The Amazing Feeling One gets from being in the Awesome Presence of God!

02 Nov 2024 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 16:11b.       in thy presence is fullness of joy;

So we’ve finally come to our lazy-day Saturday, where we can loll around as much as we want with no activities to accomplish within a certain time period. And isn’t that a good feeling? It certainly is. But before we get started, I want to point out a couple of incidents that happened in the recent Halloween celebrations. First of all, two people were killed and six injured in a celebration in Orlando, Florida, while a razor blade was found in a chocolate bar in Cochrane, Ontario. 

And I’m sure those are not all the negative incidents that occurred because of the foolish celebration, but just those that reached the news media. What’s it going to take for us to cut out the pagan nonsense eh? What kind of evil society are we living in, if we can consciously put a razor blade in a chocolate bar that a child is going to eat. And I guess it won’t be banished until someone from the family of a high government official or one of the money men that profit from it suffers some negative repercussions from the unwise celebration. 

And now that I’ve had my say, (smile) let’s move on to the more pleasant aspects of the day, like offering up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer. As one sincere voice: ‘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 that’s a perfect prayer for a lazy-day Saturday, where we have the time to foment greater intimacy with our wonderful God. To simply bask in His awesome presence and listen to whatever He has to share with us. It’s a time to just run amok, as it were, in the awesome glory and presence of Almighty God! (smile) Yes friends, being in God’s presence is as good as it gets! And we ought to enjoy it while we have the opportunity. 

And I don’t mean we should use it as a time to complain and ask for stuff, but simply to enjoy being in God’s presence, like when you’re with a friend, whose company you enjoy, and you can just sit quietly and be happy, or do simple, joyful things together. The important aspect of it being the togetherness. That’s how we ought to spend this lazy time with our God…just being together with Him, and enjoying the joy that His presence brings. 

And there are numerous scriptures that talk about being in the Lord‘s presence and how good and joyful it can be. Like this verse from Psalm 16 – God Preserves His People. Bruh David ends it thus: ‘Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.’ (Ps. 16:11) 

Meanwhile the Sons of Korah put it like this in Psalm 84 – Rejoicing in God’s Tabernacle: ‘For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.’ (Ps. 84:10-12) 

Then there’s Psalm 139, one of the grandest psalms in the psalter, where Bruh David recounts the omnipresence of our magnificent God. Now listen to these verses that speak of that presence. ‘Whither shall (can) I go from thy spirit? or whither shall (can) I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell. Behold thou art there. 

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. yea, the darkness hideth not from thee (is not dark to thee); but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.’ (Ps. 139:7-12) 

Wow! Our God is everywhere; be it day or night, be it in heaven or in hell; in the sea or on the earth! We simply cannot hide from His presence, although many of us still foolishly try to do it. And every time I read those verses or hear them read, I always remember the first time I heard them being acted out many years ago by Dr. Robert H Schuller in an ‘Hour of Power Sermon’ in the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. His actions and the words have stuck with me down through the years.  

And we have this faithful promise from God found in Hebrews: ‘Let your conversation (conduct) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake tee.’ (Heb. 13:5) Then James exhorts us: ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh (near) to God, and he will draw nigh (near) to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded… Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.’ (James 4:7-8, 10)

Yes my fellow believers, God’s greatest desire is for His human creation to draw near to Him, not be far away, but the truth is that in these trying times we need to avidly seek His presence, not wait for Him to come to us. Anyway, He’s already done that through the earthly work of Jesus; now it’s our turn to sincerely seek Him. And we’ll close with this marvellous promise from Jesus: ‘…and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.’ (Matt. 28:20b) 

Now we couldn’t want for a more faithful promise than that, especially since it’s been kept by the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, to remind us of all that Jesus is, and to guide us to where He desires us to go. So let’s spend some time today and just consider the awesome presence of God in our lives nuh. We can never go wrong doing that! Much LOVE!

…in God’s presence…there’s always joy…

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

A Lesson in Christian Maturity!

13 Jul 2024 Leave a comment

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

Jonah 4:7.       But God prepared a worm when the next morning rose (dawned), and it smote (damaged) the gourd (shade tree) that it withered.

Oh, what a lazy-day Saturday is in the offing…warm weather, plenty sunshine, and lots of outdoor activities, or simply lazing around the homestead, whatever your preference! But in whatever you do, please remember the modicum of circumspection aspect. (smile) And can you believe it’s already the middle of July, when we just recently celebrated Canada Day. 

