April 5, 2023 … Giving Up Everything …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 95 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group Vineyard leading in worship and  singing … I Surrender All … poignantly  singing of what it takes for Christians enter in to the Kingdom of God. 

============        

Highlight Passage … John 15:4 [NLT] … 

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. …  

… Jesus shows what it takes to truly become His disciple and to follow Him.                               

Highlight Passage (Context) …  Matthew 16:21-28 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

…Jesus, for the first time in His public ministry reveals to His disciples that He must die to become their Messiah.                        .                     

===============                                                                     .                                                                                                                         

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

… God, thru Solomon, declares that believers must trust God to be able to follow Him..    

Reference Passage: … Matthew 11:28-30 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …  

… Jesus offers His strength to cover our weakness as we follow to serve Him in life.    

Reference Passage: …Romans 8:28-31 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

…Paull exhorts and encourages fellow Christian that we can surrender to follow Jesus, knowing that everything we encounter in serving Him is for our good and God’s glory. 

Reference Passage: … Ephesians 6:10-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul sows fellow Christians that we can stand against our enemies when we’re willing to put on God’s armor and follow our Lord into battle.   

Reference Passage: … James 4:7 [NLT] … 

7 So, humble yourselves before God.  Resist the devil; and he will flee from you.  

… James shows fellow Christians that they (we) must humble ourselves to resist Satan and follow the Lord.           

                                                                                                            

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Marvin Williams … AT THIS LINK …  tells of how one must be willing to undertake an appendectomy before committing to live in a certain scientific village in Antartica because the nearest hospital is nearly 700 miles away.  Therefore, to take on that service in that barren place, one must be willing to give a lot of themselves;  … for sure!          

But that kind of surrender to serve mankind is nothing compared to what Christ would demand of any who, like His 12 disciples, were committed to following their Lord.   And if my readers have taken in the linked song and the Scriptures above, I hope we can all see that, … if we’re to be real-deal disciples of Christ, … we must be willing to give our all to serve and follow Him as our King Jesus leads us to glory. 

Are we?                                                       

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for giving me the strength to follow You.    

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to give our all to follow You, 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.