February 10, 2013 … So valuable we must die!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 41

Passage of the Day: Psalm 116: 15 (in the context of verse 14-16) [NLT] …  
14 I will keep my promises to the LORD in the presence of all his people. 15 The LORD’s loved ones are precious to him; it grieves him when they die. 16 O LORD, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, the son of your handmaid, and you have freed me from my bonds!  
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Reference Passage #1: Psalm 72: 14b (in the context of verses 12-14) [NLT] …  
12 He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; He will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. 13 He feels pity for the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them. 14 He will save them from oppression and from violence, for their lives are precious to him. 

Reference Passage #2: Matthew 10: 29-31 : [NLT] … {God SO loves His chosen ones.} …  
29 Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows. 

Reference Passage #3: John 12: 24-25 : [NLT] … {We must die to self before being made alive in our spirit.} …  
24 The truth is, a kernel of wheat must be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it will be alone—a single seed. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who despise their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 

My Journal for Today: What a paradox! God loves those He created for Himself SO MUCH [see today’s highlight verse above as well as the cross reference passages] that they must die to self before they live with Him forever.

Jesus said it in the word picture He created for His disciples just before He was to go to the cross (see John 12: 24-25 above). A seed cannot grow into the life it was intended to have until it first dies in the ground and blossoming into life as it was intended by God to flourish. And it was true of Jesus, Himself, … dying on the cross, that we might live in Him for eternity. Isn’t that the glorious gospel truth of Johns 3: 16, which I’m sure you know by heart as a cross reference here as well.

There’s really not much to write here to journal about this paradoxical truth. God loved me – a rank sinner – enough that He let His Son die for me; and now because I’ve been willing to die to self – in faith – by believing in Christ as my Messiah and my Lord, I am born again in the Spirit to live and be with my Lord for eternity. I pray you have too; … and if so, let us lift a loud “HALLELUJAH!” in praise to our Savior.

We only need ask ourselves if we have truly died to self; because if we have humbled our selves enough to believe in faith and repent of our sinful nature before the living Christ, and we have died to self in that faith, … we have been reborn in the Spirit to live with our Lord forever.

Enough said! Done deal!! … Again, “HALLELUJAH!” 

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I pray that all who read here with me have died to themselves in faith and now live with and for You as we worship You with our lives and wait to join You in glory. … Amen