Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 April 2017 Jeremiah 29:13.

01 Apr 2017 Leave a comment

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

Jeremiah 29:13.   And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall seek me with all your heart.

And would you believe friends, that that rain I spoke about yesterday morning, fell all day, until early this morning. Good thing it didn’t come down in torrents, but mostly drizzles, otherwise there would have been much flooding. Thank the Lord for that! 

And though today is All Fool’s or April Fools Day, we won’t play any tricks or tell any falsehoods. (smile) But since it’s also Saturday, we’ll get right to some of our friend Anselm’s quotes this week, as he aspires to inspire us to have a better tomorrow. And this week he was still talking about ‘How to Motivate Yourself.’

And our first quote declares: ‘Take The Positivity Challenge! Learn to think more positively most of the time. Learn to let to go of negative threads of thought before they have a chance to take hold of you. You might not be able to be positive all the time no matter what happens. But I think most of us can improve on our positive thinking and the results it can lead us to. Perhaps more than you realize right now.’ 

No doubt about that my people! Too many of us nowadays focus on the negative rather than the positive. And even though you can’t be positive all the time, as Anselm states, the more positive you are, the more productive and joyful you’ll be. When the enemy comes at you with all the negative thoughts, just run him out. For remember the battle is fought in the mind, and as you think, so you become. 

The second quote advises us to ‘Remember your successes. And let them flow through your mind instead of your failures. Write down your successes. Consider using a journal of some kind since it’s easy to forget your successes.’ 

Now that just segues well with the scriptural advice that when God seems to be not answering your heartfelt pleas, to remember all the earlier times He did, and the good things He provided. It’s always better to remember successes, though you must also endeavour to learn from failures. The important thing is not to dwell too much on the latter. 

And this last quote is my favourite of the week. ‘Cut down on TV. Do you watch it too much? Watch less of what they are doing in TV-land and do more of what you want to do in life.’ 

Oh friends, there are too many of us who don’t know that what’s shown on T.V is a lot of make believe! Very little of what’s shown there is actually true. And we waste too much time watching the stuff, either foolishly believing it, or using it as an excuse or way to run from real life. 

And believe you me, if you are a fan of things like the foolish soaps and reality shows, that only feature rich people in strife and deceit all the time, then you will eventually gravitate to that kind of thinking and it will have a negative effect on your own life. So please choose carefully what you watch on the tube, because there is much more nonsense there than sense. Leave the TV alone, and go live your own life! (smile) 

And the best way to do that my people, is by seeking out our heavenly Father and letting Him lead and guide our lives, for He will never lead us astray. He will help us to do all the things we’ve just spoken about above. But we need to genuinely go looking for Him. As our Bit declares: ‘And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall seek me with all your heart.’ 

Yes friends, if we seek the Lord, we will find Him, but the most important, the truly operative words in that sentence are ‘with all your heart.’ You can’t just go seeking Him in a selfish manner, to simply accommodate your selfish wants and demands. You have to go with a genuine, humble heart, sincerely wanting to be in a right relationship with Him. 

And Jeremiah continues after our Bit. ‘And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away (bring you back from) your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.’ (Jer.29:14) 

And none of that has changed my brethren! We might not be talking about actual captivity now, but metaphorical captivity by the enemy. When the enemy has our thoughts and actions under his evil, negative spell, the ONLY WAY to escape is by turning to God and seeking Him with a sincere heart. 

Listen to Bruh David’s command to Cousin Sol when he turned over the building of the Lord’s temple to him. ‘Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord.’ (1 Chr.22:19) 

Now that was wise and godly advice on Bruh David’s part, for if Cousin Sol wasn’t in wonderful relationship with the Lord, the temple would either not have been built, or would not have been so magnificent. It’s the close relationship with the Lord that gave Cousin Sol the wherewithal, both of materials and wisdom to put up such a beautiful sanctuary to Him. 

Likewise my people, it’s our close relationship with the Lord that both inspires us, and helps us to do His work in an excellent manner. So whatever is troubling us today, please let’s be wise and seek our heavenly Father in humility and sincerity nuh, but also with a confidence that He will hear us and help to alleviate our problems. That’s the wisdom and power of Christ’s gospel! Much LOVE!

…sincerely and diligently seek…and you shall find…

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 13 August 2016 Psalm 66:16.

13 Aug 2016 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 66:16.    Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.

