Today’s Scrip-Bit   24 February 2024   Colossians 1:9b.  

24 Feb 2024 Leave a comment

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

Colossians 1:9b.       and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

 I don’t believe it, but it seems like it’s going to be another sunshiny spring-like day! Wow! So many spring-like days in a row in February…it’s too good to be true! But we better enjoy them while we have them, for who knows what might come next; ole man winter might just refresh himself and come howling back and cover us in the white stuff. Lord forbid, after all this nice weather. (smile) But that’s what climate change does; it just disrupts the finely tuned mechanism of the seasons that God set up. Leave it to man eh, always trying to disrupt God’s well balanced systems. 

Anyway, since we can only do our small part to help improve the situation, let’s turn to our great God Jehovah, the One who created it all, and still controls it from His magnificent throne in the high heavens, and offer up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer. With sincere hearts and voices: ‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’ 

That’s certainly a refreshing prayer my people! And it’s ever so appropriate for a lazy-day Saturday, after a hard and exhausting week’s work. It just soothes the senses and quiets the tumultuous soul, allowing us to relax and enjoy this day that the Lord has so graciously given us. And it reminds me of the kind of prayers Bruh Paul offered up for the churches he dealt with, like this one for the church at Colossae. 

Please read with me: ‘Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother. To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the LOVE which ye have to all the saints, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.’ (Col. 1:1-6) 

Oh friends, Bruh Paul was a real prayer master! While giving thanks for the church at Colossae, he was also delivering them a sermon about Christ and His gospel, that’s been spread all over the world; that’s the Word of God that is all-pervasive and absolutely true, and also has the awesome power to bring forth good fruit. In other words, when the gospel is embraced with true faith, it’s able to produce ‘godly character and noble conduct in its converts.’ Bruh Paul also encourages them re their faith and their LOVE for the saints of Christ. As the scholars explain: ‘’Evidence of a person’s faith in Christ Jesus is his LOVE … to all the saints.’ 

Then he continues: ‘As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you (on your behalf) a faithful minister of Christ; Who also declared (steups!!!) unto us your LOVE in the Spirit. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 

Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet (qualified us) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in (the) light. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated (transferred) us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:’ (Col. 1:7-14) End of today‘s sermon my brethren! (smile) And all of God’s people said a loud and grateful: ‘Thanks be to God, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!’ 

Oh friends, you don’t need to hear another word from me, because Bruh Paul said it almost all in that first part of his letter to the Colossians. The story seems to be that Bruh Paul’s associate, Epaphras evangelized the Colossians, which was then a small and not very important town, and he was telling them that they should certainly not forsake Epaphras’ efforts to teach them the truth of Christ’s gospel and retain the local heretic doctrine. Especially since the ‘LOVE in the Spirit,’ or the Holy Spirit had instilled and nurtured in them affection for others. 

But the heart of the message is verse 9, where Bruh Paul prays that they ‘might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual truth.’ And that’s the basis of all his prayers for the saints. He doesn’t ask for healing or health, neither wealth or any of the material things that so many of us are concerned with. He focuses on the spiritual aspect of their lives: that they might have knowledge of God’s will and spiritual understanding, so that they can walk worthy of him, while being fruitful and also increasing on the knowledge of God. Strengthened with His might, while learning patience and longsuffering and joyfulness, which obviously lead to giving thanks to the God who had taken them out of darkness of Satan’s world, into the wonderful light of His awesome Son Jesus Christ! 

Oh my fellow saints, that is indeed our sermon for today, for it also applies to each and everyone of God’s people! We need to have the same wisdom and knowledge that Bruh Paul prayed for the Colossians to have, so that we, in these troubled and uncertain times can also stand strong in God’s word, be fruitful in good works and thus live the abundant life Christ died for us to have! And in closing, I pray that Bruh Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, will be prayed by all of us, over all of us, so that we can make a sincere and serious difference in our troubled world! Much LOVE!

…pray without ceasing…be filled with the joy of the Lord…give thanks always…

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Today’s Scrip-Bit   28 August 2023 Romans 10:15.

28 Aug 2023 Leave a comment

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

Romans 10:15.       How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.

