Wednesday, March 04, 2020

March 4, 2020 … Seeking God’s Power

Berry Patch Devotions in 2019 - Day 64 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song/lyrics from Laura Story singing Grace Abounds … poignantly singing of how we, as Christians, need to seek after God’s abundant grace and when we’re feeling low or weak and in need of God’s power.

God's Empowering Grace ... ALWAYS THERE!! 

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Highlight Verse[s]: Mark 9:2 [ESV] ... 2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, …  
… What an incredible sensation, … to be transfigured by Christ’s power to heaven and witness first-hand the glory of God.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Mark 9:2-11 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Just imagine the “live-wire” sensation of being transfigured to heaven to witness God’s eternal glory first hand.
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Reference Passage : … Psalms 63:1-4 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK ... 
… King David sings a prayer, seeking after the presence/power of His God.

Reference Passage : … Isaiah 41:10 [ESV] … 10  … fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 
… God’s promise to be there with His power to lift us up when we get down.

Reference Passage : … Matthew 11:28-30 [ESV] … 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
… Jesus’ promise that He will be there, yoked to us, … to help us carry the heavy loads in life.

Reference Passage : … 2Corinthians 12:9 [ESV] … 9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
 … When we’re feeling weak, we need to remember Jesus’ promise to give us His strength

My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Tim Gustafson, uses a literary testimony of a poet who was transformed by God’s grace to be able to seek after and find God’s power. … The ODB author wrote: “I felt like I had touched a live wire,” said Professor Holly Ordway, describing her reaction to John Donne’s majestic poem “Holy Sonnet 14.” There’s something happening in this poetry, she thought. I wonder what it is. Ordway recalls it as the moment her previously atheistic worldview allowed for the possibility of the supernatural. Eventually she would believe in the transforming reality of the resurrected Christ. 

There was a time in my life when I, like the professor in the ODB entry, recognized I had a spiritual weakness, … breaking thru my unbelief and experiencing first hand the power of God’s word to lead me to His saving/sanctifying grace. I can only imagine what it must’ve been like to be those three Disciples whom Jesus transported to Heaven to be witnesses - first-hand - to God’s glory and eternal grace (see the Mark 9 passage).

Well, … we will likely never be given that kind of first-hand glimpse of heaven; but we can - AND SHOULD - rest in the faith and knowledge of God’s promise to give us His empowering grace, as Laura Story sings about and Jesus’ promises (see Matt. 11 and 2Cor. 12) when we seek after God’s grace to give us His strength when we’re feeling low in power (see photo and also Isaiah 41:10).

So, if we’re feeling weakened today, let’s pray from Psalm 63:1-4 as I do EVERY morning; and seek after God’s empowering grace … together … to cover our weakness.

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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for Your promise, presence and power when I’m feeling weak, as I do today.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to pray for God’s empowering grace to lift us up and give us His power. 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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