The Overwhelming Importance of Christians Learning to Stay Close to God with Sincere Hearts for Their Own Benefit!

31 Oct 2026 Leave a comment

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit   31 October 2026   2 Chronicles 16:9a.

2 Chronicles 16:9a.       For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

Well what do you know? It’s another sunshiny autumn day on this lazy-day Saturday, the last day of October. Yes, October’s done like dinner! Can you imagine it? We not too long ago celebrated our Thanksgiving weekend, and by the time you turn around the month’s done. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles these days my brethren, you just have to ensure that you use every day to the fullest, beginning each with sincere communion with our heavenly Father. So let’s do that right now nuh, by offering up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer, in all sincerity and truth.

As one strong voice: ‘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!’

And in these trying and troubled times, do we ever need to get closer to God and know Him so much more, that we can properly handle the many situations that are coming against us. Remember God desires to be in everything that pertains to us, and since He’s the most powerful person in the universe, it only makes sense to be in tight with Him. But unfortunately that doesn’t come about by simply mouthing insincere prayers and only coming to Him when you’re in trouble. No! It takes sincerity and right motives, plus a regular communication with God for Him to be sensitive to our prayers.

And some of you might be tired hearing this particular scripture, but it’s the basis of our sincere communion with Almighty God. He firmly states through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto (listen to) you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye search for me with all your heart.’ (Jer. 29:12-13) That says it quite clearly my people; we have to seek God, and do so with a sincere heart, else we won’t find Him.

It’s like when the arrogant Pharisee lawyer, asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment. He replied without hesitation: ‘Thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.’ (Matt. 22:37-38)  Yes friends, LOVING our God with all that we have is the first requirement of Christianity! And remember that’s one of the reasons why the Lord created us human beings in the first place; so that He could have a reciprocal LOVE relationship with us. But sadly, we have strayed far from Him, while He has remained faithful.

However, it’s never too late to turn back to Him, for once His breath of life is still flowing through our bodies, He will hear our sincere cry and come to us, for although we are far from Him, He’s always near to us, looking out for us, even though we don’t pay Him any attention. As Cousin Sol so wisely states in Proverbs: ‘The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.’ (Prov. 15:3) Of course! Whatever is done in God’s universe, be it good or bad, He sees it and takes note of it for further use.

Meanwhile in Job, his friend Elihu asserts: ‘For his (God’s) eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.’ (Job 34:21-22) And if you still don’t believe that Lord is everywhere and sees everything, then listen as the seer Hanani, informs King Asa of Judah of his mistake by getting in league with Syria to help him fight against the northern kingdom of Israel. ‘For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him (at peace with, or loyal to Him). Herein thou hast done foolishly; therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.’ (2 Chr. 16:9)

Hopefully those scriptures will convince us that God is always on guard, looking to see what’s happening in His universe. And nobody says it as good as Bruh David in Psalm 139. ‘Whither shall (can) I go from thy spirit? or whither shall (can) I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee (it is not dark to thee); but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.’ (Ps. 139:7-12)

In other words, there’s nowhere we can go to hide from the Lord, or nothing we can do that He doesn’t know about, because He keeps close tabs on His universe. Therefore, the wise thing for us to do is seek Him sincerely with all of our hearts, souls, bodies and minds, and then cling tenaciously to Him, after we’ve made contact, (smile) for He’s the ruler of the universe, and as He directs, so everything goes. Remember too, that his ways and thoughts are much higher than ours, (Is, 55:9) So there will be lots of stuff happening in and around, and with us, that we won’t understand, but through strong faith we will trust Him to do what’s best for us and work everything out eventually for our good. (Rom. 8:28)

And on this beautiful lazy-day autumn Saturday, it will do us good to spend some time pondering our association with Almighty God, and considering how we can get closer to Him, for there’s always room to do that! Much LOVE!

…you might run from God…but you certainly can’t hide from him…

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

The Overwhelming Importance of Christians Living the Way God Desires, if They want to be Truly Blessed!

17 Oct 2026 Leave a comment

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit   17 October 2026   Proverbs 3:5.

Proverbs 3:5.        Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

And then it was our lazy-day Saturday; bright and sunshiny though somewhat cool, with even an advisory of frost later in the evening. But we’ll take the sunshine anyway it comes. And after enjoying some lazy day time in bed, I got up a short while ago and looked out my bedroom window only to be greeted by a most wonderful scene; the tall tree in my neighbour’s backyard looks like a flame of fire rising up to the sky, with all its red, gold, green and yellow leaves dancing in the soft breeze, reflecting the essence of our God’s marvellous artistic talent!

