April 19, 2014 … Spotlight on Jesus

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 109

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear the group Avalon singing He’s Everything To Me, putting the spotlight of life exactly where it should be … on Jesus, Who gave His all so that we could have His everything.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Romans 5: 1 [NKJV] …  
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Romans 5: 1-11 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passages #1: Romans 15: 17 [NKJV] …  
17 Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God.

 Reference Passages #2: Galatians 6: 14 [NKJV] … …  
14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

My Journal for Today: It’s 2014 and tomorrow is Easter. Today in my Our Daily Bread devotional, the author, Joe Stowell, relates an incident which I witnessed on TV because I’m a big pro golf fan. Here’s the story Stowell related …  

”I’ll never forget the Easter Sunday in 1993 when Bernhard Langer won the Masters golf tournament. As he stepped off the 18th green to receive the green jacket—one of golf’s most coveted prizes—a reporter said, ‘This must be the greatest day of your life!’ Without missing a beat, Langer replied: ‘It’s wonderful to win the greatest tournament in the world, but it means more to win on Easter Sunday—to celebrate the resurrection of my Lord and Savior.’ "

Watching the Masters golf tournament on TV after coming home from Easter service in church that day, I remember seeing that interview and reveling in the German golfer’s rapid-fire response, taking the spotlight off of himself and putting it on the One to Whom Langer owed his everything, especially on that Easter Sunday as chance would have it, when the Christian world was celebrating the reality that Jesus came out of the tomb to show that He had defeated death for all mankind.

For Bernard Langer, as the song linked above, proclaims, Jesus was EVERYTHING TO HIM. The question I’m dealing with today as we look forward to celebrating Easter tomorrow, … ”Is my Jesus everything to me?” If I, like Bernard Langer, had the opportunity to take the spotlight off of my self and put it where it should be, on the Savior, would I do so?

 Really, I would hope so; but I don’t know. One of my primary sin strongholds has always been the desire for others to admire me … to want to like me. And so, right now my hope would be that God’s enabling grace would allow me to be humble and put the world’s spotlight on the One Who died on that cross so that I can have eternal life. And I pray that for all of us as well.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, You ARE everything to me! Help me to remember that when the world might put a spotlight on me. And help all of us – in YOU – to put the spotlight of Your grace squarely where it belongs … ON YOU!!! … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 18, 2014 … He’s Alive & I Am Too

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 108

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear Nichole Nordeman singing I’m Finally Free, reminding all true Christians that we walk in freedom from our prison of sin because Jesus died on that Cross, for which we celebrate this week.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Ephesians 2: 1-2; … 4-5 [NKJV] …  
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, … 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), … 
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Ephesians 2: 1-10 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passages #1: Ephesians 2: 10 [NKJV] … …  
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Reference Passages #2: Titus 2: 11-14 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

Reference Passages #3: Colossians 1: 9-14 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

Reference Passages #4: 2nd Corinthians 9: 8 [NKJV] … 
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

My Journal for Today: If you’re reading this in 2014, this is Holy Week; and we’re at that point in the week where we’re remembering and prayerfully meditating on that horrible, yet wonderful, sacrifice that Jesus made by His ignominious death on the cross. And as He bled profusely on that tree, when He died after saying, “It is finished!” … I was set free from my sins.

Now that happened for me at age 39 on April 13, 1983, when, in total brokenness I yielded my former selfishness and sin habits and received Jesus as my LORD and Savior. I don’t know when that freedom was proclaimed in your life; but if it has happened for you, as Nichole Nordeman sings in the song linked above and which the attached photo represents, we, who’ve come in faith to receive God’s free gift of saving grace, now walk in the freedom of Christ’s resurrection power; and we can live in freedom from our sin nature by using God’s sanctifying grace to be God’s worksmanship in this world.

Please take the time to meditate on the Apostle Paul’s writings, linked or copied above, all of which declare that we have been freed BY God’s grace, THROUGH our faith, UNTO good works [primarily stated in Ephesians 2: 8-10. Because when we truly realize and respond to these truths, we can go – even today – to freely exercise the resurrection power that is ours in Christ to live, move, and work in freedom from the binding temptations of Satan, this world, and our own flesh.

So, let’s go and live in Christ’s freedom today!!

My Prayer for Today … Lord, in You I am free !!! … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 17, 2014 … Hurting Yields To Helping

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 107

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear the group, Point of Grace, singing Heal the Wound, proclaiming the truth that our scars become evidence of God’s healing grace so that we can help others who are wounded in the same way.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Genesis 41: 39 [NKJV] …  
39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. 
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Genesis 41: 14-41 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
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Reference Passages #1: 2nd Corinthians 1: 3-5 [NKJV] … …  
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.

My Journal for Today: Do you know the difference between “sympathy” and “empathy?” You probably do; but here is the comparison, taken from the Diffen website (Go to this link ) …

“Empathy is the ability to mutually experience the thoughts, emotions, and direct experience of others. It goes beyond sympathy, which is a feeling of care and understanding for the suffering of others. Both words have similar usage but differ in their emotional meaning.”

I might have sympathy for the pain that my wife endured during the birth of our first child, as kidney stone pain sent her into premature labor; but there is NO WAY I can EMPATHIZE with that kind of pain, never having experienced it. There are many times when we can have sympathy with what others are going through; but when we’ve “been there, done that, and have the t-shirt,” our empathy – and maybe even the scars from the wounds past – gives us a special feeling to be able to reach out and help the one where we know – from experience - their pain.

