August 5, 2015 - God As Our Chess Master

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 217

Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK  … Please once again take the time to take in a video Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing the song He’ll Do Whatever It Takes proclaiming the truth that God, in his Master plan, will do whatever it takes to restore us and reshape us into the image of His Son, Jesus.

Highlight Passage: Romans 8: 28 [NKJV] …
  28 All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are the called according to HIS purposes. 
… We so often cannot see God’s plan unfolding in our life; but we know that HE DOES and ALL THINGS do work together for our good.
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Highlight Context – Romans 8: 18-28 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… We can only hope that all our efforts are not in vain; but we can KNOW that God’s efforts are always right/pure.
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Reference Passage #1 – Proverbs 3: 5-6 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… I hope we all have this truth buried deeply in your heart and live by it, especially when we can’t explain what it happening in our lives.

Reference Passage #2 – Isaiah 55: 8-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s ways and His plans are very often way beyond what we can see.

Reference Passage #3 - 2nd Peter 3: 13 [NKJV] …
  13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 
… We must allow God to let His plans for our chess game of life unfold until it fulfills His promises; and so often we have trouble seeing where He is going.

  My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Philip Yancey, clearly stated his main point in this ODB entry, writing, … “When we can’t see God’s hand, we can trust His heart.” And the analogy he used to illustrate the lesson was that of playing a chess game in high school with a master chess player, who could see way ahead of Yancey and had total control of the game. The master player knew exactly what moves he wanted to make and Yancey, though he tried his best was no match for the master player.

 And that’s the way it is with God in this chess game of life, isn’t it? We often try our hardest to make the moves of life as Christians the way we think is right and strategic; but often we can’t see what God, the Master “chessman,” is doing to fulfill his master game plan.

 It’s a hard game, the chess game of life, isn’t it? … But we must trust that God knows the game, as our Chess Master, and we know that He will lead us in ways that are good for our well being and His glory.

My Prayer Today: Oh, my Lord, … You are my Master; and I trust in You to transform me and lead me where I need to go. … 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.