Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of a worship service with the New Creation Church singing … My Rest in Jesus, poignantly expressing our need to get alone and rest in Our Lord.
Highlight Passage: Mark 6:31-32 [NKJV] …
31 And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.
… Jesus’ inner Disciples needed some alone time to rest.
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Highlight Context – Mark 6:7-13, 30-32 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… After the Disciples returned from their mission assignment from Jesus, He noticed that they needed to rest in the Lord.
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Reference Passage #1 … Isaiah 26:3 [NKJV] …
3 You [LORD] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
… Isaiah repented of his sinful resistance and surrendered to follow God's way.
Reference Passage #2 … Luke 5:16 [NKJV] …
16 So He, Himself, often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.
… Jesus quite often needed to get alone with His Heavenly Father and be renewed by His Spirit.
Reference Passage #3 … John 16:33 [NKJV] … 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
…We find peace from the clamor of the world when we rest in God’s word.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Poh Fang Chia, related an observation about this world which is really pretty obvious. He wrote for my edification: The alarm clock goes off. Too early, it seems. But you have a long day ahead. You have work to do, appointments to keep, people to care for, or all this and more. Well, you are not alone. Each day, many of us rush from one matter to another. As someone has wittily suggested, “That’s why we are called the human race.”
It’s interesting to me, coming here every day this year with Our Daily Bread, to observe how often the subject of resting in Christ is covered. Yes, I know that repetition is a powerful teaching tool; but the ODB authors must think that their readers [me] need this reminder often, because the subject is raised repetitively by the ODB staff.
And the ODB authors are right, of course. We do need to be reminded and exhorted to get alone and rest our minds/hearts in Christ, especially because of the clamor and demands of this world, which is Satan’s system, trying to take us away from God’s truth and His loving, renewing, presence.
In today’s highlight passage, Jesus noticed that His disciples needed to rest in a place of solitude when they returned from the excitement of their first missionary experience. So, in Mark 6, just before Jesus fed the multitude, He had them get off alone for a short time to quiet their minds and hearts in the presence of the Lord. And Jesus, Himself, often needed to get alone with His Heavenly Father to bask in the peace and love and rest provided by God’s Spirit [see Luke 5:16].
And so do we, my friend!! And that’s why today - AND EVERY DAY - you find me beginning my day with a time alone, in my quiet place, resting in God’s word and getting away from the “human race” … with music, prayer, and some mental peace … WAY AWAY from the demands and clamor of the world. And I pray that you find that peace - EVERY DAY - as well.
My Prayer Today: O, Heavenly Father, … I pray that all who’re with me here are in a quiet place to rest in You, dear Lord. 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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