Devotional Song: Go to this link – Please take your time to see a video of a powerful old hymn, performed by Brian Littrell, … I Surrender All, which exhorts Christians to live as God charged all His children to live … in surrender to Him. … And then to this link to hear Sara Groves sing the truth about how all will be okay when we surrender all to God’s Spirit and let God’s outcomes unfold today.
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Highlight Passage - NLT: Acts 5: 32 …
32 “… We [Peter leading the Apostles] are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”
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Highlight Passage: Acts, Chapter 5, Verses 17-42… GO TO THIS LINK … [NLT]
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Reference Passage #1: Luke 9: 23 … … [NLT]
23 Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. …”
Reference Passage #2: Galatians 3: 2-3 … … [NLT]
2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
Reference Passage #3: 1st Peter 5: 7… … [NLT]
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
My Journal for Today: I think Os Hillman, in his devotional entry for today, has nailed much of Christian living to the truth of our results-oriented lives. We, who claim to surrender to and follow Christ, so often get wrapped up in numbers that we set aside the discipleship commands of Jesus (see Luke 9: 23).
Common, admit it; … we do, … don’t we?
I’m so guilty here. So, often when I’m planning some “Christian” event, I get so focused on how many people will be there that I end up letting the numbers of those who attend be my criteria for success rather than letting God’s Spirit guide the outcomes or results for God’s glory, … NOT Bill Berry. But how many times do we judge the Spirit’s power in a church by the number of people in the pews?
We all need to meditate on the truth of the song to which I returned in my meditation today, … that old hymn, “I Surrender All.” Because if we do surrender all to God, doing all we can do and praying as if it all depends on God [see 1st Peter 5:7 above], the outcomes, being in HIS control, will come out exactly as HE decides; … and that will be the PERFECT outcome.
So, I’m praying this morning that we go into this day in COMPLETE surrender to God’s Spirit, making our decisions based on our following God’s Spirit and then just leaving the outcomes of today in HIS hands. And as Sara Groves sings in the second song above, “It’s Going To Be Alright.”
My Prayer for Today … Lord, I yield to You today. … 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.
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