It’s the same tree that did not lose all it’s leaves last winter, And strangely enough,  no other tree in the neighbourhood looks as bright and flaming as that one, so it must be blessed with God’s favour more than some of the others. (smile) Anyway, now that I’ve enjoyed my lazy time, let’s get down to the Lord’s business, and we’ll begin by offering up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer in all sincerity and truth.

So, as one strong voice: ‘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!’

And we know that if we sought God with a sincere heart, He was well-pleased at our wanting to have greater intimacy with Him, because there’s nothing He desires and likes more than deep intimacy with His human creation. Like our earthly fathers are thrilled when their children come to them with a sincere heart for some intimate time, likewise our heavenly Father is thrilled when we come to Him, not wanting anything but to spend some quiet and intimate time in His awesome presence.

And once He’s assured that our motives are sincere, He will release that wonderful peace and calm that only He possesses, and only His sincere children can enjoy, although they don’t fully understand it. That’s the beauty of living for God and seeking Him with a true heart! He offers us blessings that we don’t understand but can still enjoy because of our total surrender to Him and our trusting faith in His goodness and mercy.

As Cousin Sol so wisely says in these wonderful verses of Proverbs: ‘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) thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear (reverence) the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel (body), and marrow (strength) to thy bones.

Honour the Lord with thy substance (possessions), and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses (vats) shall burst out with new wine. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of (detest) his correction: For whom the Lord LOVETH, he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he deilghteth.’ (Prov. 3:5-12)

Oh my people, if you desire a short and wise way to truly serve God, I believe those verses serve the purpose. Because they encompass all that’s necessary: meaning trusting God and His will for your life; not being proud and arrogant, but living in reverential awe of the Lord, and doing your best to stay away from evil, while honouring God with your possessions by being generous to the church and its outreach, as well as any others you can help. All of that causes the Lord to keep your life blessed and highly favoured.

And there’s one other important thing, don’t get snotty when the Lord corrects or chastens you, because just like our earthly father’s correct and chasten the children they LOVE, so does our heavenly Father correct and chasten those whom He LOVES. Yes my faithful brethren, those are the basic things it takes to live a good Chrisitan life, and if we faithfully follow them then our lives will be blessed and run fairly smooth. Now that doesn’t mean there will be no trials and tribulations, and tests of our faith by the Lord, but we will have the wherewithal to know and at least understand some of what’s happening, and thereby retain a good attitude in those difficult times.

It’s like the scholars explain the first couple of verses: ‘Three commands are given: trust, meaning “rely on, depend on”; lean not, meaning do not depend on your own native instincts; and acknowledge him, meaning have fellowship and intimacy with God in all of life. The result of such devotion is that God will make the paths straight before you.’ And per the last two verses, they simply say; ‘God’s correction shows His LOVE (cf. Heb. 12:5-6).’

And if you don’t know the verses referenced there, then here they are. ‘And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as children (sons), My son, despise not thou the chastening (discipline) of the Lord, nor faint (be discouraged) when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord LOVETH he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (Heb. 12:5-6) Now that just reinforces what Cousin Sol says about the Lord disciplining those He LOVES.

And yuh know what mih bredrin; today, this sunshiny, lazy-day autumn Saturday in the middle of October, is an excellent day to spend some time pondering those wise and valuable words of Cousin Sol and seeing just how we match up to them in our own lives, then asking the Lord for His wonderful help to do better, because we can always do better! And in these very trying and troubled times, we all definitely need to do better! Much LOVE!

…living sincerely for God…is the only wise way…to handle the stress and strain of today’s world…

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

The Overwhelming Importance of Understanding that the Sooner One Cries Out to God for Help, the Better!

11 Aug 2026 Leave a comment

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit   11 August 2026   Psalm 38:22.

Psalm 38:22.        Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.

