May 22 2026 … Seeing God In Creation

May 22 2026 … Seeing God In Creation 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...    and PLEASE take the time to listen to music and lyrics from Brian Doerksen singing Creation Calls … showing that believers can seek and find God in His creation.  

"Smiley Face" in the trees of Western Oregon

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Highlight Passage: … Isaiah 41:19-20 … [NLT]

… 19  I will plant trees in the barren desert — cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.  20   I am doing this so all who see this miracle will understand what it means — that it is the Lord who has done this, the Holy One of Israel who created it.

… God’s prophet declares that God has planted His glory even in the trees believers can see in His creation.

Reference Passage: … Isaiah 41:17-20 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God’s Prophet, Isaiah, declares that believers can see the power and protection of God in the trees He has created and planted to reveal His glory..  

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Reference Passage: … Deuteronomy 4:29 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Moses relays God’s promise to His people that they will find Him if they search for Him with ALL their heart.

Reference Passage: … 1Chronicles 16:11 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

…  King David sings of God’s people continually seeking to find God’s strength and protection.

Reference Passage: … Psalms 119:2 NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God’s Psalmist, King David, who likely used this Acrostic psalm to teach His son the Hebrew Alphabet and for God’s people to sing their praises to The Lord.  

Reference Passage:… Jeremiah 29:13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God, thru Jeremiah, promises that believers who seek God will ALL their hearts will find Him,

Reference Passage:… Matthew 6:33 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus in His “sermon on the mount” charges His followers to seek FIRST God’s kingdom and His righteousness … with ALL their (our) hearts … so that The Lord will bless them.

Reference Passage: … Hebrews 11:6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …

… The Author of Hebrews shows that it is impossible to please God unless one truly believes that The Lord blesses those who diligently seek Him.

My Devotional Journal: Today’s Our Daily Bread from Kristen Holmberg  …  USE THIS LINK      tells of a joyful sight those who drive along short patch of Highway 18 in western Oregon in the fall of the year can catch a glimpse of a giant “smiley face,” (see photo) which was created by a lumber company which strategically replanted two different types of trees on that hillside during a forrest reclamation planting in 2011.  

And that “smiley face” of trees reminded the ODB author of how God has given us His creation and His word so that those of us who diligently and strategically seek God’s face, will find Him in His creation and His truth. It’s what the linked song … and all of the Scriptures above …  declare.  And that’s why you find me here each morning, seeking to find more and more of my God thru His Holy Word.   Are you with me today?      

My Thanksgiving: … Oh, King Jesus, thank You …Lord, … for revealing Yourself to me thru Your word and Your creation.  I see You, Lord!  

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, … thank You, Lord, for showing us Your face in creation and thru Your word. 

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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 21 2026 … Longing For Home 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...         and PLEASE take the time to listen to music and lyrics from Phil Wickham singing Homesick For Heaven … showing that Christians can only imagine what it will be like when we are home and see Jesus .. face-to-face.  

Long Road back to our home in Heaven ... 

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Highlight Passage: … Psalms 137:5-6 … [NLT]

…  5  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp.  6  May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy. 

… The Psalmist sings of remembering Jerusalem longingly from captivity in Babylon.

Reference Passage: … Psalms 137:1-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …  

… God’s Psalmist, likely Jeremiah, from the Babylon captivity, sings of longing to return to the home of God’s faithful in Jerusalem.

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Reference Passage: … Psalms 40:16-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… King David sings longingly of the joy he and all believers find in being close to their Lord.

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

… Solomon teaches God’s call to seek to trust in following God’s way rather than our own.  

Reference Passage: … Jeremiah 15:16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jeremiah tells of longingly following God’s word as God’s people seek to be back in Jerusalem.

 

Reference Passage: … Mark 5:19 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

…  Jesus commands the man He had healed from possessed demons to GO HOME and tell family/friends of what had happened, …  which teaches what we should do about how Jesus has saved us.

Reference Passage: … John 16:13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… John writes to fellow Christians of God’s Spirit guiding them (us) to the joy they (we) will find in our future home.

Reference Passage: … Acts 2:28 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… The Apostle Peter, filled with God’s Spirit preaches of God leading him, and all who surrender to follow Him, all the way to the joy the (we) will find in our eternal home.

