October 9, 2013 … God’s Place

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 282

Devotional Song: Go to this link -  Please take the time to meditate on this poignant song, sung by Mark Harris, Beyond The Sky, … reminding all Christians that there will be a place, one day, in God’s time where He will take us and wipe away all the tears.

 Highlight meditation passage – 1st Kings 19: 8 : [Elijah learning that His relationship with God is the essence of his strength and purpose.] …  
8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai,[Horeb] the mountain of God. 
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Highlight reading study of 1st Kings, Chapter 19: Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Deuteronomy 9: 8-9 … [Moses remembering his powerful time on God’s mountain of desolation.] … [NKJV] …  
8 Even at Mount Sinai [Horeb] you [i.e., God’s people] made the LORD so angry He was ready to destroy you. 9 This happened when I was on the mountain receiving the tablets of stone inscribed with the words of the covenant that the LORD had made with you. I was there for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I ate no food and drank no water.

Reference Passage #2: Luke 9: 28-36 … [At this link - God gives His inner circle of Disciples a glimpse of His glory.] … [NKJV] …

My Journal for Today: Do you have a special place where you can go to be with God? Maybe it’s a place of solitude where you go to get alone with God and be renewed?

Personally I’m in that place right now as I write this; and when the cares of the world or life crowd in on me or drag me down in my soul, I need this quiet place where I can go to be lifted up. And, in fact, I need to come here daily to open myself to God’s Spirit; and through His word, allow my Lord to refill my spirit with His presence and power. I’m actually a bit fearful – maybe even compulsively driven – to come here (or to some place of solitude each morning, even when I’m away from home) to put myself in surrender-mode and let God refill my spiritual fuel tanks.

Elijah found out that he needed to have his spirit replenished when he had to escape Jezebel, which is documented in today’s highlight devotional passage from 1st Kings, Chapter 19 to which I’ve linked any reading here today. Elijah was a man of passion for God; and when he was run out of his home after his encounter with evil, when God used him to call out the wickedness among God’s people, Elijah became weary to the point of depression from escaping for his life. And after God had renewed his strength in one special place, the Lord led this Prophet to Mount Sinai (or “Horeb”), the same mountain-top where Moses, over 500 years earlier, had brought the tablets of God down to his unfaithful people. And in that special place, God revealed to Elijah, just as He had done for Moses, a glimpse of His glory.

 And isn’t it interesting that when Jesus took a few of His inner disciples up to a special mountain-top place (we now call it the “Mount of Transfiguration” – see the link above to Luke 9: 28-36), who was there for these men to encounter? You know; – it was Moses and Elijah, which, in this special glimpse of glory must have totally solidified and renewed the faith of these men.

Well, God may not be taking you (or me) up to a mountain top to get our spirits renewed in our lives today; but I’ve discovered that every morning – as happened today – when I intentionally come to my own quiet place – my chosen special place – God meets me here; and through the solitude of this time, keeping out the demands of the world, He is able to take me to the mountain-top of His word and the high-ground of prayer, where I can be renewed and re-energized for the day ahead.

This is my daily special place – my own Mount Horeb. … I hope you have yours.

My Prayer for Today …Lord, thank You for transfiguring my mind in this special place each day. … Amen

Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online blog entitled Today God Is First [TGIF], authored by Os Hillman. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read Hillman’s TGIF blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.