June 8, 2015 … “KOKO” in Christ

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 159

Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Steve Green singing Find Us Faithful … declaring the faithful love of our Heavenly Father and pronouncing our faith in following our Lord - forever.

Highlight Passage Genesis 22: 2 [NKJV] … 
2 Then He [God] said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
… Oh, … what must’ve been the horror of a faithful follower of the Lord, hearing God’s command that morning.
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Highlight Context - Genesis 22: 1-12 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Abraham’s faith tested …
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Reference Passage #1 - Proverbs 3: 5-6 [NKJV] … 
5 Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding. 6 In ALL your ways follow Him and He will direct your paths. 
… It’s the “ALL” part which is hard.

Reference Passage #2 - Luke 9: 23 [NKJV] … 
23 Then He [Jesus] said to them all (His followers), … “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 
… Jesus’ charge to be faithful in following Him

Reference Passage #3 - Romans 12: 1-2 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK
… Paul exhorts Christians to become God’s living sacrifice, faithfully following Christ

Reference Passage #4- Hebrews, Chapter 11 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK
… God’s “HALL OF FAITH,” showing those who have been faithful in following our Lord

My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Joe Stowell, related a personal story of how he faithfully woke his kids up in the morning with somewhat of a loving ritual and how his faithfulness in that ritual meant so much to him.

 And then Stowell breaks to the incredible story of God testing Abraham early one morning by commanding Abraham to awaken his son, Isaac, and take him to Mt. Mariah as a “living sacrifice” to God. And we know the outcome of that story as a picture of what God would do, and now has done, for all mankind in actually sacrificing His Son, Jesus, to save us from our sin nature.

 Taking in all that Stowell taught this morning, as well as Steve Green’s singing, … and most certainly being challenged by all of the highlight/reference Scriptures above, … I’m convicted that my own faithfulness - at times - falls way short of the mark of those listed in God’s “hall of faith,” linked above in Hebrews, Chapter 11.

 My dear fellow Christians, … I’m challenged to much more depth of faith. How about you?

My Prayer Today: Oh Lord, … Lord, I need a big portion of your sustaining, enabling grace to follow You - even today - with more faithfulness. 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.