Today’s Scrip-Bit   24 January 2022 John 14:15.

24 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

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

John 14:15.     If ye LOVE me, keep my commandments.

Ah friends, my most humble apologies for the Bit being so late today. I began it earlier on, but just wasn’t in proper functioning mode, so I left it until I felt capable of doing it justice. But here’s what I had written so far: (smile) Monday, oh Monday…how shall we describe thee eh? As the scariest or most anxiety-filled day of the week…the one everybody LOVES to hate, and doesn’t like to appear on their horizon, because it means work, travel, labour, etc. etc.…? That’s getting up off our fat, lazy, entitled fannies after a weekend of great indulgence, indulgences of the mostly carnal kind. (smile) 

Yes, my people, Monday is the day that brings out the worst in us, when we need to be at our best, at our best in winning souls for Jesus! It gives us no break, no leeway, just a constant flashing of the figurative whip, ever so subtly, yeah, very subtly inviting us to get up and get a move on! Oh Monday… you are such a hard taskmaster! But any leader who’s worth his salt, must have some of the hard taskmaster resilience in them. And we find that in both Satan and Jesus, though the flashing whip of Jesus is coated with genuine caring, LOVE, mercy and compassion, while the devil is just full of evil, selfishness and greed. 

And we see the tough LOVE in Jesus, when He says: ‘If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren (brothers), and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.’ (Luke 14:26-27) Yes friends, those are indeed hard words, but we know that Jesus did not mean we ought to truly hate our friends and families, but that His ministry, His will ought to be first and foremost in our minds, bodies, hearts and souls. 

That’s just it! If our main intent is not to further the kingdom of God and His righteousness, despite the many problems we might face, then we are lacking in true discipleship. Jesus also declared to the disciples: ‘Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.’ (John 15:15) And, ‘If ye LOVE me, keep my commandments.’ (John 14:15) Now that’s the hallmark of any follower of any leader; to do what they command them to do, otherwise you are not a true follower. Which means that a lot of us supposed true believers are not really true believers, since we don’t do what Jesus says, we don’t keep His commandments. 

But then, in typical Jesus fashion, after admonishing us to give up our will for His, to live our lives by His dictates, He turns around and promises: ‘And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless (as orphans): I will come to you.’ (John 14:16-18) 

Ah mih bredrin, what a wonderful Lord and Saviour is our Jesus! He lays down strong rules, but enhances them with mighty promises. And we all know He kept that promise of the coming of the indwelling Holy Ghost on that long ago Pentecost day, when the believers were in the upper room… ‘And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven (divided) tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ (Acts 2:2-4) 

Jesus does keep His promises friends, although some of them might seem farfetched to our puny and finite minds. Yes, since that momentous day, upon receiving Christ as Lord and Saviour, every believer has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them in their earthly walk with Christ.  And let’s not forget what we call our Great Commission backed by a great promise, when Jesus instructed the disciples, and consequently ALL future followers: 

‘All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’ (Matt. 28:18-20) 

Now that’s a tough commission to enforce, but the disciples took Jesus seriously because they trusted Him implicitly, and did it, obviously with His help, through the Holy Spirit. The problem right now though is that the current crop of believers is not pushing forward as powerfully and steadfastly as we ought to, that’s why Christ’s church is suffering and in much disarray. We’re not sufficiently keeping Christ’s commandments, not LOVING Him enough, not being His true friend, and thus we’re falling behind in our discipleship. 

But all is not lost, it’s never lost when Jesus is in the mix! That means we can still make a substantial difference if we hunker down and do like we ought to. And since prayer, with thanksgiving is vital to our successful discipleship, let’s turn to our great and wonderful God right now in prayer, with thanksgiving, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, asking for divine strength and guidance. 

Altogether now: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. 

Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. That’s why we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading with You to give us wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems.  

And Father, we pray that you will ease the pain of the many who are suffering from negative situations. Please show them Your awesome grace and mercy, and keep Your promise that You’ll hear our prayer, forgive us, and heal our land if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

Now, please remember that we’ve just promised to pray and seek the Lord’s face, so we had better keep that promise if we want to receive positive answers to our prayers, because the Lord doesn’t suffer promise breakers gladly. Much LOVE!

…only by keeping God’s commandments…can we ever hope to prosper and succeed… 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8                  

Today’s Scrip-Bit   21 December 2021 John 3:16.

21 Dec 2021 Leave a comment

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

John 3:16.     For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

It’s Tuesday friends…! Only four more days to the big one…Christmas Day, when we celebrate the awesome birth, the miraculous and magnificent incarnation of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, where God became man, ‘the Word became flesh,’  through the amazing power of the Holy Spirit, so that we could be saved from our abominable sins, as had been promised many centuries before! Now that’s a big sentence, chocked full of wonderful and amazing information to which this evil world ought to pay much attention, because it all resounds and abounds to our benefit, both now and into eternity. 

