Today’s Scrip-Bit   15 December 2021 John 15:5b.

15 Dec 2021 Leave a comment

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

John 15:5b.     … for without me ye can do nothing.

Well, a pleasant good morning to you, my beautiful Scrip-Bit friends and family! It’s a pleasure to come to you and see a smile on your faces and feel the joy emanating from your hearts. For that’s what belief in Christ Jesus does! It doesn’t matter whether life is rough or smooth, Christians usually have a joyful spirit because they’ve learned to be contented in whatever situation they happen to find themselves. 

Bruh Paul spelt it out thus in his missive to the church at Philippi. ‘Not that I speak in respect of want (in regard of need): for I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased (live humbly), and I know how to abound (live in prosperity): every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need.’ (Phil. 4:11-12) 

Ah my fellow saints, that’s not an easy situation to conquer, because you can’t go to school to learn it, it can only be learned in the school of life, the school of hard knocks. And only one person can help you to do that: Jesus Christ! Bruh Paul declares it by saying: ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.’ (Phil. 4:13) And that’s the gospel truth friends! It’s only with the divine help of Christ that we can ever learn to be contented in whatever situation we find ourselves. 

As Jesus said so emphatically Himself. ‘Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.’ (John 15:5) 

Wow mih people! Jesus laid it on the line right there! Without Him, our capabilities are severely limited. And aren’t we seeing the truth of that statement throughout our crazy and ungodly world right now? We certainly are! Without Christ playing the major part in our lives, we cannot seem to solve even the smallest problem, much less be content in our current situations. 

And I believe what our disunited and strife fille world needs to realize right now, if we want to make our world better, is the truth of these words Bruh Paul wrote in his second letter to the church at Corinth, where he emphatically states: ‘Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.’ (2 Cor. 3:5) 

Yes my brethren, until our world learns to accept that indisputable fact, including all the atheists, the heathen, the unbelievers, and whatever have you, our world will keep plummeting to the depths of ignominy, will continue riding that enemy handbasket all the way down to the catacombs of hell. Now, is that the legacy we want to leave behind for our children, and our children’s children? That our generation allowed the enemy to win the fight? I certainly hope not! 

And it’s definitely not too late for us to step up our fight and make a positive difference in our world…but we must begin right now, for time is running out, and we cannot afford to waste more than we already have. And it all begins with teaching the next generation, since it seems we might have already lost the current one. Unlike our parents, we obviously did not heed the words that Moses commanded the Hebrews when they came out of Egypt, since we were too busy making money and living the good life. 

But according to Moses, this is what we ought to have done. ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shall write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.’ (Deut. 6:4-9) 

Yes friends, our generation did not take the time to LOVE the Lord our God as we should have, neither did we teach it to our children like our parents did to us. No wonder this current generation is godless, and have been easily deceived into joining the enemy’s ranks. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. 

Remember these words of Cousin Sol in Proverbs. ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and (even) when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ (Prov. 22:6) And that’s true friends. If you teach a child something, even though he may veer from it, he will not forget it. And we have a good example of that from the reggae song ‘August Town’, where the singer Duane Stephenson emphatically says: ‘Though I never lived the way He wanted, I never forgot what He taught me.’ 

And that’s all that’s expected of us as parents; to teach the children the right way, to keep the good news of Christ flowing down from generation to generation so that it doesn’t get lost and forgotten, as happened to the Israelites (read it in Ezra and Nehemiah) before Jesus returns to set up His earthly kingdom. So my people, please, let’s get serious and busy teaching the word of God to our grandchildren, since we seem to have lost our children to the enemy. Although that doesn’t mean we must give up on them, but just use other tactics to bring them to their Lord and Saviour. (smile) 

And for those of us who are sincerely trying to do our best in working and living for Christ, let’s go home declaring (awright!!!) our Wednesday Wail, letting all and sundry know of our wonderful position in Christ Jesus. Altogether now: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

And as always, let’s remember that if we endure right to the very end, that the future will be even more glorious than we can ever ask or imagine. Wow! What a time that will be mih bredrin! Much LOVE!

…with Jesus…we can move mountains…without Him…we can do nothing… 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 16 November 2014 Psalm 145:4

16 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 145:4.   One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

So my fellow believers, it’s Sunday; the Lord’s Special Day! And I do hope that you are seriously considering going to His sanctuary to fellowship, worship, praise and give sincere thanks with other believers in acknowledgement of God’s never-ending mercy, forgiveness and LOVING-kindness!

But if for some genuine reason you can’t go to the sanctuary – simple laziness doesn’t count – (smile) then let the sanctuary come to you, through worship on the radio or the television. But please, do get in some heartfelt praise and thanksgiving today, keep the Lord’s Day holy, as He desires.

And after reading the poem ‘I Praise You’ from the One Year Book of Bible Promises, I was greatly enthused, because it fit the Lord’s Sabbath perfectly. Please say it with me in a sincere and worshipful manner.

‘I praise You, my Lord! I praise You for all things: For this very moment  For future days  For the past  Often so reckless On my part So filled with Foolish Fantasies. But so gracious On your part  So LOVING  And so totally forgiving. I praise you.’

Wow Friends, what a most appropriate prayer for today…and any day!

And the biblical promise for that comes from Psalm 145, Bruh David’s exaltation –The Lord is gracious. ‘I will extol (praise) thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day I will bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable (beyond our understanding).’ (Ps.145:1-3)

And that, my people, segues very nicely into the next verse, our Bit. ‘One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.’

Oh Friends, that recounting of God’s great works and His wonderful attributes are of immense importance, totally essential in the lives of all believers and Christ’s church, for that’s the only way God will be remembered and recalled and worshipped and glorified down through the ages!

And that is one of the things Moses tried to drill into the heads of the stubborn and recalcitrant Israelites during their journey through the wilderness, en route to the Promised Land.

In reminding them of the Ten Commandments, he warns: ‘And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.’ (Deut.6:6-9)

Yes Friends, that’s how important the Word of the Lord is!

Then in Isaiah, re King Hezekiah’s sickness and healing, the king cries out to God. ‘For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.’ (Is.38:18-20)

Yes my fellow believers, worshipping and serving Jehovah God is a most important matter, or rather THE most important matter in our earthly lives! And as Hezekiah reasons with the Lord, re saving him from death, it is only while God’s breath of life is flowing through our mortal bodies that we can praise Him and make known His mighty works to our offspring.

Unfortunately though, our generation has made a mess, a mockery of that commandment! We haven’t followed it as purposefully and diligently as we should have. That is why today we have a young generation that knows precious little about the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and consequently has little time or place in their lives for Him. Instead, the lustful and evil world is their oyster.

But let’s remember that while there is life, there is ALWAYS hope. So let’s try and inculcate some sense and semblance of God into our children, starting right now nuh. It’s not too late. And in any case, it behoves us to try and rectify our serious wrong; the fact that we did not teach them properly about Jehovah God.

And the wonderful thing about it all is that God, even at this late stage, will help us do it. He will direct us; give us the wherewithal, as we sincerely try to teach our children about Him. He will never discourage those who try to spread His Word. Much LOVE!

…what better day to teach our offspring about God…than on the  Sabbath…the Lord’s special day…