Devotional Song: ... Go to this link … Please take the time to take in a video of Chris Rice, singing his personal and poignant song… Come To Jesus poignantly declaring the reality that we can come to our LORD and Savior … anytime … anyplace … with our needs and cares … How amazing is our God’s accessibility !!
Highlight Passage Romans 8: 15 [NKJV] …
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
… Do we realize that our LORD is our “Abba” ??
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Highlight Context - Romans 8: 14-17, 24-26 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK
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Reference Passage #1 - Psalm 77: 1 [NKJV] …
1 I cried out to God with my voice — And He gave ear to me.
… The Psalmist declares that we have a God Who listens; … so, why don’t we come to Him?
Reference Passage #2 - Psalm 116: 1-2 [NKJV] …
1 I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, … therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
… Do we really believe that our God wants to bend down to hear what we say when we call on Him in times of need?
Reference Passage #3 - Philippians 4: 6-7 [NKJV] …
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
… Do we get it?! … We can come to our faithful FATHER … anytime, anyplace … with ANY concern; and He will be there to listen to us.
Reference Passage #4 - 1st Peter 5: 7 [NKJV] …
1 Casting all your cares on Him Who cares for you …
…Peter got it right! … We can come to our Lord anytime with our cares … Do we?
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Phillip Yancey, took his readers back to 60s, when Kennedy was President; and photos circulated in the media [see attached photo] of his son, little “John-John,” who was just a toddler, playing at his daddy’s feet in the Oval Office as the leader of the free world was doing business with the world. It was a picture of my title for my blog today, “Amazing Accessibility!”
But even more astonishing than that picture of a powerful father showing vulnerable access to the President’s presence is the absolutely amazing accessibility which we have to the LORD of the universe, … anytime, … anywhere; and just like John-John, we can come into God’s presences as today’s highlight verse (see Romans 8: 15) as our “Abba, Father,” or how we’d translate that - our “Papa, God!”
To me that prospect … of me being able to come into the presence of the living God … into the lap of my Heavenly Father … into closeness with My Lord and Savior, … ANYTIME … is almost too wonderful for me to grasp. But two of the Psalmists in the Old Testament [see quotes from Psalms 77 & 116 above] certainly did grasp this reality; and one of my favorite Psalms is the latter one, written by an unknown writer who obviously had had great trials or troubles and had been close to death; but in verses 1-2 of Psalm 116, he said that he went to His God, Who (what the Hebrew says) “inclined His ear to hear” the Psalmist. And that phrase, in the Hebrew shows an older/wiser one bending down closely to hear the pleas of one in need.
I’m afraid I need to dwell more with faith and trust in my “Abba Faither,” the One Who desires, as Paul wrote, for me to bring anything to Him (see Phil. 4: 6-7) because, as Peter wrote, we can bring anything to our Lord, anytime, because our God so cares for us (see 1st Peter 5:7.
So, I will pray for us to get this truth and live in it.
My Prayer for Today … O Lord, … Help all of us here to realize that You are our “Abba” … and we can come to you with anything, anytime, and You will bend down to hear our pleas. … Amen
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.
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