Brother these days and months are really hopping by quickly, waiting for no one or nothing! That means we have to get with it, no laziness and procrastination, or else life will just pass us by and we won’t even know it. And to help us avoid such a catastrophe, let’s offer up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer with much sincerity and heart-felt truth. 

As one voice: ‘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 always, when such a sincere and heartfelt prayer reaches the Lord’s ears, He’s helpless to refuse, that’s why we can now feel the peace and calm of His presence floating around us, as He answers our prayer. Now, let’s keep our promise of yesterday, that if the breath of life was still flowing in us today, which it gratefully is, to continue looking at Jonah’s ministry. And yesterday, we left Jonah exceedingly glad, sitting under the shade of the gourd (shade tree of unknown identity) that the Lord had caused to grow for that purpose. 

So let’s pick up the scripture from there. It says: ‘But God prepared a worm when the next morning rose (dawned), and it smote (damaged) the gourd (shade tree) that it withered. And it came to pass when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted (grew faint), and wished himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.’ (Jon. 4:7-8) 

Ah friends, you see how our circumstances can change drastically from one day to the next. Yet as true believers in Christ, we have to try and remain calm and bear the consequences, whether they be of our making, or Satan’s, or the Lord’s. It’s not easy to do so, and it all depends on the stage of our Christian maturity. Now Jonah, as a prophet of God, should have been able to handle all that came against him, but because of his hatred and selfishness, he preferred to die. 

And we can see it from the following conversation. The Bible relates it thus: ‘And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry (is it right to be angry) for (over) the gourd? And He (Jonah) said, I do well (it is right for me) to be angry. Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd (shade tree) for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it to grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night. And should I not spare (have pity on) Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand (one hundred and twenty thousand) persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle (livestock)?’ (Jon. 4:9-11) 

It’s interesting that Jonah felt pity for the withered plant, but not for the great number of unsaved heathen in Nineveh. And with those somewhat harsh words between the Lord and Jonah, the Book of Jonah ends. We don’t what happened after to Jonah, but according to the scholars: ‘The message of Jonah rings out loud and clear: God cares for the heathen! God will spare no extreme to get His message to them, even when the messenger is deliberately disobedient. God will marshal His animate and inanimate creation to bring correction to His messenger and fulfil His purpose for the world.’ 

And I believe we ought to pay close attention to those words. For though we might be disobedient to God, He will succeed in His purpose, and we will pay for our disobedience, one way or the other. And Jonah’s situation is a very good example of that. The Lord gave him the task of going to Nineveh and proclaiming repentance, but because of his hatred for the people of Nineveh, he refused and foolishly went in the opposite direction. 

But the Lord caught up with Him, as He does with all who are disobedient, and instead of killing him, made him first suffer torment in the stormy sea, then spend three days and nights in the belly of a large fish, where he finally regained his senses and prayed to the Lord, who in His great mercy had the fish spit him out on dry land. 

Then it’s very important to note that the Lord did not change Jonah’s assignment. No. He told him the same thing; go to Nineveh and preach repentance of sin. This time Jonah went but still in a sour and surly frame of mind, and he did the job, which seemed quite easy. But still he was not happy and wanted to die rather than see the Ninevites saved. Even when the Lord punished him for his anger, he still insisted on dying. He could have pity for the withered shade plant, but none for his fellow humans, who were spiritually ignorant, because they were of a different race and creed. 

It’s sad to see what hatred and anger can do to us, when we allow them to infiltrate our souls and spirits to such an extent, that we’d prefer to die than to see others blessed. But as Cousin Sol so wisely says: ‘there is no new thing under the sun.’ (Eccl. 1:9) For hatred and anger over colour, creed and race have existed from the earliest days and have continued right down through the ages, and is still going stronger than ever! That’s why the world is filled with so much strife and negative actions. 

And until we seriously and sincerely enact the basic commandments of God, to LOVE Him with all of our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, as well as to LOVE ourselves and our neighbours, hatred and ager over our differences will always exist and make our world a very difficult place in which to live. And it’s now up to us believers, the ones who claim to LOVE like Christ says, to make a sincere effort to turn things around. Much LOVE!

…LOVE is all there is to the law of God…

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

Today’s Scrip-Bit   1 June 2024 Philippians 4:5b.

01 Jun 2024 Leave a comment

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

Philippians 4:5b.       The Lord is at hand.