In today’s highlight passage, from Genesis, Chapter 41, Joseph was given a gift from God to be able to prophetically interpret dreams; and that special empathetic gift allowed him to help his king (i.e., Pharaoh), which ultimately led to his reconnection and ability to help his own family. And all the pain and agony which Joseph had been put through allowed him to empathize with his family and give them the compassion to help them, reaching out with healing and helping rather than revenge. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul (read 2nd Cor. 1: 3-5 above) writes of the suffering we endure giving us a special degree of empathy to be able to use those scars to reach out and to help others. And that is what the song, linked above and being performed by the group, Point of Grace, brings to us as we meditate on the truth from today’s Our Daily Bread devotional.

A number of years ago I was led by God out of the valley of the shadow of death into the arms of a loving Savior, Who then delivered me from a life of habitual and compulsive sexual sin. Subsequently, He has given me the healing grace to allow the scars from my past to heal and become empathetic evidence for others to see that we worship a God who can restore us and heal us. And so now with this empathy, I’m able to minister to the pain and agony of others who desire to experience the same healing grace I have encountered in my life.

I pray that we all allow others to see the scars which have been healed by God so that they can see that we can help them to have the same healing grace we have experienced from our past wounds.

My Prayer for Today … Lord use my scars to show others Your healing grace. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 16, 2014 … Joint Heirs With Jesus

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 106

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear the group, Avalon, singing Orphans of God, proclaiming the truth that in the adopted family of God, all are chosen, and there are no orphans, no rejects, and all are loved! … And then to this link to hear a chorus singing the refrain of the old hymn The Family of God, proclaiming the reality that all who are covered by their faith in the blood of Jesus should revel in joy for being part of the family of God.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Galatians 3: 26-27 … 4: 6-7 [NKJV] …  
3: 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. … 
4: 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.  
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Galatians 3:26 – 4:7 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passages #1: Colossians 1: 9, …12 [NKJV] …   
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it [i.e., the Gospel], do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; … 
12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 

Reference Passages #2: Philippians 1: 6 [NKJV] … 
6 … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; …

My Journal for Today: This is Holy Week as I write this blog, being led by my Our Daily Bread devotional; and it’s an appropriate reality to remember and celebrate that we, who’ve come in faith to receive the saving grace completed and offered by the blood of Jesus on the cross, are now adopted and are part of the family of God; and that not only that, but we are joint heirs with Jesus of His throne.

HOW COOL IS THAT, my dear fellow Christians??!!!

And so, … as we are going through this week of remembrance, closing out on the 40 days of Lent, let us rejoice in the reality that one day, in Glory, all who have received God’s saving grace are now fully part of His family; and He is bringing us to glory, being completed in Him (see Philippians 1: 6 above) to share His throne as an adopted son (or daughter) of THE KING.

My friend, as the two songs to which I’ve linked you above proclaim, there are no orphans in the family of God; and anyone who has received the saving grace from the covering blood of Jesus from His sacrifice on the cross will inherit all that His glory will bring in heaven.

Do I sense a resounding “HALLELUJAH!!!”

My Prayer for Today … Yes, LORD, for sure, hear my … HALLELUJAH!! that I am part of Your family and an heir to Your throne. Again, I say, HALLELUJAH!! … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site. 

April 15, 2014 … A Spoonful of Sugar

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 105

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear Julie Andrews singing A Spoonful of Sugar, proclaiming from the Disney Movie that we find some positive in life from our gratefulness of the Lord’s provision to help take the bad stuff from the world … And then to this link  to hear the Issacs, a Gospel singing family, singing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, proclaiming the wondrous power of the Jesus’ Name to be able to handle the tough stuff of life.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Psalms 19: 8, …10 [NKJV] …
  8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; … 
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Psalms 19: 7-14 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passages #1: Psalms 100 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

Reference Passages #2: Psalms 117 [The Message] … …  
1-2 Praise GOD [HEBREW = HALLELUJAH!!], everybody! Applaud GOD, all people! His love has taken over our lives; GOD’s faithful ways are eternal. … Hallelujah! 

Reference Passages #3: Romans 15: 7-13 [Note Paul’s quote of Psalm 117: 1 in verse 11] [NKJV] … Go to this link …

Reference Passages #4: Romans 8: 28 [NKJV] … …  
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

My Journal for Today: Fellow Christian; … I don’t know about you; but this morning I needed a spoonful of sugar to help me take some castor-oil type medicine from my life circumstances; and I was duly encouraged today by my Our Daily Bread devotional, where today’s author, Julie Link, wrote …

“Where is Mary Poppins when you need her? I know this sounds as if I’m longing for the good old days when cheerfully unrealistic movies featured characters like this fictional nanny, but what I’m really longing for are people with a vision for the future that is realistically optimistic. I yearn for joyful, creative people who can show us the positive side of what we consider negative, … those who can remind us that ‘… just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.’ " 

I really loved the Disney classic movie, Mary Poppins, where this magical nanny was able to inject an uplifting and encouraging outlook on life into a family who were on the down and outs, especially the dad in the family who had become cynical and downcast from the circumstances of his life. Can I sense anyone saying “AMEN!” out there?

Well, if you believe in the same God I serve, our Lord and Savior, Who went to the cross as our Messiah, then meditating on the Scriptures above should be an ample “spoonful of sugar” to help you take in the sour medicine which life often doles out – even as we proclaim to believe in Romans 8: 28, which I’m sure most reading here know by heart.

In those Bible passages, linked and quoted above, we read of David and other psalmists writing songs to Praise the Lord” (the Hebrew word for that is “Hallelujah!”); and to give God’s people a spoonful of the sweetness of God’s truth to help deal with the sourness of life. But I know (especially right now in my life) that what we have to take in is often more like castor-oil than a spoonful of sugar.

