Devotional Song: Go to this link – Please take a few minutes to see a video of Fernando Ortega singing … Beyond the Sky, reminding all believers that death will never hold us in its grips; … no, only God’s love will take us to be with Him in eternity.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Psalms 116: 15 [NKJV] … [How precious to God is the life of a believer!] …
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.
Highlight Passage – AMP: Psalms 116: 15 [AMP] …
15 Precious (important and no light matter) in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (His loving ones).
Highlight Passage – NLT: Psalms 116: 15 [NLT] …
15 The LORD cares deeply when His loved ones die.
Highlight Passage – MSG: Psalms 116: 15 [The Message] …
15 When they arrive at the gates of death, GOD welcomes those who love Him.
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Highlight Passage in Context - Psalms 116 [NKJV] ... GO TO THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1: Deuteronomy 30: 19 … [NKJV] … [God’s admonition is for His precious ones to “choose life!” ] …
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; …
Reference Passage #1: John 3: 16 … [NKJV] … [How precious is our life to God? He so loved His precious ones that He gave His son to die for them. ] …
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
My Journal for Today: It’s likely that any who might read what I write here have been to a funeral or a memorial service for a loved one or maybe a friend who has passed from this life. And looking at the body, if viewable, always seems so final, doesn’t it? But for those of us who believe in the truth, … yes, the reality, … of the highlight passage today, translated above from several Bible versions, we who know Jesus as our Lord and Savior need not fear the seeming finality of death.
No, any memorial service for one who was a believer in Christ is more of a commencement from one life into the life eternal, isn’t it? That’s why Christian funerals are often celebrations of a life lived and an eternal life to come, rather than a dwelling place of sadness and overbearing grief. Oh, it’s always sad to come together to bear the loss of a loved one, especially if that one was young or snatched from this life in a seemingly senseless tragedy. But we, who hold our hope in Christ, need not dwell on the death; because we know that Jesus did His dying that we might live … and live for Him in this life and with Him in the next life, which is eternal.
I really don’t need to say much more here, do I? No, because Deuteronomy 30: 19 [copied above] says what we, the living need to hold to. We have a choice – life or death – and living the life God has given us, we are ALWAYS to choose life. However, when, in our mortality, our time on this earth comes to a close; and we are chosen to go home to be with the Lord, as our highlight passage today proclaims, we can know just how precious our life is that God was willing to give up His Son [see John 3: 16] so that we could choose to live with Him forever.
Do I sense a “Hallelujah” from any reading here?
My Prayer for Today … Lord, I choose life; and I declare from Your love of my life, … HALLELUJAH!!! … and ... 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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