Today’s Scrip-Bit 26 August 2018 Psalm 144:9.

Psalm 144:9.   I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery (harp) and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

To go or not to go? That is the question: whether, on this summer Sunday morning, I should stay in my warm, comfortable bed, roll over and go back to sleep, or make a determined effort to roll out, get dressed and go to the Lord’s sanctuary, to praise and worship, give thanks and fellowship with other faithful believers? 

Hn! Oh friends, I daresay that many of us are facing that question, or have already faced it. Let’s hope that your reaction was, or will be the wise one; getting up and going to church. And while there you sincerely open your heart and soul to your heavenly Father, and you also take in all that He has to offer, so you can leave there stronger, more faithful and full of confidence. 

And today friends, in our li’l get together, we’re going to open the proceedings the way we always do, by softening up our hearts in song, making them more receptive to God’s word, by first giving Him thanks and praise. And we’re going to do exactly what our Bit tells us to do: ‘I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery (harp) and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.’ 

Oh what a joy it is to sing unto the Lord my brethren, especially a new song, one that He hasn’t heard us sing before, because then He is eagerly looking forward to the praise we have to offer. Yuh know that’s one of the reasons He created us; to praise Him? So let’s not keep Him waiting any longer nuh, let’s belt out this new song with strong voices and sincere hearts. 

As one soulful choir now: ‘(Chorus: Sing a new song unto the Lord, Let your song be sung from mountains high. Sing a new song unto the Lord, Singing Alleluia! Alleluia!) The Lord’s people dance for joy. O come before the Lord And play for Him on glad tambourines and let your trumpets sound. (Chorus) 

Rise, O children from your sleep your Saviour now has come. He has turned your sorrow to joy, and filled your soul with song. (Chorus: Sing a new song unto the Lord, Let your song be sung from mountains high. Sing a new song unto the Lord, Singing Alleluia! Alleluia!) 

Yes my people, that’s the way it ought to be! The Lord is good and merciful and LOVING, so His people should show their appreciation and gratefulness by dancing before Him with joy! That reminds me of when Bruh David danced before the Lord with all his might when they brought up the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (2 Sam.6:14) 

And the Lord just LOVES His music, so it’s a no-brainer that we should play happily and sweetly on our musical instruments and thus bring Him pleasure. So let those tambourines jangle, the harps sing and the trumpets sound out! An’ yuh see, even the song says we must rise up from our sleep, because our Saviour, Jesus has come! Glory be! 

And what’s even better, is that He has turned our sorrow to joy, and filled our souls with song! Mama Mia! How can we beat that eh friends? No way! And as I keep saying, with a Saviour like Jesus, and all that He’s done for us, we Christians should be the happiest people in the world! Joy should be our watchword; ‘for the joy of the Lord is your strength,’ (Neh.8:10) And since we know that salvation has been granted and eternal life is waiting in heaven, our earthly life should be just one big sing along! (smile)  

Like the Good Book says: ‘Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the Lord with harp; sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise (a shout of joy). For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth. He LOVETH righteousness and judgement (justice): the earth is full of the goodness (LOVING-kindness) of the Lord.’ (Ps.33:1-5) And there is no disputing any of that my people! 

And now hear Bruh David in Psalm 40 nuh –Praise for answered prayer. ‘I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings (my steps). And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.’ (Ps.40:1-4) 

Ah friends, that’s the power of trusting in the Lord: you cry out to Him in patient and sincere trust, and He raises you up, and puts a new song in your soul, so you can praise Him even more! Glory to our heavenly Father! 

And we’ll end with this wonderful advice from Bruh Paul to the Ephesians: ‘And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess (dissipation); but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks ALWAYS for ALL things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.’ (Eph.5:18-21) 

We couldn’t get any better advice than that nuh friends, so let’s take it to heart and put it into action today nuh! Much LOVE!

…there’s nothing our God LOVES more…than us giving Him sincere thanks and praise…

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 October 2016 Psalm 66:4.

Psalm 66:4.  All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.   Selah. 

