May 5, 2023 … God’s Transforming Grace

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 125 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Matthew West singing … Grace Upon Grace … poignantly singing of how it is God’s grace that continually transforms us into servants of the Lord and into His eternal likeness. 

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Highlight Passage … Exodus 2:15 [NLT] … 

15 And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.  

… Moses escapes to Midian after committing murder in Egypt to escape from Pharaoh’s justice and to be transformed into a shepherd by God’s grace.                   

Highlight Passage (Context): … Exodus 2:11-15 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… Moses commits murder and escapes to the deserts of Midian to become a Shepherd for 40 years under God’s transforming grace.                                        .                     

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Reference Passage: … Romans 12:2 [NLT] … 

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.    

… God’s grace changes the way we think into Christlike thinking.  

Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 5:17 [NLT] … 

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!   

… Paul teaches that true believers in Christ are transformed by God’s saving and sanctifying grace into the newness of Christlikeness.                         

Reference Passage: …Colossians 3:10-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul exhorts fellow Christians to surrender our will to let God’s grace transform us into Christlikeness. 

Reference Passage: … Titus 3:4-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul teaches fellow Christians of  the reality of God’s transforming grace through God’s Spirit.  . 

 

Reference Passage: … James 4:6-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… James, the brother of Jesus, teaches fellow Christians, by quoting from Prov 3:34 that God opposes the proud but gives His enabling grace thru the prayers of His humble disciples.   

                                                                                                                         

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Tom Felton … AT THIS LINK …    wrote of a murderer sentenced to life in prison who, while in solitary confinement, came to be saved and transformed by God’s grace, ultimately leading a number of fellow prisoners to Christ after he was given access to other prisoners.  

And this story led the ODB author to remember the transformation of Moses from a murderer in Egypt … to a shepherd in Midian (see Highlight passage) … to a deliverer whom God used to lead His chosen people out of Egypt toward the Promised Land.  It shows us that God’s grace is greater than any sin we have committed (see photo), allowing all born-again Christians to be transformed into Christlikeness - see Scriptures above.  And I pray all my readers have experienced and rely on God’s grace every day to transform us to become more like our Lord.   

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for providing Your grace to allow me to become more like You, Lord.      

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to humble ourselves to receive Your grace to become more You, Lord, day by day.    …  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.

May 4, 2023 … Humble Prayer

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 124 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from The Collinsworth Famiily singing … I Pray … poignantly singing of our way of dealing with life’s challenges as Christians is to humbly come to our Lord and pray.. 

Humble prayer in times of need ... 

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Highlight Passage: … 2Chronicles 20:3 [NLT] … 

3 Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting.   

… King Jehoshaphat knew that the only strategy for his country to use in deal with impending war was to go to God, fasting and praying for the Lord for His help.                 

Highlight Passage (Context): … 2Chronicles 20:1-12 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… King Jehoshaphat learned of impending war from the enemies of Judah and immediately called on God’s people to fast and pray to the Lord for His help.                                       .             

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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 to His people to provide for their rescue if they would humbly come to Him and pray for restoration or deliverance. 

Reference Passage: … Psalms 116:1-2 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God, likely thru King David, sings of God hearing our prayers … ALWAYS.                        

Reference Passage: … Romans 8:26 [NLT] … 

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 

… Paul teaches us to pray to God for HIs strength, especially when we’re feeling weak or unable to act.  

Reference Passage: … Philippians 4:6-7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul exhorts fellow Christians to take their (our) anxieties to God, humbly praying for God’s peace, which it is God’s promise to provide. 

Reference Passage: … James 4:6-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… James, the brother of Jesus, teaches fellow Christians, from <b><u>Prov 3:34</b></u> that God opposes the proud but gives His enabling grace thru the prayers of His humble disciples.   

                                                                                                                         

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Jennifer Benson Schuldt … AT THIS LINK …   wrote of her son needing orthopedic surgery and being bolstered in confidence by a very experienced surgeon who told the author he had done thousands of these procedures successfully in the past and also would be praying for God to help him do the surgery.   

