Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please go this video link to hear my friend Clay Crosse and two of his friends, Bob Carlisle and Bebe Winans singing I Will Follow Christ, which proclaims the decision all Christians must make and live out our lives … in order to be fruitful and to live with our Lord in eternity.
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Highlight Passage - NKJV - Isaiah 17: 10-11 …
10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold; therefore, you will plant pleasant plants and set out foreign seedlings; 11 In the day you will make your plant to grow, and in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; but the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.
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Highlight Passage [Context] - Isaiah 17: 7-11 [NKJV] … Go to this ink
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Reference Passage #1 … 2nd Chronicles 28: 22-25 [NKJV] … Go to this ink
Reference Passage #2 … John 14: 21 [NKJV] …
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Reference Passage #3 … John 15: 5-7 [NKJV] …
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. … “
Passage #4 … 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: In today’s Our Daily Bread devotional, the author, Julie Link, reminds the readers of some biblical history, … i.e., the days when King Ahaz ruled the southern kingdom of Judah; and he lost faith in God and made alliances with the world powers of his day. Ultimately he paid the price of disobedience to God as prophesied by Isaiah in those days (see the highlight passages copied/linked above).
And besides the biblical history, Ms. Link, uses an interesting comparison and word picture to make her point that believers always have a choice of the outcomes of life. We can either choose obedience to God which will produce a field of His fruit; or we can choose, as did King Ahaz, to be disobedient; and see life become a junkyard [see attached photo].
We New Covenant Christians have such an advantage over those who walked the earth before Jesus, as did King Ahaz. History and Scripture gives us the actual commands of the God-Man, the One Who walked this earth, pronounced His mission (see Luke 4: 18-19), and fulfilled all that His Father sent Him to earth to accomplish, saving all who would come, in faith, repent of their sin, and be obedient to His word. And in our faith relationship with Jesus, being obedient to His word, we can overcome the doubts that a King Ahaz might have.
But do we? … Do we do what God’s word proclaims in 1st John 2: 15-16 and reject the world’s ways in lieu of doing what Jesus Himself proclaimed in John 5: 5 and John 14: 21, and that is to simply follow His commands … just as God had commanded His people to live in the days of Ahaz (or before). It’s out choice, isn’t it? We can be obedient and become fruitful; or as the ODB piece for today pictures, we can ignore God’s ways and become a junkyard (see attached photo).
Our choice; … I don’t know about you; but I’m not going to choose to become a junkyard dog.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, help me to follow Your truth and live fruitfully for Your kingdom. ... Amen
Blogger Note: Every day 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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