My Devotional Journal: Today’s Our Daily Bread from Matt Lucas …  USE THIS LINK      writes about two elderly friends, Ethel and Ed, relating longingly how in their youth that had lived in the Big Sky region of America, riding horses in the plains of North Dakota or herding cattle in Montana.   And the stories reminded the ODB author of how Jeremiah wrote longingly of retuning home to Jerusalem when God’s people were exiled to Babylon (see Highlight passage).

I don’t know about all my readers, here today, … but like Jeremiah and God’s people captive in Babylon, I long to return to my home.  But my home is in Heaven.  What about you?  Where is your eternal home?  And, … like me, … do you long to return Home and be with our Savior?      

My Thanksgiving: … Oh, King Jesus, thank You …Lord, … for the promise of leading me Homeward.

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, … thank You, Lord, for showing us the way to go home to be with You.  …  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 20 2026 … Face-to-Face

May 20 2026 … Face-to-Face 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...      and PLEASE take the time to listen to music and lyrics from the group, Mercy Me,  singing I Can Only Imagine … showing that Christians can only imagine what it will be like when we see Jesus .. face-to-face.  

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Highlight Passage: … 1Corinthians 13:12 … [NLT]

… 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

… Paul writes of now only being able to experience the joy of Christ incompletely but one day being able to share the completeness of joy with our Savior.

Reference Passage: … 1Corinthians 13:8-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …      

… The Apostle Paul shows fellow Christians that what we experience in this life from our Lord is only a reflection of what we will see of Him one day in Heaven.

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Reference Passage: … Genesis 32:30  [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jacob, whose name was changed to “Israel” by Jesus, honors the place where he wrestled with God, saying that he had the honor of seeing “God” face to face.

Reference Passage: … Exodus 33:11a NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Moses writes of speaking with God directly in the tent of meeting as a friend would speak to a friend.

Reference Passage: … Deuteronomy 4:12 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Moses writes of God speaking to him from the fire but not seeing God directly.

 

Reference Passage: … John 1:18 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

…  God, thru the Apostle John, reveals that no one has ever seen God but The Lord reveals Himself to us.

Reference Passage: … 2John 1:12 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… John writes to fellow Christians of his desire to be with his friends - face-to-face - making their joy complete.

Reference Passage: … Revelation 22:4 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… God reveals to John (and all Christians)  what it will be like to be with Jesus face-to-face.

My Devotional Journal: Today’s Our Daily Bread from Alyson Kieda …  USE THIS LINK     wrote of C.S. Lewis writing of anticipating the joy of one day seeing Jesus … face-to-face …  “Our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is . . . the truest index of our real situation. And to be at last summoned inside would be . . . the healing of that old ache. . . . The whole man is to drink joy from the fountain of joy.”

And having taken in the linked song and meditated on the Scriptures shared above, i, for one, can “only imagine” what it will be like to see my Lord … face-to-face. and to be with Him FOREVER.  …  But until then, I will look in the mirror (see photo) and hope to see a refection of my Savior.   How about you?   Aren’t you looking forward to the joy we will experience with Our Lord in glory?    

My Thanksgiving: … Oh, King Jesus, thank You …Lord, … for the promise of seeing You one day … face-to-face.

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, … thank You, Lord, for the promise of being with You forever.   …  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 19 2026 … Complete Surrender

May 19 2026 … Complete Surrender 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...         and PLEASE take the time to listen to music and lyrics from Clay Crosse, Bob Carlisle, and Bebe Winans,  singing I Will Follow Christ … exhorting Christians to surrender their (our) all to follow Christ.  

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Highlight Passage: … Genesis 39:6 … [NLT]

…  6 So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat! 

… Joseph was completely surrendered to God and was blessed in following the Lord, even in what he ate.

Reference Passage: … Genesis 39:2-6, 20-23 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …     

… Moses relates to story of Joseph and his complete surrender to follow The Lord, even after he was unjustly thrown in prison.

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

… Solomon promises that God will direct the paths of those who COMPLETELY trust and follow The Lord faithfully.

Reference Passage: … Matthew 6:33 NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus charges His followers and Disciples to SEEK FIRST God’s kingdom in all they (we) think, say, and do.

Reference Passage: … Luke 9:23 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Luke quotes Jesus’ charge to His followers to be willing to give their (our) ALL to serve Him.