God promises in HIs word (see Scriptures above) that He will lift up His humble followers when they (we) need God’s enabling grace and are willing come to Him humbly in prayer.  Personally, I could use some of His grace today.  How abut you?  So, I’m going to be doing what the Collinsworth sing about in the linked song and God’s word calls me to do in the Scriptures cited above and that is to humbly pray for God’s help.  

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for ALWAYS being there for me when I come to you in prayer.      

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to pray humbly to You, Lord, when we’re in need of Your grace.   …  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.

May 3, 2023 … Weak and Worn Out

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 123 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman singing … His Strength Is Perfect … poignantly and powerfully singing of how God provides us with His strength to cover our weakness and wanting.   

Worn Out - by Vincent Van Gogh

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Highlight Passage: … 2Corinthians 5:4 [NLT] … 

4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.  

… Paul encourages fellow Christians that God provides us with His strength to deal with the weakness of our human frailty.                  

Highlight Passage (Context): … 2Corinthians 4:16-:5:5 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… Paul exhorts fellow Christians to seek after the strength offered by God’s Spirit when we feel weak in our humanness.                                        .                     

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Reference Passage: … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God thru Solomon shows believers that we can trust in God to lead us when we feel lost or discouraged.         

Reference Passage: … Isaiah 41:10 [NLT] … 

10  Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you..I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.    

… God, thru the Prophet Isaiah, promises His strength to lift up His chosen when we feel weak in our human conditions.     

Reference Passage: … Matthew 11:28-30 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus promises His born-again followers His strength, giving our weary souls rest in His strength.           

Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 5:17 [NLT] … 

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!   

… Paul truthfully promises that new life comes to those who believe in the finished work of Jesus to save those who surrender in faith to follow The Lord.  

Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 12:9-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul shows how Jesus promises His grace is enough to provide us with His strength to cover our human weakness and suffering.  

                                                                                                                         

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Arthur Jackson … AT THIS LINK … wrote a Pastor Paul who, back in 2015, wrote of his congregation worshipping in a leaky tent-like structure, … writing, …“Our tent is worn out and it is leaking when it rains.”

I know another Kenyan Pastor, also named Paul, who has led thousands in Kenya to the Lord and built many churches in his land to worship Christ.  This Pastor Paul even baptized me in the Jordan River many years ago; and I know that this man of God would encourage all his fellow Christians, as the Apostle Paul did to those he wrote to in Corinth and elsewhere, … that our God promises His Spirit to cover our human frailties, as the Pauline Scriptures declare above.  

And I’m sure some reading with me may feel like the weary soul in the sketch by Van Gogh copied above (see photo), but I pray we recognize and accept the strength sung by Steven Curtis Chapman  in the linked song and be lifted up by God’s Spirit, promised by God’s word in the Scriptures above.  My fellow Christians, as Paul wrote in several of His letters to embattled Christians (some copied above), our God will provide His strength and empowering grace when we feel too weak to deal with our lives.   So, we move on in His Name and for His glory.     

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for giving me Your empowering grace to lift me up today.     

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to receive Your empowering grace today, Lord, to move onward when we feel weakened and wanting.   …  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.

May 2, 2023 … Abundant Living

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 122 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...    Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Seth Condrey singing … Abundantly More … poignantly and powerfully singing of how surrendering our lives to believe in and follow Christ leads to living an eternally abundant life. 

Abundant Life Promised by God's Word ... 

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Highlight Passage: … John 17:3 [NLT] … 

3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.  

… Jesus prays to His Heavenly Father for those who come after Him in faith … to live abundant lives for what HE, King Jesus, was about to do on the cross to give all who believe in Him eternal life.                  

Highlight Passage (Context): … John 17:3-12 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… Jesus prays His Priestly pray for all who come to believe in His finished work on the cross for the salvation of mankind. .                                      .                     

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Reference Passage: … Genesis 1:26-27 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God creates mankind to have a glorious relationship with God … forever !!        

Reference Passage: … Habakkuk 3:17-19 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… A confused Prophet, Habakkuk, comes to realize that as God is sovereign over all, there is nothing in life which can steal his eternal life with his (our) God.     

Reference Passage: … John 10:10 [NLT] … 

10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.. 

