Today’s Scrip-Bit 6 April 2014 Psalm 66:19

Psalm 66:19.    But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
 
Oh Friends, it’s a new day! Wow! One filled with joy and LOVE, peace, mercy, forgiveness, grace and all the other wonderful things that our omnipotent, omniscient and omni-present God is famous for! So let’s give Him some warm, heartfelt thanks and praise this Sunday morning nuh, both here and in His sanctuary.
 
Please pray with me: ‘Lord God of heaven and earth, this Sunday morning Your grateful children praise and bless You for allowing us to see another fabulous day filled with Your LOVING-kindness!
 
We give you plenty, plenty thanks for it all… especially for Jesus Christ, our BELOVED Lord and Saviour, who sacrificed His sinless life so that we could be reconciled to You! Please accept this, our sacrifice of praise and thanks!
 
You know deep down that we LOVE You, it’s just that sometimes our sinful nature gets in the way. Please help us to overcome it, so that we can walk in perfect righteousness with You. This we pray, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.’
 
Yeh mih people, prayer is certainly a wonderful thing!
 
Consequently, let me remind us of this quote by Hartley Coolidge, which I think I’ve shared before, but is important enough for us to hear again, since most things don’t filter into our souls until we hear them over and over again.
 
And Hartley says: ‘Be not afraid to pray, to pray is right. Pray, if thou canst with hope, but even pray.’
 
And that my fellow believers we all know is heavenly truth, but unfortunately, too often we neglect to put it into action and thus prevent ourselves from communicating more fully with Almighty God.
 
Now here is a definition of prayer, taken from the One More Day Devotional. ‘Prayer is a creative expression of my spiritual needs. It offers me a deep sense of personal satisfaction and continually reminds me of all life’s forces.’ 
 
Now that’s how prayer should affect us, my brethren – fulfilling our spiritual needs and bringing us even closer to our awesome Creator!
 
And all of that build up finally brings us to our Bit: ‘But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.’
 
Ah mih people, prayer is so important in a believer’s life that every great man of God has enshrined it their lives!
 
So let’s look at some scripture from some of these godly men that highlight prayer. And with my known bias towards Bruh David (smile) we’ll begin with some of his heartfelt words.
 
In Psalm 4; an evening prayer of trust in God, he soulfully implores his Maker: ‘Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged  (relieved) me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me (be gracious unto me), and hear my prayer.’ (Ps.4:1)
 
Then in Psalm 5; a prayer for protection, he sincerely pleads: ‘Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my meditation (groaning). Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.’ (Ps.5:1-3)
 
Oh Friends, you can’t get any clearer or plead more sincerely than that!
 
Meanwhile Cousin Sol in his God-given wisdom, solidly maintains: ‘The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.’ (Prov.15:3)
 
And that’s gospel truth my brethren! Our wonderful God takes great delight in hearing the prayers of His servants! Please never forget that! Whatever the problem, Jehovah God is always there ready, willing and able to respond to our sincere prayers and answer them.
 
That’s one of His many promises, and we know that He keeps them all faithfully. So don’t ever doubt, or hesitate to call on Him, because that’s what He is there for, and it’s also what He greatly desires of us. 
 

And we’ll end, as we like to do, whenever possible, with the best advice from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He spoke these faithful words after withering up the unfruitful fig tree.
 
‘And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain; Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.’ (Matt.21:20-22)
 
Awright mih breddren, awright! Words of truth from our Saviour Himself! 
 
And as always, they are simple and straightforward, so there’s nothing left for me to say, but to plead with us to accept them and diligently follow them, so that our lives will be even more enriched with God’s LOVING-kindness! Much LOVE!
 
…believe…and ask IN PRAYER…and you shall receive…  
 
P.S. Sorry for the Bit being late Friends, but I’ve been trying to stave off a cold for the last few days, but it stubbornly refused to be staved off (smile) It hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday and reduced my efficiency. But as you can see, though it might make the Bit late, it certainly won’t stop it! And that’s much more a testimony to our heavenly Father’s faithfulness than to my doggedness! Much LOVE! 
 
