The Overwhelming and All Important Need that Christians Have for Christ!

10 Aug 2025 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 11:28.         Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

And since today is a bright and sunshiny Sunday friends, hot like those of the recent past, and also with a heat warning, it means that all roads lead to the Lord’s Sanctuary – hope they are air-conditioned. (smile) We go there to offer up praise, worship and thanksgiving, and to receive His amazing grace, mercy, strength and joy, to help us handle the vicissitudes of the upcoming week. And today we begin our worship with a marvellous and most appropriate contemporary Christian song for these tough and turbulent times. It is simply titled, ‘Lord I Need You.’ 

And that is the indisputable truth, for in these ungodly and scary times, we need the Lord more than ever. However, before we get into the song, since we are talking about needing God, I believe it would be helpful to define ‘a need.’ So, here’s an interesting definition from this commentary.

It says, ‘A need is something that is necessary for an organism to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants in that, in the case of a need, a deficiency causes a clear adverse outcome: a dysfunction or death. In other words, a need is something required for a safe, stable and healthy life (e.g. food, water, and shelter) while a want is a desire, wish or aspiration.’

Now, taking that definition of a need into consideration, saying that we need the Lord is certainly another indisputable truth. For without Him in our lives, leading, guiding, and protecting us, we would surely die, both physically and spiritually! Oh yes, He is certainly someone we need to help our human organisms lead a healthy life. (smile) And now that we know what a need is, let’s offer up our sacrifices of praise through this beautiful and most timely song, in an uplifting and lively version, like that done by the renowned Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.

Singing: ‘Lord I come, I confess Bowing here, I find my rest Without You, I fall apart You’re the one that guides my heart (Chorus: Lord, I need You, oh I need You Every hour, I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You) Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more Where grace is found is where You are And where You are, Lord I am free Holiness is Christ in me (Chorus)

So teach my song to rise to You When temptation comes my way And when I cannot stand, I’ll fall on You Jesus, You’re my hope and stay (Chorus. Lord, I need You, oh I need You Every hour, I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You You’re my one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You.’

And as we said before that is the indisputable truth! And not only the indisputable one nuh, but also the gospel truth as well as the infallible one…and any other serious truths out there! (smile) Yes my people, God created us and still controls us, therefore we need Him big time. And if we read Psalm 139, Bruh David’s Praise to the All-Knowing God, we will see how He formed us in our mother’s wombs, knows our thoughts, and everything we’ll say before we even say, we cannot hide from Him, and above all how ‘fearfully wonderfully’ we’re made. So how can we not need Him eh?

Then, we see, the chorus in the song confesses our need for the Lord every hour as our “one defense, my righteousness.” Meanwhile the first verse talks about finding rest in God, and without Him, we’d fall apart. That’s very true, and recalls Jesus’ Great Invitation to cover just such needs. ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of (from) me; for I am meek and lowly in heart (gentle and humble): and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ (Matt. 11:28-30)

And all who hear that invitation and don’t accept it, they are certainly crazed in the head! For there’s nothing like it to be gained from anyone else. And as the chorus tells us how badly we need the Lord, the second verse let’s us know that  ‘Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more Where grace is found is where You are And where You are, Lord I am free…’

And where is the Lord’s grace found? The author of Hebrews reminds us: ‘Let us therefore come boldly (confidently) unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ (Heb. 4:16) Yes friends, grace can be found most abundantly at the throne of grace!

Then the last verse declares: ‘So teach my song to rise to You When temptation comes my way And when I cannot stand, I’ll fall on You Jesus, You’re my hope and stay’ Oh my fellow believers, it’s like James says: ‘Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that LOVE him.’ (James 1:12) And to help us endure the temptation, these practical scripture verses from the pen of Bruh Paul to the Ephesians could be our guide.

‘See then that ye walk circumspectly (carefully), not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time (making the most of every opportunity), because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess (dissipation); but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.’ (Eph. 5:15-21)

That’s the good thing about Bruh Paul, he doesn’t only fill us with doctrine, but always gives some practical advice on how to integrate it into our lives.  And we’ll end with this testimony from an unknown believer. He testifies: ‘God has used this song so much in my life over the past couple months. There are moments when we feel desperate, when we wonder why, we feel alone, we are so joyful, we feel so blessed…or we ask that God would show us what He wants from us and how to live.

And that’s where these words touch my heart so much…”Lord, I need You, oh I need You. Every hour I need You. My one defense, my righteousness, oh God how I need You.” He is ALL that we need. That’s what He wants from us. For us to run to Him, cling to Him and trust Him with everything we’re going through. Whether it’s painful and hard, or joy filled and exciting! We need Him!’

And that’s the amazing truth, my brethren! So let’s keep our faith going strong by needing Christ as much as ever! Much LOVE!

