Today’s Scrip-Bit 5 June 2018 Isaiah 43:2.

05 Jun 2018 Leave a comment

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

Isaiah 43:2.   When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon (scorch) thee.

Well it’s a brand new day and brand new mercies are being noised abroad by our wonderful God! Give Him plenty, plenty thanks nuh people, for the grace and unadulterated LOVING-kindness He shows to us when we absolutely don’t deserve it. But that’s the kind of God He’s always been and will always be! 

Look at how while we were still sinners He sent His only Son Jesus to die for us… Does that tell of an unmerciful and angry God? No way Jose! So let’s be wise and grateful and give Him thanks for ALL that He’s done, is doing and has promised to do for us in the future. 

In the meanwhile let’s pray for those unfortunate people undergoing the volcano situation in Hawaii, and also in Guatemala where the Fuego volcano exploded a couple of days ago, causing much loss of life and many injuries. I tell you friends, a volcanic explosion is the closest thing we can come to hell here on earth. And remember too the people in Colorado and New Mexico where the first wild fires of the season are blazing away. 

Brother! The natural disasters are beginning to pile up already. But friends, there is no need to panic, because our great and mighty God is still on the throne in full control of things! 

And to help us handle whatever comes against us, here are these encouraging words from Gramps Schuller (Dr. Robert H. Schuller) from his Hour of Power Devotional, titled, ‘I Will Move…’  I’ve shared them before, but I think we need to share them again. 

So please pray with me. ‘Lord, I want your heart to be in my heart. For in you I come alive, moving ahead from boring death to exciting life! In your promises, I will move from discouragement to hope. In your pardon, I will move from shame to glory. In your power, I will move from weakness to strength. In your providence, I will move from failure to success! Thank you, Lord. Amen!’ 

Oh my people, is there any other way we can come up higher than through the Lord’s help? Absolutely not! So I implore us this morning to turn to Him for help in whatever situation or circumstance that we’re going through. Now he might not change or ease up the situation, but He will certainly give you the strength, wisdom and whatever you need to come through it successfully. That’s the magnanimous and magnificent God we serve! 

Yuh see what he says in our Bit, through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah? ‘When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon (scorch) thee.’ 

Oh friends and fellow believers, what marvellous promises! And did the Lord keep them? Of course He did! Just look at how He parted the Red Sea for His people to cross over on dry land, while drowning Pharaoh and His Egyptian army behind them! Then check out how He backed up the Jordan River for them to cross over into the Promised Land! 

And if you say that’s only water, He can’t handle fire, then think again and see how the Hebrew lads, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when they refused to bow down to a golden image, survived the fiery furnace that was heated seven times hotter than normal, and came out not even smelling of smoke! 

Mama Yo! That’s the amazing and awesome power of our God my brethren! And He is still in the business of doing miracles and such amazing things for His people, if we turn to Him and sincerely and humbly seek Him. As He said again through Isaiah: ‘Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.’ (Is.55:6) Are we doing that my brethren? For all our sakes, I sincerely hope so. 

But just in case we aren’t, listen to the following verse, which expands on the first. ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’ (Is.55:7) 

Oh friends, I don’t know why it’s so difficult for us to follow the Lord’s guidelines nuh, since He spells them out so plainly and simply! Especially when we’re in dire need of mercy and pardon! But we can only talk; talk till we’re blue in the face (smile), everyone still has to come to their own decision; to accept, or not accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour in their individual lives. 

Let’s hope we ALL will make a positive decision, sooner, rather than later, for a time will come when it will be too late. Now for those of us who have already made it, let’s go home positively declaring our Tuesday Mantra, letting the world know in no uncertain terms, who and whose we are. 

Altogether now: ‘I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world.  Amen!’ 

Now let’s go out and share all of that with other unfortunate folks, as Jesus desires of us. Much LOVE!

…if you don’t need your Maker…then who else do you need eh…Lucifer…hn, hn!…what a joke…

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 13 October 2013 Psalm 145:8

13 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 145:8.    The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion: slow to anger, and of great mercy.

