Today’s Scrip-Bit 22 August 2016 Proverbs 18:21.

22 Aug 2016 Leave a comment

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

Proverbs 18:21.     Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that LOVE it shall eat the fruit thereof.

And then it was Monday…with all the wake up devices going off around the world, and millions of people rolling over, muttering curses, steups’, chuhs, etc. in disgruntlement and frustration at the signal to get up and get ready for work! 

What a sad state of affairs it is for the majority of the world’s population on a Monday morning; thinking about how lousy they feel, the traffic jams they will undoubtedly encounter, the nasty weather out there, the bosses and co-workers they have to put up with for another week, etc. etc.  

Meanwhile, a handful of smart, peaceful, relaxed and refreshed individuals roll over, are excited to greet the new day, and simply declare: ‘TGIM! Thank God it’s Monday! Time to return to work and do my thing! Thank God for Mondays!’ 

For whatever reason that group doesn’t allow the many negatives to disturb them. Oh, I would like to say that they are a bunch of Christians, but I know that’s taking it a bit too far. (smile) But friends, until and unless we change our work systems, or utilize the weekends properly, preparing wisely for Monday, there’ll always be a lot of angst, anger, frustration and other negative reactions to getting up and going to work. 

And the strange part is that the rest of the week doesn’t bring about such a rash of anger and disgruntlement as does Monday. Anyway, we working on it, and will eventually bring it down to a minority, but until then, let’s continue to sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn to raise our spirits and encourage us to be up and about the Lord’s business. So let’s belt it out with as much enthusiasm as we can muster, remembering that our choirmaster, Jesus, expects us to put on a good show. 

As one 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 people, that wasn’t too bad, but just barely average. Jesus wasn’t thrilled, but neither was He terribly displeased, in His wonderful way of understanding our foibles and frailties. Now let’s keep that adrenaline fuelling our motors as we go out to meet the enemy in battle, paying close attention to the very important words of our Bit. ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that LOVE it shall eat the fruit thereof.’ 

Oh my brethren, my brethren, those are words of such importance in a Christian’s life that we ignore them at our very peril! Remember what Jesus said yesterday? That we will all have to account for our words come the judgement day, and that we’ll either be justified or condemned by them. (Matt.12:36-37)  

So please, I implore us to be very careful with our words. Let’s stop and think before we speak. James puts it thus: ‘Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh not (does not produce) the righteousness of God.’ (James 1:19-20) So true my friends. 

And the scholars expand on those two verses. ‘1:19. This is a key verse because it expresses three topics that James develops later: hearing, verses 19-27; speaking, 3:1-12; and wrath, 4:1-12.’ 

‘1:20. Trials require silence and patience because talk inflames anger, and anger inflames talk. Anger also distracts from listening to God.’ And not listening to God is something we surely don’t want to be guilty of as believers! 

Now let’s listen to Cousin Sol from his contrasts of the wise and the foolish. ‘He that speaketh truth showeth forth (declares) righteousness: but a false witness deceit. There is that (one who) speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is (promotes) health’ (Prov.12:17-18) More words of absolute truth friends! 

And the scholars tell us. ‘12:18. Words have the power to penetrate where no sword can touch; for good or for evil. A wise man uses his tongue for constructive purposes.’  

Now the first sentence of the scholars’ explanation is ever so true! Words can hurt and cut us to pieces more than any sword can. However, the last sentence is unfortunately not true of our current society, for nowadays we don’t use words constructively; we don’t care what we say or to whom we say them, we wield them more like a sword, intentionally out to hurt others. 

We don’t seem to consider the feelings of others in this age of technology and mass communication. And I believe those supposed areas of progress bear a lot of the blame for that negative behaviour, since we didn’t talk as much or at such length before they allowed us to do so. 

And we’ll end there for today. But please, please my people, let’s take time to stop and think before we talk, because the words we speak here on earth, will definitely play a big part come the judgement day in heaven. Much LOVE!

…a word to the wise is sufficient…and Christians are supposed to be wise…

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 3 August 2015 Ecclesiastes 5:7

03 Aug 2015 Leave a comment

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

Ecclesiastes 5:7.   For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities (futility abounds): but fear thou God.

