Today’s Scrip-Bit 12 May 2015 Psalm 46:1‏

Psalm 46:1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help (an abundantly available help) in time of trouble.

Oh Friends, oh Friends, it’s one of those days when the ole fella is a tad under the weather. Nothing to really talk about, but just not humming on all cylinders yet. (smile)

But you know what, last night, or this morning, if you prefer, for the first time this year, I sat out on my porch around 1.30 and communed with nature and my Maker.

Oh Friends, it was so serene and peaceful that I didn’t want to come inside and go to bed. (smile)  Just feeling the cool breeze wash over me in the quiet of the night hours, after the rain had washed everything clean, and watching the trees dance a slow waltz to the music of the wind… Ah, it brought such peace and calm to my soul!

You know, I believe one of our big problems in this current society is a lack of admiration and communication with nature in its natural state. Just sitting and admiring God’s handiwork seems to be a lost art these days.

We’re too busy to just sit and enjoy and admire the things God made for us to just sit and admire and get His peace and serenity in our souls. What a waste that is my people!

But here is a poem from Gramps Schuller’s (Dr. Robert H Schuller) Hour of Power devotional, which I shared last year, and feel the need to share again this year, that addresses that problem; our basic busyness and impatience. It’s titled: ‘Let Go and Let God.’

And it says: ‘As children bring their toys with tears for us to mend, I brought my broken dreams to God, because He was my Friend. But then, instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone, I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried, “How can You be so slow?” “My child,” He said, “what could I do? You never did let go.”

And that, my people, is exactly how we operate with God. We come to Him in prayer, but then don’t give Him the chance to do it in His own time and pace, because we are programmed by this ever-busy, impatient society, to want things now for now.

But that’s not how our God works, my brethren. And until we realize that, and give Him the time and space to work on our problems, we’ll never be happy or satisfied with Him.

Please remember though, the wise and sage words of our Bit. ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help (an abundantly available help) in time of trouble.’

Yes Friends, Almighty God, the Creator of the universe and all therein is our source of refuge and strength in times of need! It seems only logical to seek the help and advice of the One who created us, and all else that there is!

But we, through foolish pride and sinful arrogance simply refuse to bow to God’s supremacy, instead choosing the evil and wicked ways of the world to base our lives upon. Friends, the Bible calls that a fool’s wisdom.

Please remember Moses’ exhortation to obedience to the Israelites during their journey to the Promised Land: ‘Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgements, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

For what nation is there so great, who hath (a) God so nigh (near) unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this law, which I have set before you this day?’ (Deut.4:5-8)

Yes my people, great nations follow the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! That is how they become great. But once they get too big for their britches, and start moving away from God, then a time of hardship and decline is ushered in, because of their folly.

You see it in the history of the Israelites and many other powerful nations of the world, and of course in our current society, where we became great because our society was built on the foundation of the rock of Christ.

But as all the others, once we got powerful, we foolishly thought that it was our strength that got us there, and now we’re trying move God out, and our problems are quickly multiplying, while our prosperity is declining with each new day.

Oh Friends, oh Friends, unless we turn back to sincerely worshipping and serving the Most High God Jehovah, our society will end up in ruins. There are no ifs, ands and buts about that! So please, let’s wake up and be wise nuh.

Let’s accept the truth of Bruh David’s words from Psalm 62. ‘In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.   Selah.’ (Ps.62:7-8)

Oh my people, that is such obvious truth, that I can’t understand how we don’t see it, especially with all the supporting evidence to prove it. But I guess that stems from our natural prideful and sinful nature, in conjunction with all the embellishments and eye-candy that’s constantly been bombarded on us by the evil society in which we live.

However Friends, as true believers in, and sincere followers of Jesus, we’re not supposed to embrace the things of the world, but the things of God.

And we’ll end with this most appropriate warning from Bruh Paul to the church at Rome. ‘And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.’ (Rom.12:2)

Words of absolute wisdom my brethren! Please, I implore us to take them to heart, and put them into serious action, if we desire our society to be prosperous and powerful. Much LOVE!