Hold on children…Yes, children of God…Please hold on securely to Jesus this Monday morning, as the evil one and his ungodly minions get their ammunition together in the workplace, to try and belittle you, to discount your witness and testimony for our Lord and Saviour! But remember our God faithfully promised that ‘No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of (from) me, saith the Lord.’ (Is. 54:17) 

Yes my fellow believers, that’s the promise of our faithful God, who’s stating that ‘anyone who is seeking to do evil against believers will fail. Though for a time it may seem that we are defeated in a situation, God assures us the victory.’  So please don’t let the loud mouths pushing Satan’s agenda, to discombobulate or confuse you with their foolishness. You have your own agenda to foster and promote, the Great Commission of Christ. And as the Bible says: ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.’ ( Rom. 10:15) 

Now, that’s what you’re about: beautiful feet spreading the good news and glad tidings of Christ’s gospel, and nothing in this world is more important than that!  And I like this commentary on that scripture. ‘Paul knows that the feet of the gospel preachers are beautiful because of the nature of the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ sets people free from sin, destruction and eternal judgment. When the truth of the gospel takes root in a person’s life they are given Spirit led freedom to overcome all vices of life.’ 

Wow! That’s why it’s so wonderful to spread the good news of Christ’s gospel! And that’s exactly why the devil doesn’t want us spreading it. He knows that once it gets into your system, your inner man, he’s lost the battle, and he can’t stand losing, it’s like a bitter pill in his mouth, especially after Christ Jesus won the victory over death, hell and the grave, took away the keys to those places and left him a toothless lion just running around with a loud bark, but no bite. 

So today, let’s wind up our faith, raise our confidence sky high with all the scriptures buried deep in our hearts, and unleash them against the enemy and his evildoing cronies, letting them know that they are in a serious spiritual battle and the children of God, the saints of the Most High God are not to be toyed with, or considered to be easy pickings. (smile) Especially not when we’re dressed in our immaculate and impenetrable suit of spiritual armour; the whole armour of God, that allows us to stand against the wiles (evil schemes) of the devil. 

No sir! We are indeed invincible when our loins are girded with the belt of truth, our chests protected by the breastplate of righteousness, and our feet shod with the preparation or eagerness of the gospel of peace, and our heads protected by the helmet of salvation. And armed to the teeth with the shield of faith in one hand to quench the fiery arrows of the evildoers, and in the other hand, the mighty two-edged sword of the Spirit, that’s the inerrant and infallible word of God! And as a lagniappe or extra, in our back pockets we have the awesome power of prayer to guide us with all perseverance and longsuffering! (Eph. 6:10-18) 

Now, how can anyone thus prepared for battle be defeated eh? No way Jose! Ah friends, that’s the way we need to go out every day, dressed to the nines with God’s armour, unleashing His amazing word, while filled with His Holy Spirit who leads and guides us in spiritual battle. And yes, it all sounds wonderful and heroic, but the truth is it takes plenty of practice, plenty of sacrifice, plenty humility, and plenty backbone and belly. Like everything we want to be good at, we have to spend a lot of time on it. 

Thus, to be good at spiritual battle means reading, studying and meditating on the word, knowing it, so you can put it into action. Then continually going up against Satan’s temptations and besting him nine times out of ten. And believe you me, when you tell the Lord that you want to be a warrior for Him, He is going to provide you with lots of opportunities to prove yourself. So it’s not an easy task to live and fight for Christ, but it’s very interesting and rewarding. And here are the basic credentials Christ set out for discipleship. ‘If any man will come after (follow) me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.’ (Luke 9:23) 

Yuh see that mih bredrin, following Jesus calls for daily involvement, daily participation in activities on His behalf; be it beating down the devil and his evil cronies, spreading the gospel, or simply being kind and offering an encouraging smile to someone in need. Once you’re a disciple of Christ you’re always on duty, 24/7! And we need to remember that as we go out to do battle today. 

Now let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, to ask for divine help to handle our many earthly problems. Altogether now: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. 

Heavenly Father, You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. Yes, we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. So, we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading for wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. 

Oh Father, please ease the pain of the many suffering from negative situations, show them Your awesome grace and mercy. And faithfully keep Your promise to prosper us if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

And as always, to receive divine intervention, we need to improve our covenant behaviour! Much LOVE!

…being a true disciple of Jesus…means putting your best foot forward…as often as possible… 

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