…when you have Christ…you don’t need anyone or anything else…

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit   16 January 2022 Hebrews 4:16.

16 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

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

Hebrews 4:16.     Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Another Sunday, another day of worship friends! That ever so important time every week, when we praise and glorify our most wonderful God corporately, even if it’s by technological means and not actual physical gathering. That’s because worship is worship whether you are in a sanctuary together or a million miles apart, connected only by TV or computer.

And worship isn’t only to give God His much deserved thanks and glory, but also a time of restoring and renewing our faith in Christ Jesus, where we receive His strength and renewal of our spirit, so that we can go back out again in the new work week and raise up His name to all the world. Like Jesus said to the disciples: ‘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. 28:19-20)

Yes friends, that’s one of our major earthly purposes, and worshipping together every Sunday, helps to give us the wherewithal to do our bounden duty. So let’s begin our worship with a song of praise that’s rather appropriate for these turbulent times in which we are currently living. It’s aptly titled: ‘Lord I Need You!’ And do we ever need Him, my faithful brethren! So let’s offer up our sacrifices of praise through the contemporary Christian song, as sung by one of its writers, Matt Maher.

In a soulful, scintillating, heartfelt manner, let’s sing! ‘Lord I come, I confess Bowing here, I find my rest Without You, I fall apart You’re the one that guides my heart (Chorus) Lord, I need You, oh I need You Every hour, I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You) Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more Where grace is found is where You are And where You are, Lord I am free Holiness is Christ in me (Chorus)

So teach my song to rise to You When temptation comes my way And when I cannot stand, I’ll fall on You Jesus, You’re my hope and stay (Chorus. Lord, I need You, oh I need You Every hour, I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You You’re my one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You.’

Oh my fellow saints, Jesus is indeed ALL of those things to us! That’s why we so desperately need Him, every minute, every hour of every day! And what’s a need you ask? One explanation goes like this: ‘A need is something that is necessary for an organism to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants in that, in the case of a need, a deficiency causes a clear adverse outcome: a dysfunction or death. In other words, a need is something required for a safe, stable and healthy life (e.g. food, water, shelter) while a want is a desire, wish or aspiration.’

And that’s the thing about needing Jesus; without Him we can’t live, safe, healthy, stable lives, in fact we can’t live at all, we’d die spiritually, with no hope of eternal life! And that, as we all know, is the saddest thing that can ever happen to a human soul and sprit. Now the website, Godtube, tells us: ‘This song confesses our need for the Lord every hour as our “one defense, my righteousness.” And that’s the indisputable truth! Christ is the first line of defense for believers and also the author of all our righteousness. It’s only through Hm that we are made righteous in the eyes of the Lord God Jehovah.

Then, they invite us to discover some of the scriptural influences in the song, pointing out that verse one: ‘Lord, I come, I confess Bowing here I find my rest Without You I fall apart You’re the One that guides my heart,’ reflects the Great Invitation of Jesus. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) And you can’t find fault with that reasoning.

And per  the Chorus: ‘Lord, I need You, oh, I need You Every hour I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You,’ they say that points to these two magnificent and encouraging scriptures. First, one from Hebrews: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

And isn’t that the awesome truth! Once Jesus broke the curtain of the veil that separated us from God by His magnificent resurrection, we can now freely go to the Father for help in each and every situation. The problem here though, is that too many of us don’t make use of this awesome provision, still retaining the old thinking that God is too holy and far away for us lowly, sinful minions to go to Him on what we consider trivial matters.

But the truth is my people, our God wants to get involved in EVERYTHING we do, in EVERY aspect of our lives. That’s why He gave His only Son Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins. Thus reconciling us to Himself, bringing us back to His fold as His beloved children. And what child doesn’t admire His father and go to Him in times of need eh? And since Jesus is our Advocate, High Priest, Defender, Provider, our ALL in ALL, it means we can go to Him without fear, but with confidence to meet our needs.

Then the second verse they say the chorus reflects is this one from Peter. “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15) Yes friends, we must always be ready, willing and able to tell others why we believe so wholeheartedly in Christ, but in a gentle and respectful manner, like Jesus would.

So with the sun shining brightly in my area this very cold Sunday, it is indeed a good day to be alive, and to worship our omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and ever-faithful, ever-LOVING God, who, through His marvellous Son, Jesus Christ, satisfies all our needs. Please give Him much thanks and praise today my people for His marvellous grace, goodness and mercy to us underserving folks! Much LOVE!

…once you have Christ in your life…you don’t need anybody else…Glory Be!

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit 19 January 2020 Philippians 4:19.

19 Jan 2020 Leave a comment

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

Philippians 4:19.    ​But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ.
 
And the snow did fall…in copious quantities too, but thankfully my information was wrong, we were only going to get 15 cm of snow, not the 50 I wrote about yesterday. However, the east coast province of Newfoundland and Labrador did receive a solid walloping over the weekend culminating in some 70 cm of the white stuff. Obviously everything was shut down under such a blanket of snow, with power outages and other necessities sadly lacking. 

Apparently even the snow trucks had to be taken off the road, since the blizzard was so bad that visibility was impossible. Friends, please, let’s pray for them and offer any other help that we can, because we never know when it will be our turn to be in such a despairing and disastrous situation. 

So closer to home now, the snow is finished falling but we had some freezing rain overnight and with the drop in temperature, it’s possibly slick and icy out there. So please be careful if you’re venturing out. And please don’t use the weather conditions as a convenient excuse not to go to church, (smile) although some of us will find it extremely difficult, even impossible to get out and about. 

And having said all of that, let’s turn to our multi-purpose in the Lord’s sanctuary today; to worship our great God, give Him much thanks and praise from sincere and overflowing hearts of gratitude, to enjoy sweet and encouraging fellowship with other believers, to hear the awesome Word of God which refreshes and renews us and gives us oodles of confidence and reassurance to face the fallen world in which we live! 

Now how can we get all of that if we don’t go to church eh, or have a gathering of two or three somewhere convenient? For Christ did say that wherever two or three are gathered together in His name, that He would be right there in the midst of them. (Matt. 18:20) So if only a small gathering is possible, then so be it, but a big gathering would be nicer. (smile) And today’s opening song of worship is indeed very appropriate for these troubled and disastrous times. It’s aptly titled ‘Lord I Need You’ 

And do we ever need Him friends, so let’s raise our voices in sweet harmony as we call out to our Lord and Saviour for the help that only He can give. ‘(Chorus: Lord, I need You, oh, I need You Every hour I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You) Lord, I come, I confess Bowing here I find my rest Without You I fall apart You’re the One that guides my heart (Chorus: Lord, I need You, oh, I need You Every hour I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You) 

Where sin runs deep Your grace is more Where grace is found is where You are And where You are, Lord, I am free Holiness is Christ in me (Chorus: Lord, I need You, oh, I need You Every hour I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You) Teach my song to rise to You When temptation comes my way And when I cannot stand I’ll fall on You Jesus, you’re my hope and stay. Lord, I need You, oh, I need You Every hour I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You. I need You every hour, Oh Lord how I need You…Oh how I need You. yes Lord, I need You, every hour of every day…That’s how much I need you.’  

Ah mih people, from all of that we should see how desperately we need Jesus Christ and all that He stands for. And what is a need you ask? Here’s something from a website that I forgot the name. But it says: ‘A need is something that is necessary for an organism to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants in that, in the case of a need, a deficiency causes a clear adverse outcome: a dysfunction or death. In other words, a need is something required for a safe, stable and healthy life (e.g. food, water, shelter) while a want is a desire, wish or aspiration. 

When needs or wants are backed by purchasing power, they have the potential to become economic demands. Basic needs such as water, air, food and protection from environmental dangers are necessary for an organism to live. In addition to basic needs, humans also have needs of a social or societal nature such as the human need to socialize or belong to a family unit or group. Needs can be objective and physical, such as the need for food, or psychological and subjective, such as the need for self-esteem. Needs and wants are a matter of interest in, and form a common substrate for, the fields of philosophy, biology, psychology, social science, economics, marketing and politics.’ 

And yes we need all of those things, but even more importantly we need things like spiritual protection, the ability to confess our sins and know we’re forgiven, a place of rest to lay down our burdens, someone to guide us, to help us with righteousness, to provide grace and mercy, freedom from worry and anxiety, a strong tower to fall back on, not forgetting strength and faith to stand strong against temptation! Yes friends, we do need a lot, and Jesus is the ONLY ONE who can satisfy it ALL! He is indeed our ‘hope and stay!’ 

And there’s no better verse in the Good Book that guarantees our needs than Bruh Paul’s words to the Philippians, after they sacrificed from their little to send him a gift. ‘But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ.’ 

And the scholars explain that verse thus: 4:19. Because the Lord is aware of the sacrifice (v.18) that the Philippians made in meeting Paul’s needs, God will surely supply all their need. God will meet their need (1) according to his riches, that is in proportion to His unlimited resources: (2) in glory, that is, He will meet their need “gloriously” or “in a splendid manner”; and (3) by Christ Jesus.’ 

Ah friends, once we have Jesus, we don’t need anything, or anybody else! Let’s remember that and put our whole faith and trust in Him nuh, because He will see us faithfully through this live unto the next one, and long thereafter. Much LOVE!…

so let us come boldly (confidently)…to the throne of grace…that we may obtain mercy…and find grace…to help…in time of need… (Hebs. 4:16)