Well Friends, the Caribana weekend is wrapping up today. Sadly though, it seems to be on a wet and watery note. Yesterday evening around six o’clock a powerful thunder storm hit the area, unleashing a fair amount of rain. It caught me on the highway, and the rain fell so hard that it sounded like pellets hitting the car. Eventually I had to turn up the music to hear it over the sound of the pelting rain. (smile)

And it’s still wet out there, don’t know if it will last all day though. I’m sure a lot of Caribana festivities suffered because of it, and more will suffer today if the weather continues on the negative side.

But look at it this way, here in the Province of Ontario many of us don’t have to go to work today, because it’s a local, civic holiday. Interestingly enough, different regions around the province call it by different names. So we can just curl up in bed with a good book or just go back to sleep if the weather stays foul. (smile)

However, many of our fellow believers around the country and the world have to get up and face the Monday morning music; getting out on the traffic clogged roads, regardless of the weather, and fighting their way to work. Ah Lord eh! You’d think that by now with all our brilliance and technological advancement we’d have designed a better system for getting to and from work.

Unfortunately traffic jams are still a way of life in most countries, and the developing ones are getting just as bad, for as the standard of life goes up, so do the number of polluting vehicles on the sub-standard roads. Billions of dollars are lost in productivity every year because of this unsightly and very inefficient way of getting to and from work.

But until some bright light comes along and improves it, we just have to grin and bear it and leave home a couple hours earlier than necessary to get to work on time. Steups! Anyway, to help those folks who have to get out to labour today, let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle hymn with great gusto and plenty confidence nuh.

As one 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 wasn’t bad at all Friends. Hn! But I notice that every time we have a Monday where one group has a holiday and the others don’t , it’s always those with the holiday that sing the loudest, with the most gusto and verve! Can it be they are more enthused because they don’t have to go out and labour? Now that’s a very observant observation! (smile)

That brings us to our Bit, an interesting statement from Cousin Sol as the Preacher. ‘For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities (futility abounds): but fear thou God.’  Ah mih people, both statements there are indisputably true! In this chapter of Ecclesiastes the Preacher is cautioning us against hasty vows.

Earlier on, he wisely advises: ‘Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business (effort or activity); and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.’ (Eccl.5:2-3)

Gospel truth Friends, gospel truth! When we get so busy with life we dream up all sorts of stuff, and oftimes talk too much, especially in this modern-day talkative society, where talk shows abound and social media is running rampant 24/7.

And Cousin Sol further cautions us; this time re vows in particular with God. ‘When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer (delay) not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than thou shouldest vow and not pay.’ (Eccl.5:4-5)

Oh my brethren, I am sure that resounds with all of us, because at some time in our lives, in the heat of trials, tribulations or temptations, we have cried out to God: ‘O God, if you will only get me out of this situation, then I will do such and such!’ We make grand promises, many of which we are not able to keep in our own strength, and promptly forget about them anyway, when the Lord bails us out. But that is not the way to get into God’s good graces my people. As the Preacher advises, it would be better if we didn’t make any promises at all.

Now that whole thing about promises and vows is again a sad matter in our current society. Vows and promises no longer mean what they used to even thirty years ago. We make them now fully intending not to keep them. But you know what Friends? Broken promises usually turn right around and bite us when we least expect them.

Like a boomerang they come back to haunt us, and then we get all peeved, disappointed and angry at the perpetrators, conveniently forgetting the vows that we had insincerely made, and/or inconsiderately broken.

So Friends, it’s all up to us. We can bring less pain and disappointment on ourselves by thinking a little more before we talk, and not making promises that we can’t or don’t intend to pay, for our words are powerful and can create good or bad situations, which can greatly affect us. Much LOVE!

…for by thy words…thou shalt be justified…and by thy words…thou shalt be condemned…  (Matt.12:37)

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 19 May 2015 2 Chronicles 7:14‏

19 May 2015 Leave a comment

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

2 Chronicles 7:14.   If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn away from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Aye Friends, please blame the lateness of this Tuesday morning Bit at the feet of Queen Victoria, as I was up till late last night, early this morning, celebrating her day. (smile) But not to worry, it was celebration of the good kind.
 
And then, before I went to bed, I obviously had to spend some time sitting out on my front porch enjoying the peace and quiet of the morning, communing with nature and my most wonderful God.
 
Oh my people, you wouldn’t understand how peaceful and quiet it is in my neck of the woods at that time! I sit out there and just let the gentle breezes blow over me, as they rustle the leaves of the trees, and the night insects sing their songs of praise to their Creator, with the sounds of the highway acting as background noise in the distance.
 