 

Reference Passage: … Romans 12:1-2 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …

…  The Apostle Paul exhorts fellow Christians to become living sacrifices to the Lord in all we do in serving Christ, doing all we can to avoid the ways of the world in the way we live our lives for The Lord.

Reference Passage: … Colossians 3:17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul also calls - i.e., charges - other fellow Christians to do WHATEVER we do as an ambassador for Christ.

Reference Passage: … Philippians 2:3-5 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Finally, Paul also teaches truth to fellow Christians about taking on the attitude of Christ … to serve God thru how we show God’s love to others.

My Devotional Journal: Today’s Our Daily Bread from Leslie Koh …  USE THIS LINK     related a personal testimony of being in the Singaporean army, fulfilling his legal duty as a young man. However, at that time, Leslie Koh was not fully dedicated to the tasks and roles he was charged to complete.  And as the ODB author went through this conscripted time of service, he saw others who were completely dedicated to their 2 1/2 years of military service; and their surrender to serve reminded the ODB author of Joseph’s surrender in Genesis 39 (see Highlight passage), to serve the Egyptian manager, Potipher, and how God blessed Joseph in his surrendered service, … even when Joseph was unjustly imprisoned.

And as I remembered and went back to hear one of my favorite Christian songs - linked above  - and also to review the story of Joseph and other Scriptures which came to mind (see Bible passages above), I was reminded that our surrendered heart to serve the Lord is what God is looking for in me; and that’s what I want to give to Him today … and also tomorrow.  …  How about you?     

My Thanksgiving: … Oh, King Jesus, thank You …Lord, … for calling me to surrendered service to You . TODAY …and tomorrow too.

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, … thank You, Lord, for blessing all who COMPLETELY surrender to follow You.   …  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 18 2026 … Avoid Hardened Hearts

May 18 2026 … Avoid Hardened Hearts 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...        and PLEASE take the time to listen to music and lyrics from the group, Petra,  singing Don’t Let Your Heart Be Hardened … exporting believers to avoid letting their (our) hearts be hardened to the leading of The Lord.

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Highlight Passage: … Hebrews 3:7-8 … [NLT]

… 7 That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear His voice, 8  don’t harden your hearts … “ 

… God, thru the Author of Hebrews, exhorts Christians to avoid letting their (our) hearts be hardened (see photo) by their (our) selfish desires.

Reference Passage: … Hebrews 3:7-15 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …   

… The Author of Hebrews shows the tendency of believers to let their (our) hearts be hardened by their (our) human desires.

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Reference Passage: … Psalms 95:7-8 NLT] … USE THIS LINK …                                          

… The Psalmist, likely King David, calls on believers to soften their (our) hears and follow God faithfully.

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

… Solomon promises that God will direct the paths of those who trust and follow The Lord faithfully.

Reference Passage: … Jeremiah 17:9 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jeremiah warns believers of how hard the human heart can be.

 

Reference Passage: … Ezekiel 26:36 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

…  God, thru Ezekiel, promises to one day God’s Messiah will give mankind new hearts which faithfully follow the Lord.

Reference Passage: … Mark 8:17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus challenges His followers to avoid letting their hard hearts follow their own desires rather than to follow Jesus.

Reference Passage: … Ephesians 4:14-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul teaches truth to fellow Christians about the effect God’s Spirit will have on those who surrender faithfully to follow Christ.

My Devotional Journal: Today’s Our Daily Bread from Adam R Holz …  USE THIS LINK    wrote about his heart doctor giving the ODB author the opportunity to see the hardening of the arteries in his heart, showing the atherosclerosis and the calcium build up in his arteries.  This clear view of his damaged heart motivated him to change his diet and exercise more to avoid further damage to his heart.

And if my readers, as I have, take in the linked song and the Scriptures shared above, I pray we all “take to heart” the truth God shares with us to avoid letting our hearts be hardened and to avoid following God’s call to let Him lead us to follow His ways rather than our own.  That’s why I’m here again today, letting my eternal “heart doctor” (i.e., His Spirit) show me the way, thru His word, how to keep my Spiritual heart healthy.  Are you with Him, as well, my friend?     

My Thanksgiving: … Oh, King Jesus, thank You …Lord, … for showing me through Your word how to keep my Spiritual heart heathy for Your glory.

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, … thank You, Lord, for Your call to avoid a hardening of my Spirit-filled heart.   …  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.