… Jesus preaches truth to His disciples and followers (and us now) that He had been sent by God the Father to defeat Satan’s attempt to destroy our lives as believers and to give born-again Christians a fulfilled and abundant life.           

Reference Passage: … Philippians 4:11-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul encourages fellow Christians to seek after contentment and peace by relying and leaning on Christ for our strength .   

Reference Passage: … 1John 2:24-25 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God, thru the Apostle John, teaches truth that those who remain faithful to follow the Lord will experience an eternal relationship with our Triune God.   

                                                                                                                         

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Karen Pimpo … AT THIS LINK … wrote of how the subject of the book and movie Tuck Everlasting conveys the message, thru the main character, Anus Tuck, that life is more than just enduring and searching for what the world offers.  

Today our world tries to get us to believe that health and happiness are the keys to abundant living.  But if you’ve taken in the linked song and the Scriptures above, we see that the only key to abundant living is what Jesus prayed about in the Garden (see highlight passage)  the night before He went to the cross to save mankind. 

Abundant living and eternal life with God is only found in a deep and abiding love relationship with Christ, … believing in King Jesus as the only way to find that eternal life promised by our Lord.  I pray all who read with me here have found that life, pursuing it today and for eternity.     

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for calling me to live for and following You, Lord, forever.    

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to live our lives for and follow You, forever, 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.

May 1, 2023 … Planting Seeds of Faith

Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 121 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Steve Green singing … People Need The Lord … poignantly and powerfully singing of how we Christians are called to share seeds of our Faith in Christ with others who need His saving and sanctifying grace.  

Seedling of faith growing in fertile soil ... 

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Highlight Passage: … 1Peter 3:14-15 [NLT] … 

14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. 15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.  

… Peter exhorts fellow Christians, … even in the face of suffering or persecution, … to be willing - AND ABLE - to share their faith by the way they live for Christ, sharing their Christlike spirit with others who need the Lord.                  

Highlight Passage (Context): … 1Peter 3:8-16 [NLT] …  USE THIS LINK …  

… Peter writes to persecuted Christians to be willing to share the seeds of their faith with others who desperately need God’s saving and sanctifying grace.                                      .                     

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Reference Passage: … Matthew 28:19-20 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus, in His “Great Commission” … at His ascension back to heaven, commissions all of His born-again ambassadors to go and share the Good News of His Gospel of faith and hope with those who need God’s saving and sanctifying grace; … and that’s to all of us who know King Jesus as LORD and Savior.         

Reference Passage: … John 15:1-7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus teaches His disciples (and us) that we must abide in Him to provide us the grace to plant His seeds of saving grace to be fruitful as His called ambassadors.    

Reference Passage: … 1Corinthians 3:6-9 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul charges fellow Christians to work in unity to plant and harvest their (our) seeds of the Gospel to all whom God desires to be part of His eternal kingdom harvest.         

Reference Passage: … Galatians 6:7-9 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul also encourages fellow Christians to not become discouraged by rejection as they (we) share in planting their seeds of faith in Christ with others.   

Reference Passage: … James 5:7 [NLT] … 

7 Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.

… God, thru Jesus’ brother, James, exhorts fellow Christians to be like farmers who plant their seeds and wait for the harvest to come in.   

                                                                                                                         

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Kirsten Holmberg … AT THIS LINK …  wrote of a storm bringing down many seeds from the trees in her yard, followed by many of the seedlings popping up to grow follow the storm (see photo).   

And the ODB author used this image as encouragement for Christians, … as we read in the Scriptures above,…  for us Christians to do all we can to send out our seeds of faith, by the way we live for Christ and with our calling to share the Gospel with any and all who need God’s saving and sanctifying grace.  And as Steve Green sings in the linked song, we, who are in Christ, are called to be ready - and able - to share the seeds of the Gospel to so many we will encounter who need the Lord.

I pray we’re all ready to go forth, maybe even today, with the seedlings of God’s grace, to plant those seeds as we share the Gospel with those who need the Lord.   

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for calling me to be Your seed planter today.   

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to go, as we’re commissioned by You, Lord, to plant and water Your Gospel seeds today.    …  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.