With the birth of Christ our heavenly Father decided it was finally time to pull out all the stops and let His creation know exactly who He was, what He stood for, the glory of His kingdom and the awesome LOVE He bore for a prideful, selfish, evil and disobedient people, all through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, through His incredible birth, His martyrdom on the cross of Calvary, and His amazing resurrection, His triumphant victory over death, hell and the grave! 

A better LOVE story has never been, or will ever be written or enacted like that one! Simply because it was written by the Master of LOVE, the true embodiment of the word, the fountain wherein the emotion is created and from which it so generously flows. And it’s all laid out so beautifully and graciously in these few words of our Saviour, as He explains the Father’s reasoning and basic purpose for His coming to earth. ‘For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.’ (John 3:16-17) 

Mama Oh Mama! What beautiful sentiments! In fact, there could be none more beautiful! Why? Because God was doing the ultimate in LOVE; saving His stubborn, recalcitrant, disobedient children from a fate even worse than death, that of eternal separation from Him, the One who created them for fellowship with Himself. Now, you know how badly we feel, the utter grief and heartache that we go through when we lose one of our children, so why wouldn’t our heavenly Father feel the same way when He loses His children eh? 

Remember, we were made in His image, that means He is a living, breathing and feeling soul, with heartfelt emotions just like us, so He also feels pain, anger and grief. Can you imagine the heartache it cost Him to send His ONE Son to earth to die for a bunch of ingrates? And can you imagine how He felt when His Son came to Him three times, pouring out His heart in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking for a reprieve from His imminent sacrificial death on the cross. How His whole being must have trembled when Jesus pleaded: ‘’O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.’ (Matt. 26:39) 

And not once, but three times, He had to endure that searing pain and say no to His only child. Now we also know how it hurts us sometimes when we have to say no to our children. So just imagine how the Father felt having to condemn His Son to death for people who really didn’t give a damn! And how do you think the Father felt when Jesus cried out to Him, outstretched on the cross in His dying throes eh? 

Don’t you think the Father had to swallow His immense hurt when the words ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ or ‘My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?’ reached His ears, knowing full well that that was the first time they had ever been separated, and He had to turn away from Him, and lay the whole weight of the world’s sins on His Son’s shoulders to provide an option for His frail, spineless creation to be saved? 

Yes friends, our great and wonderful God put Himself through a lot of heartache on our behalf, but all we do is repay Him with stubborn disobedience, sinful, immoral living and evil deeds rather worthy of His and our enemy, the devil Beelzebub! We are very quick to complain, but ever so slow to obey. And that kind of behaviour doesn’t work well in God’s kingdom. Remember what the prophet Samuel, told Saul, the first king of Israel, when he lost his kingdom through disobedience? ‘Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken (listen) than the fat of rams.’ (1 Sam. 15:22b) 

And those words still hold true today my people! Our God desires obedience to His laws above and before anything else! That’s why Jesus pleaded with us: ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt. 6:33) Yes my people, in this earthly life, God, and the things of God need to come before everything else! We need to give up our will, surrender the free choice He gave us, and choose to follow His will. 

Jesus did it when He acquiesced to the Father’s will and became the sacrifice for our sins. Then He said it loud and clear for us: ‘If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren (brothers), and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.’ (Luke 14:26-27) 

Oh my fellow saints, to be a true disciple of Jesus, we must be willing to forsake everything and everybody for His sake. Being a true disciple of Christ and a purveyor of LOVE, involves sacrifice, ofttimes on a small scale, but also possibly on a large one. The important thing is that we must be prepared to make whatever sacrifice it entails to do Jesus’ work and share His awesome LOVE and compassion. Now, most of the world is not prepared to do that, they prefer to embrace the easy, sinful and depraved lifestyle of the enemy Satan, but don’t worry, they will also reap the rewards of that ungodly life; death and eternal separation from God. 

Meanwhile, for the relatively few of us who choose to follow Jesus, making sacrifices as best we can, living in LOVE and harmony to the best of our ability, let’s go home declaring (yesss!!!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting the whole world know whose we are, to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. 

As one strong and sincere voice: ‘In God’s eyes, 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!’ 

And having declared all of that, it’s now our bounden duty to go out and share that amazing LOVE and friendship of Christ with others, so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do! Much LOVE!

…there are consequences to every decision…let’s think carefully about the consequences…before we make the decisions… 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8         

Today’s Scrip-Bit   5 December 2021 Luke 14:27.