Well friends, it’s Saturday…and at last we received a decent shower of rain, which the dry and thirsty land lapped up like there was no tomorrow. And who knows if there will a tomorrow, the way the world is currently going? 

But one thing is sure and certain…or rather two things are certain; God is on His throne in heaven letting His awesome plan for the world play out until Jesus is ready to come back again. And return He will because He promised it! 

So with the Father running things, Jesus waiting in the wings to ride the clouds in heavenly splendour when the trump blows, and the Holy Spirit indwelling each and every believer, there’s nothing really for Christians to fear in these rather tempestuous times. So please, let us stand strong in our faith and do our duty as prescribed by Christ. 

In the meanwhile, listen to this quote from our friend Anselm, who always aspires to inspire us with his wise words. And it declares: ‘If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.’ 

More words of wisdom and truth friends; based on the psychological premise that generally speaking, you become whom or what you think about. That means our thoughts play an extremely important function in our lives; if we think negatively we’ll be overtaken by a lot of negative stuff. However, a positive, faith filled mind can work wonders in our everyday lives. 

And you couldn’t have a more positive thinker than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Now please don’t confuse His words, His teachings, which are very positive, with His unfortunate, negative demise. He came to earth to be our holy, sinless sacrifice, so the negativity that He encountered was not a result of negative thinking, but of the Father’s awesome plan to redeem us from sin. 

Now let’s turn to our Bit. ‘Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.’ And believe me friends, our wonderful God has done lots of things for our souls; some we appreciate, some we take for granted, but the Lord in His faithfulness is still doing stuff for us. 

And today we’ll look at the story, the testimony of how God took care of the soul of a man who truly reverenced Jehovah God. We’re talking about Bruh Joseph. We know how his father Jacob favoured him over his older brothers, gave him a coat of many colours, and how the brothers disliked him, especially after he told them his dream about them bowing down before him. (Gen.37.5-11) 

We also know how they hatched a plot of get rid of him, selling him into slavery, then telling their father Jacob that his favourite son had been killed by a wild animal. But little did they know the ultimate plan of God, how their deceit and lies would play a big part later on in their lives. Now when Bruh Joseph was brought to Egypt, he was sold to one Potiphar, an officer in Pharaoh’s guards. 

And the Good Book tells us: ‘And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous (successful) man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand (to be successful). And Joseph found grace (favour) in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand (care). 

And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand (care); and he knew not aught (anything) he had, save (except) the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person (handsome in form and appearance) and well-favoured’ (Gen.39:2-6) 

But sadly, that same handsomeness was his downfall. The master’s wife took a liking to Him, and when he refused her advances she cried rape. Poor Potiphar had no recourse but to throw him in prison. But there again ‘the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy (LOVING-kindness), and gave him and gave him favour (caused him to be viewed with favour) in the sight of the keeper of the prisoner.’ (Gen.39:21) 

Soon thereafter Bruh Joseph was running the prison and the prison keeper had no worries because the Lord caused everything that Bruh Joseph touched to prosper.  And in the Lord’s mysterious working, Pharaoh threw his baker and butler in to Bruh Joseph’s prison, and while there he interpreted dreams for them. The baker was beheaded and the butler returned to his former position. 

But as often happens the butler forgot the promise he made to Bruh Joseph to help get him out of jail, until two years later when Pharaoh dreamed a dream that none of his magicians could decipher. Then the butler remembered Bruh Joseph and Pharaoh sent for him. And the rest is history. He interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and was made Prime Minister of the country, second in power only to Pharaoh himself. 

And the purpose of all Bruh Joseph’s troubles? To strengthen him and prepare him for that role, and to place him in a position to help the same family of brothers who had sold him into slavery, in a time of terrible famine. Please note friends, that all during Bruh Joseph’s trials and tribulations he never behaved disreputably and stayed totally in faith. 

Obviously it would not have been easy for a teenager in a foreign land as a slave, but because of his faithfulness the Lord caused others to show him favour. It took him something like thirteen years to reach the pinnacle that Lord had made for him. 

And I want to end with these immortal words he spoke when he finally accosted his family. ‘But as for you, ye thought (intended) evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people.’ (Gen.50:20) 

Yes my people, many times we find ourselves in undeserved situations and can’t figure out why. But the secret to success in those situations is to simply stay in faith, for we know not what the Lord’s plans are. It might not be easy to do so, but it would surely be the wisest course of action. Much LOVE!

…when troubles come…faith must be strengthened to overcome them…