Blogger’s Note: Today I’m about 10-12 hours tardy with my Berry Patch Blog, in that I’ve been in the hospital for two days recovering from the after effects of a hip-replacement surgery, which I needed very badly as my hip pain had become so encumbering that it was effecting all areas of my life, including sleeping. I’m praising God to say that the surgery was done successfully with all predictable recovery pain involved. But all is going well; and I thank any who knew about the surgery and prayed for this old warrior. And I would covet any more for those who feel led to pray for the recovery, which is already going well.
Devotional Song: Go to this link – again today to hear Chris Rice singing Go Light Your World, … which, like it did also give us the comfort to know that day after day after day after day after day we’ll be seeking the same relationship with the same Lord Who has been the same yesterday, today … and will be same Lord tomorrow as today … though in Christ we won’t be the same.
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Highlight Passage #1 – NLT: James 5: 7…
7 Dear brothers and sisters, you must be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who eagerly look for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They patiently wait for the precious harvest to ripen. 8You, too, must be patient. And take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.
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Highlight Context - NKJV: James, Chapter 5 … GO TO THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1: Ephesians 5: 15-16 … [NKJV] … [Every day, in every way, doing every thing for Christ.] …
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Reference Passage #2: Matthew 5: 16 … [NKJV] … [Everything we do either creates or snuffs out the light.] …
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Reference Passage #3: 1st Corinthians 15: 58 … [NKJV] … [Nothing we ever do is vanity when it’s in/or the LORD.] …
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Reference Passage #4: Romans 12: 1… [NKJV] … [Any work we do to glorify God is our “living sacrifice” for Him.] …
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Reference Passage #5: Philippians 3: 13-14… [NKJV] … [This business of Christian living is a marathon – not a sprint.] …
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
My Journal for Today: Yesterday, with many of the same scripture references in my blog, my message was to encourage Christians to stay the course as candle-bearers when it comes to our witness. Well, today is another day of exhortation to “keep on, keeping on” in Christ, which many times, in these days of text messages I symbolize with the following texting marker, I encode with the following … “ <'koko>< “
And really that’s what the Apostle James, the half-brother of Jesus, was trying to communicate to the dispersed Christians in Asia-Minor who needed words of encouragement and exhortation as they were trying to stay on track in their relationship with Christ. And so, James, wrote one of the most pragmatic books in the Bible to show Christians how they (and we) could <'KOKO>< .
So with my title of “the long run,” the attached photo illustration, and the same song I used yesterday, along with many of the same scriptures, I really hope we can get the idea that this business of Christian living is a marathon and not a sprint. But as long as we live out lives with the exhortations of the above NT teaching, we will be living with the realization that our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; and our light as I wrote about yesterday will continue to shine more and more brightly for our Lord very dimly lit world. And that is my prayer for us today.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, once our candle is lit for You, keep it burning for you … more today than yesterday; … and even more tomorrow than today. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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