And this first day of June 2024, a lazy-day Saturday, has opened bright, sunshiny and warm! All thanks be to God for letting us see another day on this earth with the wondrous help of His Son Jesus Christ looking out for us in heaven, and His Holy Spirit dwelling within us down here to lead, guide and comfort us in all our troubles! What a wonderful God we worship my brethren! And am I ever so sorry and heart-broken for those who don’t feel the same way, because His is the only real truth, LOVE and peace we’ll ever experience in this currently ungodly and evil world. 

Now, let’s show our heavenly Father how much we LOVE and need Him by offering up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer with all sincerity of heart. As one voice: ‘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 always, if our hearts were sincere, then we know that He heard us and will respond positively to our prayer. For as John says in his first epistle. ‘And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desired (asked) of him.’ (1 John 5:14-15) Again I say, what a wonderful God we serve! For we know that there is no prayer He likes to hear more than that we LOVE and need Him and desire to spend time with Him. So, by now, if our prayer was sincere, it was answered, and we should be all feeling a sense of peace, rest and joy in the Lord’s LOVING presence. (smile) 

Now yesterday we dealt with the first part of Philippians 4:5 – ‘Let your moderation (gentleness) be known unto all men.’ Today we’ll look at the second half of that verse: ‘The Lord is at hand.’ (Phil. 4:5b) And we all wonder what that means to us in these turbulent times. Well, the scholars, after telling us that Moderation means “graciousness” or “sweet reasonableness.” And that the believer who is at peace with his fellow Christian (vs. 2) and who rejoices always (vs. 4) is indeed a gracious, reasonable person. 

They go on to tell us that  ‘The Lord is at hand means two things. First, His (Jesus’) return to earth is near. His imminent coming as judge encourages the Christian to be “gracious” unto all men, for He will judge the believer for all of his actions toward all people, and will avenge all wrongs committed by others against Him. Second the “Lord is at hand” spiritually. The Lord, being presently near should free the Christian from fear and anxiety. Hence the command of verse 6: ‘Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.’ (Phil. 4:6) 

So friends, with the Lord’s coming to judge the earth being imminent, and His powerful presence spiritually abiding with us, we should not be afraid or worried about whatever circumstances we encounter. And as we said in an earlier session, that’s not always easy to do when your whole world seems to be tumbling down around you, but if you constantly pray and give thanks, and study the Word, while saving it deep in your hearts for those troublesome times, then it will help you to find that ‘Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep (guard) your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.’ (Phil. 4:7) 

And God’s peace is what gets us through those tough times. We probably won’t understand it, but if we are sincere in our devotions and discipleship, we will feel it. Now, I can vouch for that from personal experience, for I felt it very powerfully some years ago when I was vacationing in California. That morning I was in the process of writing the Bit, when they told me I had a phone call from my mother’s helper back in Canada. It was an unexpected call, but deep down I knew that something disastrous had happened. And when she told me that my mother had died, like all the air just went out of my body, and I was like a deflated balloon. 

But shortly thereafter, don’t ask me how, I was suddenly filled with a sense of peace and calm and went on about my business. My friends and family were concerned that I wasn’t crying and grieving, and so was I. And it’s not that I wasn’t sad and disappointed, but that peace that emanates from our good God, had put me in a different space, helping me to understand that there was nothing I could do about it, and therefore should keep my wits about me. But I did grieve and mourn and cry later on. (smile) So, it’s not always easy to put the Lord’s words into action, but if we’re serious about it, with His awesome help it is very possible. 

And I’m chuckling here because I had not intended to go down that path. What I had planned on doing was to share a couple of other scriptures re the ‘Lord is at hand.’ Like this one from James’ epistle. ‘Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman (farmer) waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish (establish) your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh (is near). Grudge (grumble) not one against another brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold the judge standeth before the door.’ (James 5:7-9)  

Those are excellent words of warning my people, especially for these unruly and lawless times, when everybody’s doing their own thing, and godliness is sadly lacking in the land. And what better note to close on than these words of Jesus to John in the Book of Revelation. ‘Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.’ (Rev. 22:7) Ah friends, I plead with us to heed Jesus’ warning, for we know not when He comes, but He can come at any time, like a thief in the night, and if we’re not ready, if we’re found wanting, then crapaud smoke we pipe! Much LOVE!

…a wise believer is always ready…

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

Next Newer Entries