And it’s in these times and circumstances that our faith in the reality of our Savior and sovereign God is tested; and it’s in these times that we must realize that we have One Who is the sweetest all, … One to provide us with His spoonful of sugar to help the medicine of life go down; and that One is Jesus. Hence in the devotional songs to which I’ve linked you today, I go from the Mary Poppins movie classic to that wonderful and uplifting Bill/Gloria Gaither classic, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus … There’s Just Something About That Name. [see link above].

Prayerfully we can all realize that we have the sweetest “spoonful of sugar” to take in anytime and anyplace where we need Him to give us God’s love … the sweetest taste of all.

My Prayer for Today … O Lord, Jesus; Your Name is the sweetest of all !! … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 14, 2014 … Who is HE?

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 104

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear the group, Hillsong, singing - with lyrics, He Is Lord, proclaiming the truth that Jesus is our Lord … AND HE LIVES … And then to this link  to hear the same group, Hillsoung, singingFor Who You Are, which proclaims that our worship of Jesus is properly for the worthy One for HE IS LORD!!!
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Matthew 16: 15-16 [NKJV] …  
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” … 
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Matthew 16: 13-20 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passages #1and 2: Matthew 22: 41-46 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

My Journal for Today: This is the week that we Christians call HOLY WEEK, culminating on Easter Sunday where we joyfully – from hearts of faith – declare, “JESUS IS ALIVE!!!” And we will come together in swelled numbers Sunday to worship this Jesus, the One Who came our of the grave (see attached photo), declaring that HE IS LORD!!!

However, … there will be many people on Sunday who will not be worshipping this very same Jesus as their Lord. And why is this? Well, it’s because they don’t recognize Jesus for Whom He was – and IS? If you were to ask these non-believers this week, “Who was the Jesus whom the Bible describes?” You might get some clueless souls who would deny even Jesus’ existence. For some Jesus was merely a good man or a moral teacher; or maybe they’d say that He was a rebellious character in the first century.

But as many writers have pointed out, as did Josh McDowell in his book, More Than A Carpenter, there are only three possible answers to the question, “Who was this Jesus of Nazareth Whom the Bible describes?” He is ether a liar, a lunatic, or the LORD! … And those were the choices which were even presented to Jesus’ inner twelve disciples on a hill overlooking Caesarea Philippi in the book written by the Disciple, Matthew (see the Matt. 16 link above), where Jesus asked His twelve followers, “Whom do the people say I am?” And Peter, the impulsive one, got it right in the moment; but later we know that Peter’s faith in his own recognition failed when it was tested by Jesus’ arrest as Peter saw His Lord being arrested and led to the cross.

Jesus even asked the religious leaders of that day whom they thought was “the Christ” and who was the Messiah’s father. Knowing the Psalms, especially Psalm 110, these leaders said that David would be the ancestor of their Messiah; to which Jesus asked why then would David call the Messiah his LORD [see Psalm 110: 1]. And to this these challengers of Jesus’ identity were silenced.

So, as we move into this HOLY WEEK, where many of us (I for one) will declare that JESUS is the Christ; and HE LIVES in the hearts of those of us who declare Him LORD. Who do you say He is? Is HE really our LORD?! Does He rule in our hearts? Will we celebrate Sunday in worship of the One Who came out of the grave, having been crucified to save us from our sins? Or will we merely say that this Jesus, whom the Bible describes, was merely a good man, whom many of us have falsely claimed to be The Messiah, … The Christ, … or … our LORD?!!

My Prayer for Today … Oh, dear Lord, You are THE MESSIAH, … the Lamb of God, … the Christ; and You live in my heart forever. HALLELUJAH …HALLELUJAH!!! And I pray that any who read here will proclaim that truth this week to any who will listen. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 13, 2014 … I Am Determined …

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 103

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear an anonymous worship service singing the poignant and classic hymn, with lyrics, I Surrender All, which reminds all Christians what it takes – in determination of spirit – to be a disciple of Christ. … And then to this link to hear my friend, and brother, Clay Crosse and his two friends, Bob Carlisle and Bebe Wynans singing I Will Follow Christ, which takes the concept of “determination” to the nth and heavenly degree of commitment.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Ruth 1: 16 [NKJV] …  
16 But [in response to her mother-in-law, Naomi] Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. 
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Ruth 1: 6, 11-18 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
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Reference Passages #1and 2: Luke 9: 23 and 52 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

My Journal for Today: Thirty-one years ago today, in brokenness, I surrendered my life to Christ. So, I guess you could call this my “re-birthday.” And thanks to my devotional time with God’s Spirit here this morning in my quiet place, I needed a reminder of what it takes, in determination of spirit, to follow Christ.

Yesterday, I was almost overwhelmed by a series of events which had me very discouraged…enough that I wanted to resign from my commitments and callings in Christ.  But then I came here to my morning time with my God in the Our Daily Bread devotional series; and in God’s perfect timing, I was reminded what “DETERMINATION” was all about.

And the pre-published devotional from RBC Ministries today was entitled exactly that - ”Determination”; and it used the story of Ruth’s response to her mother-in-law, Naomi, from the first chapter of the book of Ruth to illustrate what I found on the back of a T-shirt, defining and depicting the character trait of “determination.”

You’ve probably heard the younger generation saying, “Been there, done that, and got that t-shirt,” which is exactly what I needed in the picture I’ve attached to shake me back into the realization of what my Lord was teaching His disciples in Chapter 9 of Luke’s gospel account, where Jesus (see the link for Luke 9: 23 above) related to His followers what it takes to be His disciple; and then He showed His commitment – and DETERMINATION – to follow the will of His Father as He turned His course toward the cross [see Luke 9: 51].

