Study from God’s Word… The rest of the Revelation to John and to all who read the conclusion of God’s book and His eternal invitation! … Passage for Reflection: Revelation 22: 17 … NIV The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
My Journal for Today: Dr. LaGard Smith, to whom I’m most grateful for his insightful devotional, The Daily Bible Devotional, from which Dr. Smith has taken his insights from The Daily Bible in Chronological Order, reminds me, and his other readers, of the joy we feel when we get an invitation to a very special occasion, especially one to which we had dearly coveted being invited. Maybe you can recall being invited to the wedding of someone you loved dearly. Maybe it was an invitation to someone’s retirement party, … a grand shindig honoring someone you wanted dearly to honor with your presence. But whatever the invitation in your memory, it brought joy to your heart when you opened it and read your name being added to the list of those invited.
Well, my friend, how about the invitation – from God Himself – in today’s highlighted text, … that invitation to all whose names are written in God’s Book of Life; and if you’re one of those, as am I, who knows his/her name is in that Book, reading God’s invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb has to bring great joy and consolation to your heart.
BUT … and there’s one of those giant BUTS of contrast … you are only invited if (and that’s a whopper of an “IF”) you are one who’s openly declared, in faith, from your heart of hearts, that you’re a sinner whose sins have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus begin shed on Calvary and who has repented of those sins in humility to receive God free gift of His saving grace.
My dear one, … that invitation above, from Rev. 22: 17, is for YOU … if Jesus, The Christ, our Messiah, is absolutely your LORD and SAVIOR. And if that’s the case, I will see you at the wedding feast of the Lamb; and we’ll be sharing together at that eternal post wedding party in glory.
I hope you know that you know that you know that you know that you – ABSOLUTELY – are invited to the party of parties. Because, if you’re reading here, and you have doubts, I would exhort you to do what is declared to any who desire their name to be in God’s Book of Life, finalizing that by doing what the Apostle Paul declared in Romans 10: 9 – 13 [linked here]. And dear one, if you’ve done that, I’ll see you at the party!
My Prayer for Today: Lord, Your invitation has come to me in Your sealed envelope of assurance. I look forward with glorious anticipation to our wedding feast. Amen
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Blogger Bill's Year End Note: ... To any friends who might be reading or interested, ... this is my last entry for the journaling I've been posting this year from my trek in my commitment to read through the entire Bible in 2010. And, ... only by God's enabling grace and a bit of my own tenacity, I've completed this discipleship task; above being my last blog for the year, utilizing the The Daily Bible in Chronological Order, edited by F. LaGard Smith, as well as his companion devotional book The Daily Bible Devotional.
For those who've been studying along with me this year, I thank you for your co-discipleship in this task. I've been encouraged that you'd help me out to be accountable for this somewhat daunting exercise. I've grown from this discipline; and you've encouraged me along the way. And for this, I'd like to thank you and wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR as we enter 2011.
This upcoming year, I'll be continuing to blog/journal my daily devotions in this place; but this year I've decided to go back to an "old friend" of mine, utilizing a powerful devotional book, which I’ve used before, Strength for Today, by John MacArthur . If you feel so led, I'd be honored and uplifted by having you follow along with me as I continue to pursue my deepening relationship with Christ through His Spirit.
Blessings from the Berry Patch into 2011 !!! ... Bill
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