Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a poignant video of John Waller singing … As For Me And My House, declaring that we Christians must lay down our idols and commit to serve the Lord.
Highlight Passage: Joshua 24:15 [NKJV] …
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
… Joshua’s commitment to God as to the service chosen by his family.
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Highlight Context – Joshua 14: 6-15 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Caleb inherits the high ground for his diligent service to God.
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Reference Passage #1 - Luke 9:23-24 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus spells out what it takes to follow and serve Him.
Reference Passage #2 - Colossians 3: 17 [NKJV] …
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
… Paul joins in the chorus of exhortation to serve the Lord in ALL we do in word or deed.
Reference Passage #3 - 1st Peter 4: 11 [NKJV] …
11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.
… God’s exhortation, thru Peter, as to Christians glorifying God in all that we do.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Keila Ochoa, reminded her readers (me) of the diligence and dedication of what it takes to serve our Lord by telling of a hard working bricklayer in Mexico [see photo]. She writes in today’s ODB, … Madaleno is a bricklayer. From Monday to Thursday he builds walls and repairs roofs. He is quiet, reliable, and hardworking. Then from Friday to Sunday he goes up to the mountains to teach the Word of God. … At age 70, he still works with his hands building houses, but he also works to build the family of God. … His life has been threatened several times. He has slept under the stars and faced death from car accidents and falls. He has been kicked out of towns. But he thinks that God has called him to do what he does, and he serves happily. Believing that people need to know the Lord, he relies on God for the strength he needs.
And this dedicated Christian bricklayer reminded Ochoa today of the lives of Joshua and Caleb, the two spies which Moses sent to scope out the Promised Land; and we read of their dedication to serving God in the highlight passages from the Book of Joshua above. These two surrendered servants of God were totally committed, whatever the risks, to serve God in whatever capacity the Lord would lead them. They were willing to do what Jesus commanded of His disciples in Luke 9: 23, as well as Paul and Peter, who exhorted Christians to serve God in WHATEVER we do … as in the other two reference passages above.
What are we going to do today? Will we be laying bricks? Or maybe flipping burgers? Or perhaps you’ll do surgery, or home-school your kids? Or maybe you’ll volunteer to work in a shelter for the homeless or play some pickleball with friends. But WHATEVER we do, as exhorted by God in the lives of Gods’ warriors, Caleb and Joshua, or Jesus’ Apostles, Peter and Paul, … or that Mexican bricklayer, Madaleno, … let’s DO IT ALL for the glory of God.
My Prayer Today: Oh, dear Lord, … yes. may all I do be for You! … 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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