 
 
 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 20 June 2013 Psalm 66:16.

Psalm 66:16:    Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
 
All hail mih people! What’s new with you this Thursday morning eh? Not much you say. Well it’s the same here with me. I have nothing spectacular to say, but by the time I’m finished, with the Lord’s help, I will have said stuff that will fill us with strength and good tidings and also boosted our faith and trust in the great God we worship, the One who created the universe and all therein.
 
And we’ll begin with these affirmations: ‘I CAN do all things through Christ! God has new opportunities for me! I’m not settling for where I am now! I’m stretching myself and pursuing what He has put in my heart! God’s plan for my life is greater than I could imagine, and I’m determined to be who He wants me to be! This is my declaration of what I CAN do through Christ!’
 
Yes mih Friends, those are certainly most excellent affirmations for us to start today or any day with! But I’m chuckling here because I don’t remember where I got them. I obviously cut out the two by three card from something and have it stuck on my desk. The important thing though is not so much where I got it from, but that I have strong affirmations to boost my faith and trust in Christ, each and every day!
 
And so we come to our Bit, which is taken from Psalm 66, superscripted, The great works of God. And He has indeed done many great works on the earth since the beginning of time, right up to the present time, and will continue to do so in the hereafter!
 
And His works are so life changing and impact us in such powerful ways, that’s why the psalmist invites us to ‘Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.’
 
Oh my brethren, the Lord God Jehovah has certainly done a lot of spectacular and miraculous works in the souls of all those who sincerely revere Him! That is a foregone conclusion! We cannot revere and worship Him without Him doing mighty and magnificent works in us.
 
As Bruh Paul so wisely puts it in 2 Corinthians: ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.’ (2 Cor.5:17)
 
Now that’s a must Friends! We cannot be in league with Christ and continue in our old sinful, worldly ways. We have to change and adopt Christ-like attitudes and behaviour.
 
As Bruh Paul again declares, this time to the Ephesians: ‘And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.’ (Eph.4:23-24)
 
Yes my brethren, we definitely need to change our old habits when we receive Christ, otherwise we won’t be truly in and of Him. And as per some of the changes we need to make, please read the rest of Ephesians 4, verses 25-32.
 
Now turning back to our Bit, let’s see what the Lord did for the psalmist that moved him so much, that raised his passion to such a level, that he just had to declare it in song.
 
‘I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled (praised) with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: But verily God hath heard me, he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.’ (Ps.66:17-20)
 
Oh my fellow believers, after reading that, I can only say again, what a wonderful God we serve and worship! Why? Because He didn’t do that only for the psalmist, but does it for all those who sincerely believe in Him and come crying to Him for merciful succour! That’s the magnanimity of our omnipotent God!
 
And that means we all must have a testimony similar to that of the psalmist, which, like him, we ought to gladly share with, and proudly shout to the entire world!
 
And all God’s people then declared in a loud, sincere voice: ‘All praise and honour be to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! For He is indeed worthy to be praised and glorified in all the heaven and the earth!’ 
 
Yes Friends, our God is truly worthy of much adoration, praise, worship and thanksgiving!
 
And we’ll end with the opening verses of Psalm 116, which puts it all in a perfect nutshell. ‘I LOVE the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me (hath listened to me), therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.’ (Ps.116:1-2)
 
And to those wonderful sentiments, all God’s children shouted a heartfelt ‘Amen!’ 
 
Now my brethren, my fellow believers in Christ, let’s all go about our daily lives and testify to what God has done for us. Lets put all those sentiments we’ve just expressed into action in our walk of LOVE today, so we can both glorify our magnificent God and further His glorious kingdom, as He truly deserves and desires us to do. In Jesus’ holy name, I pray. Amen.
 
And yuh see Friends, with the Lord’s help, I fulfilled my promise to eventually have something worthwhile to say. (smile) That’s why I just have to LOVE, honour and obey Him as best I can, with my whole body and soul. Much LOVE!
 
…when a believer is walking in step with Jesus…a big bubble of LOVE enfolds his heart…and a special look of joy radiates from his countenance…