Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Dennis Jernigan and his friend Annie Herring, singing Dennis’ song … Faithful and True, singing of the outcome of a faithful and true relationship with Christ … and ON TO THIS LINK with Brian Littrell singing I Surrender All, expressing what it takes to have a deep/abiding relationship with Christ.
Highlight Passage: Luke 9: 23, 62 [NKJV] …
23 “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me.
… 62 But Jesus said to him [a disciple], “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
… Jesus’ charge to what it costs to be His disciple.
============
Highlight Context – Luke 9: 23-27; 57-62 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
…The cost of discipleship … surrender in faith to Christ
============
Reference Passage #1 … Deuteronomy 6: 5 [NKJV] …
5 You shall love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, and with ALL your strength.
… God’s command to all who would serve Him as the Good Shepherd to give their ALL to/for Him. Note the accent on the world ”ALL”!!
Reference Passage #2 … Romans 12: 1 [NKJV] …
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
… Our lives, a “living sacrifice” to our Lord.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, C.P. Hia, is Chinese; and he uses the Chines pictogram for “good-bye,” [see attached photo] to illustrate his teaching on our attitude with Christ. His writes, In the Chinese language there is no direct equivalent of the English word “goodbye.” The two Chinese characters used to translate this word really mean “see you again.” … Becoming a disciple of Christ may sometimes mean others will reject us, but it does not mean we say goodbye to people in the sense that we are to forget all our past relationships. Saying goodbye means that God wants us to follow Him on His terms—wholeheartedly. Then we will see people again from the right perspective.
Luke, the New Testament writer, had that kind of expectant attitude, as a surrendered disciple of His Lord, as he wrote Chapter 9 of his gospel account [see link above]. And it fits with author Hia’s description of the Chinese concept of “good-bye” in the ODB entry for today.
When it comes to our attitude of following Jesus, to the degree that we are surrendered to Him, is the degree of our attitude that we never truly say “good-bye” to Him. He’s forever in our hearts, so we’re always saying, “see you again, Lord!” And knowing, and truly believing, that since He’s coming again for us, we always have His promise of a hope for Him, with Him, and in Him … FOREVER.
So, take in the two songs above; and say it with me, today, as you read this … “See ya soon, Lord!!!”
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, … I never say “good-bye” to 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment