August 11, 2016: “Fear Not!”

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2016 - Day 224  

Devotional Song:  … GO TO THIS LINK …  Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of Mark Lowry and the Gaither Band singing … Mary Did You Know, singing of glorious birth of the baby King Jesus.

Highlight Passage:  Luke 2:10 [NKJV] …  
10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid,for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 
… God’s goodness and mercy shields us from the heat of our day.
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Highlight Context – Luke 2:8-20 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …  
… No need to fear from the Angels … or from Jesus.
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Reference Passage #1 … John 10:31-39 [ NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …  
… Many feared Jesus in His day, especially the Jewish leaders, because they could not see the Messiah in Him.

Journal for Today:  … Our Daily Bread author, Phillip Yancey, teaches on the fear so many had in Jesus’ day, not understanding how the Messiah could be born in a manger. He wrote: Nearly every time an angel appears in the Bible, the first words he says are, “Do not be afraid” (Dan. 10:12, 19; Matt. 28:5; Rev. 1:17). Little wonder. When the supernatural makes contact with planet Earth, it usually leaves the human observers flat on their faces in catatonic fear. But Luke tells of God making an appearance on earth in a form that does not frighten. In Jesus, born in a barn and laid in a feeding trough, God finds at last a mode of approach that we need not fear. What could be less scary than a newborn baby? 

For many years in my younger days, I feared the reality of Christ, rejecting His divinity, … much like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. But like the angels declared to the shepherds on the night of our King Jesus’ birth, there’s no need to fear our Lord as the Messiah. Yet, there is need to bow down to Him as our Lord. For if we don’t, the eternal horror we will face is certainly something to be feared.

I pray that all who read here have seen Jesus as our eternal King and have received Him as our Lord so as to be with Him forever in Paradise.

My Prayer Today:  O, Heavenly Father, … I pray that all who read here with me know You, Lord Jesus, as King and Messiah.  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.