Such a feeling of peace washes over me, that this morning I had to force myself to get up and go to bed, the atmosphere was so amenable to sitting out there for much longer. (smile)
 
Ah Friends, what’s the point of God giving us these natural amenities for rejuvenating our spirits, if we don’t make use of them eh? None whatsoever!
 
Anyway, here’s an interesting piece of advice from my Friend Anselm, as he attempts to inspire us for a better tomorrow. He says: ‘Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is more beautiful than silence.’
 
What a wonderful bit of advice that is my brethren! It brings to mind the saying that ‘silence is golden.’ And it surely is, especially when what we’re planning to say is just going to provoke strife and negativity.
 
Oh, the many negative actions we can avoid if we’ll only think before we talk! But that seems to be one of our big downfalls, especially in this age of quick communication and social media.
 
Instead of cutting back on our talking, we seem to be talking even more than usual, and consequently talking more nonsense than usual too. The amount of confusion this social media is causing it’s not funny, yet we still insist on using it irresponsibly.
 
Ah mih people, until we put the words of our Bit into serious action, we’ll never become a responsible society. ‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn away from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’ 
 
As we said yesterday, there are four areas we need to deal with if we are called by God’s name, and we are, as Christians. The first is to humble ourselves before Almighty God, then pray to Him, sincerely seeking His face, while turning away from our evil ways.
 
Oh Friends, it’s right there in black and white! And it’s not rocket science either. But the evil is so ingrained in our nature, and the lust of the flesh and our LOVE for the things of the world are so great that we don’t seem to want to turn back to God, or we find it difficult to do so.
 
But Friends, please be assured of one thing; if we truly want to seek God, we’ll find Him, because the Lord will certainly enable us to do it. The problem is that when He scans our hearts, He discovers that our motives and desires are wrong, they do not mesh with His will and desire, so He ignores our insincere pleas.
 
Now I had planned to share some scriptures that deal with the four areas in which we need to come up higher, so that God can hear us and heal our individual hurts, as well as our ungodly society. But before we can do that, we need to refresh our memories that we are indeed God’s people, called by His name.
 
Yesterday we saw one example of that through Moses laying out the blessings of obedience to the Israelites. Now listen to Isaiah’s declaration to the children of Israel, as he details to them the gospel truth that God is the only redeemer of mankind.
 
‘But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
 
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon (scorch) thee.
 
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee (in thy place). Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable (honoured), and I have LOVED thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.’ (Is.43:1-4)
 
Yes my brethren, the bunch of modern day people called Christians, belong to the Lord! We are called by His name, He has saved and redeemed us through the sacrificing of His Son Jesus Christ!
 
That means we have a responsibility, a serious duty to behave and act according to His desires and commands. But obviously we’re not doing that on a wide or strong enough scale, which results in our even more sinful nature and the disastrous state of our world.
 
Ah Friends, we are God’s chosen people, let’s behave like it nuh, and not like Lucifer’s evil cohorts. Our bounden duty is to behave godly, and spread Christ’s gospel, so that the heathen, the unbeliever, will have a chance to turn to God, to accept His free gift of grace that leads to salvation and eternal life.
 
Now, if we, God’s people, called by His name, don’t do it, then please tell me who will eh?
 
And we’ll end with that trillion dollar question. Friends, please, let’s seriously and sincerely ponder it today nuh, and with God’s help, come to the right conclusion. Much LOVE!
 
…Christians are meant to be Christ-like…the salt of the earth…and the light of the world…a beacon to guide others to a wonderful relationship with Christ…
 
