The Overwhelming Importance of Not Only Seeking God, but Seeking Him with Right and Sincere Motives!

13 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

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

Jeremiah 29:13.         And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

And then it was our lazy-day Saturday! Thank You Lord! It’s the time to just lie abed as late as possible, then get up, have a cup of coffee, and retire to the couch for more lazing around. (smile) After five frustrating and draining days of work, we’ve earned the right to relax, to just be quiet and allow our bodies to catch themselves. And there’s no better way to accomplish that desired situation than by offering up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer. 

So, with all sincerity and truth, let’s pray: ‘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 as we say those simple words of praise and communion, we feel the peace and calm of the Lord just flowing into us and with a deep sigh, our entire being just relaxes, and all the tension of the past five days just drift right into outer space. (smile) Yes friends, that’s what seeking intimacy with our wonderful God can do! 

Remember, that’s what He desires from us; that sense of deep and sincere communication. He says it very clearly in His Word, through the prophet Jeremiah. ‘And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.’ (Jer. 29:13) Now isn’t that a marvellous promise? It certainly is! But it requires seeking the Lord with all of our hearts. We cannot go seeking Him with just lip service and no heart throbs, for He will not answer us. And sadly, that’s what many of us are doing today, simply running to God with our mouths and asking for all sorts of unwise things, and when we don’t get them, we wonder why, and then bad talk and blaspheme the Lord. 

But it’s like Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias (Isaiah) prophesy of you saying, This people draweth nigh (near) unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’ (Matt. 15:7-9) Yes my fellow believers, unfortunately that’s very true of many of us in these dreadful and devilish times. 

And I like this verse of promise from Isaiah’s prophesy. ‘Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?’ (Is. 29:15) Now that’s exactly how many of us behave; foolishly trying to hide our true feelings and works from the Lord. But remember our God is omniscient, all seeing, all knowing and wise as ever, so there’s nothing we can ever hide from Him. 

Especially when He checks the motives of our hearts before He even considers our prayers. And He says it quite plainly through the prophet Jeremiah. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (incurably sick): who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try (test) the reins (minds), even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.’ (Jer. 17:9-10) 

And I like what this commentary says about that last verse: ‘It explains that God not only examines human motivations but also rewards individuals according to their deeds and the fruit of their actions. This divine scrutiny extends beyond outward actions to the inner intentions and thoughts of every person, revealing hidden motives and ensuring judgment aligns with their true desires and ways.’ 

Oh my brethren, we cannot get away from the close scrutiny of our all knowing God. He made us and knows exactly what we’re all about. And it’s like the Lord said to Jeremiah when He called him into ministry. ‘Before I formed thee in the belly (womb) I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee (set thee apart), and ordained (appointed) thee a prophet unto the nations.’ (Jer. 1:5) So the Lord knows what’s happening with us right from the very beginning. 

It’s also like Bruh David says in that magnificent Psalm 139 – Praise to the All-Knowing God. ‘O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou comapsseth (comphendest) my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. …For thou hast possessed my reins (formed my inward parts): thou hast covered (weaved) me in my mother’s womb. 

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right (very) well. My substance (bones) was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously (skillfully) wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect (unformed); and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned (the days fashioned for me) when as yet there was none of them.’ (Ps. 139:1-4; 13-16) 

Oh my people, all of that just shows how our God is deeply involved in our creation even before we’re created. He doesn’t just create us, He plans it all out before putting it into action. That ought to tell us that there’s nothing we can hide from Him, nothing about us He doesn’t know, and nowhere we can go where He won’t find us. (Ps. 139:7-12) So why are we still foolishly trying to hide things from Him and escape His LOVING embrace eh? Who knows? 

But it is certainly time to stop doing it, for it will only be to our detriment. Remember all the Lord is doing is not for Himself, but for us, and if we don’t show the proper wisdom and appreciation, we will have to suffer the consequences, which can be very heartrending. So, on this somewhat cloudy, lazy-day Saturday in mid-September, let’s seriously consider all we’ve said, and let it sincerely lead us into the arms of Christ, where we were created to be! Much LOVE!

…man was made by God…for God’s holy purposes…not for man’s selfish, sinful ways…

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

The Grave Importance of Christians having Right Motives when Communicating with God!

30 Aug 2025 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 15:8.        This people draweth nigh (near) unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.

