Wednesday, May 13, 2015

May 13, 2015 … My Lottery Winnings … Everyday!!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 133

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK  … Please take the time to take in a video of the group 4Him singing the convicting song… The Basics of Life, proclaiming that mankind has a tendency to pursue selfishness over “Saviorness;” and we need to get back to the pursuit of the latter to find and realize true success.


Highlight Passage Psalm 119: 14 [NKJV] … 
14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as all riches. 
… This man’s lottery was won in following God’s will.
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Highlight Context - Psalm 119: 33-40 [NKJV]USE THIS LINK
… A Psalmists riches are found in following the ways of God
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Reference Passage #1 - Joshua 1: 8 [NKJV] … 
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 
… God gives Joshua - and all believers - the way to real success - obedience to God’s word.

Reference Passage #2 - Matthew 6: 19-21, 24 [ESV]USE THIS LINK
… Jesus on the way to find true treasure and to avoid the pitfalls of serving material wealth.

My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, David C McCasland, revealed a startling fact about the reality of mankind’s desire to pursue worldly riches. Apparently government run lotteries are maintained and promoted legally in over 100 countries; and a little Google research of my own revealed that there are state run lotteries in 43 of the 50 states in the USA. And how many of us, reading here, have very likely toyed with the thought of what it might be like if we won a bonanza of cash in one of those big-money lottery drawings? … Common fess up?!!

 But God’s word - our ultimate guide to truth as Christians - presents another path to REAL success (see attached photo). And the Psalmist who penned the longest and most poetic song in all of Scripture, Psalm 119, discovered the reality of finding true success by seeking it in God’s truth (i.e., God’s word). In the highlight passage from Psalm 119: 33-40, the Psalmist declares that being obedient to God’s word is living in the opulence of God’s treasure; and he states that truth outright in Psalm 119: 14, copied above.

 But do we, as God’s children, believe that truth as well as God saying as much outright to Joshua as he and God’s people were being led into the Promised Land (see Joshua 1: 8 copied above); or do we believe Jesus Himself when He warns mankind that we cannot serve both God and money simultaneously (see the Matthew 6 passages above)?

 I think not!! And hence we see the government run lotteries appealing to man’s baser desires by offering the temptation of material wealth, which we know historically, leads many - if not most - lottery winners into lives of deprivation and even death.

 I pray today that we all realize that God has ”THE LOTTERY” of truth found in His word; and real success, as God touted to Joshua [see Joshua 1: 8 again], is found in pursing His Truth Lottery [i.e., God’s word] every day of our life.

My Prayer Today: Oh Lord, … Lord I have found Your riches in Your word. 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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