The Overwhelming Importance Of Meditating On God’s Word To Ensure A Successful Earthly Life!

15 Feb 2025 Leave a comment

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

Joshua 1:8a.        This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth (shall be constantly in thy mouth); but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,

And the much forecasted snowstorm for this lazy-day Saturday in the middle of February is here! Yes friends, at midday, it’s already falling out there with a sense of determination. (smile) And like the denizens of the area totally believed that it would come, for the duchess went to the grocery earlier on this morning and complained she’d never seen such long lines everywhere in the store. Everyone seemed to be out, stocking up on stuff for the storm, which the computer says would be at least 10 cm strong. It’s a good thing I’m in recovery mode, so I don’t have to go out there. (smile) 

And it’s such a good time to have a lazy-day Saturday, although I just realized that it’s been ages since we last prayed our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer, because a couple of the days we’ve missed have been Saturdays. So please, let’s rectify that now nuh, by sincerely offering up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer. 

As one voice: ‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’ 

And there’s something about that prayer I just LOVED from the first moment I read it! It’s simple, but contains a whole lot of emotion and longing for God. And as always, if our prayer was sincere, we’ll soon be feeling that welcome sense of peace and calm reinvigorating our souls, bodies and spirits, for the Lord cannot help but positively answer such heartfelt prayers from His people. 

That’s why it’s ever so necessary, in these times of chaos and disaster to stick with the Lord God Jehovah, the One who created us and still LOVES and controls us. But to do that successfully, we have to read, and meditate on His Word, accept His Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and allow His Holy Spirit that indwells us to lead and guide our earthly lives. That’s the only way to successful earthly living. 

The Lord Himself spelt it out to Joshua in that first chapter when He made him leader of the Israelites after the death of Moses, and gave him the tough, unenviable task of leading His people into the Promised Land.  And I believe that right now, it would do us a whole lot of good if we read, remembered and reminisced on these most provocative and productive words of our great God. 

Please read with me. The Lord said to Joshua: ‘Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper (have success or act wisely) whithersoever thou goest.’ (Josh. 1:7) Yuh see that friends, it’s of the utmost importance that we stay on the chosen path of God, and not turn either way from it, if we truly desire to be successful in this mortal life. 

But that’s not all. The Lord continues to whisper in Joshua’s ear (smile) ‘This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth (shall be constantly in thy mouth); but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.’ (Josh 1:8) 

And our God is so good to us that He shows us how not to turn from His law; that’s by meditating on it day and night, constantly speaking, reading, and thinking on it. That way we will not stray from His chosen path and then have good success. It’s an eternal promise! And if we don’t achieve it, it’s because of our lack of understanding and following of His faithful principle: meditating on His Word and doing what it says. 

Remember what James said? ‘Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.’ (James 2:17) That means you can have all the faith in the world, know the Word from cover to cover, but if you don’t put it to work, action it in your life, then it’s worthless. For good intentions are good, but they do not soothe or quiet or uplift the spirt, body or soul, only worthwhile actions do that! 

But I’m chuckling here, and I do so every time I read this scripture about Joshua and the Lord. Joshua might have thought the Lord was finished after giving him those two strong verses, but he was sadly mistaken, because the Lord further reinforced them with this most beautiful encouragement. ‘Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.’ (Josh. 1:9) 

Oh my people, what a wonderful piece of scripture; one filled with such promise that even if we knew nothing else, that would be sufficient for us to have prosperity in and with our wonderful God! But for us to do our best, we need to get the whole picture and put it into worthwhile action; That’s meditating on God’s Word, not straying from His path and having strong faith in His awesome and most faithful promises to lead and guide us in the right way. 

And there’s no better time to begin doing that than right now on this lazy-day Saturday. As the snow falls in quiet peace on the land, let’s turn to God’s Word and allow it to bring that same kind of quiet peace and calm to our lives. It’s our heritage as believers in Christ Jesus! Much LOVE!

…only by knowing and putting the Lord’s Word into action…can a successful earthly life be accomplished…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 8 April 2020 Joshua 1:9.