Okay, so today has again opened somewhat sunny with a cloud shadow, but it’s our lazy-day Saturday, so we don’t really care. (smile) We’re not planning on going anywhere, and possibly not doing anything either, for that’s the purpose of the early part of this day. And yes, celebrations for the long, Labour Day weekend will come later, but right now it’s time to just relax, let the world go by, while God comes into our hearts, through our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer. 

So, as one strong and sincere voice, let’s offer up this heartfelt prayer to our heavenly Father. ‘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 as we keep reminding ourselves, if our prayer was sincerely heartfelt, then the Lord who judges the motives of our hearts and not only what comes out of our mouths, will soon join us in a moment of greater intimacy, of peace and calm, for intimacy is what He most desires with His human creation. In fact that’s one of the very reasons He created us. So when we sincerely seek it, He cannot refuse to grant it. 

Now, that matter of lip service to God is a very huge one, that’s why He checks the motives of our hearts, before considering our prayers, and it’s a problem that’s been noted several times in the Bible. Let’s check out a few of them nuh, beginning with this scripture from Psalm 78, as Asaph, the writer talks about one occasion when the Israelites having received godly  punishment for disobedience, returned to the Lord. 

‘And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right (steadfast) with him, neither were they steadfast (faithful) in his covenant.’  (Ps. 78:35-37) 

Ah mih people, when we see the foolish disobedience that Israel constantly displayed and the many times that they were punished for it, it ought to give us great cause for thought, because all those things were written in the Bible as examples for us. But we are obviously not paying attention to that, because we have also rebelled against Almighty God in these times of much lawlessness and ungodliness. We’re possibly even worse that the Israelites because we have invented so much more evil than they ever knew about. 

And yet we don’t think or expect to be punished for our rebelliousness. That’s fools wisdom my brethren, for the Lord will eventually punish all who disobey Him. That’s a promise. And you know He never reneges on His promises be they good or bad. Let’s hope and pray that we learn to honour God with not only our lips but also with our hearts before it’s too late. Now, here is a second mention of people worshipping God with insincere hearts. This comes from the prophet Isaiah, as he talks about the marvellous work the Lord will do for the Israelites. 

‘Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. Therefore, behold, I will (again) proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. 

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down  shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay (you have turned things around! Shall the potter be esteemed like the clay): for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed (formed) say of him that framed (formed) it, He had no understanding?’ (Is. 29:13-16) 

But yuh know what friends, that’s exactly how we are behaving – like the Lord didn’t make us, and He has no understanding of men’s affairs, which is totally untrue, and only works to our detriment. And all of that leads us to Jesus admonishing the Pharisees using Isaiah’s words when they complained about the disciples eating with unwashed hands. ‘Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias (Isaiah) prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh (near) unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’ (Matt. 15:7-9) 

And unless we’re blind, we can see that happening all over our world today, where people are showing outward devotion with their words, but their actions show a lack of genuine faith and devotion in their hearts, for their worship is based on human rules, the doctrines of men, laid down in the tenets of religion, which are being taught as the commandments of God. And that’s what religion does, inculcate the traditions of men into the Word of God, that eventually the Word itself gets lost in the overabundance of tradition. 

That’s why it’s so important for individual believers to read and know the word, so that they can refute the doctrines of the many false teachers and pseudo-intellectuals who are leading people astray in these ungodly and uncertain times. That’s why Bruh Paul warned Timothy thus: ‘Now the Spirit speaketh expressly (clearly), that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing (deceiving) spirits, and doctrines of devils:’ (1 Tim. 4:1) 

And the scholars explain ‘depart as apostasy, which is the deliberate and permanent rejection of Christianity after a previous profession of faith in it.’  And we see that all around us today, where people are leaving the faith, having listened to false teachers, and doctrines of devils (doctrines taught by demons) evil spiritual beings working on Satan’s behalf. And as the scholars further say, ‘Underestimating their immense power would be a grave mistake. Christians who believe they can “wrestle” with demons without using “the whole armour of God are seriously deluded.’ 

So, let’s end today remembering that we cannot run nor hide from our Creator, for He knows and sees everything that we think or believe, therefore our words must be sincere and heartfelt. We must also be careful about what and whom we listen to, for there’s a whole lot of falsehood and deception out there in today’s ungodly world, that means knowing the Word and being continually dressed in the whole armour of the Lord! Much LOVE!

…our motives must be right with God…if we expect to receive answered prayer…

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit   27 March 2024 Matthew 15:8.

