May 10, 2023 … My God Is Real

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 130 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group, The Sound,  singing … God Is Real … poignantly and powerfully singing of how God is so very real for those who believe in His transforming love and grace. 

No "household" gods ... 

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Highlight Passage: … Genesis 32:28 [NLT] … 

28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the Man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.” 

… Jacob’s name is changed to “Israel” when he confronts and wrestles with the real God in the flesh and wins God’s blessing.                        

Highlight Passage (Context): … Genesis 31:19-21, 32:22-30 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… God’s word, in Genesis, of Jacob and his family searching for and finding God’s blessing and protection.                                          .                     

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Reference Passage: … Jeremiah 10:10 [NLT] … 

10 But the LORD is the only true God.  He is the living God and the everlasting King!  The whole earth temples at His anger.  The nations cannot stand up to His wrath. 

… God, declares thru His Prophet, that He is one true and everlasting King of all.  

Reference Passage: … John 4:24 [NLT] … 

24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” 

… Jesus declares to the Samaritan woman at the well Who God really is to all mankind; and that only those who worship Him in their spirit of belief can know Him truly as God.    

Reference Passage: … John 17:3 [NLT] … 

23 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one You sent to earth.  

… Jesus prays and declares that only those who KNOW,  BELIEVE in, and follow Jesus can really know God. 

Reference Passage: … 1John 5:20 [NLT] … 

20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God.  And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and H e is eternal life.

… John teaches fellow Christians that knowing and believing in Jesus as the Son of God, can know and follow the One True God.   

Reference Passage: …  Revelation 4:9-11 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God reveals to John that in Heaven only our Lord, King Jesus, is worthy of all praise and honor as The LORD, or one true God.    

                                                                                                                  

My Devotional Journal: Today Our Daily Bread author, Tim Gustafson … AT THIS LINK …   tells of a woman who reported to police of a stolen “household god,” … a wooden figurine (perhaps like the one in the photo).  Later, the police found what they thought was the stolen statue; but the woman said, …   “No, my god is much larger and more beautiful than that.”

And this story reminded the ODB author of the “household gods” which were taken when Jacob and his family were escaping Laban in the Old Testament story which was a pre-cursor to Jacob wrestling God in human form in order to receive God’s blessing.  It’s the story in the highlight passage above; and it illustrates, along with the remaining reference Scriptures to the reality that we need to wrestle in our lives to avoid having any false gods, … i.e., idols …to come into our lives.  

And so I pray, as did Jesus before He went to the cross (see John 17:3) that we come to know the One and Only God intimately so as to allow the Lord to save us and sanctify Him into our lives forever.           

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … showing us Who You are, thru Your word, so that we can wrestle with ourselves and the world to receive Your blessing and to keep all idols out of our lives.     

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to do battle with our flesh and the world to remain true to You, Lord, the One-True-God    …  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.