Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of Brian Littrell singing … I Surrender ALL, poignantly expressing the need of all Christians to surrender and follow our Lord, King Jesus, with complete devotion. … But do we?!
Highlight Passage: Ephesians 6:5 [NKJV] …
5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; …
… We are to serve our earthly superiors (i.e., masters) as we would bondservants to Christ.
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Highlight Context – Ephesians 6:5-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul exhorts Christians to serve our Lord in total surrender to Him - as slaves to King Jesus!
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Reference Passage #1 – Romans 12:1-2 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul exhorted nothing less than total surrender of our bodies as living sacrifices to our King Jesus!
Reference Passage #2 … Ephesians 4: 1 [NKJV] …
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, …
… The Apostle didn’t exhort any to be anything he didn’t consider himself, … i.e., a slave (i.e., prisoner).
Reference Passage #3 … 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.
… Total surrender?!
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Keila Ochoa, reflected on the strong teaching of the Apostle Paul in her teaching today on our becoming bond slaves to our King Jesus. The ODB author wrote: In Ephesians 6, Paul talks to servants and masters. He reminds both groups that we serve one Master who is in heaven. So we need to do everything with sincerity of heart, integrity, and respect because we are serving and working for Christ Himself. As the apostle Paul reminds us, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people” (Eph. 6:7). What a privilege to serve God in everything we do, whether answering a phone or driving a car or doing housework or running a business. Let us work with a smile today, remembering that no matter what we are doing, we are serving God.
If there is one powerful - and personally pertinent - recurring theme from the Apostle Paul after his conversion on that road to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-9), it is his absolute surrender and devotion to his King, Jesus. And that’s what he expected and exhorted of other Christians [like me] as well … i.e., for us to become bondservants of our Lord [see the highlight and reference Scriptures above].
I don’t know about other readers here with me, but taking in Brian Littrell’s song and meditating on Paul’s exhortations above, I realize that, though my attitude is one of being a slave to Christ, my actions still have a way to go for me to be able to truthfully sing “I Surrender ALL.”
My Prayer Today: O, Heavenly Father, … Lord, give me more of Your empowering grace for me to be able to follow Your command from Luke 9:23 to deny myself and completely follow 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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