as bad. Brother, yesterday was truly a rough day! But with the Lord’s help I weathered it…Praise His holy name! 

And I believe the aches and pains are directly related to how much time I spend in bed. I’ll be fine with three or four hours at a time…But Chuh! Once we hit the five or six hour mark, like the body begins to stiffen up. And I won’t even mention seven or eight hours… (smile) So it seems like my best bet is to sleep in four hour spurts. 

But that’s not always practical, and it goes against the very grain of one of my most important acclamations; that I will get sufficient rest each and every day. But if I want to avoid the worse of the aches and pains, with the Lord’s help, I will find a way to do it. Amen! 

Now let me share some stuff from Uncle Charles (Dr. Charles Stanley) that I just glimpsed on one of the many bits of paper on my desk. I believe it deals with walking and having a full life with God. (1) Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Now that should be obvious because we can’t walk with God unless we go through Jesus, since He is the only way to the Father. 

 (2) Listen to God. That’s through prayer; the method of communication He made for us to get to know each other. And we can’t listen alone, we also need to talk to Him. 

(3) Trust God. And here Uncle Charles points us to his favourite scriptures; the immortal words of Cousin Sol:  ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct (make smooth or straight) thy paths.’ (Prov.3:5-6) Yes friends, those verses should be the foundational building blocks of our faith walk! 

(4) Agree with God. That’s wisdom in spades, for He is the Boss! And you know what happens when you don’t agree with the Boss; you’re liable to get fired. (smile) (5) Obey God. And that brings us to Uncle Charles’ favourite statement: ‘Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him!’ Sure words of wisdom my people, because obedience is one of the few things that the Lord totally demands of us. 

(6) Walk in the same direction. Now that’s simple common sense. You can’t be a true and sincere member of an organization and not walk the path the leader proscribes. And with Jesus, it’s the straight and narrow one; the hard to find and difficult to navigate path, but the oh so rewarding one, leading to salvation and eternal life.

(7) Stay in step with God. Now that’s also basic common sense. If God is leading the way – as He most definitely is – then you can’t go ahead of Him, else you’ll get lost in the dark and tumble over an unseen cliff, since you don’t know where you are going. And for our purposes here, I’ll change Uncle Charles’ line up. I’ll put as number (8) Forsake sin. And that’s oh so important my brethren, because it’s sin that has us in the precarious predicament we’re currently in. 

But this last point is the most important because it covers everything. (9) LOVE God! Wow mih people! When we do that sincerely, we don’t have to worry about anything else. And here is some scripture that proves it. First off is our Bit, the treasured words of Cousin Sol: ‘Hatred stirreth up strifes: but LOVE covereth ALL sins.’ And isn’t that the glorious truth my people? It surely is! And Peter corroborates it. ‘And above all things have fervent charity (LOVE) among yourselves: for charity (LOVE) shall cover the multitude of sins.’ (1 Pet.4:8) 

But here now is the piece de resistance on the subject from Bruh Paul from the famous Way of LOVE Chapter. ‘Charity (LOVE) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (LOVE) envieth not…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 records); Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity (LOVE) NEVER FAILETH…’ (1 Cor.13:4-8a) 

And that my fellow believers is the gospel truth! For if we have sincere LOVE, then we’ll be like John says: ‘Beloved, let us LOVE one another: for LOVE is of God; and every one that LOVETH is born of God, and knoweth God.’ (1 John 4:7) Now with all that LOVE just percolating madly through our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, let’s go home sincerely declaring (wow! spelled it right) our Wednesday Wail, letting the whole world know our position in Christ. 

As one 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!’ 

And it’s indeed going to be more glorious than we can ask or imagine! Our finite minds can’t comprehend it! Much LOVE!

…and now abideth…faith…hope…LOVE…these three…but the greatest of these is…LOVE… (1 Cor.13:13)

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 21 May 2018 1 John 4:18.

