Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of Kristyn and Keith Getty singing, … Speak, O Lord, expressing the need of all believers to live out the truth in God’s word.
Highlight Passage: Nehemiah 1:8 [NKJV] …
7 … the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law; and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.
… God’s people rose to their feet to honor God in the reading and teaching of God’s truth.
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Highlight Context – Nehemiah 8:1-8 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… After rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem and beginning to rebuild God’s Temple, Ezra and the Priests gathered the remnant of believers at the Water Gate of the city and read God’s Law to the people, who rallied in revival around God’s truth.
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Reference Passage #1 … Psalm 119:11, 105 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s word, buried deeply in my mind/heart, has become the light for my path - EVERYDAY!
Reference Passage #2 … Isaiah 55:11 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s word always goes forth with His power when it goes out for His purposes.
Reference Passage #3 … 2 Timothy 3:16-17 [NKJV] …
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
… ALL SCRIPTURE is God breathed; and the more I know of it, the more I can rebuild my life for God’s glory.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Dave Branon, taught today about the power of God’s word to spark revival amongst His people by relating the true story of Ezra and the Levites reading the Pentateuch to the Jerusalem remnant after the rebuilding of the walls (see Nehemiah 8). Branon wrote: When the sun came up on the first day of the seventh month in 444 bc, Ezra started reading the law of Moses (what we know as the first five books of the Bible). Standing on a platform in front of the people in Jerusalem, he read it straight through for the next six hours. … Men, women, and children had gathered at the entrance to the city known as the Water Gate to observe the Festival of Trumpets—one of the feasts prescribed for them by God. As they listened, four reactions stand out.
As Isaiah prophesied [see Isaiah 55:11], God’s word always goes forth with power when it is used for God’s glory and HIS purposes; and that’s exactly what happened when its reading by Ezra sparked revival and renewal of faith after God’s remnant had, under Nehemiah’s leadership, rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.
Perhaps there are readers here who are in rebuilding projects in their own lives; and you need more power and purpose, … perhaps your own personal revival. Well, digging deeper, and with discipline, into God’s word, as Ezra and Nehemiah did with God’s remnant, is a good place to start your personal rebuilding project.
When I needed renewal and restoration in my life, years ago, that’s exactly what a mentor did for me. He led me in a project highlighted by the strategy of Psalm 119: 11, 105; and taking God’s word into my mind/heart changed me; and it’s why I come here every morning to keep that project alive. God’s inspired word - all of it! - can/will rebuild the walls of your life too; but you’ve got to decide to take it in and use it with discipline. That’s my prayer today.
My Prayer Today: O, Heavenly Father, … I pray that all who read here today are into Your truth daily and using it to rebuild their lives. 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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