Wednesday, June 10, 2015

June 10, 2015 … Use me? … Really?!!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 161

Devotional Songs: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Daniel O’Donnell singing Here I Am, Lord … declaring a surrender to God’s call to use ANYONE who’s willing to come and serve our Lord … and THEN TO THIS LINK  to hear the group Hillsong singing I Surrender, which says it all about our surrendering to be used by God.


Highlight Passage 1st Corinthians 1: 27 [NKJV] … 
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; … 
… And if this is true - and of course, it is! - then God could use me too !! …
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Highlight Context - 1st Corinthians 1: 25-31 [NKJV]USE THIS LINK
… God’s “M.O.” is to use the unlikely ones for His Glory
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Reference Passage #1 - Judges 6: 11-12 [NKJV] … 
11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” 
 … If God can use a Gideon, He can use me [or you] !!

Reference Passage #2 - Isaiah 6: 8 [NKJV] … 
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” … Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” 
 … God calls and a simple man surrenders

Reference Passage #3 - Matthew 4: 18-22 [NKJV] USE THIS LINK
… Jesus calls four simple fishermen to be warriors in His army …

Reference Passage #4 - Acts 1: 8 [NKJV] … 
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 
… God calls provides the power to be His witnesses …

Reference Passage #5 - Acts 9: 1-22 [NKJV] USE THIS LINK ...
… Jesus calls Saul of Tarsus to become the Apostle Paul … REALLY?!! …

My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Bill Crowder, opens his ODB entry with a story of a 19th century British actress, Fanny Kemble, who came to the US from England to be married by a southern plantation owner and discover the horrors of American slavery. And ultimately Ms Kemble divorced the plantation owner and surrendered herself to God to become known as “The Unlikely Abolitionist,” … fighting slavery effectively for all of her life.

 And Fanny Kemble is just one of so many stories of how God uses unlikely men/women to be His warriors in the battles of life. Her “plantation-to-power” story is inspiring; but she is in a long line of other heroes of the faith who were unlikely witnesses to/for God’s glory. Scriptures above outline just a few. …

 There was the timid farmer, Gideon, who became God’s “mighty warrior.” [See Judges 6: 11-12] … There was Isaiah, who was a simple man, who became one of God’s most prominent Prophets. [see Isaiah 6: 8] … And who did Jesus pick to become His mighty Disciples … four simple fishermen; … really?!! [see Matt. 4: 18-20] … And then one final example in God turning the life of Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of Christians, into His main-man to the Gentiles in the 1st Century. [see Acts 9: 1-22] … Go figure!!!

 Do you get the picture, thought, my friend? God can choose and use ANYONE; and as today’s highlight passages documents, He OFTEN chooses the most unlikely of candidates to be His witness; and then, as in Acts 1: 8, HE takes the ones who surrender to Him (see song links today), and gives them (US) the power to be His servants and soldiers.

 God said it to Isaiah, … “Whom shall I send?” … And do I sense anyone here saying [?], “Here I am, Lord; … send me!”

My Prayer Today: Oh Lord, … We come … simple men/women, and we pray that You will use us for Your glory … even today 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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