 
Oh Friends, our God is definitely the greatest yes! And I’m saying that for the umpteenth time because yesterday, after writing that I had nothing to say, was bereft of words, He kindly informed me that believers ALWAYS have something to say. And when I didn’t understand, like a patient teacher, He gently explained that whenever our mental apparatus shuts down, we can always testify.
 
Obviously I chuckled at hearing that information, but people, there is logic to it. We might not be able to come up with any new, fanciful stuff to enthral our listeners, but our personal testimony, what the Lord has already done in our lives, and is currently doing, doesn’t change or ever grow stale.
 
And in fact, personal testimony is the best way to project our faith, to bring others to Christ. We can know the Good Book from cover to cover, but that information is useless to all and sundry unless some aspect or aspects of it are occurring in our lives. That’s why it’s called a personal relationship with Christ.
 
The tough part though is that you cannot find out what Jesus is all about until you get personally involved with Him. That’s where faith and trust come in – plenty of both. And that’s why they call getting involved with Jesus a leap of faith! You don’t know what’s going to happen, because He has different plans for each of us, but you’re nonetheless willing to dive in heart first. 
 
As they say, you can’t learn to swim in shallow water, it must be deep enough for you to manoeuvre properly. So anyway, we now know that when our word source dries up, we can testify. (smile)
 
That brings us to our warm, wonderful and most encouraging Bit. ‘The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion: slow to anger, and of great mercy.’ And all God’s people gave Him a big shout of praise!
 
But that’s not all Friends, for Bruh David continues: ‘The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.’ (Ps.145:9) Even more assurance there Friends!
 
But here’s where our endeavours come in. ‘All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power, To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.’ (Ps.145:10-12)
 
Now that’s where we have to step back and view the reality of the current situation my brethren. Are we, God’s saints, speaking of His majesty and power, of His glorious kingdom, and also letting men know about His mighty acts down through the ages?
 
I strongly believe that we’re not doing it to the best of our ability, otherwise there wouldn’t be as many backsliders and unbelievers, and consequently our world wouldn’t be in the terrible mess that it’s in.
 
Now let’s turn to some scripture that confirms our Bit. The psalmist in Psalm 130 – My soul waiteth for the Lord – says with much wisdom and truth. ‘Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy (LOVING-kindness), and with him is plenteous (abundant) redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.’ (Ps.130:7-8)
 
What glorious words of encouragement, my brethren! There’s certainly no doubting them!
 
Meanwhile, Isaiah, in chapter 55, God’s free offer of mercy to all, he also reassuringly declares: ‘Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’ (Is.55:6-7)
 
Then, in one of the many instances when Israel was backsliding, the Lord commanded Jeremiah: ‘Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger (remain angry) for ever.
 
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers (favours to foreign deities) under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord.’ (Jer.3:12-13)
 
Please note Friends, that it’s all well and good to come back to God, but we must acknowledge our transgressions with sincere repentance, and He will know it by searching our hearts.
 
And here are two verses from Psalm 86, where Bruh David is entreating the Lord to teach him to pray. ‘For thou Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee… But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.’ (Ps.86: 5,15)  Bruh David certainly knew what he was talking about from personal experience.
 
Now listen to Joel, with a call to fasting and more repentance. ‘Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. And rend (tear) your heart, and not your garments, and turn (return) unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness (LOVING-kindness), and repenteth him of the evil (relents from doing harm.’ (Joel 2:12-13)
 
Ah mih people, NO OTHER GOD shows such grace and mercy towards repentant sinners!
 
Now here’s a note from the scholars I think we should share. ‘2:12-13. The customary way a Jew showed his grief was to tear his outer garment. This external sign could be meaningless. The tearing of the outer garment is useless, unless the heart is broken in repentance and contrition.’
 
And that’s the undeniable truth Friends! So though our God is wonderful, with all those glowing attributes, we still need to show Him true reverence, obeisance and obedience. For as the old people would say; it takes two to tango. We can’t expect to reap all of God’s goodness without doing our part. But sadly that’s the way a lot of us, supposed believers behave.
 
We must remember Friends that we’re in a covenant relationship with Almighty God, our Creator, Controller and Provider, and right now we need to step up to the plate and become better keepers of that covenant, for we are definitely backsliding. And as we’ve seen in all our scriptures, the Lord is only too willing to forgive and forget, if we turn back to Him in sincere repentance and heartfelt contrition. That’s heavenly wisdom! Much LOVE!
 
