Wednesday, June 24, 2015

June 24, 2015 … Stepping Out Of The Boat

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 175

Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Steven Curtis Chapman singing his own personal and poignant song His Strength Is Perfect … declaring the reality that we ALWAYS need God’s strength when ours is gone.


Highlight Passage Matthew 14: 27-28 [NIV] … USE THIS LINK ... 
… Jesus is always there for us; but not all will step out of the boat in faith
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Highlight Context - Matthew 14: 22-33 [NKJV]USE THIS LINK
… Jesus called … but only one responded in faith
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Reference Passage #1 - Deuteronomy 31: 6 [NKJV] … 
6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” 
… Wherever we go to follow Christ He will be there for us.

Reference Passage #2 - Lamentations 3: 22-21 [NKJV] … 
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 
… And even in the midst of today’s storms, we can find His strength to lift us up.

Reference Passage #3 - Luke 9: 23 [NKJV] … 
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,[a] and follow Me. … “ 
… And following Him can lead us to get out of the boat and come to Him.

Reference Passage #4 - 2nd Corinthians 12: 9-10 [NKJV] USE THIS LINK ...  
… God’s grace will always give me His strength to lift me when I am drowning.

My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Marion Stroud, used the popularly preached story of Jesus coming to His Disciples, walking on the water in the storm, as his highlight story to make the point that we all have times when we need to step out of the boat of life in faith and rely on Jesus to lift us up.

And I really don’t think I need to write much more here to make it any clearer that we are going to have times in life when we must step out of our boat and seek Jesus in faith. But there will also be times when our faith may not be as strong as it needs to be to “walk on the water” in the storm; and we need to know - and BELIEVE - that Jesus will ALWAYS be there to provide us with His strength when we are weak of faith.

 So, today I step out of the boat … because I’m definitely in one of those times of weakness and in a storm. … HELP ME, LORD!!

My Prayer Today: Oh Lord, … Help me to step out in faith and come to You. 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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