…Christians should be IN the world…but not OF it…

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 April 2012 Psalm 80:3‏

Psalm 80:3      Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Oh my people, it’s Wednesday; day three of Holy Week, two days to your crucifixion! Are you worried and concerned? Of course! Sitting on pins and needles? For sure! Are your palms sweating and your stomach tied up in knots? That’s expected! Well let us think now how Jesus felt, with just two short days before His number was called up yonder, and act accordingly; with care and compassion, LOVE and kindness, mercy and forgiveness, the same way He did, although He was under great stress and strain. Now let’s look at our Bit: ‘Turn (Restore) us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.’ And isn’t that the living truth Friends! The only way our evil, ungodly, disobedient world can be saved is by the Lord restoring us to righteousness. For remember Jesus’ words when He spoke about the vine and the branches: ‘for without me ye can do nothing.’ (John 15:5) That also is undeniable truth Friends! So if we want to return to a safe, prosperous, caring world, then it’s obvious we have to turn to Jesus for help. And how do we do that? By repenting of our sins, asking for mercy and forgiveness, receiving it, then living a righteous, obedient life to God’s will thereafter. Psalm 80 is Asaph’s prayer for restoration of the fortunes of Israel, and he considers our Bit so important to his beseeching God, that he includes it three times in the psalm. Yes my brethren, verses, 3,7, and 19 are all the same petition. And I don’t see how it could be any less important in these very troubled and calamitous times that we are currently experiencing. I like how Asaph bewails the condition of his people. ‘O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.’ (Ps.80: 4-7) Ah mih breddren, the Lord’s certainly angry with us right now too; bread is short and tears are plentiful. As Isaiah says, the Lord is feeding us with ‘the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction,’ (Is.30:20) for our turning away from Him en masse and embracing the evil Lucifer with open arms. How could it be otherwise eh my people? The Lord is a holy, jealous, just and righteous God, therefore he cannot allow our disobedience to go unpunished. Jeremiah says it quite aptly: ‘I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke (an untrained bull): turn (restore) thou me, and I shall be turned (return); for thou art the Lord my God.’ (Jer.31:18) Now hear the scholars take on that verse. ‘A first step in repentance is confession of sin and a prayer for the Lord’s effective enablement of the believer’s life. True repentance involves the work of the whole person in recognizing and sorrowing over sin, and renouncing it so as to turn to God in full heart’s devotion to His lordship.’ And they reference Psalm 32; The blessedness of forgiveness, and Psalm 51; A prayer for cleansing.’ But Friends, is it happening like Jeremiah says: ‘Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon (struck myself on) my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded (humiliated), because I did bear the reproach of my youth.’ (Jer.31:19) I’d like to think so, but in any case the numbers are way too small to effect any large-scale and worthwhile improvement in our world today. Now don’t get me wrong, the Lord will gladly accept even one truly repentant sinner, however we need a whole lot more to further our LOVE Revolution and enable us to sincerely and successfully turn things around. Listen to Peter’s ending when he pleaded with the Jews in Jerusalem to repent: ‘Unto you first God, having raised up his Son (Servant) Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.’ (Acts 3:26) My fellow believers, we all know that, but for some reason(s) or other, we just don’t seem to be too keen on making the changes needed to bring about that transition. I guess not enough of us both desire the changes and are also willing to pay the price to make them happen. But believe me Friends, the price to get back into God’s good graces, is extremely cheap, compared to that of continuing to support Lucifer and his evil works. If yuh think we’re suffering calamity now, just wait and see what happens if we continue along our present path. My people, in closing, let’s offer up a prayer that Jeremiah offered up long ago in his Lamentations, but which is still very appropriate for our troublesome situation today. And let’s do it with a truly repentant heart if we want our God to take notice and help us. As one now, lifting our heads, hearts, eyes and hands to heaven: ‘Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? Turn thou us unto (back) to thee O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.’ (Lam.5:20-21) And all God’s people said a prayerful, heartfelt ‘Amen!’ Much LOVE!…it’s the same old story…if you don’t hear, you’re going to feel…