To any reader here with me, … we, as Christians, are going to face disappointments and discouragement, as I did yesterday; and Satan will want to pour gas on the flames of our fears and despondency in moments like these. But it is then that we must put on our “determination” t-shirt and to remember what is sung above in the two songs to which I’ve linked any readers here, … songs which reminded me of the commitment I made to Christ 31 years ago on this date; … to deny my selfishness, … to take up my crosses daily, and … to stay on course and follow Him.

So, I’m back on track this morning, … realizing that, as Ruth followed Naomi, and Jesus followed His heavenly Father, … I must keep-on-keeping on and follow my Lord’s leading … to surrender my all to His purpose and to follow Him, no matter where He leads.

My Prayer for Today … My Lord, Jesus, I follow You. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 12, 2014 … Hope for Tomorrow

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 102

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear a video of Cathy Trocolli singing her poignant song with lyrics, He Will Make A Way, which proclaims the truth that nothing in our lives is beyond God’s way and power to retrieve and redeem us when things seem impossible. … And then go to this link to another video of the movie character, ANNIE, singing the classic song of hopeTomorrow, which gives all who believe hope in the face of the trials of today.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Isaiah 42: 18-19 [NKJV] …   
18 “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.?
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Isaiah 42: 14-21 [NKJV] … Go to this link …  =============

Reference Passage #1: 1st Corinthians 10: 13 [NKJV] …  
13 No temptation [also translated “test, trial, or tribulation”] has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Reference Passage #2: 2nd Corinthians 12: 9 [NKJV] …  
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Reference Passage #3: Matthew 19: 25 [NKJV] …  
25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” … 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

My Journal for Today: This very morning, on the day before I celebrate the brightest, most hopeful, day of my life, the day I became a Christian 31 years ago, I’m headed to a retreat meeting of the Elders of our church; and the meeting has a foreboding cloud over it. At the present time there is a growing feelings of pessimism which are spreading among our flock; and there is some degree of turmoil which lies ahead. I hate confrontation, even when I know it must be encountered, to deal with the trials of life.

And in the midst of all of this, I woke up this morning with these foreboding feelings and the realization, being called by God to be an Elder in our church, I was going to have to go “face the music” and head out to this retreat today where my brother Elders and I will be facing these storm clouds.

And then … and then … I went, as do everyday, to get with God, in the solitude of my quiet place, to pray and delve into God’s word; and low and behold, God’s perfect timing brought me to my Our Daily Bread devotional, which led me to read a highlight passage from Isaiah 43: 14-21 where the Prophet was speaking for God to a remnant of believers among the Israelites; and God’s people back then were in a lot more turmoil than we – NOW - in our church could ever imagine.

And I was lifted up to search for songs, as I do everyday, which would reflect the subject matter of my quiet-time journaling; and God’s Spirit – I believe – led me to two songs, one by Kathy Trocolli, where she proclaims that “God Will Make A Way” no matter how bad things get; and then to the classic Broadway song, from the musical Annie, …the song ”Tomorrow,” which also tells the story of hope in the midst of trial.

Then God’s Spirit bubbled up from my memory three reference Scriptures to my mind/heart, the first two where the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth (and to all Christians alike) about two truths which help any believer to know that God will never allow His faithful remnant, just like those to whom He was addressing through the Prophet Isaiah, to face any set of trials where, with a heart of thanksgiving and humility, we cannot confront and where our Lord won’t give us the enabling and empowering grace to prevail.

So, though I’m still headed toward a meeting where the storm clouds hang heavy, I do so – in faith – with an attitude of hope because as my final reference verse above where Jesus proclaims, ” nothing is impossible” when we rely on our God.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I pray that your servants this morning will find the humility to surrender to Your amazing grace so that Your church can come through these storm clouds with a testimony of victory for You. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 11, 2014 … How Great Thou Art !!!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 101

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  – Please go to this video link to see/hear a video of Chris Tomlin singing his classic song, How Great Is Our God, which proclaims nothing less than the greatness of our God. … And then to this link  to another video of contemporary singers Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill singing the old, classic hymn How Great Thou Art which needs no explanation beyond the greatness of the lyrics to declare the greatness of our God.
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See photo of “God’s Greatness” below Highlight Passage – NKJV: Psalms 29: 2 [NKJV] …   
2 Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Psalms 29 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Job, Chapters 38-39 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

Reference Passage #2: Psalms, Chapter 33 [NKJV] …Go to this link ... 

Reference Passage #3: Isaiah 55: 8-9 [NKJV] …  
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Reference Passage #4: Hebrews 11: 3 [NKJV] …  
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

My Journal for Today: I don’t need to write anything here today. If you’ve taken the time to take in all that I’ve posted here, the picture, the songs, and the Scriptures, you know that my devotional today from Our Daily Bread and God’s word has declared, and is proclaiming, the greatness of Our God and the majesty of the works of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, … Who with a word created all that we see and has redeemed all that we know from His creation by His life, death, and resurrection.

I need say no more because any words from my finite mind would take away from my Lord’s glory at this point. So, let me go immediately to prayer …

My Prayer for Today … Lord, in You I live, move, and have all my being. Praise Your Holy Name. … How great Thou art !!! … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 10, 2014 … Living By The Word

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 100

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear a video of the power of Psalm 119, which teaches the truth and power of living by/under/with God’s word.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Galatians 5: 13-14 [NKJV] …  
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [Lev. 19: 18] 
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Galatians 5: 1-14 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Psalms 119 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 

Reference Passage #2: Psalms 119: 9-11 [NKJV] … 
  9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. 10 With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! 11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

Reference Passage #2: Isaiah 55: 11 [NKJV] …  
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Reference Passage #3:  John 14: 21 [NKJV] …  
21 … He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

My Journal for Today: Fellow Christian; … if I could give you a tool which would unlock the secrets of living, would you want to borrow it? … If I could give you a path to victory in your life over all the evils you see in the future, would you want to take it? … If I could give you a drug which would give you peace in the midst of any storm, would you desire to use it?  

