Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 151
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Tauren Wells singing … Joy In the Morning … poignantly singing of how we Christians can look past any grieving today to the joy Christ gives us for the morning ahead thru Go's saving and sanctifying grace.
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Highlight Passage: … Ezra 3:13 [NLT] …
13 The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance.
… The loud shouting for joy and tears of remembrance were joined as Ezra led God’s people to rebuild the Temple after the return of God’s faithful remnant after their 70 year exile to Babylon.
Highlight Passage (Context): … Ezra 3:8-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Ezra leads God’s people in the rebuilding of the Temple which causes tears of remembrance and joy among the people of God. .
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Reference Passage: … Psalms 30:5 [NLT] …
5 For His anger lasts for only a moment, but His favor lasts for a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. .
… King David sings of God’s joy and restoration, which will outlast God’s anger and His loving discipline.
Reference Passage: … Jeremiah 29:11 [NLT] …
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope..
… God’s promise thru Jeremiah to restore the joy of salvation to God’s people.
Reference Passage: … John 16:10-12 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
…Jesus teaches His confused Disciples of the joy which will come … but only after He would leave them for a time.
Reference Passage : … Acts 2:28 [NLT] … <
8 You have shown me the way of life, and You will fill me with the joy of Your presence.’..
… Peter, at Pentecost preaches from David’s song in Psalms 16: 8-11 that God will restore the joy of God’s people.
Reference Passage: … 1Peter 1:8 [NLT] …
8 You love Him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
… Peter shows persecuted and troubled Christians that our Lord will restore us from our suffering to a foundation of joy in Christ’s love.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Amy Boucher Pye … AT THIS LINK … tells of the grief being shared by three sisters who experienced three losses in a short span of time, including one of their own children. But the sisters received comfort from God’s word in the Book of Ezra (see highlight passage) where God shared the tears of sorrow and joy mingling after God’s Temple was rebuilt.
Perhaps some of my readers today are going thru a tough time, as God’s people did being exiled to Babylon. But as we read in God’s Reference Scriptures above, our God’s plan for all of His chosen people is to return and restore them (us) from our times of trouble and loss to the joy of God’s Salvation thru the work of our Messiah, King Jesus, and His blood sacrifice on the cross.
I pray we all can - and will - grieve that our sin, which nailed our Lord to that cross; … but then, we can shed tears of joy that God’s sacrifice has saved those of us who believe in Jesus as our Messiah … so that we can have eternal life with our Lord. And that is our JOY and hope forever!
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, …for giving me the joy of Your saving grace which I can hold onto forever.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to praise and give thanks to You, Lord, for Your saving and sanctifying grace. … 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.
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