Saturday, March 26, 2016

March 26, 2016: Forsaken On A Friday

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2016 - Day 86 

Devotional Song:  … GO TO THIS LINK …  Please take the time to take in a video of Chris Tomlin singing, At The Cross, declaring how we owe all to the One Who bled and died, abandoned by His Father, on that cross so that we who come to Him will never experience that kind of separation from God.


Highlight Passage:  Psalm 22:1 [NKJV] …  
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? 
 … He experienced it so that I will never feel it. … HALLELUJAH!!!
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Highlight Context – Psalm 22 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK 
… Jesus cried from the cross the words of David’s song, feeling the abandonment of His Father … a separation we, as Christians, will never feel. … HALLELUJAH!!!
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Reference Passage #1 - Matthew, Chapter 27 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK 
 … All that Christ went thru on the Cross - the total abandonment of His Father - so that we, who receive His saving grace will never experience such abandonment.

Reference Passage #2 - Romans 8:37-39 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK 
… Nothing … NOTHINGNOTHING!!! … can separate us, as true believers and Christians, from the love of God … HALLELUJAH!!!

Reference Passage #3 - Hebrews 13:5 [NKJV] …  
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [Deut. 31:6, Joshua 1:5] 
… God’s promise to all true believers. that He will never forsake us.

My Journal for Today:  Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Bill Crowder used a very stark quote from a Russian author to make his Holy Week point [and take in the attached photo as well]. Crowder wrote: Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky said, “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” With that in mind, I read an online article describing “The Top 8 Deadliest Prisons in the World.” In one of these prisons every prisoner is held in solitary confinement. 

Last night my wife and I gathered, along with our brothers/sisters in Christ, at our church for a “Good Friday” remembrance. It was a somber gathering with the sanctuary darkened and our Pastor sitting at a solitary chair with several candles lined up near him. Soberly, … he went through the events of that fateful week where Jesus came into the Temple triumphantly, only to be unjustly sent to a lonely cross by the Romans and the Jewish leaders, … where Jesus was decried by the people and experienced the unimaginable horror of being abandoned by His Heavenly Father. Each event on that passion week our Pastor marked by blowing out a candle; … and we left the church last night soberly contemplating how Jesus experienced that separation and abandonment so that any who would receive Him as “King Jesus” in faith would never have to be separated from our God.

And now, this morning, as I think about that Good Friday service last night, I can’t help but think about that famous sermon preached by Dr. S.M. Lockeridge, “It’s Friday, But Sunday’s A Comin!” (a portion LINKED HERE for any reader).  ... Because, today is Saturday; and tomorrow we’ll celebrate a much different prospect, … the reality that CHRIST IS RISEN; and His resurrection signals the truth that any of us, who have received Him in faith as Lord and Savior, will NEVER be abandoned or separated from Him (see the Scriptures above).

Do I sense a glorious … and golden … HALLELUJAH?!!

My Prayer Today:  Heavenly Father, … Yes, again today … HALLELUJAH, my Lord, … You went to the cross for me; … and now I follow You into Your heavenly home forever. … HALLELUJAH!!! … 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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