DUH!!! … If we’re serious about this business of being a Christian, we would answer a resounding “YES!!!” to all of those questions, wouldn’t we?

Well, the author of Psalm 119 (some think it was King David, other scholars don’t), whoever he was, discovered the answer to those questions. And if you take the time to use the video link above, you’ll be able to see the lyrics to the God-inspired love song in Psalm 119, the psalm written by a man who had fallen in love with the power of God’s word to answer “YES” to the questions I posed above.

For example, … Psalm 119: 9-11 poses a question which I believe any Christian would want to answer, … i.e., how can we avoid sin in our lives? And it gives the answer, … a prescription, directly from God, to have power over our sin nature. And the answer?! … To bury God’s word deeply in our mind/heart so that we can have power to resist sin.

The Prophet Isaiah, writing for God (in Isaiah 55: 11), gave us God’s promise with regard to the power of His word; and that promise is almost overwhelming, … seemingly too good to be true! But in this instance something that seems TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, … actually is true. God’s word, i.e., His truth, will always produce God’s power when it’s used for His purposes and to give Him glory.

So, now it’s up to us, isn’t it?! If we believe what I’ve presented above, why aren’t we adopting the attitude of love that the author of Psalm 119 exhibits? Why aren’t we contextualizing, memorizing, and internalizing more of God’s word? Why don’t we use the Sword of the Spirit (see Ephesians 6: 18) in spiritual warfare more effectively?

Prayerfully we will go from here and follow God’s word more powerfully tomorrow than we have in the past. Because if we do, we will be more powerful Christians.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, thank You for giving me Your power and peace from Your living word. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 9, 2014 … People Need The Lord

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 99

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear a video of Steve Green singing the poignant and powerful song, People Need the Lord, reminding us that anyone we pass today may need our Savior as their Lord.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Deuteronomy 12: 15, …19 [NKJV] …  
15 The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. … 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. …  
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Deuteronomy 10: 12-22 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Exodus 22: 21-22 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

Reference Passage #2: Matthew 5: 14-16 [NKJV] …  
4 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Reference Passage #3: John 13: 33-34 [NKJV] …  
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Reference Passage #4: Philippians 1: 27 [NKJV] …  
27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, …

Reference Passage #5: Ephesians 4: 1-2 [NKJV] …  
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, …

My Journal for Today: In the Old Testament, God, through Moses [see highlight passages today from Our Daily Bread], instructed His people to show the same love to others that He, their Lord, had bestowed on His chosen people. And in the New Testament, Jesus and His Disciples trumpet this same message of God’s love being witnessed to anyone who was in need of a Savior. And, of course, that’s everyone.

I’ll not go on with a lot of words today. If you’ve taken in Steve Green’s song today [linked above] and the attached photo, as well as all of the Scripture references I’ve copied or linked above, I’m sure you’ll agree that everyone we encounter today, whether believers or not, need the Lord.

No, we cannot save them; … that’s God’s job. But we can do what Jesus commanded and Paul exhorted, and that’s to be the only light of Christ they may be able to see in this dark world.

Therefore, as Paul touted in Philippians 1 and Ephesians 4, copied above, we need to be worthy of God’s calling on our lives as Christians and as Jesus commanded in Matthew 5 and John 13 we must shine Christ’s light of love on any and all we may encounter.

So, as the old Nike ad slogan used to say, we should ”just do it!” 

My Prayer for Today … Lord, let my light of Your love shine today for any/all to see YOU. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 8, 2014 … Seeing Beyond Self

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 98

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear a video of Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing the poignant and powerful song, He’ll Do Whatever It Takes, reminding us that Jesus will do whatever it takes to transform us into the image of Himself when/if we’re willing to pursue that image by looking into His life and following Him.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: 2nd Corinthians 3: 18 [NKJV] …  
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.  
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: 2nd Corinthians 3: 7-18 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Exodus 33: 17-23 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

Reference Passage #2: Luke 9: 23 [NKJV] …  
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. … "

Reference Passage #3: John 10: 27 [NKJV] … 
 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Reference Passage #4: Philippians 1: 6 [NKJV] …  
6 … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; …

Reference Passage #5: Galatians 5: 22-23 [NKJV] …  
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such there is no law.

My Journal for Today: Have you ever looked into a flower (see attached photo), … or maybe a gorgeous sunset, … or maybe into the face of your first born, … or perhaps into the eyes of your beloved when his/her smile gives away indescribable joy? All of these, and other view points in life, I believe are God giving us glimpses of glory, … little visual snip-its of elements of life which go WAY beyond self and let us see a bit of what it’s going to be like in glory.

These are moments when we do what Jesus told His disciples they must do to follow Him [see Luke 9: 23]. And these moments encourage us when we see a bit of what following Christ is all about. They are like that moment (use the link to Exod. 33: 17-23 above) when God gave Moses just a little glimpse of Himself. He couldn’t let Moses look upon His face, because it would’ve been too much for Moses to behold. But when Moses beheld what he was allowed to see, it transformed Moses, even to the point of the prophet having to wear a veil later to cover what became of his countenance.

And in today’s highlight passage from 2nd Cor. 3: 7-11, the Apostle Paul writes that if just one glimpse of glory was enough to transform Moses, we can imagine how much more transformative getting to see Jesus can be. And this is how we can (and must) go beyond self to see as much of the Savior which God will give us, getting glimpses of glory to encourage us to want to want to see more of our Savior so that we’ll want His Spirit to transform us into the real deal of what we see in our Savior.

