Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and yrics of Steven Curtis Chapman singing … His Strength Is Perfect … poignantly singing of how God’s strength is always available to cover our weaknesses when we’re willing to focus on the Lord rather than on our selves.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Mark 4:39 [NLT] … 3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!
… When we focus our lives, trustingly, on our relationship with Christ rather than our own desires, He will impart His “perfect peace” to us.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Isaiah 26:1-4 [NLT] …USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Isaiah gives His prescription for peace … i.e., trusting in and focusing on our relationship with the Lord.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… We can only follow God’s way when we focus on Him rather than our own understanding or perception of life.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 11:28-30 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus wants to give us healing rest; but we have to be willing to yoke ourselves His strength.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 4:6-7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … … God’s “peace that passes all understand” can be ours when we take our concerns to God in prayer rather than stewing in our own worries.
Reference Passage : … 1st Peter 5:7 [NLT] … 7 Give ALL your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.
… It’s God’s invitation; but do we take Him up on it?
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Amy Boucher Pye, used a a quote from Dallas Willard about how we need to focus on Christ in our stressful lives to dampen the worries and take on God’s perfect peace. … The ODB author wrote: “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry.” When two friends repeated that adage by the wise Dallas Willard to me, I knew I needed to consider it. Where was I spinning my wheels, wasting time and energy? More important, where was I rushing ahead and not looking to God for guidance and help? In the weeks and months that followed, I remembered those words and reoriented myself back to the Lord and His wisdom. I reminded myself to trust in Him, rather than leaning on my own ways.
Then the ODB author highlights a God-imparted prescription for obtaining and holding on to God’s peace … by referring to a prophecy of Isaiah’s in his journal - Chapter 26, Verse 3, which I memorized years ago and call it to my mind when I’m feeling stressed or worried. May I challenge any reader here, especially if one is feeling stressed now, to read that verse ALOUD [and slowly] three times and then see how you feel afterward … i.e, if of the worries have dissipated.
In that verse Isaiah makes reference to God giving His PERFECT PEACE to the one who focuses, with a humble/surrendered heart (implied), on his/her relationship with the Lord. And what God promises is “shalom-shalom” (look it up in the Hebrew), which means God’s “perfect, infinite, or eternal” PEACE.
And in the NT, Jesus promised that same “rest” from worry (see Matt. 11:29-30 as well as The Apostle Paul promising the Christian who takes his worries to God in prayer, God’s “peace that passes all understanding.” (See Phil. 4:6-7) In practical sense, all of this is saying that we can be concerned with circumstances in life; however, when we focus on our selves, that lapses into WORRY, which is sinful.
But when we’re willing to take our cares to a caring God (see 1st Peter 5:7) and focus on Him rather than ourselves [again, Is. 26:3], He will impart to us His grace to give us His peace. … Personally, I like that prescription; don’t you?
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Lord, Jesus, thank You for making Your PERFECT peace available to me.
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My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Load me up with a big dose of Your peace to cover my selfish doubts, 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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