Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please go to this video link to hear 4Him singing their song Back To The Basics, … reminding us that it’s so easy for mankind to drift from our worship of God and fall into the captivity of the world … i.e., … to get us to worship the idols of today, taking our faith and focus off of the true basics, … our worship of God.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Psalms 115: 4 [NKJV] …
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Psalms, Chapter 115 [NKJV] Go to this link …
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Reference Passage #1: Joshua 24: 14-15 [NKJV] …
14 “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Reference Passage #2: Judges 10: 13-16 [NKJV] … Go to this link -
Reference Passage #3: Matthew 6: 24 [NKJV] …
4 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. …”
Reference Passage #4: Romans 12: 1-2 [NKJV] …
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. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Reference Passage #5: 1st John 2: 15-16 [NKJV] …
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
My Journal for Today: You may wonder what the attached photo of a cell phone has to do with today’s Our Daily Bread devotional; but it is pertinent in the story which the RBC Ministries editor relates, … which I will copy here …
Martin Lindstrom, an author and speaker, thinks that cell phones have become akin to a best friend for many owners. Lindstrom’s experiment using an MRI helped him discover why. When the subjects saw or heard their phone ringing, their brains fired off neurons in the area associated with feelings of love and compassion. Lindstrom said, “It was as if they were in the presence of a girlfriend, boyfriend, or family member.”
Hence my journal title for today, which asks what do we truly love in our lives? Do we, like Jesus commanded [in Matthew 22: 37] … “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Or do we fall prey to Satan’s ploy to get us to love the things of this world, making those things or ideas more important than our love and worship of our Lord?
Again, Jesus told His followers, in His sermon on the mount (see Matthew 6: 24 above), that they simply could not love and serve God and mammon (i.e., worldly idols) at the same time. But unfortunately our focus, and even our worship, countermands the exhortation of both John (in 1st John 2: 15-16) and Paul (in Romans 12: 1-2) to beware of becoming entranced by worldly idols and letting them take our focus of worship and love off of Jesus.
So, today … we ALL need to take stock of where our loves lie; and as 4Him sings (linked above), … we need to get back to the basics of life, which is our dedication and worship of Jesus, The Christ.
My Prayer for Today … I love YOU, Lord !!! … 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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