21 May 2018 Leave a comment

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

1 John 4:18.   There is no fear in LOVE; but perfect LOVE casteth out fear: because fear hath (involves) torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in LOVE.

And then it was Monday; Monday of a long weekend in the British Commonwealth of nations celebrating Queen Victoria’s birthday! And to tell you how far I am out of the loop, I did not even realize that this was a long weekend until yesterday. Hn! Life surely passes you by when you’re having fun! (smile) 

That means a lot of people around the world aren’t working today, but are at home or wherever celebrating, which means we also have to invoke Granny’s warning for all believers. ‘Sonny boy, drunk or sober, please mind yuh business. And don’t give the devil any chance at all to get into your life!’ 

And a lot of stuff is going to be happening in the North Country today, especially with the glorious sunshine out there. Let’s hope the Spirit of the SON keeps us on a tight rein. (smile) 

But since in many parts of the universe life and work go on as normal this Monday morning, we need to encourage those who have to labour while we play. So let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn to help them gather themselves together. 

In strong voice 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!’ 

And as usual on a day like today, many of the voices that were the strongest were also harsh and out of sorts from the exuberance of the holiday weekend. (smile) But that’s just life; we’re always more enthusiastic when we don’t have to get involved in an unwanted task. 

And today we want to look at an important verse of scripture from John’s first epistle: ‘There is no fear in LOVE; but perfect LOVE casteth out fear: because fear hath (involves) torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in LOVE.’ 

Oh friends, those two words, ‘fear’ and ‘LOVE’ rule most of our lives. Earlier on John declares: ‘And we have known and believed the LOVE that God hath to us. God is LOVE; and he that dwelleth (abides) in LOVE dwelleth (abides) in God, and God in him.’ (1 John 4:16) 

And the scholars offer this explanation. ‘4:16. John, like Paul (1 Cor.13:13), stresses the supremacy of LOVE as  a characteristic of God, and therefore  as a dominant characteristic of the true believer.’ That means if true LOVE isn’t one of our dominant characteristics, then we’re not truly into God, and vice versa. 

And John continues: ‘Herein is our LOVE made perfect (LOVE is made perfect among us), that we may have boldness in the day of judgement: because as he is, so are we in this world.’ (1 John 4:17) 

Now hear the scholars. ‘4:17. Herein points back to verse 16. By dwelling in LOVE, and thus having God dwelling in him, the believer gains the priceless assurance that he need not fear the coming judgement. This is our assurance, if we LOVE in this world as He does.’ 

Yes my people, we need God’s LOVE dwelling in us, if we are to walk this earth reassured and without fear of the days to come. And why is that? Because as our Bit says: ‘There is no fear in LOVE; but perfect LOVE casteth out fear.’ So if you have LOVE, you won’t fear, and if you have fear, you can’t have LOVE. As simple as that! 

And the scholars explain: ‘4:18. Fear hath torment: Abject fear of God is based on dread of punishment. But God’s LOVE for us renders such dread obsolete. Fear is still part of the Christian walk in the sense of profound reverence, the unwillingness to violate God’s trust in us (see Acts 10:35; 13:26; 2 Cor.7:1; Eph.5:21; Phil,2:12; 1 Pet.1:17). Believers need not fear eternal rejection as a result of God’s judgement (John 5:24), but this does not mean a Christian’s approach to God is to be casual and flippant.’ 

Ah mih people, I think we should all take a few minutes and look at those scriptures, I just did, as they all drive home the point that though we should not fear God in the sense of having personal courage to come to Him with confidence, we definitely need to show Him deserved reverence, honour and admiration. 

And as the definition of reverence declares: a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe and veneration. Yeh friends, that’s how our God must be to us. Much LOVE!

…and now abideth faith…hope…LOVE…these three…but the greatest of these is…LOVE… (1 Cor.13:13)

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 January 2018 1 John 4:7.

01 Jan 2018 Leave a comment

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

1 John 4:7.   Beloved, let us LOVE one another: for LOVE is of God; and every one that LOVETH is born of God, and knoweth God.

