Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of Daniel O’Donnell singing … Here I Am Lord, poignantly singing of our desire as disciples of Christ to serve Him with the willingness to go anywhere/anytime … for His glory.
Highlight Passage: 1st Thessalonians 4:1-2 [NKJV] …
1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
… Paul urges his fellow Christians to stay firm in their good works for Christ.
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Highlight Context: 1st Thessalonians 4:1-12 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul writes fellow Christians, encouraging them to “keep on keeping on” in Christ.
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Reference Passage #1 … 1st Corinthians 15:58 [NKJV] …
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
… Exhortation to the Christians in Corinth (and to us as well!).
Reference Passage #2 … 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.
… Paul writes to the Christians in Asia Minor to stay committed to doing God’s good works.
Reference Passage #3 … 2 Thessalonians 3:13 [NKJV] …
13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.
… More encouragement to the Christians in Thessalonica [and to us] to be strong and diligent in their faith.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Keila Ochoa, used a clever word picture to illustrate God’s desire for us to “keep on keeping on” in Him (that’s what the symbol in my title reveal. She wrote about that picture depicted in the attached photo of a guinea pig or hamster running hard - but nowhere - inside a small wheel.
The ODB author asks if we, as disciples of Christ, sometimes feel like the caged hamster in the photo. Do we sometimes feel we’re willing to run or go anywhere for Christ [hear the attached song]; but somehow we find ourselves feeling like we’re not getting anywhere?
The Apostle Paul wrote letters to several groups of Christians who likely felt like this. In two passages to the same church group (see 1st Thess. 4:1 and also in 2 Thess. 3:13), Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, encouraging them to stay diligent in their faith and to keep on keeping on in Christ. He also wrote to Christians in Corinth and Asian Minor (see 1st Cor. 15:58 and Gal. 6:9-10) with much the same exhortation; and being from God’s word, these words of encouragement apply to us, as Christians, as well.
So, my fellow disciple of Christ, if any of us are feeling like that little hamster on that wheel in the photo today, … be lifted up by Paul’s words of encouragement to his fellow disciples. And as the symbol in my journal title above, let’s “Keep On Keeping On” in Christ.
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … sometimes, Lord, it feels like I’m going nowhere; but in faith I know I’m always going somewhere good when I 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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