…a word to the wise is sufficient…
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 14 December 2012 Psalm 71:4

14 Dec 2012 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 71:4.    Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

Oh Friends, it’s Friday; the penultimate one before Christmas! And there were joyful shouts of: ‘Yesss, TGIF! Thank God is Friday!’ Then the parang section started up; ‘Maria, Maria. Aye Maria…’ Ah mih people, the ole fella’s feeling better than he has in several days. Thank the Lord! Though I’m not completely over the stupid cough and cold yet, at least I can breathe much easier today. Anyway, we all know that life is rough and not often fair, but we also know for sure that our God IS GOOD! And all God’s people said a loud and thankful ‘Amen.’ And since it’s Friday, that means we have to chant our Friday Chant to put the weekend in its true perspective. Therefore as one voice, let’s chant sweetly: ‘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.’ Now, hopefully, that will keep us minding our ps and qs, so that we don’t go overboard this weekend, especially with all the Christmas celebrations in the air. Please remember Friends, that the enemy is always on the prowl for captives, (1 Pet.5:8) more so in times of celebration, when he knows that we let our hair down and are most susceptible to his advances. Today though, we ask for help for those of us in our mature, advanced years, and who are still besieged by Lucifer and his evil cronies, who don’t necessarily distinguish targets by age, all believers are worthwhile targets. The problem however, is that the older we get, the more feeble in mind and body we also become, thus often making us an easier mark for the powers of darkness. We have a very good example of that in the numerous frauds now being carried out against the aged in our society. Consequently, the psalmist writing in Psalm 71, a prayer for help in old age, solemnly implores the Lord in our Bit: ‘Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.’ Yes my people, it doesn’t matter whether it’s in our old age or our youth, when our enemies pressure us, we need to cry out to our ever-faithful God for deliverance. As the psalmist continues: ‘For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holden up from the womb (upheld from birth): thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels (womb): my praise shall be continually of thee.’ (Ps.71:5-6) Please note my brethren, that this old psalmist has been a staunch believer from his youth, and though he has seen some rough times, he’s made up his mind to keep on praising the Lord, come what may. Oh Friends, have we made that monumental commitment to Almighty God as yet? Have we already declared, or are willing to declare, like the old man, beset round about by enemies, that come hell or high water we’ll keep praising, thanking, serving, and worshipping the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Now that’s a very important question we need to sit and seriously ponder, and hopefully decide in the affirmative, because there’s none other than Jehovah God, who can successfully deliver us from the hands of our enemies. Oh mih breddren, I just had to plead with the Lord for escape from my enemy, as a coughing spell suddenly attacked me. (smile) And believe me, a cough is my deadliest enemy. There’s no sickness I despise as much as a cough, because it activates my asthma, and in my youth and early manhood, I coughed enough to last me several lifetimes. But thank the Lord that doesn’t happen too often anymore, so my life is fairly smooth in that respect. And just to show that it’s not only us old fogies who cry out to God for help, we’ll end with some verses from Psalm 140, where Bruh David, at the height of his manhood, implores the Lord for deliverance from evil men. ‘Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; Which imagine mischiefs (plan evil things) in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders (asps) poison is under their lips.  Selah (Ps.140:1-3) Yes Friends, ponder that for a moment, see if you know anybody like that. Then later, like the old psalmist in our Bit, Bruh David gives his reasons for crying out to the God of his fathers. ‘I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord. O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered (provided a shelter for) my head in the day of battle. Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device (scheme); lest they exalt themselves (be exalted).  Selah.’ (Ps.140:6-8) That just goes to show people, that there’s no shame or disgrace in crying out to God when evil comes against us. In fact that’s just what the Lord of hosts desires, so that He can truly and faithfully show that He is indeed our protector and deliverer. So if any evil stuff is coming against you today, fellow believers, please don’t be afraid to cry out in faith and sincerity to Almighty God, cause protection and deliverance are His forte. Much LOVE!…only a proud, arrogant fool…refuses to cry out to God…in times of real need…