Friday, October 07, 2016

October 7, 2016: Holding Fast To The Cross

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2016 - Day 281  

Devotional Song:  … GO TO THIS LINK …  Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of the group Hillsong singing live … Jesus, You’re All I Need, powerfully declaring surrender to King Jesus, Who purchased our salvation, and is all we need to hold onto in life, surrendering all to the One Who holds us in His hands forever.


Highlight Passage: Philippians 3:12 [NKJV] …  
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 
… Paul recognized where his focus should be … on Christ, the One Who held [and holds] onto him (and us).
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Highlight Context: Philippians 3:7-12 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK 
… Paul expresses his need (and ours) of laying hold of the One Who laid hold of him. 
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Reference Passage #1 … Acts 9:1-22 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK 
… Reading how Saul of Tarsus was converted from anti-Christian fanatic to a zealot for Christ, holding strongly to, and preaching even more powerfully, the Resurrection message of the Cross.

Reference Passage #2 … Galatians 2:20 [NKJV] …  
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
… My LORD and Savior, my Redeemer, has eternal control on my soul and my life. My flesh is crucified and He now lives in me! … HALLELUJAH!!

My Journal for Today:  … Our Daily Bread author, David McCasland, wrote about how a great 19th century preacher/pastor expressed how much he desired that all Christians hold fast to the cross of Christ and His Gospel. He wrote: In 1856, Charles Spurgeon, the great London preacher, founded the Pastors’ College to train men for the Christian ministry. It was renamed Spurgeon’s College in 1923. Today’s college crest shows a hand grasping a cross and the Latin words, Et Teneo, Et Teneor, which means, “I hold and am held.” In his autobiography, Spurgeon wrote, “This is our College motto. We . . . hold forth the Cross of Christ with a bold hand . . . because that Cross holds us fast by its attractive power. Our desire is that every man may both hold the Truth, and be held by it; especially the truth of Christ crucified.” 

And reading this proclamation from Charles Spurgeon, let alone the truth from God’s word about how You, Lord, brought the Apostle Paul to his knees and converted this anti-Christian to one of the most powerful preachers of the Gospel in history, convinces me that I need to hold more strongly to the cross of Christ, where my life was changed as was that of Saul, … from an anti-Christ to a servant of what my Lord did for me on that cross.

So, today I sing along with Hillsong that my King Jesus is all I need; and that I will hold fast to the cross and share my story of redemption to any/all who will hear it as a testimony of God’s saving grace. … And I invite any/all reading here with me to hold fast to the cross of Christ as well.

My Prayer Today: Lord, those of us who’ve been saved and redeemed by Your sacrifice for us on the cross, … hold more strongly than ever to You as our Savior AND Lord. 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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