27 Mar 2024 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 15:8.       This people draweth nigh (near) unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

And Holy Week keeps rolling along. It’s Wednesday; only two more days before the sadness and pain. But as we all know the good goes with the bad, and if we don’t have the negative, we won’t appreciate the positive; in other words, if we didn’t have the Good Friday ‘sufferation’ we would be able to have the triumphant Easter Sunday resurrection! And believe me, in most cases, especially this one, the good far outweighs the bad. For Jesus’ death and resurrection are the very foundation of our Christian faith! He died to pay for our sins, then rose from the dead so that we could have eternal life! And all God’s people said a loud and grateful ‘Thank You Jesus!’ 

The problem though is that we mostly talk the gratitude but don’t walk it as we ought. And that’s why our world is in such a dreadful state of strife, hatred and all the negative attributes; there’s not enough true Christian ministry to repel the evil. As Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias (Isaiah) prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh (near) unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’ (Matt. 15:7-10)  

Yes friends, Isaiah prophesied about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in Is. 29:13, where the religious leaders only worshipped with their mouths but not their actions, and merely taught the rules and traditions of men and not of God. Unfortunately, life hasn’t changed that much and today we’re doing the very same thing; we talk a good Christian talk, but our hearts and our walk  are far from God, more set on the cares and material things of the world. There is still so much poverty and insincerity in our world, with more than enough to satisfy everybody’s needs, but the greed and selfishness, jealousy and envy of our current society, prevent the haves from sharing God’s provision with the have nots. 

The result being all sorts of strife, sickness, despair, economic uncertainty and poverty. And in Asaph’s great Maschil or Contemplation, Psalm 78, titled, ‘Teach the Children God’s Law,’ he recounts the words of Isaiah, and Jesus. The Jews were ungrateful for God’s provisions of water and food in the wilderness and turned away from God. And speaking of the quail avalanche they received for their desire for meat, (Num. 11), Asaph writes: ‘So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; They were not estranged from their lust (deprived of their craving). But while their meat was yet in their mouths, The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest (stoutest) of them, and smote down the chosen (choice) men of Israel. 

For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity (futility), and their years in trouble (sudden terror). When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early (sought diligently) after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right (steadfast) with him, neither were they steadfast (faithful) in his covenant.’ (Ps. 78:29-37) 

Ah friends, as supposed believers in Christ Jesus we are doing the same thing right now, we’re guilty of supreme hypocrisy in our Christian walk, merely talking the Christian talk, but not walking the Christian walk. And we all know what we’re guilty of, but we harden our hearts and move on in our unchristian way, despite the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit that indwells us, and desires to lead us to do the good works of the Lord. As Bruh Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus: ‘And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed -unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.’ (Eph. 4:30-32) 

And what do we mean by grieving the Holy Spirit? Basically it means making the Holy Spirit feel grief and sorrow by doing what He tells us not to do. As this commentary explains: ‘In short, believers can make the Spirit sad by our sinful actions. This ties together several critical ideas. First, it means saved Christians are still capable of sin. Second, it means that God does, in fact, care about how we live our lives once we are saved.’ This brings up another question concerning the Holy Spirit; quenching it, which Bruh Paul talks about in 1 Thess. 5:19: ‘Quench not the Sprit.’ 

And what does that mean? This commentary gives us an example of quenching the Holy Spirit. ‘One way to quench the Spirit is to treat with contempt the message that the Spirit delivers to us, either through people or the Scripture. Treating that message with contempt would essentially be to reject it. To say that it was not from the Spirit. Or by choosing to ignore it.’ And what’s the difference between grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit? ‘We grieve the Spirit by what we do to Him. We quench the Holy Spirit by what we refuse to let Him do through us.’ 

Oh my fellow believers, sadly, in this evil age, we are both grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit by our ungodly talk and behaviour, and that’s just adding fuel to the enemy’s fire. So please let’s stop it nuh. Let’s return to a true covenant relationship with our heavenly Father, for that’s the only way for us to see good days and long life. Now, let’s go home declaring (awright!!!) our Wednesday Wail, letting the whole world know of our wonderful position in Christ Jesus! 

As one voice! ‘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 desire to see an even more glorious future than we can ever think or imagine, then we need to endure right down to the end with Christ. It’s truly going to be marvellously splendiferous (smile) when Jesus comes in all His glory and splendour! Let’s hope we’ll be there to see it together. Much LOVE!

…talk is cheap…but Christian actions require sacrifice…

 Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