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

20 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

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

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…
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 7 January 2012 Philippians 1:6‏

07 Jan 2012 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Inspirational Living Tags: , , , , ,

Philippians 1:6.    Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Oh Friends, can you believe we’re already one week into 2012? Wow! Time sure flies when you’re having fun! (smile) I do hope though that all of us are awash with the joy of the Lord, both in our bodies and souls, so that we can do His work with enthusiasm, determination and excellence, because our Saviour Jesus Christ expects higher than average standards from His followers. Now before we get into Today’s Bit, let me share some thoughts of the scholars on the word ‘sanctification.’ You’ll understand why later. ‘The word sanctification means ‘‘to be set apart.’’ The Holy Spirit is attempting to make the believer holy (set apart) and spiritual (reflecting the character of God). This is being accomplished in three phases. First, the believer is forgiven and set apart to God at his conversion (positional sanctification). Second, the believer is constantly being set apart from sin when he utilizes the means of grace (e.g. the Word and prayer) in his life (progressive sanctification). Third, complete sanctification begins at death, or at the Rapture, and is completed when the believer’s spirit is reunited with his resurrection body. We Christians should recognize that God uses all things to accomplish His purpose of making us like Jesus; therefore we should cooperate with the Holy Spirit.’ Yes Friends, God’s purpose for all His adopted children is to become like His perfect only Son, Jesus: holy, sanctified. It’s a lifelong process. When we become believers, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us and moulds us on our earthly journey into the likeness of Christ. Obviously we can never be perfect like Him, because He’s God, but we’re all expected to try. As Jesus so eloquently says when asked: ‘What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.’ (John 6:28-29) Please remember my people, that everything revolves around us becoming like Jesus. And it’s all borne out in Bruh Paul’s contention to the Roman church: ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that LOVE God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.’ (Rom.8:28-29) Thus he could confidently say in our Bit to the new believers at Philippi: ‘Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform (complete) it until the day of Jesus Christ.’  And that’s gospel Friends! The work of grace begun in each believer at conversion or acceptance of Christ as Lord and Saviour will not stop until the day Jesus returns in glory to found His new eternal kingdom. And why should it eh, when the sole intention of the grace deposited in us by the Holy Spirit is to remake us in Christ’s image? Therefore Friends and fellow believers, it’s up to us, both as individuals and in fellowship with each other, to faithfully accept the grace flowing from the Holy Spirit and work diligently with it to enhance our Christ-like image. Every so often, with the Holy Spirit’s assistance, we should check to see if we can distinguish any Christ-like improvements to our image. Now if we’re truly maturing as Christians, then hopefully every time we check, we should be able to pick out something in our character, our behaviour that has brought us closer to the likeness of Christ. Obviously this is not something we can or should do everyday, but more like every few months, thus allowing enough time for whatever improvements are made to securely sink in and truly become a part of us. Oh Friends, this constant working of grace in us through the Holy Spirit is what guarantees us eternal security in our great, wonderful and LOVING God! His purpose in refining us in this rough and tough kiln of earthly life has always been to see us as shining lights in the nature of Jesus.  And we can all rest assured that He will never stop working on and in us until the job’s done to His standard of excellence. So now it’s entirely up to us to work with the Spirit or not. But just remember that if we don’t, we’ll be jeopardizing our souls and our eternal future. That’s how important this subject is. So please pay particular attention to it. Much Love!…the fool says in his heart…there is no God…but the wise man knows that’s pure foolishness…