And that, my dear reader, is why you find me here everyday, delving into God’s major glimpse of glory, … His word. Because as I get to see more of Jesus and deny myself in the process; I get to partake more and more of Who He is; and that involves partaking of His fruit (see Gal. 5: 22-23).

Years, ago, a mentor told me that I would see these fruit of the Spirit mature and sweeten in my life more and more the more I pursued getting to know my Lord; and he led me to do that by doing all I could to know Him through His word. And my mentor was right. I’ve found that the more I get to know Christ via His word, the more He gives me glimpses of glory in my life; and the more I experience His fruitfulness.

What about you today, my friend? Do you want to see more of God’s glory and less of yourself? Do you want to taste more of His fruit in your life (see Gal. 5: 22-23) and less of the fruit of the flesh (see Gal. 5: 19-21)? Do you want to become more like THE ONE you follow? Well, join me in digging into His word each morning; and you’ll find He’s willing to show you more of His glory and to sample His fruit as you get to know Him more from His word.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, thank you for providing me with THE WAY to see glimpses of Your glory, by getting to know You through Your word. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 7, 2014 … Reconciliation is Messy Business

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 97

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear a video of Sara Groves singing the poignant and powerful song, It’s Going To Be Alright, reminding Christians that it’s imperative that we mend broken relationships with the love of Christ
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Philippians 4: 2-3a [NKJV] …  
2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, …
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Philippians 4: 1-9 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Matthew 5: 14-16 [NKJV] …  
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven …”.

Reference Passage #2: John 13: 34-35 [NKJV] …  
34 ”… A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”…”.

Reference Passage #3: Philippians 4: 6-7 [NKJV] …  
5 Be anxious about nothing; but in everything, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Reference Passage #4: 1st Peter 5: 6-7 [NKJV] … 
 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

My Journal for Today: In case you haven’t noticed, relationships are messy.

From fellow readers here, do I sense, a loud, ”AMEN!!” !! 

Well, apparently the apostle Paul, who was writing – from prison - a letter of love to beloved fellow Christians in Philippi, had learned that there were two key believers in that congregation who were at odds; and knowing that they had both labored together with Paul in the past when he was in prison there in Philippi, Paul writes to exhort these two women, with the help of other key Christians there in Philippi, to reconcile their relationship and come together in the unity that they will only find in their relationship in Christ.

And this is a lesson we all need to learn; and the exhortations Paul was writing to beloved fellow believers in Philippi are lessons we all need to take to heart in our various churches and denominations today. Broken relationships, often between key church leaders, are at the heart of schisms and splits in many church congregations today; and they can lead to divisions which in turn can cause the Holy Spirit to snuff out the light of influence in that divided church. Paul realized this; and he wrote from prison that these two church laborers needed to heal their relationship with the help of their fellow believers; and they all needed to come together and find the joy that comes from unified relationships with the Lord in the body of Christ.

Paul had shown the Philippians that in their past they were TOGETHER. And he was exhorting them to come TOGETHER again and to find that same joy that they had shared - TOGETHER. Perhaps you note my redundancy of emphasis in that sentence. Really, we Christians need to do so much more to mend broken relationships and come TOGETHER in the relationship we ALL have in Christ. If we don’t repair broken relationships and remain humanly fragmented in the Church, we’ll never be able to do what Christ admonished His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew 5: 14-16), … i.e., to shine Christ’s light – in unity – into a very dark, and ever darkening, world and to exhibit the love of God to non-believers if we cannot even do that to one another in the Church (see John 13: 34-35).

So, with whom do we need to reach out and rediscover the joy we have in our relationship with Christ in any broken relationships we have with other believers? And then TOGETHER, as fellow Christians, what do we need to do, as body of Christ … TOGETHER, ,,, to shine our light more brightly into this every darkening world? Certainly, following Paul’s exhortation to the church in Philippians 4: 1-9 would be a good start.

My Prayer for Today … Today, help me to do all I can to help fellow Christians to share in the love and joy we have in the relationship we have in You, Lord.. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 6, 2014 … I Choose Life!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 96

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear a video of Phillips, Craig, and Death singing their song, I Choose To Believe, declaring our faith in Christ, trusting in His ways, even when we find ourselves having to make life/death decisions, finding it hard to see life in the face of deadly circumstances.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Deuteronomy 30: 19 [NKJV] …  
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; …
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Deuteronomy 30: 11-20 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
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Highlight Passage #2 [Context] – NKJV: Deuteronomy 32: 44-47 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
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Reference Passage #1: Proverbs 3: 5-6 [NKJV] …  
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Reference Passage #2: Romans 12: 1-2 [NKJV] …  
1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 

My Journal for Today: When Moses was the chosen prophet and leader of God’s people, God tried His best to get the simple choice before His chosen ones, which is the choice represented in this morning’s Our Daily Bread. The choice was life versus death … blessings versus curses [see the highlight passages from Deuteronomy linked above]. However, because of corrupted hearts (see Jeremiah 17: 9) and a fallen nature, God’s people, even with the stark life or death choice before them, so often chose to follow the selfish pattern of deathly defiance.

And here we are today, even with the ultimate life or death decision to make – i.e., YES or NO to Jesus – mankind still finds it hard to make the right choice. I’m not going to dwell on this with a long diatribe of verbosity, trying to get you to make the right choice. I pray that any who’re reading here have made that ultimate right choice for life and for a relationship with Christ, Who chose life over death when He set aside His glory – by choice – to become a man and to live/die and to be raised again that we might choose to have eternal life with Him.
  
