Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please go to this video link to hear a flash mob performance of Beethoven and Schiller’s classic song Ode To Joy, … which was written to express the joy in heaven when one lost soul is embraced as found by Christ; and when one sees the joy on the faces of those who observed the flash mob performance of this song, published in 1803, the reality of that joy can be seen in those hearing the music..
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Luke 15: 10 [NKJV] …
10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Luke, Chapter 15 [NKJV] Go to this link …
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Reference Passage #1: Psalms 32: 10-11 [NKJV] …
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him. 11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Reference Passage #2: Isaiah 12: 3 [NKJV] …
3 Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Reference Passage #3: Habakkuk 3: 17-18 [NKJV] …
17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls — 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Reference Passage #4: Jude 1: 24-25 [NKJV] …
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you[b] from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
My Journal for Today: Have you ever lost something very dear to you; and then FINALLY, after an exhaustive search, you found that lost entity – whatever it was? … How did you feel? … Joy, JOY, JOY!!, … right?
Well, that’s what Jesus was trying to convey to His disciples by telling three parables to illustrate the joy in heaven which is celebrated when just one soul, who has been lost comes to a saving relationship with the Lord; and Jesus needed three stories, not just one (recorded in Luke, Chapter 15), to emphasize the point of Luke 15: 10 … that a host of angels celebrate in heaven, the joy of any one who comes by faith to a saving relationship with Christ … one who has been lost is found.
I can remember in 1988 the joy I felt when I received a letter from my earthly farther, who, at 72 years of age, had prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior; and that happened after five years of my witnessing to my dad, mostly by letter, that his idea of salvation was false. Because shortly after I came to Christ in 1983 I discovered that my parents, who were church goers (and my dad was an Elder in his church), had a false idea of salvation, thinking that it was the accumulation of good works which would save them. Well, FINALLY, my dad came to the realization that he needed to surrender, IN FATH, to his Lord and savior; and he wrote to me about that moment of surrender in a letter. When I opened the letter and read it, it was one of the most joyous realizations in my life; so, I can just imagine the joy the angels must express in heaven when any who have been lost come in faith to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior (see the attached photo).
If you’re reading this and you’ve been like that lost coin, the wayward lamb, or the prodigal son in Luke 15, give it up and surrender in faith to the One, … the ONLY ONE, … who can find you and save you; and when/if you do, the angels will have a joy-filled party in heaven. And if you have a lost loved one, keep praying that one day he or she will be the subject of one of those joy-filled heavenly celebrations.
My Prayer for Today … Thank you, Lord, for the joy of my salvation. … Joy, JOY, JOY!!! … 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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