Today’s Scrip-Bit 19 January 2017 Psalm 23:1.

19 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 23:1.   The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (lack).

Greetings my brothers and sisters in Christ! Welcome to a brand new day of life and living in this wonderful world of Almighty God! Praise His Holy Name! 

It’s also another day filled with new mercies and blessings, produced specially for today…Glory Hallelujah! 

That’s the wonderful kind of God we serve! He doesn’t give us yesterday’s leftovers, but makes it brand new every day. Consequently we ought to be rather appreciative and thankful for those wonderful things we get that we don’t deserve under the Lord’s mercy programme. 

And you know what? We have to choose to believe that, otherwise it’s useless. Listen to this quote from Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), the Anglican priest and poet who was nicknamed ‘Woodbine Willie’ during the great war, for handing out Woodbine cigarettes along with spiritual aid to injured and dying soldiers. 

He reputedly declared: ‘These clouds are lies. They cannot last. The blue sky is the truth, for God is LOVE. Such is my faith, and such my reasons for it, and I find them strong enough. And you? You want to argue? Well I can’t. It’s a choice and I choose the Christ.’ 

Oh friends, oh friends, I do hope that our faith is strong, strong enough to enable us to unequivocally choose Jesus, for that’s the only thing that makes sense in this ungodly world of today! 

And to help us reach that stage of overwhelming faith, we’re going to continue looking at scriptures that offer confirmation and corroboration of the wonders of Psalm 23, as personified by our Bit. ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (lack).’ 

Oh I know that some of you are tired with the same Bit and topic day after day, and like the world goes, you want something new everyday. But that’s a foolish way to live friends, because most of the time we have not even understood what we did the previous day. 

You can only truly know something if you study it over and over. And remember, we’re supposed to be in the world, not of it, so we don’t have to follow all that it does. 

Anyway, let’s turn to verse 3: ‘He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.’ (Ps.23:3) 

Ah my fellow believers, how wonderful is that eh! And Bruh David certainly knew about the Lord’s guidance, as he declares from Psalm 5 – A prayer for protection. ‘But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. 

Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness (uprightness) in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness (destruction); their throat is an open sepulchre (tomb); they flatter with their tongue.’ (Ps.5:7-9) 

Oh friends, that hasn’t changed since Bruh David’s day, in fact it has probably gotten worse, which means we need to be guided along paths of righteousness by the Lord even more than before. 

Now hear Bruh David again, this time from Psalm 31. He confidently proclaims: ‘In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust (take refuge); let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock (rock of refuge), for a house of defense (fortress) to save me. 

For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily (secretly) for me: for thou art my strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.’ (Ps.31:1-5)  

And how I do hope that we all have committed our spirits into the hand of the omnipotent God, Creator and Controller of this universe for it’s the only way we’ll ever be peaceful and contented down here on earth, and see His wonderful face in heaven for eternity. 

And having said all of that, let’s add to our joy and comfort by declaring our Thursday Blessings over ourselves, for a blessing is not a blessing until its declared over someone. 

With much enthusiasm and faith now: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! 

I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! 

I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and everyday! Amen!’ 

Now let’s go out my fellow believers and bless all those we come into contact with, as Jesus desires of us. Much LOVE!

…oh where would we be…without the Lord’s merciful leading and guidance eh… 

P.S. Please don’t expect the Bit this early everyday. (smile) I just made a special effort today because I have a cardiology clinic appointment early this morning, and am not sure what time I’ll be back. Much LOVE! 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 5 April 2015 Matthew 28:6 ‏

05 Apr 2015 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 28:6.    He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.                                         

 HAPPY  EASTER ! 

Oh Friends, it’s Easter Sunday… and the promise has come! Yes my people, the promise has come! It certainly didn’t tarry long; for Jesus Christ is risen…He is risen… Jesus Christ is risen indeed my faithful brethren!

And all God’s children burst out in joyful song: ‘He is risen, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Christ is risen! Let the whole world sing, Christ is risen, Christ is risen from the grave! He is risen, He is risen! Oh Christ is risen from the grave! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Let the whole world sing, Christ is risen from the grave!’

Oh what a joyful day in Christendom my people, for Christ’s resurrection means that He has conquered, He has mightily defeated once and for all time hell, death and the grave! He has put Lucifer and all his evil cohorts to flight, has them running for their very lives! Oh what a wonderful Lord and Saviour is our Jesus! He sacrificed His sinless life for us unworthy humans…Glory to God!

That means a whole lot of wonderful things are now open and readily available to us. We’re talking about blessings like atonement, reconciliation, grace, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, LOVING-kindness, eternal life, wisdom and understanding – or as the Rasta breddren say, ‘overstanding.’ For how can it be good if it’s under eh? Hn, hn! It has to be over to be better than average.

