October 14, 2015: All Is Well!!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 286  

Devotional Song:  … GO TO THIS LINK …  Please take the time to take in a video of Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing their song, All Is Well, … where they express the truth that our hope of life, now and eternally, is found ONLY in the reign of King Jesus.

Highlight Passage:   Hebrews 11: 1 [NKJV] …  
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 
…  Jesus - our only hope!!
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Highlight Context – Hebrews, Chapter 11 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK  …  
…  The Author of Hebrews honors all those faithful to Christ under the Old Covenant who held onto their faith in the Messiah, many withstanding great trials in the process of their faithfulness. 
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Reference Passage #1 - Galatians 5: 5 [NKJV] … 
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 
… Our hope of heaven - only in our faith in Christ.

Reference Passage #2 - 1st Timothy 1: 1 [NKJV] … 
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, 
… Paul knew that our only hope was found in Christ; and so he taught Timothy.

Reference Passage #3 - 1st Peter 1: 3-5 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Peter knew that our heavenly inheritance could only come through our faith in Christ.

My Journal for Today:  Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Randy Kilgore, relates a teaching story of the hope some explorers placed in their leader. Kilgore writes … In January 1915, the ship Endurance was trapped and crushed in the ice off the coast of Antarctica. The group of polar explorers, led by Ernest Shackleton, survived and managed to reach Elephant Island in three small lifeboats. Trapped on this uninhabited island, far from normal shipping lanes, they had one hope. On April 24, 1916, 22 men watched as Shackleton and five comrades set out in a tiny lifeboat for South Georgia, an island 800 miles away. The odds seemed impossible, and if they failed, they would all certainly die. What joy, then, when more than four months later a boat appeared on the horizon with Shackleton on its bow shouting, “Are you all well?” And the call came back, “All safe! All well!” 

And the story is illustrative of the teachings of the Scriptures related above … that our only hope of glory is found, as the photo illustrates, in JESUS! Paul recognized and exhorted this truth (see Gal. 5:5 or 1st Tim. 1:1 above). And Peter strongly declared it to persecuted Christians (see 1st Peter 1: 3-5 linked above). The question for me (and you) today is … DO WE REALLY BELIEVE this truth!!

Because if we, as Christians do believe these truths, we won’t - nay, we can’t - let ourselves get wrapped up in doubt or despair. Our hope is in Christ; and His grace is enough to sustain us through any malady or storm (see 2nd Cor. 12: 9 if you need Jesus’ words on this). His promises and His power are enough to sustain us. … So, in faith, we move onward, holding to the hope we have in Christ.

My Prayer Today:  Oh, my Lord, … You are my hope, dear Jesus … my only hope!! … 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.