Ah friends, we’re on a somewhat late bus this loverly Tuesday morning, because I’ve been forced to spend time on the phone with representatives of my phone and internet company, the mighty Bell Network, trying to fix a relatively simple problem.  It’s been three days now since the problem arose and the Duchess began talking to them. And she is still talking to them. She is indeed a better woman than me, for I interacted with them twice and lost my cool each time. That’s why I don’t deal with those kinds of problems, but I got involved because the service is in my name. But the good part of it all, is that though I can get angry when faced with unnecessary bureaucracy, my anger doesn’t last for long. Praise the Lord! (smile)

And today we’ll check out a rather interesting and relevant poem from our One Year Book of Bible Promises with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin, titled ‘The End of the Rope.’ As always, I don’t know if I’ve shared it before, but it’s certainly worth sharing again, especially in these trying and troubled times. So please read with me. ‘O dear God I feel as though I’m clinging To a rough, swinging rope. Beneath me there is only emptiness. My hands are bruised and bleeding. There is no possible way For me to tie a knot At the end of the rope And hang on. O God, please help me. (And God’s response is:) Frightened child Just let go. I’ll catch you.’

Oh my people, isn’t that the living truth? It certainly is, for whenever we’ve reached the end of our rope, the Lord is always there to catch us! And He allows us to get there because then we realize that there’s no other place to turn than to Him. We either fall into the bottomless abyss or turn to God and desperately cling to Him. It’s a lesson than many of us today need to learn, for we are fighting the idea of turning to God, trying to do our own thing without very much success, and it’s only when we cannot do anymore in our own strength that we finally turn to Him.

But that’s not a very wise way to live my brethren. We ought to turn to God as soon as possible, so that we don’t ever feel like we’re swinging from a rope, with bruised and bleeding hands, staring at only emptiness below us. And then we end up doing like the Bible verses for our poem, crying out: ‘Do not abandon me, O Lord. do not stand at a distance, my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my saviour.’ (Ps. 38:21-22) That’s the New Living translation. Here’s how the King James version says it as Bruh David writes about sins being a heavy burden. ‘Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.’

Anyway we say it though, it’s still a cry for help from the Only One who can help us when things get real bad and it looks like we’re sinking into the mire of death and despair. And Bruh David for one is not afraid or too proud to call on the Lord for help in his tough situations, as He does again in Psalm 22 – a Plea for God’s Presence – where he cries out: ‘But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.’ (Ps. 22:19) And we all know that Lord helped him numerous times as he went through a lot of trials and tribulations, but many of us are too proud to ask or cry out for help.

And thus foolish pride eventually has us swinging from the end of a rope, headed nowhere but down to destruction. Let’s remember too that pride is possibly the sin that the Lord dislikes most, because it tells Him that we don’t need Him, and according to Cousin Sol, is listed among the seven things that are an abomination to God. (Prov. 6:16-19) Consequently, that’s why our world is also in such a chaotic state, for foolish pride is rampant all over it. And you only have to look at the leaders of today’s nations to see how pride is causing more disaster than anything else, because they all feel they know best, are greedy, power hungry and egotistic, and most have no use or time for God.

And the few who spout some sort of godly rhetoric are mainly paying lip service, because their actions show no godly intent or purpose whatsoever. No wonder the Lord apparently refuses to intervene in our troubles, allowing us the freedom that we so greatly desire to do it ourselves, and create the chaos that’s currently enveloping our world. The big picture of our world certainly looks like many of us dangling from that proverbial swinging rope, hands bruised and bleeding, with only emptiness below us. But our foolish pride still prevents us from crying out for help to the Only One who can help us in that disastrous situation; Almighty God.

That’s why Cousin Sol wrote so much about the benefits of wisdom in Proverbs. ‘Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.’ (Prov. 4:7) Wisdom; the knowledge of something, and understanding; knowing how to use that knowledge properly are the foundation of a successful life. And the great importance of wisdom and understanding is shown earlier on in Proverbs, where Cousin Sol declares: ‘The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens.’ (Prov. 3:19)

That means, if our great God used wisdom and understanding to create the universe, then we ought also to be very much interested in them and use them constantly in our lives. Unfortunately though, Satan has blinded the eyes of our hearts to the truth, and thus we keep on falling into nothingness. But for those of us who know the truth, let’s go home declaring our Tuesday Mantra, letting all and sundry know to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. As one strong and sincere voice: ‘In God’s eyes, 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 my immediate neighbours, as well as with the whole wide world! Glory be!’ 

That then makes us duty bound to go out and share the amazing LOVE and friendship of Christ with others, so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do! Much LOVE!

…don’t wait until you’re at end of your rope…to cry out to God for help…

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