Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Sara Groves singing … Abide With Me … poignantly singing a prayer of Whom we should go to when we feel overwhelmed or helpless in life.
An original score by Giuseppe Verdi
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Highlight Verse[s]: 1 Thessalonians 2:4 [NKJV] ... 4 For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.
… Paul to fellow Christians declares his attitude to seek approval from Christ and Christ alone for Paul’s preaching of the Gospel to others.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-4 [NLT] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Paul sought approval from God and God alone for His sharing of the Gospel everywhere he went.
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Reference Passage : … Psalm 139:23-24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… The Psalmist, King David, shows us the attitude we should have toward the Lord, … seeking His approval, and His approval only in life.
Reference Passage : … John 15:4-5 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus tells His Disciples (and us) that we must abide in Him and Him alone.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 4:1 [NLT] … 1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
… God, thru Paul, exhorts us, as called by God, to seek to live a life worthy in the eyes of our Lord.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Bill Crowder, uses a story of great composer, Giuseppe Verdi, who desired to please only one man with his work, an attitude we should avoid as Christians. … The ODB author wrote: When the legendary composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) was young, a hunger for approval drove him toward success. Warren Wiersbe wrote of him: “When Verdi produced his first opera in Florence, the composer stood by himself in the shadows and kept his eye on the face of one man in the audience—the great Rossini. It mattered not to Verdi whether the people in the hall were cheering him or jeering him; all he wanted was a smile of approval from the master musician.”
The ODB author, Bill Crowder, then asks some pointed questions of his Christian readers, … “Whose approval do we seek? A parent’s? A boss’s? A love interest’s?” And then Crowder refers to what the Apostle Paul, who, inspired by God’s Spirit, wrote to fellow Christians (see passages from Thessalonians and Ephesians above) … that we should seek approval for the choices and ways we live our lives from God, … and GOD ALONE.
And that’s why every morning, before my feet hit the ground, I pray from Psalm 139:23-24, seeking God’s direction and approval for everything I will think, say, and do for that following day. As Sara Groves sings in the linked song, I seek to “abide” in and to follow the ways of my Lord, recognizing one of my primary spiritual weaknesses - the desire to please others.
And so, today, …I pray that we all do as much as we we can to use God’s “GPS,” i.e., His word, as the path to follow Him, …seeking approval ONLY from His will and way for our lives thru His word.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... for giving me the truth of Your word to light my way in life (on your own see Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 119:105).
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to seek approval for the way we live from You, and You alone, thru Your word.
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.</ span>
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