Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please take the time to see a video of country singer, George Jones, singing the most oft sung hymn in Christian history, Amazing Grace, and Jones is an apt example of the amazing grace of God to save such a man, … a former letch and alcoholic.
[To read lyrics, click on graphic -
then on "X" in upper right to return to blog]
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith..
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Highlight Context - NKJV: Ephesians 2: 1-10[NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK … From death to life by God’s grace …
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Reference Passage #1: Ephesians 1: 7 [NKJV} … More from Paul on grace …
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace …
Reference Passage #2: Ephesians 2: 1-3 [NKJV} … Once dead, … now alive; … once according to the world, … now following Christ; … once according to the flesh, … now according to the Spirit. Truly, AMAZING GRACE!! …
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Phillip Yancey, takes his readers back to the incredible historical story of the author to the lyrics of one of the most famous hymns in Christendom, … Amazing Grace.
You likely know the story of John Newton, a former Captain of a British slave ship, who was mercifully saved by God and later became a Pastor in 18th century England and mentor of William Wilberforce, … the two fighting hard in those times to have slavery legally abolished. The story of Wilberforce become a powerful movie a few years ago with the title of Newton’s famous hymn.
I’ve always identified deeply with the opening lyrics of the powerful refrain of that hymn, … “Amazing grace, … which saved a wretch like me.” And in today’s linked song (above), one such “wretch,” George Jones, the famous, but raucus, country singer, so poignantly and personally sings those powerful lyrics. And I, as well, was one of those “wretches,” living over 22 years of my younger adult years, deeply involved in habitual sexual sin, adultery, and perversion. And as it says in today’s highlight passage, from Ephesians 2: 1-10, I was dead in my sin; and God reached down into the deadness of my existence and gave me life eternal. … AMAZING GRACE!!!
And think of the historical examples of wretches, like John Newton. … or King David or the Apostle Paul, … or again, … ME, … whom God was so merciful to save and to sanctify for His glory. And I pray today that all who read here, including this former wretch, are being bathed in God’s AMAZING GRACE.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, … “I once was lost, but now I’m found, … was blind, but now I see.” … HALLELUJAH!!! and… 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, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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