January 13, 2023 … Standing Against the Crowd …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 13 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Danny Gokey singing  … Stand In Faith … poignantly, yet powerfully, singing of how we Christians must stand in our faith in Christ.

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Highlight Passage: … Romans 5:2 [NLT] …  

2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. 

… Paul so grieved his rejection by his fellow Jews who were really rejecting Christ’s work on the cross to save them from their sins.  

Highlight Passage (Context): …  Romans 9:1-5 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul, after his conversion grieved for his fellow Jew who rejected Christ a The Messiah.          

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Reference Passage: … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God’s truth, thru Solomon, calls believers to trust in God to lead them (us) to follow Him, no matter what we face in life.          

Reference Passage </u>: … John 16:33 [NLT] … </b>

33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” 

… Jesus promises His disciples that, when they (we) face trials in this world, He their (our) Lord had overcome the world.             

Reference Passage: … 1Corinthians 16:13 [NLT] … 

13 Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong.  

… Paul exhorts fellow Christians to join him to stand firm in faith in the battles we face in this world.   

Reference Passage: … Ephesians 6:10-11 [NLT] … 

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 

… Paul charges fellow Christians to put on God’s empowering grace and His full armor to do battle against Satan and the world. 

                                                                  

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Bill Crowder … AT THIS LINK …   quoted Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt,  writing about how difficult it was for her fellow Jews who were so persecuted prior to and during WW2, and who wrote,  “But few indeed have been found to resist the crowd, to stand up alone before misguided masses, to face their implacable frenzy without weapons.”     

And now, more and more, in our world, we Christians are having to stand in our faith against a world which is growing more and more hostile to those who claim to follow Christ.  But when we take in the linked song above, as well as the exhortation and calls from God’s word…  from Jesus Himself, in the Scriptures above, … as well as Solomon and the Apostle Paul, … we Christians are called to stand strong in our faith because we can trust and utilize the strength of Christ and His Spirit when we feel weak in our faith.  

So, if we are mocked or persecuted for our faith in Christ today, know that God’s empowering grace is always with us .. to give us His strength to follow Him no matter where He might lead us.     

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for giving me Your enabling grace to stand strong in my faith when the world comes against those of us who follow You.                

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … stand strong, Lord, with the grace You give for us to do battle in Your Name today.     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.