December 19, 2023 … God’s Healing Grace …

December 19, 2023 … God’s Healing Grace  …    

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in this song with lyrics from a worship group singing  … Healing Grace …  Poignantly singing a prayer for God’s healing grace. 

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Highlight Passage: … Genesis 32:31  [ESV] … 

31 The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. 

… Jacob is left with a permanent limp from hip pain in wrestling with God but also with a new name and a new character.   

Highlight Passage (in context)  … Genesis 32:22-32  … USE THIS LINK …  

… Jacob wrestles with God; and leaves with a damaged hip but with God’’s blessing and a new character with a new name, “Israel.”                              

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Reference Passage: … Romans 5:3-5 (NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul teaches fellow Christians (and us) that the pains we receive from the trial of life help us to develop Christlike character.and endurance.   

Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 12:9-10 (NLT] …  

9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.   10  That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

… Paul learned from Jesus that God’s grace would be enough to allow him to endure the pains of life, like Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.”     

Reference Passage: … Philippians 4:13 (NLT] …  

13 For I can do everything through Christ, Who gives me strength. 

… Paul testifies that the strength he gets thru his relationship with Christ is enough to endure any of the pains of life.      

Reference Passage: … James 1:2-4 (NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

…James exhorts fellow Christians to allow the trials/pains of life to help them (us) grow in the endurance of faith.                  

Reference Passage: … 1Peter 4:12-13 (NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …

… Peter encourages oppressed Christians to actually be glad when experiencing suffering for Christ for it is the mark of serving the Lord and for His glory.         

My Devotional Journal: Today’s Our Daily Bread Author , Mike Wittmer -  AT THIS LINK -   Tells of a young woman, Faye, who touched the scars on her abdomen which had come from surgery to remove cancer in her abdomen, saying to her husband,  “Scars represent either the pain of cancer or the start of healing. I choose my scars to be symbols of healing.” 

To all who might be reading with me here today, I think we all have our scars from past encounters in life; and if y’all have taken in the linked song and the Scriptures above, I’m praying that we all can realize that those scars, from our past suffering, may have produced pain, maybe even lasting or lifelong pain; but as with Jacob, who wrestled with God (see highlight passage), we now need to recognize that the scars are marks of God’s healing grace which have helped to remake us into a new, more Christlike, person to serve our Lord.  So, join me in a thankful ”HALLELUJAH” !!     

   

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for Your healing grace, Lord.   

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray. again today, that all reading here will join me, … with grateful thanks, Lord, for applying Your healing grace to the scars of our lives.   … 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.