Yes Friends, however you want to put it, this Easter Sunday morn is a most beautiful, exciting, wonderful and promising time in the life of mankind! Even the Father is flashing a big happy smile, because He now has His BELOVED Son back, and a whole new set of adoptees because of it. Wow! The world is now a much better place!

Oh my people, let’s certainly enjoy the time, but please don’t get too carried away, because Lucifer and his wicked minions are still around, hungry and looking for any available soft spot to invade our spiritual lives. So during this weekend’s celebrations, let’s once more invoke Granny’s words of wisdom: ‘Sonny boy, please, please remember that drunk or sober, to mind yuh business!’

Oh Friends, I’m not trying to cramp your style, or restrict your celebrations, but it’s just that when we get to celebrating, especially such a joyful occasion as Jesus’ resurrection, we tend to go overboard, and that’s when Lucifer is going to trip us up and make us fall. And we definitely don’t want that at any time at all. So please be careful, do observe a modicum of circumspection in your celebrations. (smile)

Now let’s hear what the Good Book has to say about this joyous, most auspicious occasion. I’m going to try and combine the gospels so that they read sequentially. And as the scholars note: ‘All four Gospels essentially agree in reporting the facts of the Resurrection. The variety of details in each account supplement rather than contradict one another.’  

Sometime during the early morning hours of the Resurrection day things got moving, as Matthew tells us:  ‘And behold there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door (of Jesus’ tomb), and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment (clothing) white like snow. And for fear of him, the keepers (guards) did shake, and became as dead men.’ (Matt.28:2-4)

The scholars inform us that ‘The earthquake and the angel who rolled away the stone, did not come to let Jesus out of the tomb, but to reveal that it was empty and that He was already gone.’

Now Mark joins the story:  ‘And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came upon the sepulchre (tomb) at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great (large). (Mark16:1-4)

‘And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay.’ (Matt.28:5-6) ‘But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee, as he said unto you. And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed:’ (Mark 16:7-8)

‘And they returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest… And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.’ (Luke 24:9,11) But ‘Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple (whom Jesus LOVED), and came to the sepulchre (were going to the tomb). So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin (face cloth) that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together (folded) in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and he believed. For as yet they knew not (understood) the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.’ (John 20:3-10)

The scholars explain: 20:8-9. Believed. For as yet they knew not: They believed Jesus was alive, not yet knowing the details of His resurrection.’

‘But Mary stood without  at (outside of) the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept , she stooped down , and looked  into the sepulchre. (This was Mary’s second visit) and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

And when she had thus said, she turned herself back (around), and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence (carried him away), tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say Master (Teacher). Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not: for I am not yet ascended unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things to her.’ (John 20:11-18) 

The scholars explain: 20:17. Touch me not is a present imperative, forbidding the continuation of an action already begun. “Stop clinging to me” is a helpful paraphrase. Compare with verse 27, where one week later, we are told He encouraged Thomas to touch Him. I am not yet ascended: “Do not worry, I am not leaving immediately.”

Oh Friends, I know that that was not perfect, but I do hope that it gives you some continuity in your reading of Jesus’ Resurrection.  Now get thee out to church and celebrate, worship, and praise our wonderful God and Saviour, for the great gifts of salvation and eternal life that came our way on this special day. Enjoy yourselves with your friends and family too, but remember don’t overdo it. Happy Easter! Much LOVE!

…the greatest words ever spoken…He is risen…Jesus Christ is risen indeed…

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 7 April 2012 Luke 23:33

07 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

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

  Luke 23:33.        And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.                                                                  

HOLY  SATURDAY!

 