05 Dec 2021 Leave a comment

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

Luke 14:27.     And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Here we are together friends on another Sunday, just thrilled to be in each other’s company, whether physically in the Lord’s Sanctuary, or by technological means. The important thing is that we are together for worship, prayer and thanksgiving. And I recently read an interesting statement where a lady asked a pastor why we go to church, and he replied that we go to church because someone might need us there. That’s good. It’s also true. And the corollary to that is also true, we too might need someone there. 

Now if you have doubts about why we gather on the Lord’s day, then listen to these moving words from Hebrews, written to the displaced Christian Jews who were suffering serious persecution all over the Roman Empire. The author writes: ‘Let us hold fast the profession (confession) of our faith (hope) without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke (stir up) unto LOVE and unto good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.’ (Heb. 10:23-25) 

And the scholars explain: ‘10:25. Not forsaking the assembling: This admonition involves far more than an erratic attendance. It involves the entire worship of Christ and is an outward indication of an inner condition. The assembling of God’s people provides opportunity for reciprocal encouragement, strengthening, and the stirring up that can be gained from one another (cf. Col. 3:12-16) It consists of participation in worship and fellowship. The church is a body interacting (1 Cor. 12:14-17); it is not merely a dispensary of spiritual food and medicine.’ 

Wow! Yes friends, we don’t go to church just to be spiritually revived, but also to give of ourselves and to interact with others in praise and thanksgiving to our wonderful God. And now that we have a better understanding of why the saints of Christ ought to assemble, let’s get to some good old fashioned hymn singing, offering up praises to our heavenly King and Father. No doubt some of you are surprised that we didn’t begin as usual with the singing, but I happened upon those verses of Hebrews, or was led to them, who knows, and thought it a good idea to refresh our minds on the subject. 

And today’s hymn is a great favourite, one written around 1896, by the American hymnwriter, Judson W. Van DeVenter (1855-1939) and most appropriately titled ‘All to Jesus I Surrender.’ So, in a soulful, harmonious, scintillating, mid-tempo riddim, let’s offer up our sacrifices of praise from deep in our sincere hearts. 

‘All to Jesus I surrender. All to Him I freely give; I will ever LOVE and trust Him, In His presence daily live. (Refrain: I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.) All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow, Worldly pleasures all forsaken. Take me, Jesus, take me now. (Refrain: I surrender all..) All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Saviour, wholly Thine; Let me feel the Holy Spirit, Truly know that Thou art mine. (Refrain: I surrender all…) 

All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee; Fill me with Thy LOVE and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me. (Refrain: I surrender all…) All to Jesus I surrender, Now I feel the sacred flame; Oh, the joy of full salvation! Glory, glory, to His name! (Refrain: I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all…I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all… All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all…’ 

Ah mih people, that was a wonderful rendition, but the problem now is how many of us are truly ALL surrendered to Jesus? We sing it like we mean it, but in actual life do we give Him our ALL, do we let every aspect of lives fall under His omnipotent dominion, or do we hold back some parts that we still feel the need to control? Remember Jesus sees our hearts and explores the real motives that lie hidden there, so it doesn’t make any sense to sing one thing and deep down inside do something else. We might fool our fellow believer, but we won’t fool Jesus. 

And remember Jesus said He requires all of us, or nothing at all. Please don’t forget what He told the rich young ruler who enquired about eternal life, about keeping the commandments. And when the ruler said he had been doing that all his life, ‘Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt (want to) be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.’ (Matt. 19:21) 

Obviously, the man didn’t want to do that back then, and so do a lot of us today. We want to follow Jesus, but we don’t want to give up our earthly possessions to do it. However, Jesus requires us to sacrifice our will for His own. As Luke recounts of Jesus in his epistle. ‘If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren (brothers), and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.’ (Luke 14:26-27) 

Those are certainly tough words my brethren. But they are surmountable ones. Hear how the scholars explain them. ‘14:26. In comparison to one’s devotion to Christ, one’s family ties must be secondary. This does not set aside Jesus’ other teachings to LOVE one’s enemies, to honour father and mother, and the like. It does highlight that absolute loyalty to Christ is paramount, even though in many societies, including the one in which Jesus taught, as well as many today, following Him, involves precisely the either-or that this verse sets up.’ 

Thankfully though, in our current society, most believers do not have to give up all their physical belongings to follow Christ, but He does need our spiritual wherewithal, which can call for different kinds of sacrifices on His behalf. And that’s the main point in being a follower of Christ…that we subordinate our will to His, and are willing to give up whatever it takes, to make whatever sacrifice that’s necessary to do His will. 

Now that’s something for us to ponder on today. Considering all that we’ve said, are we fully surrendered to Christ? Only the individual believer can truly answer that. But let’s hope that we can all answer truthfully the question with a resounding ‘YES! Much LOVE!

…surrendering all to Jesus…is small potatoes…compared to what He surrendered for us…His sinless life… 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8