October 26, 2023… From Ashes To Beauty …

October 26, 2023… From Ashes To Beauty  …    

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in this song with lyrics from Crystal Lewis singing …  Beauty For Ashes …  Poignantly singing of how, for us Christians, our God promises to restore us to beauty from the ashes of our sin nature. 

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Highlight Passage: … Isaiah 61:3 [NLT] … 

3 To all who mourn in Israel, …  He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for His own glory..

…  God, thru the Prophet Isaiah promises to restore His chosen remnant of believers from the ashes of their sin to the beauty of God’s glory. .            

              

Highlight Passage (Context): … Isaiah 61:1-4 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… God, thru Isaiah, promises to send a Messiah to restore them from the ruins of their sin and give them (and us) His glory.   

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Reference Passage: … Jeremiah 29:11, 30:17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God, thru Jeremiah, also promises His faithful believers l to restore them from the ashes of their humanity to the newness and wholeness of God’s glory.

Reference Passage: … Joel 2:25-26 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God, thru the Prophet Joel, also promises His faithful remnant of true believers to restore them from devastation and damage caused God had wrought on His people in the past.  

Reference Passage: … Luke 4: 16-21 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus, in His home synagog in Nazareth, reads from the Scroll of Isaiah 61 (see Highlight passage above) and declares that He is the One whom Isaiah prophesied Who would come to restore God’s people.      

Reference Passage: … Romans 8:28-30 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… The Apostle Paul encourages fellow Christians by teaching truth that ALL things in the lives of born-again Christians are for their (our) good and God’s glory.  

Reference Passage: …1Peter 5:10 [NLT] …10 In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation.    

… Trying to encourage and exhort fellow Christians who were being persecuted that our God in his mercy and grace will restore and strengthen them (us). 

                                                                              

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Kenneth Peterson  … AT THIS LINK …  tells of someone finding a wedding ring, which was felt destroyed in the ashes of the worst fire in California history.  

Perhaps you Christians, who are reading with me, like I do, know of God’s willingness and ability to restore us to the beauty of God’s glory from the goriness of our lives being destroyed in the ash heap of our sin nature.  About 40 years ago, God showed me that He could - and WOULD - take me from the ashes of my burning sin and remake me into the beauty of an eternal relationship with God’s Son.  Oh, how I pray you, who’re reading this, have experienced the beautiful saving grace which rises us from the ashes of our humanity to the glory and beauty of being restored by God’s relentless love. 

   

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for restoring me from the ashes of my burning sin.                                         

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray. again today, that all reading here will join me, … to praise You, Lord, for finding and restoring us to worship You forever.   … 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.