Devotional Song: Go to this link … PLEASE … Once again this day, go to the same video link as posted yesterday to hear Crystal Lewis and Ron Kenoly singing Beauty for Ashes, reminding us that our loving and merciful God provides His enabling and empowering grace so that we can experience beauty in lieu of the ashes which would be our lot if the world had its way. - - AND THEN TO THIS LINK to hear Steven Curtis Chapman singing his song, His Strength Is Perfect, which is self explanatory in what we need from God’s Strength to cover our human frailties.
Highlight Passage - NKJV - Psalm 72: 16 …
16 There will be an abundance of grain in the earth, On the top of the mountains; …
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Highlight Passage [Context] - Psalm 72: 12-20 … Go to this link
Reference Passsage #1 … Matthew, Chapters 5-7 [NKJV] … Go to this link
Reference Passsage #2 … Mark 9: 14-29 [NKJV] … Go to this link
Reference Passsage #3 … 1st Corinthians 1: 18-31 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
Reference Passsage #4 … 2nd Corinthians 12: 9 [NKJV] …
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
My Journal for Today: From today’s Our Daily Bread devotional [go read it from the link in the disclaimer below], the author, David Roper, makes reference to Psalm 72 (partially inked above), attributed to Solomon, which, according the Matthew Henry’s commentary was more likely penned by David before he died and given to Solomon to pass along to God’s people.
In verse 16 of this Messianic Psalm, written to commemorate the Kingdom of The Messiah, the author makes reference to plentiful crops growing on the tops of mountains. Have you ever seen a mountaintop with plentiful vegetation growing? Of course NOT!!! It’s an observable absurdity in worldly reality; but it’s the promise of God when The Messiah comes into His kingdom. And it’s another way of depicting, with word pictures, that with God all things are possible, … yes, even things which seem ridiculous to us.
When Jesus, THE MESSIAH, about Whom David/Solomon wrote about in Ps. 72, came into His earthy ministry (in His Sermon on the Mount – linked above), He preached of a way of life which was humanly absurd, … way too good for man to capture in real life because it reflected the way life would be in heaven. Such a life required strength of character which was way beyond the reaches of the strength of man, … that is, requiring strength which no man or woman could find on his/her own [see the Mark 9 passage linked above, especially verse 23]. And so, Jesus – and later His Disciples - spoke of our needing HIS STRENGTH to cover our weakness [see the Pauline passages above], as Steven Curtis Chapman sings in the second song linked above or the attached photo represents.
And so, join me today, praying for God’s strength to lift us up and display what He will one day give us when we are with Him in His kingdom, the fruitfulness and power that only God can provide. But realizing that to the degree we have faith in Christ TODAY, we can have at least a portion of His strength to cover our weaknesses.
My Prayer for Today … Oh, Lord Jesus, I pray that in some way I can be used today – in my weakness – to display Your strength. … 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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