Ah Friends, it’s Holy Saturday. Most of the excitement from the tumultuous events of Good Friday has now subsided, and Jesus is lying quietly in His borrowed tomb. ‘Glory Hallelujah!’ And as promised, I’ll do what I’d planned to do yesterday, but which the Lord in His wisdom postponed to today. For good reason too, because I’m going to approach it from a different and better angle. And who says our wonderful God doesn’t move in mysterious ways eh! I’m going to deal with Jesus’ suffering from a purely physical aspect, using some information from the novel, ‘The Sacred Bones,’ by Michael Byrnes. I mentioned it awhile back, noting that you should not read it unless your faith was strong, since it could cloud your mind with all sorts of doubts. It’s basically a story of intrigue, where two forensic scientists, a female American and male Italian are working in a highly sophisticated basement lab of the Vatican, looking at some bones found in a Jewish ossuary (coffin)) dated in Jesus’ time, trying to figure out how the person died, and if it was possibly Jesus. Let’s look at some of their findings after putting the bones under a microscope. They found no head trauma, but the Good Book says that when Jesus gave the high priest a smart-aleck answer; ‘one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus (gave him a blow) with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? (John 18:22) And after Pilate was finished with Him, ‘the soldiers plaited (twisted) a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. And said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote (struck) Him with their hands.’(John 19:2-3) So it’s obvious they roughed up Jesus with their hands and emotionally humiliated Him before taking Him out to be crucified. His head must also have been punctured in several places by the crown of thorns, with blood seeping down His face from them. The scholars claim that the last set of physical abuse was possibly with fists as opposed to the slap before. The scientists found a huge tear in the dried cartilage attaching the ribs to the chest plate. Then the humerus and clavicle were separated from the scapula. They contended that it was a violent dislocation which had taken place before death. Most of the ribs looked like they hand been racked with thick nails to produce long, scalloped gouges. And they found metal deposits there. The final analysis was that if the bones there looked so bad, then the muscle and flesh that covered them would have looked even worse, leading to the conclusion that the man had been flayed (flogged), with a barbed whip to boot. What does the Good Book say? ‘Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him (whipped Him with a Roman scourge).’ (John 19:1)  And what was a Roman scourge Friends? Hear the scholars’ explanation: ‘Scourging (whipping) often preceded crucifixion. The Roman flagellum consisted of a whip, split into several strips, into which sharp bones (or metal) were embedded so as to cut the flesh.’ Note too the soldiers roughed Him up after He’d been scourged. So imagine having your back cut with wicked stripes and thorns puncturing your head, then being physically abused. Significant damage was also found on the inner surfaces of the bones joining above the wrist, as though it went through a grinder, with what appeared to be wood fibres embedded in the bones. Two bones in the left foot had also been fractured and looked similar to the wrists. From the diamond shaped indentation in the bone, and more wood splinters, they concluded that a nail caused the fracture. It also looked like the nail had missed the first time, possibly because the feet were nailed one on top of the other. Furthermore, the tears in the cartilage and hairline fractures below the knee indicated that the knees had been broken. To quicken death those crucified often had their knees broke. They broke the knees of the two thieves crucified with Jesus, but Jesus did not suffer this fate because when the soldiers came to take Him down, He was already dead. ‘But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water…For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.’ (John 19:34, 36-37) The first scripture refers to Psalm 34:20, and the second to Zechariah 12:10. Friends, time and space are running out, so I’ll quickly condense some of the horrible attributes of crucifixion. Firstly, it was a brutal punishment used by the Romans to send a potent message of fear to Roman citizens. It was very public and humiliating. Victims would be stripped naked and hung along major thoroughfares. It was a very dishonourable way to die, and mostly used for low class criminals and enemies of the state. I guess Jesus was considered an enemy of the state but crucified between two low class thugs. Scourging was a starting point to make the victims more compliant. The victim was usually impaled on some kind of cross by long spikes driven through their hands and feet. I guess all this was done before the cross was raised upright, for a rope was hung around the arms for additional support when the body was raised upright. And though we see crucifixions with nails in the palms of the hands, this wasn’t very practical because the small bones and weak flesh in the hands couldn’t support the full weight of a body, so huge iron spikes, measuring around 18 centimetres would be driven into the wrist, just above the ulna and radius, with a large wooden washer to keep it in place. That crushes or severs the median nerve, sending terrible waves of pain up the arm, instantly paralyzing them. After nailing both wrists, then the body would be violently hoisted. Then the feet would be laid over each other then nailed to the post. Apparently this caused a lot of struggling and flailing about, so to prevent that, sometimes a supporting peg, called a sedile, was inserted between the legs. A nail was pounded through the penis and into the sedile to secure the victims to the cross. What utter horror Friends! And the sad fact is that no one thing really killed the victim, though they all contributed. And one could be on the cross for days before a welcome death came. Oh Friends, I sure hope I’ve achieved my purpose with this Lesson 101 on crucifixion; that of getting us to appreciate so much more the horror and agony that Jesus went through on that cross to pay for our sins. It also shows the depth of the Father’s LOVE for us, that He willingly allowed His Son to pay the exorbitant price His justice system called for, for our redemption. Let’s hope from now on, most of us will have a much better appreciation and LOVE for Jesus. Much LOVE!…man’s inhumanity to man has made countless millions mourn…and sadly it’s still doing so…time to stop it… P.S. The commentary above is a combination of my words and author Michael Byrnes, but they are so intermingled that it would have taken too much time to try and separate them and made the reading too difficult, so I just lumped them all together and acknowledge Mr. Burns’ contribution.  Much LOVE!