                                          HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well friends, 2018 is finally here, and I wish all of us the best for this New Year. I hope that we all enjoyed a good New Year’s Eve celebration, keeping the libations to a minimum so that the brains didn’t get addled. (smile) 

But yuh know what friends, I’m dubbing 2018 as ‘THE YEAR OF LOVE!’ And our motto for this YEAR OF LOVE, is EACH ONE LOVE ONE! 

All we have to do is LOVE One person each and every day of the year, so that our world will be filled with more LOVE than hate. Now is that so hard to do friends? It should be much easier than hating one person every day, which we seem to do so well. 

The long and short of the story my people is that our world has fallen so low in the last year with all the strife and warmongering, that we don’t have much lower to go. If we continue in this sad and foolish vein, our world will soon explode. 

And we’ve already opened the year with threats from North Korea, and riots in Iran, plus all the other theatres of strife that persist from 2017. Is this the way we really want to see our world go, mushroom in a cloud of nuclear conflagration? 

Because you can bet your bottom dollar if the downward spiral continues, one of the mad, incompetent, power hungry dictators running our world is going to push that red button, and our world will never be the same. It might even cease to exist, such is the power of nuclear war and weapons. 

That’s why I’m advocating so strongly for 2018 to be a turn around year, where Christians come together and truly begin living and LOVING like followers of Christ, fighting tooth and nail to restore some sense of balance and common sense in our world. 

Oh fellow believers, if we don’t do it, who else is going to eh? Lucifer and his workers of iniquity like the way the world is going, but Jesus certainly doesn’t, and if we’re supposed to be His ambassadors, His hands, feet, mouth and ears on earth, then it’s our bounden duty to try and recapture the world from the denizens of evil. 

So please let’s get with the LOVE Scene nuh man! Let’s do our best to remove the current leaders and elect sensible, godly ones, who won’t threaten to go overboard at the drop of a hat. Let’s cut out the complacency and compromise and begin working together to make Christ’s Body the most powerful in the land. That’s the best way to glorify Him! 

And now that I’ve made my plea, added my two cents worth (smile) let’s turn to those unfortunate brothers and sisters who have to go out and labour this cold, cold New Year’s Monday since our 24/7 society needs constant care. Yuh know it’s so cold that some of the water on Niagara Falls froze. So let’s send them out to work with a rousing rendition of our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, which we never have a problem doing, when we ourselves are staying at home celebrating. (smile) 

In strong voice 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!’ 

Ah mih friends, I could hear the after effects of the New Year’s Eve celebrations; the hoarse, croaky and out of tune voices. But at least we had the right spirit. (smile) And my fellow believers, we couldn’t have a more appropriate Bit this morning than these wonderful words of John, as he informs us that God IS LOVE. 

‘Beloved, let us LOVE one another: for LOVE is of God; and every one that LOVETH is born of God, and knoweth God.’ That means if we want to know about true LOVE, then we have to be involved in a serious relationship with God. 

And we’ll just end with these oh so appropriate words of John, as he reminds us of the importance of LOVE and knowing God. ‘He that LOVETH not knoweth not God: for God is LOVE. In this was manifested the LOVE of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. 

Herein is LOVE, not that we LOVED God, but that he LOVED us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so LOVED US, WE OUGHT ALSO TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.’ (1 John 4:8-11) 

That’s what I’m trying to achieve friends, but amongst supposed Christians, it’s like pulling teeth. Remember some of Christ’s last words to the disciples: ‘This is my commandment, That ye LOVE one another, as I have LOVED you.’ (John 15:12)  Plain and straightforward words, as always from our Lord and Saviour. 

Please my brethren, let’s try and seriously action them this year nuh; that is if we want our world to exist in a healthy and godly manner. Much LOVE!

