Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the group Casting Crowns singing … What If I Gave Everything … poignantly singing of how we, as disciples of Christ, so often hold back to give Jesus what we can for His glory and His service.
Giving All He Had To Give
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 6:8-9 [ESV] ... 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
… So many to feed with only a few fishes and loaves.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 6:4:14 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Jesus feeds thousands with the fishes and loaves offered by a boy who gave what he could.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [ESV] … 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
… We so often are tripped up by our own logic and experience and thereby limit what Jesus can do if we just trust Him.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 14:13-20 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Matthew’s version of the feeding of the thousands by Jesus.
Reference Passage : … Luke 9:23 [ESV] … 23 And He said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. …”
… Jesus’ command for disciples to deny our selfish ways and follow … yes, even when it doesn’t follow common sense.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 3:20-21 [ESV] … 20 Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
… Jesus can do so, so much more than we could ever imagine with what we have to give to/for His kingdom.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Cindy Hess Kasper, uses an old fable to illustrate that we can often do so much more than we think when we just give what we can. … The ODB author wrote: “Stone Soup,” an old tale with many versions, tells of a starving man who comes to a village, but no one there can spare a crumb of food for him. He puts a stone and water in a pot over a fire. Intrigued, the villagers watch him as he begins to stir his “soup.” Eventually, one brings a couple of potatoes to add to the mix; another has a few carrots. One person adds an onion, another a handful of barley. A farmer donates some milk. Eventually, the “stone soup” becomes a tasty chowder.
All I ask of my followers today, after you’ve taken in the paragraph above, heard the linked song, and meditated on the Scriptures provided above, … we need to ask ourselves the personal challenge from all of this input … “Are we giving all we can in service to our Lord?”
And like the young boy in the story of the loaves and the fishes, are we willing to offer all we have to our Messiah who can do so much more than we might imagine.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for giving us the opportunity to use what we have to serve You.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to give all we can in service to our 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.</ span>
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