Today’s Scrip-Bit 21 September 2012 Colossians 2:6

21 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

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

Colossians 2:6.     As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.

Oh my beautiful Friends in Christ, it’s Friday, and I hear you expressing that fact in a most joyous fashion, by you exclaiming ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday!’ Yeh, even the really tired ones get a second wind come Friday, and are able to perk up because they know that the weekend is about to unfurl. And as always, we’ll remind us that the weekend is not merely for fun and frolic, but also for some serious face time with God, through fellowship and meditation. So let’s put it all in proper perspective by chanting our Friday Chant. With much verve and mucho gusto now. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’ Yes my people, we have to use our free time wisely and not let Lucifer and his evil minions make any inroads into our lives by doing ungodly stuff. And that warning fits right in with our Bit today. ‘As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.’ Words of ultimate wisdom and absolute truth my fellow believers! Bruh Paul is there warning the Colossians about false teachers and teachings cropping up to destroy and /or destabilize their faith in Jesus Christ. Hear the scholars explain it: ‘The verse may be paraphrased thus: “Therefore, just as you accepted the teaching that presents Jesus as both Messiah and Lord, so continue to maintain this relationship with Him.” The recipients had been taught that Jesus is (1) Messiah (the One divinely anointed to secure man’s salvation), and (2) Lord (the divine person to whom man submits in obedience). The heretics denied Jesus’ atoning death and Lordship. So the Colossians are urged to keep Him just as they were initially taught – as Messiah and Lord. They are continue to look to Him for salvation and continue in submission to His authority.’ And without a doubt Friends, all of that also applies to us today! Possibly even more so than to the Colossians, because the days now are so evil and ungodly, don’t know if they have ever been this bad. That makes it very difficult for the ordinary man to discern friend from foe and truth from falsehood. Everybody’s peddling something, and much of it for personal gain. Thankfully I don’t count myself amongst that lot, since I’m not making any physical gains, like money from what I’m doing. However I am benefiting from my studying and writing in the sense that I am becoming more aware of and mature in Christ, and hopefully helping others to do the same. That’s why true believers have to be oh so careful about whom and what they listen to, for all sorts of scam artists are out there pretending to preach and teach the word. Plenty are sincere, but too many are using it for their own glorification and not God’s. That’s why we believers today have to be just like Bruh Paul advised the Colossians: ‘Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you (plunder you or take you captive) through philosophy and vain (empty) deceit, after (according to) the tradition of men, after (according to) the rudiments (basic principles) of the world, and not after (according to) Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power (rule and authority).’ (Col.2:7-10) And we’ll end with an informed explanation of that last verse by the scholars. ‘Ye are complete in him (or, “you are filled by Him”); Believers have been filled by Jesus with all the spiritual blessings they need; hence they are “complete” and lacking nothing. This, too refutes the heresy that denied the sufficiency of Christ and encouraged Christians to look to other spiritual beings for help. Five of these blessings, with which believers have been filled, are listed in verses 11-15. They are (1) spiritual circumcision, verse 11; (2) being raised form the old life verse 12; (3) new life, verse 13; (4) the removal of the curse of the law, verse 14; and (5) the conquering of Satan and his demonic forces, verse 15.’ And that’s the gospel truth Friends! Believers lack nothing that’s needed to live successfully in this world. All the necessary seeds have been planted in us from the day we received Jesus and His Holy Spirit that then came to dwell in us. Now we just need to allow that Spirit to raise and grow the seeds of righteousness that are planted in us. Let them develop strong, sturdy roots, so that we can resist the vicious attacks, lies and deceits of the enemy. Therefore my brethren, let’s all contemplate and ponder our individual situations today nuh, re our ‘rootedness’ in Christ. Then let’s take serious action to improve it, for we all can use some improvement in our spiritual lives, especially in these rough and troubled times. Much LOVE!…without the basic principles of Jesus’ teachings…deeply rooted in our souls…believers will not make much headway against Beelzebub…

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 21 August 2012 Proverbs 22:2

21 Aug 2012 Leave a comment

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

Proverbs 22:2.      The rich and poor meet together (have this in common): the Lord is the maker of them all.
 