 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 23 June 2011 Psalm 141:3

23 Jun 2012 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Inspirational Living Tags: , , , , ,

Psalm 141:3.    Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
 
Oh Friends, it’s another new day, another day of life with which we’ve been gifted! Arise and greet the brilliant sunshine of a new morn, the brilliant daystar that’s the embodiment of Jesus rising steadily and powerfully above the horizon! It’s time to get up and get your daily manna, your daily blessings provided from heaven! Let’s not do like the Israelites of old and be ungrateful. Let’s appreciate all that God’s gifted us with; the good, the bad and the indifferent, because that’s the appreciative attitude He wants all His children to possess, but more importantly, to also manifest, show it to the world at large. Unfortunately many believers don’t have it, and thus don’t manifest it. We complain about any and everything, most of them rather petty and unimportant. Now that’s definitely to our detriment, for we can’t have complaining, cursing tongues and yet walk in true step with Almighty God. That’s just not possible. And it’s why Bruh David, in his prayer for help in trouble, wrote the words of our Bit. ‘Set a watch (guard), O Lord, before my mouth; keep (watch over) the door of my lips.’ And my people, do we ever need the Lord to do that in our angry, resentful, complaining, talk too much society! Yesterday we heard James’ discourse on the evil state of the tongue; a veritable poison and all that. Those are words of awful truth Friends! And it’s a bad trend, that we, as believers, HAVE TO CURB, if we want to enjoy the fullness of God’s goodness. And here I’ll like to make a confession. Yesterday morning, mere hours after writing the Bit and admonishing us to bridle our tongues, I was on my way home, stopped at a traffic light, intending to turn left. But for reasons known only to the people who regulate them, this light has an early green going east, but none going west. To make matters worse, they have another light down the street on green at the same time as mine, so trying to turn left on a busy morning is painstaking. You either quickly squeeze through when there’s a short break in the traffic or wait until the light turns red and go through then because it’s usually bumper to bumper traffic. Anyway, there I was sitting at the light behind this older van, and several times I thought the driver could have safely made the turn between the oncoming traffic, but he refused to do so. He waited till every car had passed before turning. Luckily the light was still green. Sadly though, my impatience got the better of me and I used some rather inappropriate language at another human made in God’s image. Not so that he could hear, but out loud to myself. And as you’d expect, as soon as the words left my lips, the Lord draped me up on them. ‘Weren’t you the one just telling others to guard their tongues? And you want to be a teacher of My Word, when you can’t guard your own tongue?’ Oh Friends, I was caught red-handed and had to repent and ask His forgiveness right then and there. That’s exactly what James was warning the teachers about in our scripture passage yesterday. Now over the last few years of writing the Bit, I’ve noticed that as soon as, or shortly after I use certain words, or teach certain principles, the Lord always provides some exercise or situation to test me on them. Most of the time I pass them, but obviously I failed the test yesterday morning. But He knows that in my heart I am sincerely trying to improve, I’m just a slow learner. (smile) However my brethren, the problem is that before we can control our tongues, we need to control our thoughts, and therefore our minds, because that’s where it all begins. The words of our mouths flow from the thoughts in our minds. So the first thing we need to do is discipline our minds to provide proper, godly thoughts, and not negative, ungodly ones, which then lead to a spewing forth of negative, ungodly words. That’s why Cousin Sol cautions us so wisely in Proverbs: ‘He that keepeth (guards) his mouth keepeth (preserves) his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.’  (Prov.13:3)  Or as the scholars explain: ‘The reward of cautious speech is fuller life and the avoidance of unnecessary trouble.’ And isn’t that the gospel truth mih people! Cousin Sol also imparts this bit of wisdom re the tongue. ‘Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from troubles.’ (Prov.21:23)  However Friends, before we can successfully do those things, we have to make a conscious decision to discipline our thoughts, then take time to think about what we’re going to say before saying it. Like so much else in a believer’s life, it’s a question of hope and faith backed by practice, patience and perseverance. But unless we consciously choose to control our thoughts, minds and tongues and practice doing so with patience and steadfastness, our mouths will always get us and our souls in trouble. Unfortunately some of us are so passionate about what we believe in, we simply blurt out what comes to mind without consciously and seriously thinking it through. Sadly that’s my Achilles heel and I readily acknowledge it. But don’t worry Friends, if I can improve, with God’s help of course, and I’m still improving, any body can. As Sister Joyce (Joyce Meyer) likes to say, I haven’t reached where I’m going yet, but I’ve sure come a long way from where I was. And all God’s people said a loud ‘Amen!’ because it applies to all of us in some form and fashion. So Friends, please take strength and courage from my lapse, but please, please, let’s all try and model our thoughts and therefore our words after Jesus, as best as we can, with His help. We’ll never be perfect like Him, but we must strive for excellence in all matters. More tomorrow on this, if we’re still alive and kicking. I never intended to have a testimony on it today. (smile) Much LOVE!…a mind that thinks right and godly thoughts…will cause a mouth to speak right and godly words…