September 15, 2022 … From Bedlam To Belonging …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 258 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group Casting Crowns singing … If We Are the Body … powerfully singing how we are called, as God’s community of believers and His Body, to come together and reach out TOGETHER to serve Him by helping others who need the help of God’s family. 

We are Christ's Body ... 

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Highlight Passage: …  Psalm 133:1 [ESV] …  

1 How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!   

… King David sings of the heavenly joy when believers can live together in unity and harmony.                  

Highlight Passage (Context): … Psalm 133 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… King David sings of how powerful and precious it is in God’s eyes when His people come together to worship Him in harmony and unity.                                                                                

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Reference Passage: … Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …  

… God, thru Solomon, teaches how much more powerful it is when believers come together to serve God rather than individually.  

Reference Passage: … 1Corinthians 12:25-27 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …  

… God, thru Paul, teaches fellow Christians the value and purpose of Christians coming together in harmony to serve God TOGETHER.         

Reference Passage: … Galatians 6:2 [ESV] …  

2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.  

… Paul exhorts fellow Christians to follow and obey Christ’s law of love by sharing each other’s burdens.    

Reference Passage: … Philippians 2:3-5 [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… Paul teaches fellow Christians (and us too) that they (we) take on the attitude of Christ when we reach out, beyond our selfish desires, to help others as the body of Christ.  

Reference Passage: … Hebrews 10:24 [ESV] …  

24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  

… Paul exhorts fellow Christians to think of ways to show acts of love to one another. 

                                                                                

My Devotional Journa: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Amy Boucher Eye … AT THIS LINK …  tells of a young man, named Barry, who in his childhood had experienced a lot of rejection and even abuse, but now, seeing his fellow church members celebrating the time of Passover, expressed his delight by saying, … “This is my family now. This is my community. I’ve found somewhere where I know I can love and be loved . . . where I belong.”      

And isn’t that the way God’s people should be; … coming together in community, as the Body of Christ, to reach out, way beyond our selfish desires, to be the hands, feet, and voice of our Savior to others, … inviting any/all to become members of the family of God?  

And I’m stopping to pray that we, who know and follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior, live up to the lyrics of the linked song above by committing to come TOGETHER to be His body; … yes, even today !!                   

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for Your enabling grace, Lord, … to reach out as Your body today to help others as the family of God should.             

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, …  to reach out today, as the Body of Christ, to help others in Your Name, Lord, and for Your glory.      .… Amen

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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.