Wednesday, May 14, 2014

May 14, 2014 … Inside Out

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 134

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go this video link to hear Queen Latifah singing the simple but powerful song Fix Me Jesus, reminding all in Christ that our main goal in life is to surrender to His transforming power to fix us from the inside out.
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[Click on photo to enlarge]

Highlight Passage – NKJV: Matthew 23: 25 [NKJV] …  
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. …”
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Highlight Passage [Context] #1 – NKJV: Matthew 23: 23-31 [NKJV] … Go to this link 
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Reference Passages #1 Micah 6: 8 [NKJV] …  
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Reference Passages #2 John 17: 20-23 [NKJV] … Go to this link … Jesus, the Good Shepherd prays for His flock …

Reference Passages #3 Romans 8: 28-29 [NKJV] …  
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Reference Passages #4 Philippians 1: 6 [NKJV] …  
6 … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; …

My Journal for Today: My Our Daily Bread devotional for this morning reminded me that Jesus had strong words for the religious leaders during His walk on earth, as evidenced by His strong exhortation to the Pharisees in Matthew 23 [see copy/link above]. But down deep, Jesus wanted these men to be sanctified from the inside out rather than from the outside in as they lived to show off their religious piety by the way they behaved and lived.

“Sanctification” is one of those big theological words that we really need to understand in the context of the way and the why of how we live our lives. The attached picture is a diagram of how sanctification works for the believer. Once we’re saved (i.e., justified), we live our lives being made over from the inside out by God’s Spirit, until one day the make-over is complete, and we are glorified in heaven.

And it’s this process of sanctification which Jesus prayed about for His disciples in John, Chapter 17. And Queen Latifah sings about this in the hauntingly beautiful song to which I link you above, as she sings, Fix Me, Jesus!. And sometimes we know that the fixing is not an easy process (see the passages above from Micah 6: 8 and Romans 8: 28). In fact our sanctification can be downright painful at times. But it is God’s promise (see Romans 8: 28 and Philippians 1: 6) that in the end, He’s going to make us over into Christ’s image; and it will be complete (see the attached diagram) when we are with Jesus in heaven.

So, let’s move out today, praying the prayer of today’s song, … ”Fix me Jesus, … fix me!”

My Prayer for Today … That’s my prayer today, Lord. Fix me! … 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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