Today I choose LIFE!!!

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I know that today I will be presented with many life/death … blessing/cursing decisions. Help me to make life choices, Lord! … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 5, 2014 … You-nique gifts & talents

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 95

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to see/hear a sequence from the movie, Amadeus, where Antonio Salieri is overwhelmed and jealous of the talent of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, showing us that God doesn’t always place His talents in mankind in the fashion we might like or consider fair.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Matthew 20: 16 [NKJV] …  
16 The last will be first, and the first last. For many are called; but few are chosen.
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Matthew 20: 1-16 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
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Reference Passage #1: Isaiah 55: 8-9 [NKJV] …  
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Reference Passage #2 – NKJV: Matthew 25: 14-30 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

Reference Passage #3– NKJV: Romans 12: 1-8 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

Reference Passage #4: 1st Peter 4: 10 [NKJV] …  
10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Reference Passage #5: 1st Corinthians 12: 4-7 [NKJV] …  
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all …

My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional reminded me of one of the themes of the movie, Amadeus, where the famed 18th Century composer Antonio Salieri was contracted by his king to compose a piece of music; and so, being a Christian, Salieri wanted it to honor God and his king when he brought his self-composed piece of music before the king’s court. But also present when the piece was introduce was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a young, upstart composer who upstaged the older, more famous Salieri in front of the King. The sequence is linked above for viewing; and it shows how God’s design on the distribution of His inspired talents/gifts is not always measured out in ways we see as “fair” or appropriate.

But as God prophesied through Isaiah (see Is. 55: 8-9 above), God’s ways are quite often obscure and passed out in ways that we have trouble understanding. Hence, a man like Salieri, who was dedicated to composing music for God’s glory, had trouble understanding and seeing so much God-inspired gifting in a care-free and ungodly merchant of music like Mozart.

But as emissaries of God’s will in our lives, we must do all we can to be stewards of the talents and gifts which the Lord has given each of us to use for His glory. Hence we read the admonishments and exhortations from Scripture above to use all that God has given us, … time, talents, and treasure, … for His glory (see the Parable of the Talents in Matt. 25: 14-30). And as Paul and Peter instructed the church (see the passages above), all Christians have been given special gifts within the body of Christ to use for the Body’s edification and power. It’s our job to discover our own, personal, God-given gifts and use them for God’s purposes.

So, as the old Nike commercial phrase posited, … Let’s … JUST DO IT!!

My Prayer for Today … Lord, today, … may what I’ve written here from Your gifting be used for Your glory or for Your purposes. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 4, 2014 … Regular Maintenance

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 94

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to hear Queen Latifah singing the poignant and powerful song, Fix Me Jesus, … pleading for the Lord to fix what is broken our lives.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: John 1: 42 [NKJV] …  
3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Psalms, Chapter 5 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Psalms 51: 17 [NKJV] …  
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart …

Reference Passage #2: Isaiah 26: 3 [NKJV] …  
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

My Journal for Today: Today my Our Daily Bread devotional segment reminded me of something my grandfather used to say about auto repair. He maintained that he would never own a Ford product because “F.O.R.D.” was an acronym for “Fix Or Repair Daily.” He had owned a lemon of a Ford car as his first auto; and besides the regular maintenance one would expect, this Ford apparently had to be fixed so often that my grandfather had it in for Ford cars.

Certainly any car that we own requires regular maintenance (see photo) to keep it in good, running condition; and our spiritual lives require much the same thing, especially these days in an age which puts so much pressure on our minds/hearts from Satan and the world. I’ve learned that if I don’t come here EVERY MORNING to maintain my Spirit by being with God in some quiet place with an attitude as is sung by Queen Latifah in today’s devotional son, my spiritual vehicle becomes vulnerable to break down.

My morning quiet times, where God’s truth does a check-up on my spirit; and praise, prayer, and supplication give me the peace I need for any day driving through life, are absolutely necessary to allow me to fix what is broken in my life.

So, here I am today, in spirit, singing along with my song today, Fix Me, Jesus, fix me!

My Prayer for Today … Yes, Lord, … fix me. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 3, 2014 … My Name is “William”

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 93

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to hear the Christian singer Carmen, leading a live worship service and singing the poignant and powerful song, His Name is Wonderful , … reminding us that only in the Name of Jesus can we worship as Savior and LORD.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: John 1: 42 [NKJV] …  
42 Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: John, Chapter 1, Verses 35-42 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Matthew 16: 17-18 [NKJV] …  
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. …”

Reference Passage #2: Philippians 1: 6 [NKJV] …  
6 … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; …

Reference Passage #3: Luke 4: 16-22 [NKJV] … Go to this link …

My Journal for Today: What’s in a name, anyway? … Good question; and having been given the name “William” at birth, studying the origin of my name, especially after I became a Christian, has always been a fascination for me.

My name, “William,” is of Germanic origin, with the name being “Wilhelm.” And at the heart of the name, is the translated meaning, “helmeted warrior.” Now, for sure, my parents, who gave me that name, had no idea that one day I’d be converted from a warrior against Christianity to an ordained Minister of the Gospel, who would become the founder of “Battle Plan Ministry,” which is a ministry on the front-lines of spiritual warfare, helping Christian men walk free from the self-induced imprisonment of habitual sexual sin [you can see more of this ministry at this link]. 

So these days, I can see that I follow in the warrior footsteps of other “Williams” in history, like William the Conqueror, the 11th Century Norman, from France, who became ruler in England. And there was William of Orange, the Dutch warrior who established the reign of the “House of Orange” in the Netherlands in the 16th Century. But my favorite warrior “William” was William Wallace, whom we know these days from the movie about his life 13th Century Scotland, where he fought against England, the oppressor of the Scots in those days. All of these “Williams” were helmeted warriors who lived up to the name “William.”

