June 4, 2023 … Stand Strong …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 155 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman singing … His Strength Is Perfect … poignantly and powerfully singing of how we Christians are strengthened by God’s strength when we stand for our Lord in our daily battles. 

============        

Highlight Passage: … John 21:19 [NLT] … 

9 Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”   

… Jesus calls Peter to stand strong and to follow Christ.                

                         

Highlight Passage (Context): … John 21:15-19 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… After His resurrection, Jesus restores Peter after Peter had denied Jesus three times and calls Peter to follow Jesus as his Messiah..                                           .                     

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

Reference Passage: … Joshua 1:9 [NLT] … 

9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. 

… God assures Joshua, just as the LORD does for all faithful followers to be strong and follow Him wherever the LORD calls us to go after Him.  

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

5 Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart; and do not depend on your own understanding . 6  Seek His will in ALL you do, and He will show you which path to take. 

… God, thru Solomon, charges God’s people to trust that God will forever lead us as we follow and stand for Him.    

Reference Passage: … Matthew 10:38 [NLT] … 

38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy to be being mine.”  

… Jesus calls His disciples (and all true believers). to follow the Lord, standing strong as His disciples. 

Reference Passage: … Romans 12:1-2 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …  

… The Apostle Paul shows fellow Christians that we, as disciples following Christ, must become living sacrifices for God’s glory.  

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

… Paul teaches fellow Christians that they (we) must put on our Spirit-given armor and be strong, standing firm in our faith to follow our Lord in the dally battles of life  

                                                                                                                                    

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Arthur Jackson… AT THIS LINK …  writes about an early church father, Polycarp, who in 155AD was threatened with being burned alive if he didn’t renounce his faith in Christ; … to which he responded … “For eighty and six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. And how can I now blaspheme my king who saved me?” 

And if my readers have taken in the linked song and the Scriptures above, I would hope that we, who call ourselves DISCIPLES of Christ ,are duly called - and doing all we can - to stand firm and  to live as followers of and witnesses for our Lord … today, tomorrow, and all the days of our lives. 

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, …for calling me to use Your power to follow and stand for You again today.       

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to stand strong for You, Lord, once again today.  … 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.