Oh Friends, I haven’t even begun writing and I’m already behind the eight ball on two counts: I’m starting late, (5.10 a.m) and then I don’t have any words of wisdom, or even any smart-aleck words to greet you all with today. (smile) So I’ll just have to resort to a tried and true intro. Let’s all stop for a moment, raise our heads, hearts, eyes and tightly clenched right fists heavenward, as we vocalize loud and true: ‘This is the day the Lord has made! Under ANY and ALL circumstances, we WILL rejoice and be glad in it!’ Oh Friends, I sure hope that brought a chuckle and/or smile to your physical being, and also lightened your overall attitude to life. Far too many of us take life too seriously and end up worried, anxious and stressed out, when there’s no real reason to be thus. Notice how Jesus was always calm and collected, even though He was being rudely and unfairly treated by His own Jewish people, and knew that the terrible rite of crucifixion awaited Him. Now we can never reach Jesus’ level of calm, but my brethren we can certainly aspire to a higher state than we’re currently experiencing. So regardless of our circumstances, we can all stay on an even keel, if we truly concentrate on the attributes of Jesus, which we all have planted in us, but need to nurture so that they will grow strong and true. For as our Bit reminds us: ‘The rich and poor meet together (have this in common): the Lord is the maker of them all.’ And that’s the living truth my people, though at times it certainly doesn’t seem so. We need to remember that before God, ALL are equal; rich, poor, talent, not talented, etc. etc. Later on in Proverbs, Cousin Sol puts it this way: ‘The poor and the deceitful man (the oppressor) meet together (have this in common): the Lord lighteneth both their eyes (gives light to the eyes of both).’ (Prov.29:13) That’s an indisputable fact, since the Lord is the Creator of all mankind! And in Job 25, when Bildad was questioning how man could be justified with God, he makes this undeniable statement: ‘Dominion and fear are with him: he maketh peace in his high places. Is there any number of his armies (can his armies be counted)? And upon whom doth not his light arise?’ (Job 25:2-3) And the answer to both questions my brethren is an unequivocal NO! Meanwhile, Jesus, in talking about having LOVE for our enemies, makes this definitive statement on our topic: ‘But I say unto you, LOVE your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully (spitefully) use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.’ (Matt.5:44-45) And Friends, if Jesus says it’s so, then obviously it must be so! ALL the creatures of God’s universe have at least one thing in common; He made them ALL! Though they may look, walk, talk and think differently, they have ALL been sculpted HIS deft, agile and creative hands. As Job declares when he talks of his integrity and doing what he believed pleased God: ‘If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with (complained against) me; What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when he visiteth, (punishes), what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?’ (Job 31:13-15) That’s gospel truth my people! Try as we may, we can’t get away from the fact that God made us all, in His own image to boot! That means we’re ALL special, whether we’re rich or poor, strong or weak, righteous or unrighteous, and why He LOVES us so unconditionally. Now listen to Elihu, one of Job’s other buddies, as he declares: ‘Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked (worthless)? and to princes, Ye are ungodly (wicked)? How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes (Yet he is not partial to princes), nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? For they are all the work of his hands.’ (Job 34:18-19) So Friends, let’s stop putting ourselves down because we might not meet the world’s ungodly standards. Remember that however we are, that’s how God made us, and He had a good reason for doing so, though we might not see or think it. Yes Friends, there was method to God’s madness (smile) despite our oftimes negative opinions. Therefore, we can end today’s Bit, in the same spirit and manner in which we began. All together now, with eyes, hearts, heads and hands raised heavenward: ‘This is the day the Lord has made. We WILL rejoice and be glad in it, come what may!’ Now let’s go forth my brethren, rejoicing, giving thanks and praise for who we are, and more importantly, whose we are: Almighty God’s! Much LOVE!…God’s talents are so awesome…that He can make anything or anyone…for any purpose…His heart desires…
 
 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 22 March 2012 Numbers 23:19‏

22 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

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

Numbers 23:19.    God is not man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make good?