And here I am, having been given the name “William” at birth, who has become a leader in the warfare against Satan and the world, who’ve established a strong beachhead of hypersexuality, warring against the minds of mankind, especial MAN-kind, trying to enslave us in the prisons of p0rnography, prostitution, and pandering in sexual enterprise. And I recognize that God gave me the name, “William,” and has led me into the battle against the entrenchment of hypersexuality which Satan has established in the world.

Well, if you go to today’s Our Daily Bread for this date, at this link, you’ll see that Jesus gave His new disciple, Simon, son of Jonah, a new name to reflect who the Apostle would become one day; and that was “Cephas” or “Peter,” the rock of a leader in the early church. But from the time that Jesus renamed Peter, we know that this man, who was discipled by Jesus, was anything but “a rock,” wavering and wandering in his faith, even to the point of denying Jesus just before our Lord went to the cross.

But ultimately, what Jesus knew and gave Peter in a name became who this great early leader of the Church was, just as his Christ-given name … “the rock.” … referred. So, what kind of a name is God giving you as you become in the person God’s Spirit is renaming you. All I know is, now, I’m trying to live up to the name God has given me, “William,” a warrior, going to battle daily to free the prisoners of sexual sin; and show them the way to freedom. That was Jesus’ mission [see Luke 4: 16-22 linked above]; and it is mission of this “William” today.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I wear Your helmet of salvation into battle today, as Your “William, a conqueror;” … and I do so wearing Your armor, carrying Your sword, and doing battle in Your Name. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 2, 2014 … Our Friend, Jesus!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 92

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to hear an anonymous praise group leading worship and singing the old hymn What A Friend We Have In Jesus, … praising our Lord, Jesus, for being our dearest friend.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Psalms 23: 4 [NKJV] …  
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Psalms, Chapter 23 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
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Reference Passage #1: John 15: 15 [NKJV] …  
15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Reference Passage #2: 2nd Corinthians 12: 9 [NKJV] …  
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

My Journal for Today: Are you a Facebooker?

Isn’t it incredible that I have over 500 “FRIENDS” on Facebook; but how many of them would you say are really my CLOSE friends? It’s really amazing that in these days of SOCIAL MEDIA we are inundated with many online APPS to connect us with other humans on the planet; yet, there are people with millions of Facebook “friends,” media icons, many of whom are seen daily with an entourage; and some of them commit suicide because they are without one really … good … friend.

But we go back and read in the Bible of two of the great believers, David, the shepherd boy and the Apostle Paul, … both of whom, for much of their lives, lived or traveled alone, in isolation, where trials/tribulations followed them; but they did not despair because each of them had a deep and abiding friendship with the living God.

David wrote one of his most famous songs (i.e., Psalms), Psalm 23 [linked above], when he was isolated, out in the desert, ALONE, watching over a herd of sheep. And we know he encountered attacks from bears and lions; and yet, he did not despair because, as we read in Psalm 23: 4, young David felt the strength of his friendship with the living God as he traversed through “the valleys of the shadow of death.”

And the Apostle Paul, as he wrote in 2nd Cor. 12: 9, when he, in isolation, encountered the pain of some “thorn” in his life, was comforted by his friendship with His Lord, realizing that Jesus would give him the strength to endure the pain of the moment.

My “friend,” and though in reading this you may not consider that I am one of those FRIENDS who’d die for you, … we, who identify ourselves as “CHRISTIANS,” do have a real, true, FRIEND. And He’s One Who has already died for us, saying, in John 15: 15, that He no longer considers us slaves. No, … our Lord and Savior, rather calls us, … His “FRIEND.”

And as the old southern gospel song rings true (see link above), What a friend we have in Jesus!”

My Prayer for Today … Oh, Lord, I’m overjoyed to know You as my Friend. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

April 1, 2014 … Giving Is The Heart

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2014 - Day 91

Devotional Song: Go to this link …  Please go to this video link to hear the group Hillsong, leading worship and singing Here I Am To Worship, … reminding us that worship is an attitude of sacrifice when we come to give the first fruits of our time, talents, and treasures for God’s glory and in remembrance of His sacrifice for us.
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Exodus 35: 21 [NKJV] …
21 Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the LORD’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Exodus 35: 20-29 [NKJV] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Malachi 3: 10 [NKJV] …  
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

Reference Passage #2: Matthew 6: 33 [NKJV] …  
33 " ... Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you..”

Reference Passage #3: Romans 12: 1 [NKJV] …  
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Reference Passage #4: 2nd Corinthians 9: 6-7 [NKJV] …  
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

My Journal for Today: It has been said that the best way to measure the heart of a Christian is to look at his/her calendar and checkbook [or maybe now the online bank records]. Because in those records one could find the documentation of how that believer used his time and talents for God’s kingdom.

My Our Daily Bread devotional for today reminded me that God’s people, when they were given the opportunity to build a Temple for God brought their most precious treasures (see Exodus 35 linked above – and as depicted in the attached photo). And as I listened to the linked song today, the reference Scriptures on giving to God’s Kingdom bubbled up from my memory/consciousness.

I really don’t need to go into this in depth for any Christian who has the right attitude of worship through the giving of our time, talents, and treasures for God’s Kingdom, … do I? As I said by the title I gave for my blog today, … our giving is our heart of worship. So, I’ll leave it to you and God’s Spirit to determine whether your living sacrifices of time, talent, or treasure reflect what/how you should worship our Lord.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, may what we give to You reflect our attitude of worship for Your infinite sacrifice for us. … 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 [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.