December 22, 2023 … The Walls Come Down …

December 22, 2023 … The Walls Come Down …    

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...  Please take the time to take in this song with lyrics from Bill Gaither singing  … The Family of God …  Poignantly singing of how Christ’s work on the cross tore down all the walls between God and mankind, making all believers part of the family of God.    

The Berlin wall comes down ... 

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Highlight Passage: … Ephesians 4:14  [ESV] … 

14 For Christ Himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in His own body on the cross, He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 

… The Apostle Paul teaches fellow Christians how Christ’s finished work on the cross brought down all walls of separation between God and mankind and between Jews and Gentiles.       

Highlight Passage (in context): … Ephesians 2:11-22  … USE THIS LINK … . 

… Writing to Gentile believers in Christ, Paul teaches truth about Christ breaking down the walls between Jews and Gentiles, reconciling all believers in Christ and bringing them together forever in their (and our) faith.                                 

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Reference Passage: … 2Chronicles 7:14 (NLT] …  

14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 

… God’s promise that if God’s faithful can humble themselves to pray and repent of their (our) wicked ways, He will heal their (our) land.   

Reference Passage: … Romans 12:4-5 (NLT] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul teaches fellow Christians that we are all ONE BODY in Christ.        

Reference Passage: … 1Corinthians 1:10 (NLT] …  

10 I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.  

…Paul exhorts fellow Christians to live with no division between God’s family and His Church.      

Reference Passage: … Ephesians 3:6 (NLT] …  

6 And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.    

… Again, the Apostle Paul teaches fellow Christians of God’s plan to make all believers in Christ a part of the same body, … and all TOGETHER as HIS Body, … the Church

Reference Passage: … 1Peter 2:9 (NLT] …  

9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.   

…Peter teaches fellow Christians that God has chosen them (and us) to walk TOGETHER in His glorious light.                     

         

My Devotional Journal: Today’s Our Daily Bread Author , Tom Felten -  AT THIS LINK -   reminds his readers of how the wall separating East and West Germany came down in 1989 (See Photo), allowing the two countries to become one.  And this human event became an historical picture in our world of how Christ’s finished work on the cross and His resurrection broke down all the walls of sin that had separated mankind from God.        

My fellow Christian readers, … do you see it, my friends?  All of us, who believe that Christ died for our sins; … all who repent of our sins; … all who’ve received God’s saving grace, are now ONE in HIM.  And as the Scriptures above … ALL declare, … ALL the walls between us, when we humble ourselves to receive God’s reconciling grace, ALL come crumbling and tumbling 

down.  Join me today, my friends, reveling TOGETHER in the Family of God, just as Bill Gaither sings in he linked song.

         

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for bringing down the walls which once separated me from Your grace, Lord.     

My Prayer Today:  Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray. again today, that all reading here will join me, … to thankfully praise God for bringing us into Your family, Lord. … 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.