September 29, 2022 … A Sweet Aroma …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 272 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from tom Booth singing … Fragrance Prayer … poignantly singing of how we Christians should pray that our lives be a sweet aroma to those who share life with us.  

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Highlight Passage: … 2Corinthians 2:15 [ESV] …  

15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing 

… Paul shows that those who live for Christ are a sweet aroma to those who’re being saved. but the smell of death to those who are perishing.                                  

Highlight Passage (Context): …  2Corinthians 2:14-16 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul teaches that the Christlike lives of those who’ve been saved is like a sweet aroma to those who’re being saved but the mell of death to those who are lost. .                                          

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Reference Passage: … Leviticus 1:9 [ESV] …  

9 But the internal organs and the legs must first be washed with water. Then the priest will burn the entire sacrifice on the altar as a burnt offering. It is a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.  

… The Old Testament sacrifices were burned by the Priests as a sweet aroma to God for His covenant to His people. 

Reference Passage: … John 12:1-7 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume, as a preparation and sacrifice for His coming death.           

Reference Passage: …  Romans 12:1  [ESV] …  

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.

… Paul pleads with fellow Christians to become a living sacrifice in the way we live for Christ as our way of worshipping the Lord. 

Reference Passage: …  Revelation 5:8 [ESV] …  

8 And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.  

… God reveals to John (and us) that the prayers of God’s people are sweet incense to the Lamb of God. 

                                                                                

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Dave Brandon … AT THIS LINK … tells a touching story of how his daughter had kept a bowl of fragrant pistachio nuts in her room producing a sweet aroma; and after her tragic death in an auto accident at 17, the ODB author and his wife keep a bowl of the fragrant nuts around always to remind them or their sweet daughter.                 

Oh how I pray that we Christians realize that our lives, well lived as living sacrifices to/for God’s glory (see Romans 12:1), are a sweet aroma of praise and worship to our God (see Revelation 5:8).  That’s why the animal sacrifices were burned in the OT (see Leviticus 1:9; and it’s why Jesus’ friend, Mary, anointed his feet with expensive oil (see John 12:1-7, to worship her Lord with the fragrance of her sacrifice of worship.  

And we need to be asking ourselves, … what can we be doing - even today - to offer up the sacrifice of our lives as a fragrant worship for God’s glory?  Personally that’s my prayer today, How about you?                  

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … giving me the opportunity to live a fragrant sacrifice of worship today.   

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to make our lives as living and fragrant sacrifices of worship today, praying that our witness to/for You, Lord, is a sweet aroma of praise to You.    .… 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.