Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of Josh Groban singing You Raise Me Up, powerfully declaring the reality of following Christ and allowing Him to raise all who surrender to Him into His image.
Highlight Passage: Galatians 6: 9-10 [NKJV] …
9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
… Every day … in every way … growing in Christlikeness.
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Highlight Context – Galatians 6:1-10 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul outlines how we can grow in Christlikeness
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Reference Passage #1 - Acts 1: 8 [NKJV] …
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
… Growing in our witness by the power of God’s Spirit.
Reference Passage #2 - Galatians 5:22-23 [NKJV] …
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
… Our character growing to copy the character of Christ.
Reference Passage #3 - Philippians 1:6 [NKJV] …
6 … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; …”
… Jesus will complete the project of our growing into His image … IF WE LET HIM!!
Reference Passage #4 - 2 Peter 1:2-4 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God give us all we need to grow … but we must partake of it to grow.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Marion Stroud, related a word picture of his teaching today. . He wrote: In Debbie’s new home, she discovered an abandoned plant in a dark corner of the kitchen. The dusty and ragged leaves looked like those of a moth orchid, and she imagined how pretty the plant would look once it had sent up new bloom-bearing stems. She moved the pot into a spot by the window, cut off the dead leaves, and watered it thoroughly. She bought plant food and applied it to the roots. Week after week she inspected the plant, but no new shoots appeared. “I’ll give it another month,” she told her husband, “and if nothing has happened by then, out it goes.” … When decision day came, she could hardly believe her eyes. Two small stems were poking out from among the leaves! The plant she’d almost given up on was still alive.
And I think Stroud’s illustration amply relates the reality of how Jesus brings life out of death in the re-awakening of the soul of a sin-dead sinner. And when we partake of what He implants into our quickened hearts, and we partake of His power (see Acts 1: 8), we grow and become increasingly more effective witnesses of His glory and more fruitful for His glory.
And God promises to complete the project of reshaping and growing us into the image of our Savior (see Phil. 1:6); but for us to grow in Christlikeness, we have to surrender to His Spirit so that He can give us all we need to grow in His likeness. As Peter wrote in 2nd Peter 1:2-4, God is willing to give us all we need to grow. But we have to let Him do His reshaping work of grace through our faith.
My friend, take a look at the list of God’s fruit in Gal. 5:22-23; and let’s see if we’re growing in fruitfulness. If not, we need to be more in surrender to God’s Spirit and let Him grow us to blossom into His own image.
My Prayer Today: O, Heavenly Father, … My Lord, … Thankfully, I am growing in Your likeness; but I could do more to yield to You … to help me grow more readily. Whatever it takes, Lord, … help me to be more fruitful as a witness in Your Name. 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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