Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in the YouTube movie clip of the piano scene from the 1988 Movie, “Big,” with Tom Hanks.
Student - Teacher Recital Duet
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Highlight Passage : … John 15:5 [ESV] ... 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
… Jesus teaches that we, as His disciples, must abide in Him to be able to do anything with His empowering grace.
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Highlight Passage [context] : … John 15:1-11 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus shows His disciples how they must abide in Him to be able to have a fruitful life.
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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.
… God directs us thru Solomon to trust Him to lead us the right way - ALWAYS.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 28:19-20 [ESV] ... 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
… We are commissioned to “go and make disciples;” … but Jesus promises that He will be with us in this task … ALWAYS.
Reference Passage : … 2Corinthians 9:8 [ESV] … 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency[e] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
… God, thru Paul, shows us, as Christians, that God’s grace will always be there to lift us up when we need His strength in our times of trial or weakness.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 4:13 [ESV] … 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
… God, thru Paul, reminds us, as Christians, that our strength to be content ONLY comes thru our relationship with Christ.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Jennifer Benson Schuldt, AT THIS LINK relates a story of a piano recital where a piano teacher plays a duet with the student [see photo], helping to give the student confidence to play a harmonious recital duet together.
And immediately reading that ODB piece this morning, after I had prayed - as I do every day in my early morning quiet times - for God’s Spirit to give me something very personal to abide in Him, my mind thought immediately of the playful toy piano scene in the 1988 movie, “Big,” with Tom Hanks (see linked video above).
And then God, I believe, took me to a remembrance of how I was mentored as a new, “baby,” Christian by an Elder in our church, … who taught me how to abide more closely with my Lord/Savior by beginning each day in God’s word; … and by praying that God would be sitting beside me as I meditate on His truth with Him, … showing me how to play a duet with Him … for His glory.
And if we’ve meditated on the Scriptures above, as I have this morning, we will know - or at least be reminded - that without our Lord being along side us, we can really do nothing for His glory [see the highlight passage]. But, … with Him alongside us, as His disciples - as He always is (see Matt. 28:20) - we can rely on His strength to empower us to play a harmonious life duet with Him (see Pauline passages above).
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for being along side me today - and all days - to give me the strength to play my music with/for 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 receive God’s empowering grace - always there for us - to go thru life playing a duet with 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>
1 comment:
I have always loved loved that scene. One of my favorites.
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