08 Apr 2020 Leave a comment

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

Joshua 1:9.    ​Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed : for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
 
Come together…right now…over Covid-19! Yes friends, that’s the wise and sensible thing for us all to do – come together to fight this dreadful virus! It doesn’t matter whether you’re a believer or an unbeliever, or of any other persuasion or distinction, because the virus doesn’t play favourites in that regard. Once you’re a human being, a creation of the Most High God, you’re considered suitable, or rather excellent material to invade and proliferate within. So let’s put aside all animosity and differences nuh, and fight together, because this is truly a fight for mankind’s existence here on earth. 

And it’s not like we’ve never had a fight or fights before to stay superior here on Mother Earth, we’ve had several down through the ages, and I believe that it’s a powerful togetherness back in those dangerous times that still has us ruling this dominion. And one of the good things about our current predicament, is that it causes us to go back in history and look for similar situations and how they were handled. Now, yesterday I received a poem and picture that someone recently came across. Apparently it was written way back in time – 1869, to be exact, and reprinted during the 1919 Pandemic. 

And I’m chuckling, because I just noticed how similar those pandemic dates are; the same number of the century and year – 1919, 2020. Don’t know if it means anything. (smile) Anyway the picture is of two adult, well dressed women, with their Panama-like hats covering their heads, and large masks covering the entire lower portion of their face; everything but their eyes. And they are walking down the sidewalk arm in arm, as if coming from the grocery. Judging by the picture though, it doesn’t seem as if they were practicing social distancing back then, as we are encouraged to do now. 

Anyhow, here is the poem. And as the person truthfully writes: ‘This is Timeless… And people stayed at home And read books And listened And they rested And did exercises And made art and played And learned new ways of being And stopped and listened More deeply And someone meditated, someone prayed Someone met their shadow 

And people began to think differently And people healed And in the absence of people who Lived in ignorant ways Dangerous, meaningless and heartless, The earth also began to heal And when the danger ended and People found themselves They grieved for the dead And made new choices And dreamed of new visions And created new ways of living And completely healed the earth Just as they were healed.’ 

Oh my people, that was a hundred years ago, how reminiscent of the time we are now going through eh! But you see they did what they were supposed to do, come together, stay at home, pray, meditate, rest, do exercises, listen…then listen more deeply, stop living dangerously and ignorantly, without compassion, and follow the rules and regulations, because that’s the only way this virus is going to be stopped and hopefully eradicated. And when it’s done, we too will have to grieve for the dead, make new choices, dream new dreams, have new visions and find new ways to live this life, since a lot of things would have changed during the pandemic time. 

And what I like about that poem is that even way back then, people were concerned about the state of the earth, what we now call climate change was beginning to show forth. Yes my people, the healing of the earth was also important, not only the healing of the people. And that’s one of the things we badly need to consider during these disastrous times; how can we help the earth heal, after all the foolish and careless damage we’ve done to it? 

And the best way I know is by listening to what the Lord promised Cousin Sol when he dedicated the temple. ‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’ (2 Chr. 7:14) And there’s absolutely no doubt friends that our land needs healing just as badly as we the people on it do! 

So let’s look at it this way nuh; if we want our children, their children, and future generations to enjoy a good life on a good Planet Earth, then it’s absolutely necessary that we pull together RIGHT NOW! We need to take this virus very seriously; stay at home as much as possible, practice social distancing, clean habits, pray, meditate, day and night as the Good Book says and encourage each other through the many means we still have available to us. 

Ah mih people, this generation has never seen anything like it, and for the few of us who’ve seen war, it’s even more dangerous and deadly than that. And there are no more telling words in the Good Book than these that the Lord spoke to Joshua way back when. ‘This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein: for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed : for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.’ (Josh. 1:8-9) 

Yes friends, those are possibly the two most powerful verses in the Good Book re successful earthly living. So let’s get right on it now nuh; let’s read the Word, study and meditate on it, then put it into action in our lives, while staying strong and courageous because our omnipotent God is still in control and He has NEVER, and will NEVER  let us down, because He is faithful, who promised. 

Now let’s declare our Wednesday Wail, showing the world how we’re standing strong and courageous in the Lord and thus having good success. As one strong voice, with sincere hearts: ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

And if we truly believe, then we’ll know that the future with Christ will be even more glorious than our finite and puny minds can even ask or imagine! Much LOVE!

…to God be the glory…to God be the praise… for His everlasting grace and mercy…