Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 38
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from David Luis singing … Lead On … poignantly singing about how we Christians can, and must, walk to follow our Good Shepherd, Who leads us to His glorious pastures from the darkness of our sin nature.
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Highlight Passage: … Ezekiel 34:12 [NLT] …
12 I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day.
… God promises and prophesies to be the Good Shepherd Who will rescue and gather God’s exiled, but chosen peoples.
Highlight Passage (Context): … Ezekiel 34:11-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru the Prophet Ezekiel, promises to be the Good Shepherd of Israel, bring them safely to His promised land.
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Reference Passage: … Psalms 23 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK ....
…King David acknowledges and sings of our Lord being our Good Shepherd, watching over us in all of our lives.
Reference Passage: … Isaiah 53:6 [NLT] …
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD has laid on Him the sins of us all.
…God’s promise, thru Isaiah, to His faithful remnant of believers to bring them (and us) back to Himself from our selfish and sinful wandering.
Reference Passage: … John 10:11 [NLT] …
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.
… Jesus declares Himself to be our “Good Shepherd,” Who was willing to die to safe His flock.
Reference Passage: … John 21:15-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK ...
…Jesus restores a broken Paul and calls him (as He calls us) to become a shepherd for God’s lost flock.
Reference Passage: … Hebrews 13:27 [NLT] …
17 Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.
… God’s word commands Christians to joyfully and faithfully follow and serve the Shepherds (i.e., the Pastors and Elders) who are charged and called by God to lead His flock.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Amy Boucher Pie … AT THIS LINK … told of her Pastor, Warren, who sadly learned of a a man in his church who had left his wife;. However, … seeing the man in a restaurant and feeling his calling as shepherd of his flock, the Pastor reached out to share with the man and call him back into the care of the church and his responsibilities as a husband.
We’re all called to follow our Good Shepherd as He leads us away from the dangers and darkness of this world to walk in the safety and providence of His loving care, aren’t we? And in that calling we are commanded, as His chosen flock from the Scriptures shared above, to shepherd and care for others as we follow, and obey, those sub-shepherds - i.e., our church Elders and Pastors.
A couple of Simple questions today: Are we following our called church leaders; and, are we - perhaps - being called ourselves to shepherd others by serving our Good Shepherd?
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for Your calling, Lord, which has led me to become a shepherd of a small flock whom you’ve called me to lead away from the dangers of sexual sin.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to follow the leaders of Your Church, Lord, who are leading us away from the world’s ways to the pastures of Your loving care, Lord, as our Good Shepherd. 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.
1 comment:
Amen!-
Kjetil!-
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