Welcome to a glorious Tuesday morning friends! Oh I know it’s still dark outside as I write this, but I’m also sure that the bright light of Jesus is shining through the darkness, both physical and spiritual, bringing light and comfort to our hearts, minds, bodies and souls! What a wonderful Lord and Saviour we have my people. And there’s truly NONE like Him! 

Oh, and what mysterious and fabulous ways He operates! Check out this small, everyday miracle that happened to me yesterday. I was down the street going to get a roti from the recent hot roti shop, Leila’s. But when I got to the little plaza where it’s situated,  I discovered that Leila’s was closed on Mondays. 

However, just across the plaza I saw a place called Papa Joe’s, with roti also on its menu. So I decided to check it out. When I entered, Papa Joe was attending to another customer, so I walked around looking at the décor.

And lo and behold on the wall I saw this black, marble like plaque with white italic writing on it, surrounded by a fancy white border, with a place setting of a fork on the left side and a knife and spoon on the right. 

Obviously it piqued my interest and I went over to read it. And though I had the Duchess take a picture of it with her phone, I still felt the need to write it down. But now I’ve discovered that my description won’t do it justice, so I’m going to try and send an attachment. 

And this is what I read: ‘Daily MENU  Give thanks Fill a vase with fresh flowers Set a beautiful table Use fresh simple ingredients Use your best china and silverware Prepare every meal with LOVE Use fresh herbs Invite someone Practice good manners Wash your hands Use cloth napkins Chew slowly. Savour every morsel Have great conversation Eat desert Wash your own dishes’ 

Oh friends, isn’t that just beautiful! I certainly find so. And I believe the Lord meant me to see it so that I could share it with you today. It’s just a nice, easy, but wonderful way to live our lives!

However, we can’t do that if we don’t have Jesus in our lives, for it is only through Him that we can rise to such simple, but glorious heights. I hope the attachment came out properly and you shared my enthusiasm for it. (smile) 

Now let’s do what we do every Tuesday; declare our Tuesday Mantra with sincerity, faith and mucho enthusiasm.

All together now: ‘I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world.  Amen!’ 

Glory be, my people! NOTHING can beat being a beloved child of God and a trusted friend of Jesus! Wow! 

Now with all of that goodness and LOVING-kindness, why aren’t’ we Christians the happiest people in the world eh? I certainly don’t know. But we ought to be. 

Sadly though, too many of us walk around with our heads hung down, shoulders drooped, with guilt and whatever in our spirits, behaving like martyrs, believing that we should not be happy, enthusiastic and enjoy life.

But that’s totally wrong my brethren, for Jesus said that He came so that we could have life and have it in abundance! (John 10:10) 

That means we don’t need to go around sad and miserable to be considered a true Christian. In fact, as true believers, we should be doing what our Bit says: ‘All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.   Selah.’ 

Now that’s how real Christians should behave. And the psalmist was even more specific and enthusiastic before our Bit.

He begins the psalm thus: ‘Make a joyful noise (shout joyfully) unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. Say unto God, How terrible (awesome) art thou in thy works! Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.’ (Ps.66:1-3) 

Yeh friends, that ought to be the everyday behaviour of the true and devout believer, not a sad and morose existence. Now listen to how Isaiah characterizes the day of the Lord.

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 

And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks (pruning knives): nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.’ (Is.2:2-4) 

What a blessed day that will be my people! And the scholars tell us: ‘The setting is the millennial age, when the nations of the world will come to the Holy City (Jerusalem) to learn the ways of God.

Christ Himself is pictured as the Judge who will direct the affairs of the nations during His millennial kingdom. Thus the weapons of war will be turned into tools of peace and economic productivity.’ 

Oh friends, how I look forward to that day; that day when war shall be no more! But why do we have to wait till then eh? We can start right now by pursuing peace, by spreading the good news of Jesus and living in LOVE with God and each other! 

So I implore us today, to begin turning our weapons of war, our negative sentiments into tools of peace, LOVE, joy and economic prosperity, for that is indeed wisdom at its zenith! Much LOVE!

…the motto of the true believer…make LOVE…not war…

P.S. Sorry friends, but I could not put the attachment in the Blog, so you will just have to rely on my description. (smile) Much LOVE!