Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of images from Twila Paris and Dennis Jernigan singing … On My Knees, written by Jernigan, expressing the need of all Christians to seek answers for life’s questions by using “knee mail.”
Highlight Passage: Psalm 91:15 [NKJV] …
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him …
… Could His call for us to call Him be any clearer!!
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Highlight Context – Psalm 91 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God will always answer.
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Reference Passage #1 - Jeremiah 33:2-3 [NKJV] …
2 “Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name): 3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
… The Prophet tells of God answering the prayers of His people.
Reference Passage #2 - Matthew 26:40-41 [NKJV] …
40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
… Jesus, knowing the benefits of the watchfulness of His disciples, sees their weakness to join Him in prayer.
Reference Passage #3 - Luke 9: 23 [NKJV] …
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up His cross daily, and follow Me.”
… Jesus call His followers to follow His lead.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Poh Fang Chia, as we move into this New Year uses an illustrative story, … writing as follows, … An ancient legend tells of a monarch who hired weavers to make tapestries and garments for him. The king gave the silk and the patterns to the weavers with the strict instructions to seek his aid immediately if they had any difficulties. One young weaver was happy and successful while the others were always experiencing trouble. When the boy was asked why he was so successful, he said, “Didn’t you notice how often I called for the king?” They replied, “Yes, but he’s very busy, and we thought you were wrong in disturbing him so frequently.” The boy answered, “I just took him at his word, and he was always happy to help me!”
And I got the illustration clearly. In fact, this past week God has been calling me out, here as I come to Him each morning, that I could be getting so much more from Him if I were to be more diligent and watchful in my prayer time with Him. And then, I’m led by a devotional I heard on the radio this week and by today’s ODB entry to the reference of Jeremiah, being instructed to tell God’s people that He would answer them if they came to Him with their questions.
And then the “hooker” … I’m led, by God’s Spirit I believe, to the story of Jesus going into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and coming out to find His Disciples sleeping, … to which He chides them as to why they couldn’t even watch and pray at lease ONE HOUR. And so, from these events, I believe God is leading at least this one disciple (i.e., yours truly) to set aside one hour per week … to be on my knees, seeking God’s direction and guidance for my week.
Therefore, I’ve written a goal [call it a “resolution” if you like] for 2016, … to get up early each Monday morning and go to my knees (see attached photo) and to seek my Lord’s presence and power for that upcoming week. One hour per week to be on my knees is really not that much to ask, is it, especially when I believe it’s God that’s doing the exhorting. No, I feel it’s the least I can be investing in my relationship with God.
Perhaps you’ll join me with this goal. Perhaps not. But it seems that is what God is calling me toward; and from this conviction and direction, I will respond as He called His Disciples in the Garden to pray.
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … I hear You calling, … give me the commitment and discipline to follow. … 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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