word to the wise | SCRIP-BITS

Isaiah 55:1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat: yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Oh Friends, the ole fella’s in a somewhat sour and sombre mood this Wednesday morning. In fact from since last night he’s been that way. And there isn’t any good or valid reason for it, because I’m fine in all other aspects of life. But I just don’t have the chutzpah, the get up and go that I usually have.

Even stuff that usually thrills me, didn’t do so last night. I guess the mind, body and soul are either tired, or that wily Lucifer espied a little hole in my armour and sneaked in a poisoned, fiery dart.

But yuh know what mih people, we’re going to correct that right now by putting on a new suit of spiritual armour…

There, it’s done! I have on a new suit with no blemishes whatsoever! I’m fully dressed in my helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, sandals of peace, shield of faith, and by my side is my trusty sword of the Spirit, my Good Book!

So Lucifer won’t be able to get in again, and we’ll freeze out what little poison is left in my soul. Thank the Lord!

Yes Friends, the ole fella’s spirit is already on the rebound. Praise the Lord! And there’s really no need to ever worry, because we can handle whatever comes against us since we serve and worship a powerful and magnificent God who is always with us, working for our good.

And He declares His awesome magnanimity right here in the words of our Bit. ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat: yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.’

Oh my people, that’s one deal no human being can beat or afford to pass up!

But strangely enough, many of us are doing just that; passing up the greatest offer ever made to man! We’ll flock to some business place that claims to have a fantastic deal, although more times than not it’s a scam, but very few of us are flocking to God for this free gift of grace. How sad my brethren!

But I guess we’re all afraid of free stuff and things that sound too good to be true. However, everyday many of us are still being taken in, caught in schemes that sound way too good to be true. We plunk down our hard earned cash, only to see it disappear into the wild, blue yonder. Then we moan and groan about if we’d only known.

Steups! On the contrary friends, this offer of God is one we’ll moan and groan about, because we HAVE NOT ACCEPTED IT! For come the judgement day, there’ll be no excuses or chances to make it right. So please listen, and wisely accept God’s offer, RIGHT NOW! Believe me, it’s the wisest decision you can ever make in this life!

And moreover, it will directly affect what happens to you from the day your body returns to the dust from which it was made, right through to eternity. Now you obviously don’t want to experience anything but the BEST in eternity, and this free offer of grace, salvation and eternal life is the ONLY THING that can guarantee you a blessed eternity!

And we saw yesterday that if you accept this spiritual offer, your soul will delight in fatness, in abundance. (Is.55:2) And there’s even more to this amazing offer, as Isaiah declares: ‘ Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.’ (Is.55:3)

Oh brother, if you ever received the same kind of mercies that Bruh David received, then it means you’ll be deluged with mercy and LOVING-kindness, because that’s how the Lord treated him!

And consequently, Isaiah could declare: ‘Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.’ (Is.55:4)

The Lord also holds out Bruh David as an example to us of righteousness, as a witness, a leader, a testimony to His awesome mercy and LOVING-kindness. But we’ll never enjoy any of that abundant mercy and LOVING-kindness until we accept God’s free gifts of grace, mercy, forgiveness, salvation and eternal life.

And we’ll close with some immortal words of Jesus… Sorry, all of Jesus’ words are immortal. These particular ones come from His conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

‘Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall NEVER thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well (fountain) of water springing up into everlasting life.’ (John 4:13-14)

Oh my brethren, that’s it right there in a nutshell! If you want to enjoy everlasting life, then you HAVE TO ACCEPT Jesus’ offer of spiritual upliftment. IT’S THE ONLY WAY!

Please remember that and act on it RIGHT NOW nuh, because we don’t know when Jesus will return, but once He does, it will be too late.

As they say, a word to the wise is sufficient, so please be wise today my brethren and make sure that you’re on the wonderful inside when Jesus returns, and not on the damned outside sorrowfully looking in. Much LOVE!

…I am the WAY…the TRUTH…and the LIFE…NO MAN cometh to the Father…BUT BY ME… (John 14:6)

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…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 26 March 2014 Isaiah 55:1

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

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