Aye mih breddren, we’ve been granted another day on beautiful planet earth! Praise the Lord! And in my neck of the woods, unbelievably, it’s summer! Hn! I’m still taking it with a grain of salt though, for when and where have you ever heard of twenty something degree temps in the middle of March in the northern climes eh? It seems we’ve just bypassed spring and gone straight into summer mode, as the trees are still brown, dry and brittle, with no leaves whatsoever, for there’s been no rain to talk about either. The birds are singing their thanks and praises to God early in the mornings though. (smile) And I surely hope that we believers are doing the same. Now let’s get straight into our Bit: ‘God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?’ Yesterday we looked at its basic context; with Balak, king of Moab, hiring Balaam, a false prophet to curse the Israelites, who were coming close to his kingdom in their travel through the wilderness to the Promised Land, and since he’d heard of how they had annihilated other societies, he and his people were sore afraid. But Balaam kept saying, through God’s spiritual intervention, that he could not curse of defy Israel for God had them protected. We also saw how our Bit related to God’s unchanging nature, and His inability to lie since one of His many attributes was TRUTH. Then we began looking at scriptures that corroborated the first part of our Bit: ‘For God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent:’ Unfortunately we only got into one scripture; that where Samuel tells Saul that the Lord’s taken his kingship of Israel. (1 Sam.15:29) Now let’s continue with scriptures that pertain to the first part of our Bit. First up is Isaiah, when he tells the people, who were looking to Egypt for protection, that it’s God, not Egypt who will defend Judah: ‘Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil (disaster), and will not call back (retract) his words; but will arise against the house of evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.’  (Is.31:2) Then in Chapter 51, re the faithful being called to courage, Isaiah again speaks to God’s unchanging nature: ‘Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax (grow) old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished (broken).’ (Is.51:6) And Jeremiah, in lamenting over Judah, solemnly and sadly declares: ‘For this hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent (relent), neither will I turn back from it.’ (Jer.4:27-28) Oh Friends, what will it take for us to understand the great significance and importance of God’s Word, though spoken eons ago, to our current life in these wicked and ungodly times eh? Mankind has been living basically the same way since Adam and Even sinned, but the Lord God Jehovah in His utmost wisdom and great mercy spoke through His prophets, then sent His Only Son Jesus to earth to show us exactly what He desires of us. But sadly we’re still ignoring Him. And if His Word does not change, neither His personality, what can we expect from our disobedience but sorrow and calamity? It’s written right there in the Good Book which most of us acknowledge as being a guide for earthly living, but we mostly do so with our mouth, not with our actions. It traces centuries of time, and graphically shows that when societies are obedient to His will, they prosper, and when they’re not, they suffer. Yet we still choose to follow Beelzebub and his lying, deceitful ways. How wise is that eh? The prophet Malachi, when talking about the paying of tithes, which Israel weren’t doing at the time, said on God’s behalf: ‘For I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein (in what way) shall we return?’ (Mal,3:6-7) Oh my people, it’s the same thing God’s saying to us today; return to me and I will return to you. But being foolish and pigheaded, we, like the Israelites before us, are asking in what way? In every way Friends! For it’s obvious that we’re disobedient, evil, ungodly, perverse and everything that’s dark and negative – a la Lucifer! Fellow believers, the times they are getting more calamitous every day, so let’s wake up and realize what’s happening nuh. Disobedience to the Creator of the universe is a patently stupid act! Let’s stop being deceived by the powers of darkness and instead look wisely to Jesus, in whom all our needs and desires can be fulfilled, in addition to His free gifts of salvation and eternal life. Now that’s indeed true wisdom! Much LOVE!…let him who has ears, hear…disobedience to God brings negative consequences…obedience to God, brings positive consequences…and that’s the gospel truth…
 

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