Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of The Maranatha Singers singing one of my favorite praise songs… Jesus, You Are My Life, … strongly declaring what should be the life reality for all Christians - to focus on and pursue a deeper, more abiding relationship with Christ.
Highlight Passage: Hebrews 10: 32 [NKJV] …
32 But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: …
… Holding our belief and faith in Christ - NO MATTER WHAT!
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Highlight Context – Hebrews 10: 32-39 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Keeping our belief and focus on Christ even when things go bad.
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Reference Passage #1 - Isaiah 26: 3 [NKJV] …
3 You will keep him in perfect peace (LORD), whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You.
… Isaiah states where our trust, hope, and peace lies - by focusing on our relationship with the living God.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, David C McCasland, used a true story to illustrate his ODB teaching about our focus being on Christ in the midst of the turmoils of the world. McCasland writes, Early in September 2011, a raging wildfire destroyed 600 homes in and around the city of Bastrop in central Texas. A few weeks later an article in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper carried this headline: “People who lost the most, focus on what wasn’t lost.” The article described the community’s outpouring of generosity and the realization of those who received help that neighbors, friends, and community were worth far more than anything they lost.
And then McCasland referred his readers (me) to the highlight Scripture passage from the the book of Hebrews (see link/reference to Hebrews 10 above), where the author was writing to persecuted Jewish Christians, exhorting and encouraging them to remember, in the midst of turmoil and the fires of life, that they must hold on to their faith and their focus on their relationship with Christ.
How about it, fellow Christian? In the midst of the fires of life, can we, or DO WE, keep our focus on our Savior? I must admit that this can be a real challenge, … to find peace in the fire storms by focusing on the One and only author of true peace; … JESUS!! And that’s why I believe that it takes proactive discipline to develop a habit of focusing on Christ as deeply as possible when life is not so stormy or fiery. Because when the fire storms come, we need to have developed the habit of turning our focus, almost entirely, on Christ. Then - and only then - will we find any degree of peace in midst of the storms of life.
That, my fellow Christian, is why you find me here - EVERYDAY - in the peace and quiet of each morning, focusing on my Lord, through His word and in prayer, … developing the faith habit of focusing on Christ - no matter what might come along in the future.
My Prayer Today: Oh, my Lord, Jesus! … Help me to keep my focus on You; because, as the Maranatha singers sing, … “You are my life.” … 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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