Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 70
Passage of the Day: Matthew 5: 11 [along with verse 12] [NLT] …
11 “God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.
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Contextual Study of today’s passage: Matthew 4 [NLT] … Go to this link …
Reference Passage #1: Galatians 6: 7 : [Those who mock Christians mock God!] …[NLT] …
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
My Journal for Today: Do you have anyone – especially someone close, … like a relative or a co-worker – who ridicules or derides you because of your faith or Christian discipleship? Well, according to Jesus, from His famous “beatitude” section of the Sermon on the Mount, which is today’s highlight Bible passage [i.e., Matthew 5: 11, you will be blessed by God if you hold on to your faith and continue to witness the love of God to your friend or loved one.
It’s tough when you have someone with whom you are close, maybe it’s a sibling or an old friend or maybe even someone at work, and that person mocks or makes fun of your faith. They don’t realize how serious such mocking is in the presence of God (see Gal. 6: 7, copied above). And our loving patience and tender understanding may likely be the only way this loved one or coworker or friend will ever be able to see Christ.
Our charge to be witnesses for Christ (see Acts 1: 8) can really be tough at times; but as it says in that verse, God will give us the power of His love and the qualities of His humility and meekness (see Matt. 11: 29) if we need them to be restrained in the face of another’s mocking or derision. Just remember our charge, also from the same Matthew 5 passage (i.e, in this case verse 16), is to shine the light of Christ for others to see Him … so that God, the Father, will be glorified by our witness and works.
Just stick in there, my friend; and let’s do all we can, in the presence of our lost friend or loved one, to be Christ for them until they know and love Him like we do.
My Prayer for Today …Lord, my wife and I have some in our life who think we’re fools for loving You. Help us to be You in their eyes until they know You too… Amen
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Dear Berry Patch,
Greetings in the nsme of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So good to know about you through your profile on the blogger.About me, I am in the Pasttoral ministry for last 33yrs in the great city of MUMBAI, INDIA a city with great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live with a population of 18 million of which half of the population lives in the slums and those who live in the slums are the people who are poverty stricken, marginalized, underprivileged and socially, economically and politically oppressed. We reach out to such people with the love of Christ to bring healing to the broken hearted and to give new hope, future and purpose in their lives. We also encourage young people as well as adults from the West to come on a short term missions trip to work with us. We would love to have young and adults from your church who have interest in missions to come and work with us on a short term missions trip. My email id is and my name is Diwakar Wankhede
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