…and now abideth…faith…hope…LOVE…these three…but the greatest of these is…LOVE…

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 25 January 2016 John 3:16

25 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

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

John 3:16.    For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Ah friends, this Monday morning is one day many of us should be ever so thankful that we’re not living on the Eastern coast of North America, because of the terrible blizzard that passed through that area on the weekend, dropping humongous amounts of snow on the ground. Ah Lord eh! 

On the news, I believe it was Saturday, I heard a woman saying that she and her family had been snowbound on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for 12 hours. Another woman and her family, on another highway, had been snowbound for some twenty hours. Can you imagine that – sitting in a car for so long, the windows all frosted and you being anxious about running out of gas and possibly freezing to death? 

One of those two women had their diabetic father with her, on his birthday to boot. Not a very pleasant way to spend your birthday at all. I believe though, that one of those families was fairly close to a gas station, so they were able to get some food and refreshment. I don’t how much that helped though, when you couldn’t drive, and you were still a long way from home. 

Please let’s remember in our prayers the millions of people along the Eastern seaboard who are still undergoing the ravages of the snowstorm. So let’s have no complaints and churlishness because you have to get up and go to work. Let’s just sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn with extra gusto and thankfulness. 

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!’ 

That was good friends, but I don’t think that our choir director, Jesus, heard enough thankfulness in our voices. (smile) But He does know that we believe His words found in our most encouraging and uplifting Bit. ‘For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ 

And how could we not believe those beautiful, eternal life-giving words eh, unless we’re real dense and full of foolish pride? And I know that some of you might be tired with the same Bit for so long, but my people, that is possibly the most important statement in the entire Bible. It was the ONLY reason that Jesus came to earth! 

And if you can’t feast on those miraculous and momentous words for a few days, then I’d strongly suggest you question your faith.  And I can’t guarantee that it will finish today either, for there’s still a fair amount of scripture to be studied on it. And we’ll begin with the immortal words of John’s first epistle, re God is LOVE! 

‘BELOVED, let us LOVE one another: for LOVE is of God; and every one that LOVETH is born of God, and knoweth God.’ (1 John 4:7) 

Now let’s stop right there and get some valuable explanations from the scholars. ‘4:7. John returns to the theme of mutual LOVE. Perhaps the false teaching he felt compelled to combat had contributed to suspicion and contention in the fellowship. In contrast, John is not saying that everyone who LOVES is a Christian, whether they trust in Christ or not. 

He makes it clear elsewhere that true knowledge of God entails right belief about Christ, as well as right response to God, including LOVE of others.  Mere human LOVE apart from Christ’s redeeming presence and motivation falls short of LOVE in its fullest dimension as a human response to God’s perfect and infinite compassion (cf. 1 Cor.13).’  

Oh my brethren, I do hope that that helps us to better understand the precept of God’s LOVE; His LOVE for us, as well as our LOVE for Him and for others.  It must be accompanied by true belief in Christ and obedience to God’s Word! 

Now let’s continue with the scripture. ‘He that LOVETH not knoweth not God; for God is LOVE.’ (1 John 4:8)  

We have to stop here again my people to get a little insight on that verse from the scholars. ‘4:8. John has also recorded that “God is light” (1:5) and “Spirit” (John 4:24). LOVE is one of the many attributes of God and is to be understood in relation to the others, such as holiness and justice.’  

Yes friends, our God is what in sports parlance we’d call an all-rounder – has many parts to His nature! However, He is not just a jack of all trades, but indeed a MASTER of them all! (smile) 

And you know what? I think we’ll stop there for today, since I don’t want the Bit to get too involved and difficult to understand. So, the Lord willing, we’ll just have to continue it tomorrow. (smile) 

Bear with me friends, it’s all for a good purpose, to our benefit.  And I do hope that our understanding and appreciation of God’s LOVE has improved, has grown today, because that’s what it’s all about. Much LOVE!

…And now abideth…faith…hope…LOVE…these three…but the greatest of these is…LOVE… (1Cor.13:13)