January 21, 2024 Surrendering … Drop-by-drop
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in this song with lyrics from Robin Mark leading in worship and singing … I Surrender All … Worshipfully singing of giving up ALL of ourselves to receive God’s love and His saving grace.
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Highlight Passage: … 1John 4:18-19 [NLT] …
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love. 19 We love each other because He loved us first.
… John teaches how we must surrender to receive God’s love to be able to share it with others.
Highlight Passage (in context): … 1John 4:9-19 … USE THIS LINK … </b>
… The Apostle John writes God giving us His love/grace to share with others.
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Reference Passage: … Psalms 63:1-3 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… King David sings thanks and praise to God for The Lord giving David His love.
Reference Passage: … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Solomon, promises to protect and lead those who trust in The Lord with all their (our) heart and avoid seeking our own way.
Reference Passage: … 1Corinthians 13:1-3 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… The Apostle Paul teaches fellow Christians {and us) about giving our all to share God’s love with others.
Reference Passage: … 2Timothy 1:7 [NLT] …
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
… Paul teaches Timothy (and us) that God NEVER gives surrendered believers any spirit of fear, but rather His Spirit of love and power and self-discipline.
My Devotional Journal: Today’s Our Daily Bread Author , John Blase - AT THIS LINK - tells of a sixteenth century Christian writer, Sister Theresa of Avila, … telling about most Christians having difficulty surrendering to follow Jesus with ALL their (our) hearts. She prayerfully wrote, “In everything, … we look for pleasant ways of serving You, God, …even as we measure out our lives to You. … a bit at a time, … we must be content to receive Your gifts drop by drop, … until we have surrendered our lives wholly to You.”
The good Sister, Theresa, nailed us, didn’t she? We do have trouble, as called for in the scriptures above, to surrender and give OUR ALL to/for Christ, don’t we? We live for and serve Jesus, DROP-BY-DROP, … only choosing to surrender ourselves a little at a time, … rather than sharing his love for others in total surrender to our Lord. We get to choose; but mostly we choose to give of ourselves of God’s love and grace a little bit at a time. How about we choose today to apply the linked song and God’s word above and give as much of our all to serve others with God’s love and grace? And then we’ll see about tomorrow.
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for loving and dying for me so that I can share Your love with others.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray. again today, that all reading here will join me, … to surrender more of our selves to love others, Lord, as You have loved us. 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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